A golden thread slipped through the air, as quick as lightning, threatening to cut the beautiful man’s head clean off. His skin was liquid platinum, his veins like streams of gold. His eyes held the wisdom of the greatest elders, swirling with all manner of colours. He held a pocket watch in one hand.

He clicked the secondary button on his pocket watch, the tiny red hand spinning quickly across the entire face, making a full rotation in a single second. As it spun around, he bowed his head in greeting, before the thread whipped across empty air where his head had been a second ago.

“Good afternoon, sister,” Klok greeted, smiling warmly towards his sister, with that very same smile. The minute timer on his pocket watch continued to tick down, the seconds passing by as time remained still all around them.

“What are you two doing here?” Ulaveil asked, as though she hadn’t just tried to kill her brother. She pulled the golden thread back with a pull of her finger, though Klok clicked the secondary button of his pocket watch once more, ducking under the thread.

“Haven’t I bowed enough?” Klok asked, flashing another smile towards his sister.

Ulaveil’s brow pulsed upon seeing that smile of his, and she darted forward towards the spinning coin, but she found her brothers on either side of her. Klok pressed the button on his pocket watch, managing to freeze the golden thread in place once more, while their brother, Ono, tried to grab her to freeze her in place with his godly strength.

Ono’s form was far taller than either of them, and though he was quite thin, he still held great strength within his divine form. Yet, even he understood how foolish it was to grapple his sister like this, especially since she had that.

The ring of the scales echoed through the air, and the pair of gods found their strength fading. Ulaveil grabbed Ono’s head, and with her new found strength, slammed it into the earth beneath them. The dirt kicked up all around them, the earth beneath crackling.

“Using the scales against us?” Klok chuckled, as though he wasn’t under threat of being killed by his sister’s hand. “Mother will tell you off.”

“I don’t want to hear it from you,” Ulaveil almost growled, forcing Ono’s head deeper into the earth, before, somehow, her hand slipped across the back of his head, and the God of Luck quickly rolled aside, catching his breath. “When mother finds out what you two are doing, don’t expect to be able to take such forms again within a thousand Great Twilights.”

Ulaveil was acutely aware of the flipping coin, which was slowly making its way to the earth beneath it, as well as the pocket watch in her brother’s hand. Facing against just one of the greatest artefacts was difficult, but two? Without the scale, she would have had no chance, but right now her chances were even.

“Sister, please, if mother spots us fighting, she’ll be upset,” Klok said, bending backwards to dodge the golden thread, which was nowhere near as great as the three artefacts in their possession, but was still more than enough to maim a God for a few millennia.

“Adam is my charge,” Ulaveil snarled, baring her teeth towards her siblings. “How dare you barge in!”

“You won’t share your toys with us?” Klok asked, clicking the secondary timer again, but found the form of his sister above him, bringing the bottom of the scales down upon his head.

A red thread slipped out of the scale and wrapped Klok’s waist, pulling him aside, the scale narrowly missing him. Ulaveil’s brows pulsed again, as her glare fell upon Ono. “I should have known it was you!”

“There are beings and matters beyond any of us,” Ono said, calmly. “This is merely one of those things.”

“This isn’t any fool you’re messing with, brother,” Ulaveil said, staring into her brother’s eyes, but she could see the flipping coin still makings its way down past him. “If he finds out you were the one to make him miss his children’s birthday…”

“It is unlikely it would move into the Divine Realm,” Ono replied.

“The word unlikely is infinitely different to the word impossible.”

Ono remained silent for a long moment, a moment that was perfectly as long as Ulaveil would wait before she would act. “How would he know it was us?”

“Why wouldn’t I tell him?”

“Come now, sister,” Klok said, holding his pocket watch in his left hand, daring not to use it as a weapon while his sister possessed the scales. “You wouldn’t.”

“To think that the pair of you would work together,” Ulaveil said, the golden thread beginning to float into the air, slowly shifting like gentle waves as she readied herself. She didn’t have much time left, and if she wasn’t able to stop the coin…

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“Don’t remind me,” Klok cackled, before he stepped forward. “I never want to hear about it again!”

“It must be done,” Ono said, stepped forward as he called forth a golden staff from nothingness, clashing against the scales. His golden staff shook violently, threatening to shatter as it came across an artefact that was beyond even its own might. His staff could guarantee the existence of an entire empire for its wielder, but it was nothing more than a toy against the scales.

Klok did his best to deal with the golden thread, making sure it didn’t wrap around any part of him, while using his pocket watch to freeze it in place. He couldn’t make to attack, but he could keep Ulaveil pinned here while the coin continued to flip.

With every roll of the dice, with every flip of a coin, a new timeline would form. Adam’s actions, whether he did something or nothing, changed the world with each instance, in the same way that every being’s actions helped change the world.

Justinian Blackwater was the King of Aldland.

It was not because the Black and Yellow ships had stopped a rebellion due a disease spreading like wildfire.

It was not because the Iyr had assisted the Kingdom during the Demonic Devastations.

It was not because Solomon the Wise relented to the Iyr’s demands.

It was not because the first treaty between them, the longest standing alliance to date, was forged.

It was not because Kal Blakvatr slew the Dragon which plagued their land.

It was not because the enchanter enchanted the blade with specific properties.

It was not because the smith who forged the blade had tempered it so perfectly.

It was because all of these things, and the countless little decisions made by many others, were true.

Yet, if the smith had not tempered the blade well enough, then the enchanter would have decided against enchanting the blade. Then Kal Blakvatr wouldn’t have had the courage to face the Dragon, and perhaps this land would have been full of the Iyrmen, or the Drakken, or the Aswadians.

Adam had come across an insurmountable foe.

Adam had delayed more of his adventures due to gaining children.

Adam had delayed assisting Dunes properly during the year.

Such a timeline pointed to misfortune. It was not because Adam, a single person, held so much power. It was just that, if all of these things were true at once, it meant the world was heading towards disaster.

Ulaveil inhaled deeply as she managed to dodge catch the golden staff with her golden thread, keeping it pinned. She had also managed to pin Klok’s foot into the earth with the bottom of her scale staff. She let out a soft sigh, before her entire body glowed gold.

“I knew I smelled you rats!” the Goddess exclaimed, filled with a passionate fury. She had been far too calm during the bout, and in order to maintain balance, she allowed the fury to overwhelm her.

The scales shook violently, balancing themselves constantly as the trio of Gods engaged in battle. The staff met the scales, still barely managing to remain intact against the artefact. Klok bobbed and weaved through the golden thread, spinning and flipping around as he continued to freeze it in place for a second at a time. He could barely manage to keep it from slicing him apart, but it was all that was required of him.

“How dare you interfere with my rights!” Ulaveil continued to press Ono backwards, having forced his Luck into Balance with her scales. Klok continued to try and bother her while his siblings fought seriously.

Klok froze the golden thread in place, panting as he found the effort of dealing with a God far more troublesome. ‘You should have called for Sekond instead.’ His entire body began to grow heavy as he dodged the thread, freezing it as it almost cut his neck clean off, bowing once more. However, as he froze the golden thread in place, he watched as a small golden bead pierced through his chest.

Klok fell before his sister, coughing up blood as the bead settled itself within him, and begun to poison his body with its magic. His entire body tensed up and convulsed, but he managed to land in such a way that the pocket watch was covered by the rest of his body, protecting it from Ulaveil’s wrath.

With his brother downed by Ulaveil’s bead, Ono called forth divine magic. Golden light surrounded him and began to engulf Ulaveil, but it was torn apart by her golden thread, before the scale struck Ono in the gut, and his entire body rocked with pain as his bones shattered.

As Ono stumbled backwards, Ulaveil struck the earth with the staff of her scales, with a dome of light beginning to expand towards Ono, and made its way towards the coin behind him.

As the coin fell to the earth, the light began to near it, threatening to force it upwards.

The light stopped a mere hair’s width away from it, and Ulaveil turned to see Klok wiping his blood across the pocket watch’s face, while he smiled in the way that he did. She heard the coin drop, and her eyes darted towards it.

Tails.

“Mother damn it.”

‘I can prob-,’

Adam gasped as the earth beneath his feet gave way, and the entire group fell within the newly formed hole which had appeared in the blink of an eye. It wasn’t dark as one might have expected, but rather full of colours mingling together. Golden light flashed nearby, but before they could see its source, the colours engulfed the group as they fell.

Adam’s mind was blank as he fell into the sea of colours, his entire body tingling as the magic invaded the area around him, flashing hot and cold repeatedly. Adam was ready to cast his spell onto the teens as Kitool’s voice rang through the air.

“Grab onto someone!” the Iyrman cried, grabbing onto Jaygak, who was closest to her.

“By the Gods!” Remy shouted as the colours struck him all over, and began to pull him away like a river. Jeremy fared no better as the sea of colour began to drag him down.

Adam swam through the colours, which ran all across his body, before he grabbed their wrists. “Calm down!” Adam shouted, though his own heart pounded wildly with uncertainty.

The Half Elf glanced around to see the teens grabbing onto each other. He heard Vonda praying as she held her shield, calm in the storm of colours, but Jurot grabbed her and swam towards Adam.

“Jurot!” Adam shouted. “What the fu-,”

The sea of colour raged around them, before dragging them under, until all was black.