“Amor Fati – “Love Your Fate”, which is in fact your life.”

― Friedrich Nietzsche

Seated atop a throne of gnarled, living wood, Verander swallowed a mouthful of blackened blood. His hand swiped over his lips and he licked the drop that remained from his fingers. Carved across his left eye, the word BANISHED glowed like an ember, a scar that refused to heal.

Fists clenched into iron balls, Verander ground his teeth. The galaxies in his eyes spun rapidly, and the air around him trembled. His earthen hall creaked, the women who waited on him dragged to their knees by the weight of his rage.

"Send word to the Relic World," He snarled, his voice loud enough that his servants slumped unconscious to the ground. "A child of the titan has been born."

From the corner of the room, a shadow separated itself from the rough-hewn logs.

"As you command my lord," it spoke, its true shape undiscernible beneath its heavy grey robes. "I shall go personally."

"You'd better, you fool," Verander bellowed. His throne splintered behind him as he pressed his back into the wood. "If a titan walks free, then I will reap your life before my master tears out my heart."

The thin figure bowed, before it sank into the darkness at their feet. A wise retreat, as Verander itched to crush the life from an unwilling soul. He leaned forward, chin placed on his palms. His deep frown more like a snarl as his eyes dimmed. Fear flickered over him. He stood with a jerk, then fell to his knees.

Before him stood a kindly old man, dressed in the robes of a scholar. His long beard faded to white. It hung from a smooth, liver-spotted head. Mountainous eyebrows arched heavily over luminous eyes, the wings of an owl perched on his face. He clutched a long ruler, pressed into the ground like a cane as he squinted at Verander.

"Quite an impressive use of runic language." He huffed as he leaned closer to Verander's scarred eye. "It touches on the mastery of the gods." He reached out a knarled finger and held it in place, just above the sightless orb.

"I'm sorry master, I fail..."

The old man waved his hand, and silence reigned. Verander's voice was locked away from the world, his open mouth useless as his visitor smiled.

"I know Verander, nothing escapes my sight, not even down there." The suspended finger shone, and the pattern on Verander's eye faded, but did not disappear. "It will vanish on its own in ten years." He turned his back to the muted Verander and took a step that carried him beyond sight. His voice drifted in the air, a final hook for Verander's frayed nerves. "Nothing escapes their fate Verander, do not fail me again."

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"Of course, fate is absolute." Verander choked out.

He glanced around. Satisfied he was now 'alone,' he stood and walked out the door. Framed for a moment against a savage jungle, Verander stood on the living tree that was his castle.

Nothing is absolute, or you wouldn't be so frightened of the Titans, old man.

He grinned, and lept upwards. In less than a second, he stood in the sky above his world. In all directions, an endless, vast flat plain filled with savage life. Countless continents nestled in a dark ocean. Grasslands and deserts, jungles and tundra, all environments existed here.

Fate... Verander spat, the glob targeted at the imagined face of his 'master.' The man was powerful, certainly, but he was uncreative. A fool who followed the ramblings of the universe, a blind man who left the navigating to the Cosmic Ocean itself.

One day, I'll watch as that damned ruler gets shoved up your arrogant ass.

Verander waved his hand and opened a portal. Ten years was nothing, yet each time he considered his banishment, the stars in his eyes threatened to combust into novas.

Verander's teeth ground together. The friction created sparks as he stepped through the open gateway. He emerged on the other side, and a flash of bewilderment crossed his face before he slammed into the crystalline ground below.

This was not his target destination, but he dared not struggle. The being that stood, back faced to him in a lack of respect, could not be opposed. It peered deep into the shattered portal that spun before them, voice like shards of glass under his skin.

"You had a single job, Verander," The mirrored face tilted upward, suspended within a mass of silver fabric, "Maintain a connection to the relic world's surface."

Its curved surface was a deluge of frowns as it turned to face the cowering god. The reflected looks of dissatisfaction trembled, replaced by thousands of eyes. They pierced into Verander's face, locked onto the rune of banishment that still covered his eye.

"Ode has done what can be done," The mirrored figure reached out, two satin fingers that wrapped toward the trembling Verander. "Ten years... you've half-blinded me and rendered your usefulness to nothing for ten years!"

The grasp closed and Verander roared in pain, his body shrunken down, compressed into a shard of light.

The being gripped Verander's fragment, its face turned back to the shattered pieces that orbited the portal.

"Since you're useless, then return to the melange." With a flick of the wrist, Verander tumbled through the air, horror in his eyes as he fell into the uncountable shards. "I can call on another until your ten years are up."

Verander roared as he fell, countless faces pressed to his own. Their thoughts and his blended, a shared experience of despair that had no end.

The figure reached out and seized a different crystal from within the vortex. He tossed it out, and the fragment expanded. In its place stood a middle-aged woman, shoulder-length brown hair held in a sensible bun. She wore functional clothing, a pair of loose pants and a long-sleeved woolen shirt. Their practicality failed to hide their quality, and even from a distance, the finely stitched fabric had a velvety texture.

She turned her blue eyes to the mirrored face before her, no emotion in their cold depths. The pair were silent for a moment, the clash of the portal the only sound in the void.

"What is it now?" She asked, her tones clipped and brusk. "A more personal torture than simmering in that melting pot of screaming souls?"

A Cheshire grin slid up the mirror's face to replace her reflection. Despite her nature, the animal part of her reacted. Her hackles raised as her blood sored through its cycle at ten times the speed.

"It's time you went on a vacation, Syy," The mechanical tones grated on her nerves as the things grin widened. "I need you to keep watch on the surface, Verander has bungled his job as a watchdog yet again."

Syy's eyes flashed, a ripple in the calm waters that vanished as rapidly as it came.

"Fine," She said, her voice a fortress. "But I want to do what I want once I'm there." Syy straightened her back, eyes locked on the grinning mask. "You gave Verander that much."

"Of course!" The mask shifted once more and images of waving hands filled its face. "All that matters is you keep an eye on things," The smile returned, surrounded by many others. "Look around, make sure nothing goes off track."

Syy nodded, face blank, any thoughts buried safely within. She'd spent years within the melange and welcomed escape in any form, but she would not give the awful creature the satisfaction of her fear.

"Very well," Her eyes closed, braced against what was to come, "Send me then." As space screamed and tore around her, her skin pressed to her bones, then lifted and stretched away from her body.

"I will always hate that part. The pressure faded, and her nerves now informed her that her flesh was back in its place, so she opened her eyes.