Xopil clenched his fist in anger,  "Free will?  Every choice is yours to make?  A future of unlimited possibilities?  All lies and bullshit!"  the women around him jumped at his sudden outburst.  They took a moment to digest what he was saying. "Everything is predetermined.  You don't realise it, but you have a compulsion to act in a certain way, to do certain things.  And when the time is right, like now, I can't stop myself from talking, because in the future, this needed to happen.  Go ahead and argue the contrary, that living here and now we can shape our future."

"We have no such power," Xopil continued, "look at your lives.  Do you all believe you are here because you chose to be here?"

They looked at eachother in confusion.  Hadn't they?

"You act on impulse.  Everything you do, do you truly think over it until you finally make a choice or is the choice already predetermined for you, and you are just naturally drawn to that conclusion.  Drawn so naturally... that you think you actually made a choice, but all along that choice had long been already made for you."

"What?" six voices questioned in unison.

"You may even think that you asking that at the exact same time is merely a coincidence.  Even this speech of mine has happened the exact same way countless times already.  Fight against that impulse all you can, perhaps you'll fare better than I am so far."  Xopil continued before falling to the ground, "I truly, hope you can."

"You're saying we're being manipulated?" Felicyta asked.

"It goes beyond manipulated.  Controlled is more accurate," replied Xopil, "controlled to live in a certain way, to walk a single path to the future with no option for deviation."

"Then that means..." Xiara was interrupted.

"Everything alive, dead, inanimate and the various states in between, are nothing more than puppets to what has been predetermined to happen." explained Xopil.

"By who?" Calypso asked.

"Good question," Xopil shrugged, "But a better one would be, how to escape this situation.  Assuming this being can control literally everything, and all this has happened before exactly as it has, you might be thinking that at some point we'd break free.  How naive you'd be.  If we broke free at some point in the future, wouldn't we be free now?"

"But..." Calypso protested.

"Think about it.  Can you stop yourself from doing anything you're forced to do now, are you even aware of the influence?  I am being compelled to continue this conversation." At this moment, Xopil turned his head up and he looked at the sky, "Oh you're good alright, but I'll find a way."

----------------------------------------

Xopil opened his eyes to find Xiara staring at him; he asked, "Can't sleep?"

"No.  Too much to think about." she replied.

"Is staring at me while I'm sleeping helping?" Xopil asked.

"Yes, a little."

"So you're doubting if you feel the way you do about me is genuine or if it's because you are being forced to?" Xopil asked.  Xiara nodded slowly.

"There's some forces in existance that are too strong to bend, too willful to control, and too stubborn to die." Xopil stated flatly, "The future has been set in stone, just the same as the past. But you and I are more than simple travellers on this road, aren't we?"

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"You remember any more?" Xiara asked.

"It's hard to say if I'm remembering or if I'm being given back my memories.  But, as I'm inclined to fight this power, I'll go with 'I have remembered some more'... yet it's not enough yet." he replied as he sat up shifted his pillow against the headboard and leaned his back on it.

"What do you remember?" Xiara asked, while trying not to get distracted by his toned chest.

"My favorite meal is still the first time you cooked for me.  I believe you named the dish 'Love's Temptation'?", Xopil replied as Xiara slightly blushed from the memory.  He beckoned her closer.

"I meant anything useful." Xiara responded as she cuddled next to him.

"Remembering you isn't useful?" Xopil asked as he held her chin to stare into her eyes as he asked.

"I've missed this." Xiara replied, snuggling into him.

"If you could get any closer we'd be one person," Xopil chuckled as he wrapped his arm around her. "but yes, there's more I remember."

"And?" Xiara asked.

"Like how you hate being kept in suspense, and that your favorite color is black.  I still don't know why that is though, there are more beautiful colors, like that shade of red you're wearing on your face." Xopil teased.

"I don't get how you can be so clueless while you are so intelligent.  Your eyes are black.  Onyx to be precise.  And I can't get enough of looking at them.  Especially when you're using them to smile." Xiara replied softly.

"Oh, is that how it is?" Xopil replied indifferently.

"So I thought you were trying to be romantic for a minute, but I guess that was just a ruse?" Xiara scoffed as the door to their room opened and five women walked in.  Xiara turned her scorn on them, "Can we help you?"

"We're having trouble sleeping, and we heard you were still up..." Calypso offered.

"Maybe you can help us get our thoughts straight?" asked Beda.

"Xopil seems to be the only one unaffected by his little speech earlier," said Xiara, "So maybe he could offer some explanation."

"It's not that I'm unaffected... I'm just preoccupied trying to solve this puzzle." Xopil replied.

"About that, what is it with you and puzzles?" Felicyta asked.

"I feel a sense of accomplishment when I solve harder puzzles, isn't that normal?" Xopil asked.

"And this world is messed up... to appeal to your vanity?" Lexi tried to hide the anger in her tone.

"Pretty much," Xopil admitted, though he wasn't proud of it, "but it will get back to normal if I solve it."

"If?  Not when?" Beda asked.

"..." Xopil sighed, "You all know more than you should, so I guess it's fine.  There's a time limit before the puzzle explodes, wiping out everything."

"Don't worry though, Xopil has been focused on it even if he seems like he's just playing at times, everything he does is toward the end goal of saving this world." Xiara hastily added.

"You say 'everything he does'... does that include right now?" Calypso asked as she observed the couple cuddled in the bed.

"Yes, even now he's hard at work." Xiara giggled as she ran her finger in circles over his chest.

"Stop it," Xopil warned, "unless you're prepared to fight them all off?"

"They wouldn't dare try anything." Xiara replied without even looking at them.

"Not worth it, he's not interested in us after all." Winter scoffed.

"Is that what he's told you?" Xiara asked, her curiosity piqued, "He used to be a prince... had women fawning over him left and right, and I don't recall he ever denied their advances."

"Xiara, what are you doing?" Xopil asked.

"Well, think about this.  In the future do you see yourself intimately involved with all of us?" Xiara asked.

"No..." Xopil replied immediately, "So.. what?  You're trying to invoke a change in the future?  Forget it, I'm not interested in this method at least."

"Why are you so against it?" Felicyta asked, "From what I understand it's a guaranteed method."

"...You're asking me why I don't want it?" Xopil asked, "Too many reasons."

"Give us five then, one for each of us." Winter said.

"Really putting me on the spot here aren't you?" Xopil retorted, "Fine.  One: There's only one woman I'll ever truly love with all my heart.  Two: One lover is enough for me to worry about without going paranoid. Three: With one lover I'll never be outnumbered.  Four: I don't have to worry about rivalries, hierarchies and making sure all get the same amount of attention.  Five: This story does not have the harem tag, and never will.  Although it could be argued that everything up to now could fall into a harem, definately not going that route."

"...And there's still more on top of that?" Winter asked, to which Xopil simply nodded.

"Six: There's..." Xopil was cut off by Xiara, "That's enough.  Five reasons were all that they asked for, even if that fifth one was pretty hollow."

"Found the one man that doesn't want multiple females hanging on him." Beda said, "Well, it's not like we don't already."

"Enough on that subject." Xopil stated, "Go back to bed and get some sleep.  I, for one, have a long day ahead of me tomorrow."