“I have been fighting this same war for a length of time that should not be experienced,” Watchmaker said. “It discourages even me when I'm feeling low. Listen, child, and listen well, to what it is we are doing here. I started this fight when I was no older than you, born in a universe that has had to die needlessly in this war. I am saddened to say I even saw the rise of this foe and I could not fight them during their ascent. I am most ashamed that I might have even helped them rise, though I do not know for certain. I have only been able to hold them at bay throughout all this fighting, across hundreds of universes and what feels like time immemorial.
“We fight a race of purely magical beings, connected as though in a hive mind. As is often the case with nightmares and horrors, they were made with the best of intentions. In this case, they were made to assist other beings, adapting to them and helping our kind reach the next stage in evolution. They were made by my friend and master. He didn't even give them the ability to communicate to each other, they simply figured it out one day.
“Thus, when they began to talk to each other, they had eventually come to a decision. They would be the last stage of evolution, for everyone and everything. This would complete the goal he had made them for. We would finally be happy, they thought. And so they began altering those they already were attached to, eventually subsuming them. The people were still alive, trapped in their own minds, though we wouldn't find out until later. Before that, we just thought they were being killed, their corpses being controlled by these monstrosities. They possessed many of us, including my family and my friends. My master was taken as well.
“Then they became much more aggressive, mutating and evolving people beyond what would be considered necessary. Unfortunately, they weren't unintelligent. Their minds were the greatest power they ever possessed. They conquered the planet I had grown up on.
“By this point, I had ascended into a form of godhood, and thought myself wise and kind in my godly state. I would stop them, once and for all. I destroyed the planet they were on, the very home I grew up in, patted myself on the back for making this grand sacrifice, and moved on to another civilization, content to be a wise old man in the shadows of a young pantheon of gods. And then I saw them again. I saw them everywhere. As it turns out, they were far more subtle than we could have realized. They had left decades before we even discovered they were a threat, and now they could claim to be almost anywhere in the cosmos.”
He paused here, and after waiting for a bit, turned to a nearby rock to sit on before continuing. “Then I really did try to make the ultimate sacrifice. I found that a god I knew was actually from a different universe, that leaving any universe to travel to another was possible, and I knew I had to contain this threat before it spread. I spent a long time crafting a weapon to end the reality we were in. Too long. When building an ultimate weapon, those with compassion hesitate for too long, and when we inevitably use it, we call them the 'good' ones. For being afraid of how much worse it could get.
“This is only true when facing the mirror. When you gaze upon the depths of the abyss, and realize that you must fight it, you do not stop to worry about the reaction of those that do not look. You simply reach for whatever you can. I am ashamed to say I did not reach fast enough. Perhaps I still held hope to find another solution. Perhaps I couldn't kill them without seeing the faces of those I loved the most and feeling the guilt of their deaths weigh down on me.
“They escaped before I could pull the trigger, but I wouldn't find out until I had. The blood on my hands could drown the people living here until time ends. So, I stopped and thought about it. I thought a god would never need help, but I have been glad to be wrong. I found others fighting this fight, ones in a position similar to my own. And we decided that we needed help still. So we crafted the system.
“It is designed to push billions of souls into their future, ready or not. Those that make it become the foot soldiers in this war, and immunity to their powers. As you gain your own power, you raise your rank in the system. This raises your rank within the war, as well as allowing you to help more of those you would deem worthy. Eventually, if you make it, you would become a god, and start serving directly on the Council. Rise high enough there and you attain true Godhood, and earn a seat on the Council.”
He waited, probably expecting me to say something. The only problem was I didn't really know what to say. I didn't want any part of this war. I didn't want to deal with this horrible story. “...you said I'd earn my freedom, even when there isn't any.”
Smiling, he responded, “Mr. Arthur, I do not lie. You are freed from Fate. Entirely. You were destined to die when that scorpion emerged from the ground. Barring that, there were twenty five incidents that would have ended your life up to when I met with you again, including the ants overwhelming you, the bird eating you, and the snake crushing you. Finally, you would die to these wolves, though now that you are not paralyzed in fear, you will see that they aren't so tough, especially if you look a bit behind them.”
I walked around the wolves and saw another creature emerging from the ground behind them. “Huh,” I said, “wonder what kind of insect that is.”
“Ah, yes, about that. So far, you have only seen animals native to your planet. However, you will soon see there are two more desert biomes attached to this one, full with their own fearsome beasts.”
“So now what do I do?”
“I don't know. I am the God of Fate, and you haven't got one anymore. You are outside of my control. Should you reach the rank of C, I will still come to collect, as it were.”
“How do I get there? Just level up? And how do I level up?”
“The system works with the Council, or more accurately those with a seat on the Council. Doing something that would make their fight easier will earn you experience, and subsequently levels and ranks. You will serve until you obtain the final rank, A. After fully leveling up in the A rank, you become a member of the Council. Then you develop yourself, growing stronger and stronger in your godhood, until you can claim your seat.”
“So then why did you pick me? And then let me fall out of Fate?”
“It is an interesting calculation we run, Mr. Arthur. Can you think of an answer to your own question?”
“I have to do stuff to make your fight easier, right? So I guess that would mean that you would want to have more control over Fate? Or maybe you want people to have more different Fates, to give you more options?”
“Good reasoning, and yes, both of those are correct assumptions. But, there is something else, Mr. Arthur. You would not only be serving me and my powers. You are serving the full might of the Council. Many members on the Council are polar opposites of one another. What does that inform you to?”
“...its less restrictive? Like if I have two choices that are perfectly opposite, it won't matter which I choose?”
“Not that it won't matter, but that we can still raise you up. There are better choices in different situations, and if you have the ability to choose, to truly choose, then you will be able to do much more.”
“Wait, you said many, not all.”
“In fact, there is only one God that stands outside that description. Even when I am surrounded by peers and those that would equal and rival my power, I must still be the most special. Ah, well, at least my mother was correct about that.”
“So you want me to be your ... anti-you?”
“We simply call them opposites, though the Council has been trying to get some sort of official name attached for quite a while now.”
“Any advice on how to get started, uh, opposing you?”
“No, not a bit. You will do as you please, and I will hope that this leads to an ally I've needed for far too long. [This will be the last conversation the Council will have with the native population until the global tutorial is complete.] Good luck, Mr. Arthur, and good bye.” I realized he could speak using the system, which made me wonder if he had broadcasted that message.
[Resetting.]
I was back to being prone, about to be lunged at. I inhaled, and the wolves started to move again. Rolling off to the side, I saw some of them in the back being snatched up by a massive ball with what looked like tentacles. Except instead of suckers on the side, it had sharp claws all over it. The wolves it had in its grasp were swiftly shredded, their strips landing onto the center of the creature before disappearing into it.
Unfortunately, I let myself get distracted, and one of the wolves that didn't get grabbed bit down on my left arm and started to drag me away. Screaming in pain, I shook myself trying to get loose while punching the thing as hard as I could. It ignored me entirely, dragging me away from what I would now refer to as a horror ball.
Doubly unfortunately, the wolf wasn't the only one wanting to snack on me. There was another horror ball waiting a bit away from the first, and the wolf had dragged us both right to it. It roped itself around the wolf and me, causing us both to scream in pain. Luckily that meant I was free from the grip of the wolf, though I didn't really prefer this situation. Then I saw something shift down, the world getting really dark, before being launched away from the horror ball and the wolf.
I was flying through the air, though I was going far more horizontally than gaining any serious altitude. Eventually saw the ground coming up to me and intended to roll as best I could. I ended up simply crashing onto the ground. I looked around in a daze before seeing what happened to my previous situation. The massive snake had struck down on the first horror ball with such force that it knocked us all away in a shock wave, its mouth swallowing the ball and all the wolves nearby, as well as a good chunk of the land around it. Then I watched it get back up before attacking the other horror ball and what remained of my wolf assailant.
Shaking my head to refocus myself, I looked around, and saw I had been knocked almost entirely to the mountain I had been heading towards. I tried to get up, but ended up falling on my side when I didn't feel the resistance of my left arm against the ground. That's when I saw that my arm was gone, cut cleanly off just above where the wolf had grabbed me. I saw the blood dripping out of that arm, and all of my other wounds from the horror ball and the crash landing, confused as all hell. Then I finally noticed the notification from the system that had been screaming at me since I had gotten bit by the wolf.
[Health: 0/1 (Regen 10 per min. {Active})]
[Condition critical. Please get to a healing station or designated healer.]
Sadly, I ignored the advice and passed out.