Above mankind, many things exist. Beasts and demons. Angels and Gods. And things, powerful things, that don’t even have a name.

One day, the god of fate, as he always did, slept on his throne, dreaming of the future.

And the present.

Sometimes the past.

Right now, he dreamt of neither, but of a place he hadn’t seen before. Which was impossible. As he could see everyone’s fate, he could see all possible places, or so he had thought.

So he looked around dumbfounded, trying to understand.

In this place, he somehow understood barely existed, flowed a river made of stars.

No.. Wait.. All the tiny specks of light.. They are not stars, but souls??

..Of course! Because this place is the hall of creation, its walls marking the borders between what is, and isn’t.

How the fuck do i know that? He wondered. His gaze wandered around, until something caught his attention.

A little to the side, near the glistening streams, two.. entities.. stood, discussing matters, things at stake, so grave, that even gods, like him, couldn’t hope to match the required pay grade.

As he understood two things, he shivered. No, actually felt fear, for the first time in millennia.

First, those beings, he couldn’t see their fates. No… they didn’t HAVE fates. What the fuck?? EVERYTHING is bound by fate, he thought, even I.

Second, the discussion they held.. their auras.. the way they talked.. made clear they were strong. Magnitudes stronger than anything he had ever met. And he had met all the gods.

He understood he was witnessing something extraordinary, right now. Definitely worth spying on. So he suppressed his fear and crept closer, only an immaterial shadow, as his real body rested in his palace in heaven.

He arrived right next to them, praying to whomever gods pray, that they didn’t notice him. To his relieve, the unknown entities just kept on talking.

„Those souls will forget, all of them..“

„..Not her, she is the only exception that will ever be made, you understand? Not her.“

„..Are you sure? Allowing precisely one exception on the infinite curve has implications beyond what even we can perceive..“

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What the fuck? There are no exceptions, not ever, not even once. He, as bearer of fate, knew that for a fact. And yet, those beings.. they spoke of it casually. At this point, he briefly considered abandoning his task. A sense of obligation held him in place in the end. They can’t sense me, he assured himself.

„Yes, but this is how it has to be. Or do you want to explain to the others..“

OTHERS? What did i dream myself into, exactly? More like.. them?? He was not sure the gods were at the top of the food chain anymore.

„No no! .. Fine. Do as you like..“ The supreme thing told, grudgingly, concluding a discussion that took millennia to play out. So the thing that spoke first, also of seemingly endless power, reached into the ever moving flow of life, wrapping its claw around a tiny, inconspicuous soul.

T-That.. is unbelievable.. did it just fucking REMOVE a soul from the cycle of fate? Even he couldn't do that, despite managing fate for aeons.

After it had lifted her from the streams of fate, it held the tiny spark, murmuring chants no mortal had the capacity to use, even if one could by impossible circumstances grasp their meaning somehow.

Fear threatened to drown his entire being again. He, the god with the most knowledge about destiny, didn’t KNOW the words spoken, either. He gulped heavily.

„I will be outside, for a while.“ The thing vanished, a lost little fate in its hands. For an eternity, in the emptiness outside the boundaries of reality, the almost, oh.. so very close to, almighty being wove threads of gold and black, created by forgotten words. The intricate patterns sunk into the soul, slowly warping its very core, extinguishing the light that shone within, replacing it with.. something.. else. When the thing was done, it sighed. There was a reason this would only ever occur once, it thought. The ritual just performed broke so many rules, even an entity of its own standing had to struggle, if ever so briefly, to accomplish the task.

The exalted being went back inside.

„It is done, i guess.“ The other thing greeted him.

What the fuck is ‚done‘? He was gone mere seconds.. The dear god of fate felt very wrong in this place.

„Yes. She is now like us. A tiny bit at least.“

„So..“

„..Yes. It is her, who will settle the wager. Give an answer, to a question, not even asked yet. She will walk in places only we have seen before. Not the gods, not anyone, shall block her path. Or even know it is her path, that leads to the one decision that can’t be made.“

What wager?? He got the feeling that this whole dream was not meant to be dreamt, not even by him.

„And yet, that path is long, even by our scale. I can’t see it all. Neither can you. It concerns me.“

„..Still, it needs to happen, exactly as it will. As it does. Always did.“

„..True.. Should we remove the dreamer, who was insolent enough to spy on us, now?“

SHIT! He tried to withdraw, panicking. They fucking knew he was there, all along!!

„..And patch his memory.“

W-What?

One of the beings raised a claw, leisurely poking the space in front of it.

Or’gud, the god of fate, jumped awake. His mind reeled, trying to hold on to impressions that forcefully faded away. All that was left was a sickening feeling. Something - or someone - had changed.. well.. something. That had never happened before. And would never happen again, but he had no way of knowing that.

„What the fuck?“ He whispered, holding his head.