Vasariametz

Coincidence.

It was a word that explained happenstance. The small chance of something outside the norm occurring. It explained the little details that seemed to coincide with one another just enough to draw attention but not so much that people look deeper.

Coincidence.

A word that Vasariametz did not like to use. Using it meant that he did not know something and after how many years he had lived, that was unacceptable.

It was the marker of mystery, of something subtle that could possibly lead to something more. A thread to be pulled and explore where it went. It could lead to something, or it could lead to nothing, sometimes a coincidence was truly a coincidence.

More often than not, though, that wasn't the way the multiverse worked. After many eons, it was hard to say anything was truly a coincidence. They were in the 7th age already, there were so few new things that happened after so long.

There were reasons for everything. Why life bloomed on one planet and not another. Why planets formed in certain ways to gain certain affinities. Why the universe worked the way it did.

Vasariametz was far older than most thought he was and there were so few coincidences that caught his eye.

Few things that intrigued him.

As most Gods in the multiverse could attest, an intrigued Vasariametz was one of the worst things that could happen.

One of the downsides of living for as long as he had was the knowledge he possessed. The sheer extensiveness meant that there was nothing new to learn. No new explorations to be had or adventures to seek.

Nothing to excite him like before when he was a new God exploring the multiverse. So, when something caught his interest now, it was hard to let go.

Like currently.

Vasaria had pinged around to all the different realms and pantheons he liked to frequent, mostly to cause mischief, but often to see what everyone was doing. Keep tabs on things. It was quite easy to just let the years slip by and he had already done enough of that. Integrations usually started a buzz of activity that made things interesting for a time.

The tutorials, the sponsorships, the blessings. New worlds to explore and witness. Sometimes even new lifeforms to be introduced. Though the last one was sparklingly rare, nothing was impossible. Most often variations of more common lifeforms were the most an integration would have.

He still remembered the wind-blessed Earth worms a few integrations ago. Those were a surprise. Flying Earth Worms.

Integrations were always fun. He took this time to check in and stir up whatever he could, fun to be had and feathers to ruffle. It gave him something to do and that was always welcomed.

Except for now.

Things were not how they seemed and the small coincidences did not add up in the ways he liked. Things were not how they were meant to be. Someone was stirring things up and he knew exactly who it was.

While Vasariametz wouldn't claim to be the oldest God in the multiverse, few could claim to be older. Most as old as he had left, ventured into the void to seek out something new or die along the journey.

Others went into seclusion and have yet to come out. Immortality didn't treat everyone the same.

The rest died for one reason or another. The Fracturing War took a lot of them. A great many perished during that trying age.

The reason he knew exactly who it was that pulled the strings was because so few were capable of such a feat and even fewer had the interest. Most had given up on playing puppeteer after the novelty wore off and that was millennia ago for most.

He noticed it early on during this new integration while he was popping around his usual spots. Small things here and there that didn't add up to much on their own, but painted a specific picture when put together.

A terraform of a new planet that went unexpectedly, a bloodline introduced that was unusual. The direct seeding of a planet with certain creatures. The placement of certain planets next to each other.

The specific Pantheons and Gods who were chosen to host integration tutorials.

The worst, and what finally kicked him into action, was the reintroduction of creatures onto a planet they were long dead from. The revitalization of Mystic bloodlines and magics that had long left their world of origin.

Buried under the earth for thousands of years only to be dug up and reconstituted now that the planet had been terraformed. Add to that the unusually high grade of said planet, upgrading to B-grade rather than the C-grade it should have been. Yeah, things were not as they should be.

Someone was doing something they weren't supposed to do.

Which led Vasariametz to where he was now, standing on the border of a place he swore he wouldn't return. Planning to confront a being he swore he would never face again.

His hesitation was clear. Even as old and powerful as he was, he hesitated to cross into the domain in front of him.

His curiosity won out and he entered the Heart of the Universe.

There was no hiding from the being he approached. They knew where he was at all times, even knew the hesitation he showed before entering. Which made it unsurprising that his journey ended at a table with chairs at the ready and steaming tea freshly poured atop it.

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Even though the furniture was the highest possibly craftsmanship in the known universe, he skipped over it and his eyes locked on to the person occupying it. She sat there motionlessly, watching as he approached and sat at the offered chair. Her features were the same as the first time he had seen her, without a wrinkle of age or the fading of time to mark the difference since he had seen her last.

The conversation started as it always did. Without deviation from the thousands of times he had been here.

"I assume you understand the price that must be paid?" She asked full of mirth.

No doubt amused at the fact he was once again within her domain. Once more having to pay the price. Those same words started every conversation they had had.

The price.

Vasariametz knew well the price that must be paid but played his part nonetheless, "Yes, I assume you want the usual?"

His first words to her in millennia.

"The borders of High King Dain could use assistance." She said.

Bah, Dain was a humorless bastard. Vasari thought to himself. The stubborn dwarf was closer to sculpted rock than flesh and blood. That border detail was going to be a dry one, but with payment finalized, the conversation could start.

Only, he didn't know how. The great Vasariametz, lost for words. Which question to ask first? It had been a long time since he had been here and questions had built over the years.

Fortunately, he didn't have to for she did it for him.

"MetzArillion of Vasaria:

The Valliant

The Vanguard

The God of Death and Aegis of Life

The First Grandmaster

Last of the Creators"

She regaled, pausing before his last title. His most recent in ages and a look of sadness flashed before she finished.

"The Forgotten."

These weren't titles he had given himself. They weren't the funny monikers or names he chose to go by at random times. These were different, they carried a weight that given names lacked. A weight the very world itself imposed. They carried Truths with them, of great deeds and accomplishments. A record of the life he had lived.

Names the universe bestowed upon him for what he had done.

He had to fight the rising visceral feeling at hearing his full name again. He hadn't gone by that since... those memories were better left alone. He wasn't here for that.

Not many knew his full name, fewer knew the extent of his titles, but she knew both. Every last one. For she was the one who awarded them and they didn't come lightly.

There wasn't a being in existence who had more. None alive at least.

After announcing what was better left buried, she asked the question, "Why are you here?"

It was funny hearing that from her. She knew almost everything that happened in the multiverse, yet she was asking anyway. There was zero chance she didn't know already.

"Did you think I wouldn't notice?" Vasaria said.

There was no need to say anything more. She knew to what he was referring.

Her expression didn't change at his accusation. Calmly picking up her teacup, blowing on it, and taking a sip. No doubt made with tea leaves so precious they would bankrupt even gods to purchase.

"I knew you would notice." She said with a small smile, putting the teacup back on the table, "My prediction of you returning here was less certain."

Vasaria stared, waiting for an answer. Expecting an answer.

"There are stirrings. Signs that indicate troubled times." She said finally.

He sighed. That was what he was afraid of. The few times she had done something like this before were on the eve of upheaval.

"How bad?" Vasaria asked.

"Nothing serious as of yet. Only inklings and possibilities." She said.

His mind chewed on the new information and he couldn't help but ask, "Do you know where yet?"

"Where do you think?" She smirked at him knowingly. Like she was waiting for him to put the pieces together.

Right, he should have known that. He was letting seeing her again mess with his head.

Knowing did little to assuage his fears. Nothing yet did not mean nothing ever, only that it could be a while before it arose.

"Now come, ask the question you want the answer to. I know you met with him before the integration." She poked jovially.

It was one of the pressing questions he wanted the answer to and she knew it. His meeting with Callum wasn't that long ago, barely a moon ago by his time.

"Why do you let him do it? Less than 10% of the participants survived this time and that was one of the good ones. Sometimes, there aren't any survivors at all." He asked, "You let him lead pigs to the slaughter."

"I don't let him do anything." She said firmly, unpleased with his accusation, "But, the loss in participants is minuscule compared to the impact they could have. The times when there are survivors mean there are people to drive the planet forward.

"The trials that he puts them through in his twisted sense of sadism make them strong. Makes them durable and harder to break. Stout and enduring. While all of them have died since, they drove people forward just from their mere presence. Just because of the strength they possessed.

"What he is given is a fraction, of a fraction, of a fraction, of a population and that is an acceptable loss in the hopes they might achieve something great. If they survive the tutorial, they are a factor of change that is needed on newly integrating planets. Live or Die in the end, what they do is needed.

"This integration fared better than most. I do not need to point out to you the person of which I speak." She stated smugly, knowing he couldn't refute her words.

Vasariametz, of course, had noted the person she was speaking of. It was hard to miss one of the standouts of the integration.

"What's the furthest one of his made it? I haven't cared to keep track." He queried, thinking to the previous ones to make it out of Callum's tutorial.

"The furthest made it to A-rank before they could go no further. Early mishaps made the leap to S-rank impossible." She answered with perfect recall. A feature he didn't envy in her.

There were other questions he had and he didn't wish to speak of Callum any longer. He was a spiteful, angry little man better left alone, but there was one more on the subject he wanted to know and she had opened the door for it.

"The man of Ice, the leading figure coming out of that tutorial, why did you meddle in his rewards?" He asked one of his more pressing questions, "He should not have been able to afford that technique. The Stars of Primordial Frost hasn't been seen since Ymir's age."

"I meddled in plenty more than just his," She said with a smirk, "Why ask about his specifically?"

It was hard not to get frustrated at her when she did things like that. She knew why. She knew the connection he had to that technique and why he would ask about it. The only reason to ask was to make him say it.

"He does not have the strength to complete it." Vasaria said ruefully, almost with a hint of sadness, "You have doomed him like all others before him."

Vasariametz knew that technique better than anyone. The person who made it was long gone but some things were timeless, and this was one of them.

The man might make it far along its path, but he would never be able to finish it. It wasn't a technique made for the likes of him, it was made for someone more. A long lost friend had made that technique and it had not been seen since.

She didn't respond immediately to that, only a sly smile and a sip of tea before muttering, "We shall see. That sentimental fool will go farther than you give him credit."

Vasaria grimaced at that. She had never understood sentimentality. Didn't give objects the same weight as others. It was one of the few quirks she hadn't picked up over the years and the very same reason Vasaria swore to never come back here. To never face her again.

Vasaria could hardly imagine a person asking the System itself for a patch of dirt and rock as a reward.

It was hard not to smile at that.

Their conversation continued for a long time, yet the tea remained steaming by the end.

The physical manifestation of the System could do far more than just keep tea warm.