Just beyond reality, connecting everything together were dreams searching twisting through themselves finding truths, lies, and everything in between. Her fate is spun and woven into the infinite tapestry of unending eternity.
Unbound, a man is wandering through the madness. Guiding Heroes and searching for something to save them. Nicki has no idea what would even work to save them, he just knew how unfair it all was to the people taken. The ones too young, the ones who stumbled through a door Nicki had left open, or even stop the ones broken by their own worlds or actions. Some people just needed to be stopped.
Nicki followed the pull of power drawn by the knots within. Knots, choices, or seemingly random events build to critical mass around the Hero threatening all those tangled within. He moved untangling these fates, cutting the threads, grabbing Heroes that would be otherwise they would be ripped out with untold damage. Still, it was unfair.
He tried to untangle them in a different way. Yet, no one wanted to do what it would take to simply unravel their string, instead of cutting it. Even when it was as simple as not crossing a bridge.
I am officially convinced if you have bad talent in a cultivating world tour just a twin soul, and the other half contains your talent. He thought leaving another transmigrater. It had to have been the hundredth cultivating person who had a twin soul, and they were all remarkably similar. Treated like trash, with terrible talent, and the ever-present one person who actually treated them normally. Then on the other side, the person was almost always paralyzed, or sickly. Some were just normal people but that was one or two.
He was feeling tired. He had been traveling nearly non-stop for the last week jumping from Hero to Hero. At some point, he stopped trying to talk people out of it just observing and helping where he needed to. Canning knot after knot.
He passed a world one might call holy and took a look, Angel...huh a fourth dimensional being. Explains why their description is so weird. He paused to wonder. Is that what I am now? Shaking off the thought he traveled ever deeper.
A group surrounded an alter as power circulated. Summoning circle. He watched feeling the power reach deep into the between, search for Heroes. Group summoning, again.
After guiding the power he turned away, as his eyes widened. “What's this?” Nicki found a particularly large knot. One so large and complex that it threatened to take the world in its entirety. “What is this?”
#
On a world controlled by fate. Just outside mortal ken, where the domain of Gods sits. A place where stories, myth, and reality intertwine. A creature of untold age, with the appearance of a rather well-kept man, holds up the sky. Here the man has stood since the world's creation and yet was once a part of the world living with his kin. A contradiction.
“You’re a myth.” A voice of another. In a place, no voice should be.
Shocked the Titan opened its eyes, something it hasn't done in centuries. And saw a mortal human. He could only stare speechless seeing one of the small clay creatures his brother had helped create so long ago. He was looking at something beyond himself, which should be impossible.
“You know. I didn't expect this to be so metaphorical. holding up the sky and all.”
Could he see the weave the fates have woven around me? “Human, how can such a thing as you be here?” His voice rolled like thunder through the sky.
“By following fates.”
“No. Mortal you can not be here.”
“But I am.” The man never looked away from Fate's binding.
“No, you should be dead, dissolved into the primordial chaos between realms just standing there.”
The man laughed. “I'm a special case.”
“What are you?” For the first time, the titan truly looked at him. There was no fate on him. It was disconnected or non-existent. From what he knew should not be possible. Yet so many things about this shouldn’t have been possible. “I cannot see your thread.”
“Oh, a hint!” He said excitedly. “I thought it was just me who couldn't. Makes sense now that I think about it. As for what I am. No idea.”
“Riddles, and impossibilities.” The titan answered tiredly. “Mortal. What have you come here for?”
“Hmm...” He turned back to the titan, “Curiosity?”
He looked down at the daring creature. “You walked beyond the mortal plane, into the Godly realm out of curiosity?
He shrugged, “I might also be searching for something.”
The titan laughed a deep booming laugh. “If I didn't know what you were before. I have no doubt you are most certainly a human.”
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“Yeah...so…” The man looked serious, “Do you want to put down the fate of the world?”
So long he wished he could just be a part of the world again. “I can't it is my punishment. I just support the sky else the people will be crushed, and the fates would never allow it.”
“Why?”
“Because it is a punishment.”
“For what?”
“For not being hospitable.” He said simply.
The man looked up incredulously, “And you deserve eternity holding that.” Pointing to the weave of fate he held.
“No, but it is too late now. If I stop the people and world would collapse.”
“No, they won't?” He answered. Surprising the Titan.
“They will. My thread is the only thing holding the tapestry together.” There was a time he could have set the sky down. But now he was too integral to the world itself.
“Yeah. That's the point. They tricked you.’
“What?” How could they have tricked me? I can see the weave myself.
The man looked annoyed, “Fate is not meant to be weaved by mortal or immortal hands. It is free will that weaves itself. Not Gods or any other.”
“But if I set it down.”
“It will unravel, and fate will flow like it's supposed to. Don't know if it will undo anything. But I can see it now.” The man paused before hesitantly adding. “Though if you just set it down. There will be a lot of problems.”
“...mortal how can you know this? It is beyond one such as yourself.”
“I was taught, and I have learned. I am still learning. There is so much, I still need to know.”
Could he be right? Or is this another trick? He couldn’t help but hope. “Are you certain about all this?”
“Yeah. Your string is literally woven through every part of this world. Binding it. Constraining people forcing them on paths they might otherwise not take.”
The Titan drooped. “Then there is nothing to do but hold it up.”
“I can help.” He smiled up at the Titan pointing. “The question is that what do you want?”
The audacity of this mortal stunned the Titan as he bellowed out a thunderous laugh. “A mortal making a deal with a Titan.” Showing teeth. “Are you going to grant me great power too?”
The man scratched his cheek. “Kinda.”
The titan blinked at the little thing. Unsure of what to make of all this. He had humored it as he was bored but it dangled its freedom, and he could feel no falsehoods. “And what do you want in return?”
“Live a good life.”
“What?”
"That's it. You might play Hero in another world, maybe you'll be a demon, or maybe you won't be any of that. But, and this is a big but. You won't be tied through fate. This is your crossroads. Which direction will you take Titan?”
#
On the other side of reality, around the corner where mortals dwell. Three Sisters are having a bad day.
One sister is frantically gathering threads of fate trying to reweave the tapestry only for it to constantly unravel. “No no no no.”
“What is happening?” One sister stares in disbelief.
One sister just screams. “Ahhhhhh!”
They had meticulously weaved throughout the eons and now it was all falling apart. All their plans, schemes, and fortunes carefully weaved. now Gone.
A King was deposed, which should have rained for another ten years just long enough for the church to install a priest as one of his advisers. It would have strengthened the religion and created essentially a theocracy for generations. The new king was the complete opposite destroying plans and limiting the church's influence.
A baby was born with the ability to cast magic, that should have died.
A beastkin was questioning their God, and he would rise to power.
A Titan chained to a rock catches the bird that is to eat his insides eating it in turn. Soon he would be free.
“What is going on?!” One of the sisters shouted as they desperately searched for whatever had undone all their work.
“Where is it where is it?” One sister shouted searching the tapestry when she found it. “No no no”
“Sister, what is it?”
“He’s gone!” She shouted.
“How! How! He would have to put the burden down but that would have destroyed everything. The world would have ended not this.”
“I don't know but he's not there.”
“The other Gods?” The sister looked nervous.
“We must tell them, and find out who did this.”
The screaming sister finally stopped as she looked over to the side of a small square piece of paper. “I think I might.” The two sisters turn as she holds up a business card with two words.
Hero Inc.
#
“I don't what to do anymore this is all too much.” A girl throws a book across the room. Tears forming in her eyes. It was all becoming too much for her. She just wasn’t understanding the arcane symbols. Why do they contradict themselves?
A giant of a man chuckles. “The weight of the world on your shoulders is it?”
Diane looked up at her father. “Yes!! The world everything all hinges on what I do next.” They all expected her to do amazing things. She just couldn’t choose the right place. “If...if...I choose wrong.”
Her father sat on the bed, and calmly said, “The world will go on."
She turned to him annoyed, “But I won't.”
“You will die?” He said in shock. “I didn't think picking the wrong school. Would be so life and death.
“...its...”
Diane felt a firm hand on her shoulder large enough to engulf her head. Yet she only felt reassurance with it there. “No. Look, daughter. I know what it feels like to hold the world.” He smiled. “It is a pressure, holding you in place. A responsibility you take up yourself. But you forget to see what's around you, missing the obvious.”
“But my friends are going to Magia Miles Academiae, and if I go there I'll just be, your Daughter. Not Diane Titania.” She looked away. “I want to be more than that.”
“Here is the thing.” He leaned in. “No matter where you go. You'll always be my Daughter. It's just up to you to let it define you or not.”
“But my friends, are depending on me.” She didn’t want to go so long without seeing them. They’d have so many adventures without her. Who would help them study? Then her teachers would already have sky-high expectations. She hated being used as an example.
Her father laughed. “Trust me, they'll be fine, so will you. Go. Live. Don't let the weight of the world hold you down. I know it's scary like you'll let the world down. But you know what will happen?”
She guesses. “They fail?”
“Maybe. But it won't be your fault. None of it will be. You are only responsible for you...” He trailed off before adding. “Right now. Maybe one day you'll have a family.”
“Thanks, dad.” The two sat in silence.
“You still have no idea, do you?” He asked with a smirk.
“No. Ughhhh”
#
On a moon, a Djinn and a sword wander the halls of an office building needing some time away from the others. They were walking close to the dreaded office when they heard a loud Honk.
“Not another one,” Illia said as the sword pinged in agreement. Letting out a long tired sigh she went to explain the situation. Again.