“What was all that about? And who were those people?” Walking away from the throne room, Zara turned around and eyed the door.

“I’ll tell you later, just know that they’re on our side.” Ed said. I need to figure out what happened to Ulric. I don’t want him to die because of me. “Wait here.” Before she could say anything, Ed had already followed his string back into the past.

Watching the previous scene play out in reverse, Ed stayed behind as his past self walked backwards through the door. Rewinding even further, he stopped when Ulric reappeared in the scene. Luckily it didn’t happen too long ago. Now let’s see what happened.

Walking around the room, his attention was firmly locked onto Elaine, who had raised her hand and clasped her fingers, moments away from snapping them. Ulric was kneeling on the ground, waiting patiently, rescind to his fate.

Replaying the moment, Elaine snapped her fingers, and Ed watched as Ulric just disappeared. Blipping out of time and space so quickly that it was as if he was never there in the first place.

Did she just kill him? No, that can’t be right. I need to go back further. Rewinding back to when Ulric first stepped into the room, he was met with several minutes of complete silence, neither group speaking a word. Ulric simply kneeled down, accepting his fate as Elaine towered in her throne above him.

“Good. There’s no need to fight against your fate. You already know what happens to those who disappoint me.” Elaine said. Lifting her hand, she snapped her fingers, and once again Ulric was gone.

Well that didn’t fucking help. There has to be something else. There’s no way he’s dead. Straining his eyes, he searched the room, trying to find anything he could to prove his suspicions.

Slowly, extremely faint glimmers came into view. Nearly invisible strings of fate appeared, darting around the room, connecting everyone and everything inside. Unlike what he would normally see, the strings leading to potential futures were nowhere to be seen. Instead, each person had a single string coming out of the front that was just as prominent as the one leading to their past.

Wait how? This didn’t happen before. Remembering back to the previous times he had viewed the past, he could have sworn that the strings of fate had not followed him in his visions. And that the only one he could see was the one he was attached to.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

I’m right, this definitely didn’t happen before. He remembered that each and every time he grabbed hold of a string to follow it, the others would fade away, allowing him to focus wholeheartedly on a single one.

But now. Now he could once again see them. Even though they were incredibly faint, and nowhere near what they would be if he was there normally, he could see them. Does this mean I can attach myself to one of them?

Testing his theory, he walked up to Ulric, and grabbed hold of the prominent thread coming from in front of him.

His head rung as he stumbled back, crashing into the throne door.

“Ed!” Scared and worried, Zara rushed over to him. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Gritting his teeth, he stood back up with some help from Zara. What was that? Vague images flashed in his head, accompanied by a dreadful ringing. He felt his head swell up with ungodly amounts of information, reminding him of the time his head exploded. Don’t touch those strings. Got it. “Help me to the car please.”

Carrying him in her arms, she quickly made her way outside, an angelic glow radiating from her and seeping into Ed, soothing his pain. Still in immense pain, he reluctantly allowed her to continue carrying him.

Walking past countless servants, who no doubt were questioning this, even if their expressions didn’t say anything, they eventually made it to the car.

Sinking back into the plush leather seats, he lost himself in his thoughts. I think I’ve figured it out. That string I grabbed should allow me to see everything that had happened up to right now. That’s why it’s so clear. It’s not showing me a possible future, it’s showing me things that have already happened. The problem is, it was showing me everything. I’m still too weak to be able to do that.

Feeling dizzy, he spent the rest of the car ride back resting, only getting up when the car came to a stop. Damn, that’s right. I don’t have my keys on me. Guess I’ll just have to do this.

Shooting a thread through a thin gap at the bottom of the door, he felt around for a few moments before he opened the door from the inside. Leading Zara around the machines, he brought her up to his apartment.

“Now can you tell me what that was all about? You really freaked me out.” She said worriedly.

“I needed to figure out what happened to Ulric. The statue guy that was with us. I didn’t want to see him die because of me.” Ed explained.

“How did you get hurt? Did you see something you shouldn’t have? Did she hurt you? I’ll kill her!” Her wings stabbed out of her back, as she tried to fly back to the palace to fight Elaine.

A thread shot out and wrapped around her, dragging her back to Ed. “No, she didn’t do anything. Also don’t try and fight her. Buddie may be able to keep you alive, but you’ve got no chance of winning. It’ll just be pure torture at that point.”

Grumbling, she calmed down slightly. “Fine. But how did you hurt yourself?”

“I was testing out something, and it backfired.” Feeling tired, he struggled to keep his eyes open. “That’s all I can say for now. I’ll explain it after a quick nap. Don’t worry. I’m fine.” Walking back to his room, he crashed onto his bed under the worried look of his girlfriend.