Kahli stared at the infinite kaleidoscope that was her beloved goddess Theseosus. She could scarcely believe her eyes. Yet, here she was, face to endless face with this amazing being, this entity that had for whatever reason chosen to break herself out of the porcelain elephant that was her present prison and greet Kahli in this strange way.

Hello, my child, hissed a voice that echoed through Kahli's mind, set in the tone of which almost seemed to be thousands of different voices at once distilled into a whisper. How wonderful to see you again.

"Again?" Kahli asked. She was pretty sure that she would remember seeing Theseosus, after all, how could anyone forget such a bizarre form and figure?

Yes, we have seen each other a countless, endless infinity number of times, just the same as I have with every single other living being in your realm. It's... kind of in the job description, you might say.

In the job description? Was Theseosus talking about her state of being Kahli's divine savior being a job? Kahli... wasn't sure what to think of that.

I was just being a bit facetious, added Theseosus. I can feel you anxiousness. It feels to me like a thousand daggers, but a thousand is not too bad when your sensations can in many ways house infinities of pain. The nice thing about that is that you know that no pain will ever feel unbearable. However, the not so nice thing about that is of course that your sensations can house many infinities of pain, there's no hard cap on it. Bit of a double bladed entendre, no?

Kahli didn't know how to respond.

I understand that I'm able to dazzle mortal beings so easily, and I do apologize, added Theseosus. Being... as I am comes with a unique set of challenges that I hoped you would never have to face, Kahli, but I wanted to warn you, if we're being honest here, I wanted to warn you that nothing is as it seems and yet at the same time absolutely everything is exactly as it seems.

"Uh, what?"

...Nevermind. Look, Kahli, I wanted you to stay in a specific zone of normalcy. I really did. It's one of my main objectives for people under my watch, but from what I'm seeing here, you've gotten onto a path that is going to be wildly divergent than what I originally had planned. Now, that's not a bad thing, no, in fact it's not a bad thing at all. The only issue is, well, it's not as well charted. There might be... speed bumps. Issues. Bugs. Theseosus seemed to almost smile and point a pincer to herself. There might even be things missing. Things that you don't know you need, that you might not be able to get. And that's because you're essentially, well, I guess if we considered my overwatch 'the grid,' then you are off it.

Kahli suddenly found herself crying. Whether this truly was Theseosus or not, she couldn't rightly handle this assertion that she'd done something wrong that took her away from what Theseosus had planned for her.

No, no, oh my god-I mean, oh my me. Theseosus patted Kahli on the back with one of her meaty, infinite pincers. You're completely misinterpreting me, Kahli. Or, better said, maybe I am miscommunicating to you. Please allow me to try again. Will you?

"Of course," said Kahli, all too eager to believe indeed that her deity was not one hundred percent invested in her. And, truly, if Theseosus was indeed endless and infinite, why wouldn't she be? "Please explain to me."

So think of it like this. Imagine that you had written a large work. Say, imagine you'd written an epic about someone. And now, take that and multiply it by every soul that has ever existed. Let's say that out of those souls, a large majority of them stay on the predefined track that I have written out for them, which is of course on of an infinite number of paths in time. And of course, we have to also be keeping in mind that even my own large work per person, for the purposes of this imaginary exercise, is in itself infinite.

"What?"

Okay. Let me try this another way. Say that you were me, and you had a paper and pencil, and you held them in your pincers even though it was difficult.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

"Okay."

And then say that you use your pincers to draw five points on the paper. And then you draw a line from each point to each other point, so that it is shaped like a bit of a pentagram.

"Alright."

Now imagine there are an endless number of points, all connecting to one another, in a barrage of interconnected pentagrams.

"I think I get it... kind of."

Okay, great. So now imagine that every person that ever exists has all of these pentagrams, lines, and points, and that makes up the timeline of their life in some way. And decisions they make can change, affect, and mutate those things.

"Alright. I mean, I'll be honest, Theseosus, this is a little confusing, but I do think that I'm getting the hang of it."

Great. I knew you could, not only because I believe in you, but because I can literally access your psyche with my own as if I were putting on a glove. Not that you necessarily needed to know that, but it is true. Just for your information.

"...Thanks, I guess."

You're welcome. Now, as I was saying - So everyone has these pentagrams of lines and paths and points of time, and those make up their lives and their possible lives.

Now, one thing to immediately recognize is that these, too, are infinite. There will never be an end to how many pentagrams a person can have in their life. They are countless, endless in every sense.

However, there is what we gods - and specifically of course I myself - consider a 'strong vein' going through about eighty percent of all pentagrams.

Now, I am sure you look and me and think, 'But Theseosus, how is it possible to have a percent of infinity?' And, of course, the answer is that it isn't, because infinity is endless by its nature. But that does not mean that one cannot approximate.

So imagine that there is a cluster in the infinity, a cluster of possibility that is far, far more closer to your experience of reality than others. For example, there are pentagrams spread out in the infinity where, immediately, everyone you know becomes a sentient jelly donut. That is pretty far out there, but that is not even the furthest and is indeed still part of the cluster of probable time, as I refer to it.

Improbable time includes things like everything suddenly collapsing into mathematical formulae. That is, approximately, ninety nine point nine percent of the infinity that is your exist-able timelines.

Of course, here you are, seeing me, and experiencing life, so clearly we haven't all collapsed into math, now have we?

Within that, we have everything that isn't a math doomsday left to consider. Which we can consider my more defined finite cluster of time, which is still by nature virtually infinite.

Within that defined cluster of time, we have a range of about eighty percent of all persons and timed events wherein all probable events happen in this area. That is not to say that things that occur outside this range are improbable, impossible, or even as strange as everyone becoming a pastry. It is instead to describe the probability wherein something like this would occur. And, to further clarify, the something like this that would occur is of course you and I meeting, and you deciding intentional or not to color outside the lines of your vaguely defined yet still altogether infinite timeline.

By joining these now dead bandits and taking the scroll you have irrevocably changed the nature of your lifeline in ways that even I, in my infinite nature and omnipotence, cannot rightly define at this point in your life. You will have to look inward, continuously, in order to know more.

Kahli swallowed some air nervously. She felt oddly obligated by this situation, and not so oddly terrified.

That being said, I am here to greet you for a reason. Kahli, I want you to know that you and I are in this together. Like the stage artist that suddenly finds a drunk coworker shifting their regularly rehearsed show into an act of improvisation, I will be beside you and within you and all over the place infinitely outside of you every step you take. You have nothing to fear except your own fear, and of course death, because I'm not presently allowed to go into detail on that whole thing and concept with you right now as it relates to me, I'm sorry to say.

Kahli didn't know how to respond.

Yes, that's about the reaction I expected. Well, it's fine, either way. I just wanted the chance to be honest with you before I left. And now, well, now I'm ready to leave. Say hello to Froufrou for me.

Kahli shook her head. Who was Froufrou?

And then her eyes fluttered open. Kahli could barely remember anything since she'd first noticed the elephant blocking the horizon, but she felt like her entire head had been split into puzzle pieces by a jigsaw and then put together haphazardly and altogether incorrectly.

She was laying on the cold, marble ground of the tomb. As Kahli clambered to her feet, she noticed the elephant was still intact in the center of the room. There were no trees, there was no strutting animal. She could not see the horizon, and it was all such a relief to Kahli that she found she was utterly disappointed that she was still holding the scroll.

She looked at the scroll again. What had the awful thing done to her mind? She felt like a thousand wheels had been pressed against her temples. She massaged her head for a second, and then Kahli returned to look at the scroll.

And then, she gasped at what she realized.