In her ti, dancing through the stars, Fate had seen many things. She had witnessed the birth of new civilizations, the downfall of worlds thanks to the system, and the rise of great people that would shift certain sectors to glory or demise. She had never seen what her grandfather had done. On the other side of that door was a sprawl of fields, full of all sorts of life and brimming with potential. She stood there for so ti, holding onto the thread of fate, gawking at what he had done.
“This is a bit much,” On scoffed, looking around. “Why did he make an entire world?”
Fate tilted her head to one side, a gentle breeze swaying her dress and sending stray strands of hair into her face. “There’s a knot of threads over there,” she said, pointing into the distance with her chin. “Let’s check it out.”
At least On wasn’t hopeless yet again. He had that old shine he used to have when he was a mortal, sending Fate’s heart soaring as they walked across the open fields. No matter how many tis she thought about what she’d say to her grandfather, nothing ca to mind. He wouldn’t accept her forgiveness, favoring the concept of shouldering that burden until he died. Instead, she planned to pretend as though nothing happened. This was an action only made possible by her years examining the threads.
The universe could be cruel.
A swirling nexus of energy erged on the horizon. Fate didn’t know how long they had been walking, but she felt further from her seat of power than ever. Since Elrin would be assaulting their realm by now, it was best to stay away for a while longer. The man would find nothing but trees and echoes there, crumbling his plan to intimidate the twins. What place did a mortal have bullying the gods, anyway?
Fate scoffed, climbing the rise of one last hill before getting a look at what King Leon had been working on.
“That vortex ans doom,” On said, shaking his head. “I can see ten-thousand outcos, and none are good.
Fate clicked her tongue. On always saw only the bad outcos. From her perspective, she saw the potential. Lines of fate were joined over a swirling hurricane of energies. They joined in a tangled ball, threads shooting off in every direction. This was a literal nexus of fates, a place where Leon planned to execute so grand plan. It was an act indicative of the man, reflecting a life of big moves that saw the Kingdom of Perisart through more than a few tough battles.
“Co closer!” a hoarse voice called from down below. “Since you’ve made the trip, you might as well see what I’m working on.”
“Grandfather,” On breathed, looking to Fate expectantly. “Should we?”
Fate playfully punched her brother in the arm. He winced. “Of course we should!” she shouted, skipping to the hill’s edge and starting her descent. “He’s gotta be working on sothing cool!”
King Leon Batteux was nothing like Fate had rembered. She spotted him near the base of the vortex, withered and hunched over. He had been old when she knew him in life, but even in his form as Death, he was an imposing figure. Now he looked like an animated corpse. On only winced for a mont before rushing over to give him a hug. Fate was close behind, throwing those things away in an instant.
“Sorry.” Leon’s words echoed over the open fields after a long pause. He waited quite so ti before saying anything else. “So, what brings you outside of the sector’s bubble?”
That was good enough for Fate. If he wanted to drop the matter entirely, pretending like nothing happened, she was happy to entertain the farce. “Well, the heavenly realms are being attacked.”
“And we brought you a pie!” On said, sloshing more of the contents onto the ground. “What’s all this?”
Leon offered a soft smile, accepting the pie with a nod. He looked back at the vortex, shaking his head. “The pie soothes my spirits, but within my penance… I’m afraid even the sweetest food would be sour. What I did during the war cannot be forgiven.”
“Is she…” On stopped himself before saying her na.
“Sowhere in Death’s Gate,” Leon confird.
Fate looked around, soaking in the strange energies of this place. She had a thousand questions to ask, but only one ca to her lips. “What are you working on?”
Leon laughed, patting both Fate and On on the head. “You two are gods now. But standing here, in my new world, you just look like my grandchildren… How about I give you a tour?”
“Yeah!” On shouted, pumping his fist in the air.
Leon chuckled, steadying himself with a cane as he walked around the vortex. “Exploiting the system’s constructs was easy enough. I have a deal with soone who manages the greater system. They call it the Grand System, sothing that creates a web between distant worlds. Currently, your sector is locked in a bubble. We’re just on the outside of that bubble, still taking advantage of the ti-dilation effect, but unaffected by the other restrictions.”
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit for the authentic version.
“Wow. Sounds kinda technical,” Fate said.
Leon laughed again, holding his side as he did so. “Well, you’re not wrong. All this magic is the last of my power. I’ll have enough within to make this world functional, and then… Well, I’m not certain what will happen.”
“At worst,” Fate said, reaching out to a thread that stretched from Leon’s chest. “You’ll die.”
“And at best?” On asked, concern painted plainly on his face.
“He’ll go to sleep,” Fate said, reading the thread. She let out a bark-like laugh. “You planned this!?”
Leon stopped in his tracks, turning back to his granddaughter to wink. “I didn’t plan this exact part, but I did put a contingency in place when I held the Elderling Throne of Death. Droth Ker Taral Set was kind to , and I didn’t deserve it. While I didn’t predict the Throne of Death falling into the hands of another, it worked out.”
“Even if that person holding the realm is Kuzan?” On asked.
Leon knelt with great effort, gazing into On’s eyes. “In the ti of Pera’tal, when our ancestors still hunted the land, he was a great man. He did terrible things, but he still pulled us out of the primordial forests. If he has his mind back, we have no right to question his wisdom.”
“Whatever you say gramps,” Fate said, helping him back to his feet. “Co on. Show so of this magic you’re using, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Fine, fine… I suppose I can show you a few secrets,” Leon said, wobbling as he pressed forward. “The most important part is the World Anchor. That should work together with the planet itself to capture any incursions.”
“Which makes this place a battleground,” Fate said.
“Very close,” Leon said, turning with all the dramatic fashion of a king. “It turns it into a training ground.”
***
“Wow. lty flower. So cool,” Tresk said. She sat with her head propped up, yawning as though the flower was the most boring thing she had ever seen. “Don’t you have so gas to judge?”
Theo turned, giving his companion a flat look. “Didn’t I listen to your lecture on the best way to stab a goblin? How long were you talking for? An hour?”
“Fine, fine, tell all about the weird magical flower,” Tresk said with a dramatic sigh. She slapped herself in the face a few tis to wake up and then squared her shoulders.
“The flower is unassuming on the outside. Obviously, it’s lting, so we have to introduce so freezing elents to it to keep it stable. But that’s not the most unusual ingredient I’ve ever worked with. Others are far more unstable than this, after all,” Theo said, holding the flower up for Tresk to see. “But it isn’t the flower’s reaction to its environnt that makes it interesting. It’s the energy contained within. I just can’t quite place my finger on it.”
“And what exactly is wrong with this energy? It just feels like a normal alchemy ingredient to ,” Tresk said. She got closer, practically pressing her face against the surface of the flower to get a better look.
“The energies of most alchemy reagents are uniform,” Theo said. He withdrew a Fla Rose from his inventory and held it out for her to see. “I’ve always thought about it as a flavor of magic, but I’ve heard other people talk about it as colors, tastes, or other senses they link to magical energies. Can you feel the difference between the Frozen Tear and the Fla Rose?”
Tresk had to focus very hard to get anything from the flower. Theo could feel her narrowing her stunted senses, and when her own intuition failed her, she instead leaned on his. Only then did she feel the subtle differences between the two. “I can feel it, but I’m not sure what it ans or why I should care.”
With an exasperated sigh, Theo went to the stores of the lab. He withdrew ingredient after ingredient, placing them on a table in a row for her to see. “Do the sa thing you just did on each one of these ingredients, and tell what you think.”
Whatever grumpiness Tresk held for the day faded as she did her due diligence. She inspected each of the ingredients, taking in their energies and reserving ti for processing. Eventually, she ca away from the table and nodded. “They’re all the sa. There are differences in terms of the effects, but if you don’t drill down, they have that sa taste on the top.”
“And the frozen flour has a completely different flavor if we only examine that top note, as you said.” Theo pinched the stem of the Frozen Tear and held it up. “I have a few theories, but I’ve got no idea how to test them specifically. Obviously, I’m going to reveal the properties of the flour, but what if this isn’t from our version of the system, but instead an artifact from the way things were before?”
“Interesting theory, but I don’t really know how it helps us.” Tresk folded her arms, nodding to the Frozen Tear. “Old flower. Who cares?”
“We care because this old flower has a signature of a different system, aning that my initial theory on how our local system worked is wrong. When the people from Earth ca here, they received a prompt that told them to migrate their systems to the newer version. They could accept or decline, but they didn’t get to access their old system. Yet, if I’m holding a flower that has the energy of the old system, what does that an?”
“That the systems can layer. So you can have different ones in the sa spot.” Tresk shook her head, offering a shrug in response to the question. “But who cares? Is this just academic for you? Does it impact us?”
“I think it impacts everyone. I think it speaks to another theory we have about the expansiveness of the universe. The fact that there are other planets with other systems out there ans that I think I know exactly what’s going to happen when the reset occurs. If we thought interdictions from the local sector were bad, what happens when it’s outside of the sector?”
“Intergalactic war?” Tresk said, rubbing her hands together. “Spicy.”
“Sothing like that,” Theo muttered. “Let’s see what properties this thing has. Maybe make a few potions.”
Tresk snapped her fingers. “We also have a few gas we’ve gotta watch today. You know they started, right?”
“Right. Busy, busy.”
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