The sky is black, yet the dull perpetual purple hue lingers in the air. My arms are stinging… why? Why are they covered in cuts and slices? Some are beginning to heal while others are fresh, this must have been going on for days. Was this really the promise? I suppose the Watcher did promise that I would have my body back after it was done with Fa, so does this mean it is done with Fa? The futures… they are different now. Before at a moment's notice, I could turn into Fa and never return. I can see so many outcomes yet this one was such a low percentile one. The Watcher must have done something to change the future – bring something to light that made Fa hurt himself. Hurt me. Is this something directed at me? If so, why is it merely cuts? He is someone that would remove a limb to make a statement. By Wol’zarath he was the one who was joking around as hundreds of bodies were being claimed and dredged up from his awful deeds. Yet I am back. These futures, they are flawed. In the planes, they are quite accurate – the future that is most likely to happen will occur in millions of different ways, while the things that are less likely will happen merely thousands. My brain, my constant headache, it is never ending yet the constant dull pain of an impossible amount of information being injected into my eyes falls into the background as time goes on. Only when I think about it does it rear its ugly head once again.

“You call my wonderful gift ‘ugly’? That is quite unfortunate.”

“I am merely a human. I lack the mental and physical abilities you must have. These futures – I would be useless if someone were to ask me for their future. Even if I wanted to do something like win a bet, I could probably guess the outcome but there is no certainty. It is extreme constant pain and risk for a confusing minimal reward. This is a curse – you know it and so do I. There is no way around it, I have been cursed. Just like Fa was, or is? May I ask you a question?”

“Of course, Gan.”

“So many futures, yet this question is one I do not often ask: you wish to get Fa back. I have seen it so often – your desire is to rekindle Fa’s life and return his soul. You firmly believe that he is but a memory stored by the knife. How? How can you return a soul? By Gan’la there is no real proof that souls even exist outside of a mere explanation of consciousness.”

“Souls, they do exist however, I have a different perspective of what a soul is. For you, a soul is an explanation of consciousness and the truth is actually not too far off. A soul is consciousness. It is the ability to perceive the world and make decisions. It is the ability to react and have emotions that are more complex than fight or flight – and yet those could embody souls as well. Monsters? They have souls. Granted, it is different, but fundamentally they are the same.”

“So… souls are real, yet could just be consciousness. So, what you are saying is that your ‘blessings’ alters one's consciousness somehow?”

“Wow, I would applaud your conclusion if you could survive such a – well, that matters not. Indeed, that is one way of looking at it. Your consciousness now perceives a near-infinite potential outcomes constantly. Fa’s consciousness is forever altered to always desire to do good and be sickened by evil. The true skill and joy of curses is making one ripple that causes a tsunami.”

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I look down at the pitch-black road and watch my feet as I walk. Left, right, left, right, left, right – there is no door in sight. I still have quite a few days of supplies. The more I move – the more I walk, the faster I can get out of here and…

“Watcher, another question if you don’t mind?” I look up at the dark purple sky.

I wait a few moments “Yes?”

“Well, you did not really answer the second part of my question. How are you going to bring Fa’s soul back?”

“There is always a possibility that he can return. A possibility that he can come back to life, no matter how long it has been. That potential is what I am hoping for, but alas there are other ways to do it. I think the potential of Fa returning is high enough to put my current eggs in that basket, however, if not, I have plans b through z.”

“And if none work?”

“Well, then we will become quite good friends, won’t we?”

“Friends, huh? You didn’t really come across as someone wanting friends, more wanting to watch humanity burn for what it has done.”

There is a pause. The sky splits down the middle and twists into a long crescent moon of blinding purple light. A smile.

“Yes, Gan. I knew you would understand.”

The split recedes and I am left in darkness once more.

“So, the faster I get there, the faster you can see what future will occur?”

I get no answer. This is a rhetorical question after all – confirmation that I heard it right. My stomach rumbles, a perfect time to stop, eat and think. I sit down and chew on rations that replaced flavor with pure salt. Food from the plane of purity is always abhorrent. I close my eyes, yet the futures do not end. The future… what does it hold for me? Walking, walking, and more walking yet I do eventually get to the door. Strange, normally there is at least a few futures where I die horribly, but there is… nothing. An absence of outcomes. An eerie silence that is… more horrifying than any future I have ever seen. It is not like I am seeing futures anymore. Only one path is before me – I walk forward. I reach the door. I open it. There is the blinding light out on the other side, and then nothing. Just an endless harsh light that consumes my very soul. I can feel warm and cold, afraid and content, haunted yet enthralled. The plane of potential, will it return my life, or will it raze it to the ground? If Fa is reborn and I no longer have to return to the road, will I be able to return? Will I be free? Will I be a guard again or will I be forever broken? Forever haunted by the mistakes of my life.

My childhood was cut short by Fa and Savra, and now my adult life has been cut short by Gan and Savra.

I am a villain – not to the world but to myself. If only I hadn’t acted, if only I had waited to learn more – if only I did not let my emotions take hold. I truly was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was like everything was set up just for me. A test. A test that I was woefully unprepared for. If I could have controlled myself for a little longer, I might not have done anything and then Fa would still be on this walk yet… yet everything happens for a reason, right Gan’la? A gale can turn stone into dust, yet the dust ends up as the building block of life. My life has been blown to dust, do does that mean I will become a building block of life? Of change?

I stand up. I still have one more meal before the door. One more chance for peace before I am truly ground down to nothingness by the gale of life.

Time passes.

I have arrived.

I close my eyes and take a deep, calming breath. You can do this, Gan! You are so close! Please, by all the planes, land, and Wol’zarath, let the best outcome occur. I reach for the door. I open my eyes and turn the handle.

A blinding light consumes me.