"---------."

"------."

"---."

"Should I gamble, or should I not?"

"---."

"Should I gamble, or should I not?!"

"---."

"Should I gamble, or should I not?!! Tell me!"

"Of course, you should, after all, if you do not, you will dissipate."

"But if I fail, I will be done. After all, I have no idea where I am, and no idea where I will be if I do it."

"Does it truly matter if you know where you are or not? You will be done anyway. Dragging me with you alongside, for that matter."

"---------."

"------."

"---."

"How much time has passed since then?"

"Hmm---, the passage of time in the absence of something to orient your senses, can be rather tricky after all. But a moment in this darkness can pass on a heartbeat or an eternity."

"So does that mean I am here from time immemorial?”

"No---, you idiot, listen to your pulsations of energy, you will get a sense of time if you count and deduct them correctly."

"Sigh---, I do not know how, and---, all the fate has but died. Truly, this is our greatest disaster---. So, can you tell me how time has passed since then?"

"Telling you will be nothing but problems, so I will refrain from doing so. Do not bug me, if you will not take action."

"Y---y--y-youuuuu!"

"---------."

"------."

"---."

Darkness was everything, but a voice could be heard arguing and discussing with one another. One voice, but two distinct tones could be distinguished, as one seemed insecure and crazy, while the other was flat and more grounded.

"So---, I will do it then?! No, I will really do it!! Watch me do it!!! This time, I will really do it!!!!!"

"Sigh---! Stay here and dissipate, try and dissipate, not much of a difference, but this way, you and I will have a chance to escape this hungry void. A difficult choice it is not, unless---, you are still afraid of your end?"

But as the voice of the mysterious madman was arguing on and on, with what seemed to be his other self in a different tone, emotion, and mental state, a light began to shine in the pure darkness from where the voice was coming. From the light that had been suddenly lit, a circle of nine candles could be seen standing on a wooden floor, made by a thick and courses set of wooden planks. Though out of the nine candles, only one was ignited, as the other eight were out, from having been almost but all consumed, as but a small part remained, to live as proof for their once burning existence. As for the last of the candles, the situation could not be said to be good, as there was not much of the candle left to burn, and the light was dim, weak, and ready to be blown out by the first small gale of wind.

Yet, the candle was not the most important observation to be done at the moment, for as the light from the candle expanded, the reflected light gave the existence of the madman, who could be finely seen, as his gaze was fixed on the candle below him.

A tall but slim man, with bronzed tanned, and youthful skin, no beard, eyes wide open, and a rather apathetic look, a disheveled and chaotic head of full of black with some rare white strands of hair, as he gave the impression of being at the end of his middle age, approaching the last phase of his life.

"My life's work, my ambitions, my desire. I will not let it end like this"

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"If even a single thought of my existence survives, I will never stop my quest of trampling fate."

"All I need is to find someone to experi--- to let inherit my life knowledge, and evolve someone into a supreme lifeform."

"Yes, yes---, that is right. All I have is to find the fate one, no---, that does not sound right, the courageous one, or the relentless one, yes---, this is better."

As the single dialogue continued, the confusion shifted to anger, joy, arrogance, and slyness, as they appeared on the madman's face, while he was using his right hand to hit his head, as though to fix his memories.

"Alright then! Let us do it then!! This time I will do it!!! Even if this is my, and your end!!!!"

As determination could be seen manifesting on the madman's face, his attention changed from the lit candle on the wooden floor to the wooden door, not more than three meters away from him, as the place could be deduced to be, nothing than a wooden cubical of four meters in each direction, with nothing more to add that the circle of candles, the madman and the door of the place.

"If you are to do it, then do not hesitate, go all in, or do not go at all! Do it fast!! The more time the door is open, the faster we are sucked dry of energy!!! One move, time to gamble!!!!"

"Alright!!!!!"

As the madman's heated and open conversation with himself ended, a severe countenance befall him, as he began to walk in front of the wooden door, of the wooden cube that he was in.

"Huuu!" --- "Haaaa!"

With a deep breath and then an exhale to calm himself, the madman raised his arms, to slowly, but forcefully push the door that seemed to be weighing an unimaginable weight, and as a slivering crack was opened, while in the same movement, a suction force came from what seemed to be an abyssal void, beyond the wooden door, as though a monster was trying to devour the very nature of existence, while the madman was just an insignificant man before it.

"Aaaaa----! I---, what have I done!!!. Aaaaaaa----, I am too scared, I take it back! I can not do it!"

"Fuuuuuck that---, you idiot, do it now!!!"

But despite the self-encouragement done prior, once the door was opened, the madman's courage plunged faster than the suction force that was draining his energy, as from beyond the door, from the black void outside of his wooden cube, in which he was, nothing could be seen, as emptiness and the feeling of the end was creating inside his mind.

"Do it! It is now or never. Hesitate, and we will be dead for sure. Hurry, the candle is burning faster than I predicted. At this rate, we will run out of energy in no time---, do it now!"

However, the strong return of the decisive tone, made the madman muster the courage to do what he had to do in the first place, as his eyes closed while pointing with his index finger ahead of him, as a strange occurrence happens in the void ahead of him, as a small flickering light took life while transforming in the circle of light that was closing in on the wooden cube.

"Good---, you did it! Continue, continue, time to see where we end up."

The light slowly enveloped the cube, as his senses of distance were first crushed and then elongated, as space, gravity, and even the time that the madman was experiencing it, became extremely odd.

"---."

But from the dark of the abyssal hungry void, to the light of the circle, to again darkness, then again to another blinding light, to in the end something that seemed to resemble a normal starry void, filled with stars, the wooded cube floated silently, with the man standing dumbly looking ahead.

"Aha-hah-aha, we---, I did it, the universe once again, and fate is all around the place once more."

"Yes. But where is this? I do not recognize the stars at all?"

"Does it matter, let us go and find the one to inherit our legacy, the fated relentless one?"

"You are right, we should---! Damnable thing---, the last candle is almost out."

"What!?"

"That is because you hesitated, and we have been drained far more than I anticipated---, fuck--, fuck-, search for the closest world fast. If it goes out, we are in real danger, if anyone will set their eyes on us."

As fast relief and ecstasy appeared on the madman's face, anxiety struck him even faster, as the serious tone, who was always focused, began to curse as the candle appeared to be almost gone while flickering as though to give up at any moment. But just as the madman finished his conversation, he flung his head out of the door, and of the cube made of wooden planks, with wide-open eyes, franticly scanning the unknown starry void, only to stop for a particular spot in the void, as the cube began to move at a maddening speed through space, as a little spot in blue with sparse spots of various colors increase in size, from a little coin to an enormous size planet.

"Mmm---, this looks---, good enough!? It is not the time to be picky, or to scan it completely."

It was after just a few breaths of time, that the man in the wooden cube, reached to a point where the planet covered his whole view.

Although half of the planet was dark and out of sight, due to it being on the other side, and not on the sun's orientation, but to the eyes and senses of the madman, all of it was no different than a flame in the dark, as every color that was witnessed during the day, could be seen in his eyes, as almost every lake, mountain, desert or forest were clearly perceived by him.

"Hmmm---, twenty continents, the planet is abnormally big, the continent one on the other side---, no good."

"The west and north look interesting. Although, the south and east are not bad eighter."

"We should avoid those already in the deep in their cultivation, or far too old and stupid to learn, this should eliminate quite a number of them. Now who to choose, a mortal or a cultiv---! What are you doing?!"

"We should let fate play itself."

"What fate should pla---, what the fuck are you doing!!!"

"We should let the fate of the universe guide us, the fated one awaits us."

"And by "guide" you mean let us fall on the planet at random?"

"Yes"

"You dumb moronic fool, you are betting our last hope, on randomness and your damn cursed fate!!?"

As the madman was spewing curses at himself while falling onto the planet, he did not take a good look at the place of his falling. As a relatively large continent surrounded by eight smaller ones was becoming bigger and bigger, as he was about to crash on the continent.

However, the crash was uneventful as, at the last moment, the wooden cube slowed from an extreme speed to that of a turtle's pace, until it landed on the ground, silently as a feather.

"Sigh---, whatever. Now, where are you, my test sub---, disciple!?"

Yet, as the madman glanced outside, he could see hills at his back, and a river bending towards the east, as a prairie expanded south from the hills and river, while a ground road was next to him.

But with the first ray of the sun breaching the night for a new day, light footsteps could be heard from the hills, as a little figure was walking the road, towards the bend of the river and road, right where the madman stood in his wooden cube.

"Sigh------! It seemed your fated one had wasted no time to appear."

"Ahamm----, ahaammm!!! Now come you who has great fate, strength, and courage, you w-who---, yo-yo-you-y-you are already dying, and I have done absolutely nothing?!"