1 week later...
In the Southern fringe of Gomorra, deep within the Midnight Forest.
A young man stumbled deep into the forest, past the verdant evergreen, lush trees and green grass as he stumbled to a desolate depth of the forest where he began walking between black-barked trees whose branches knitted together overhead like grasping fingers.
This young man was a re Level 8 Awakened, a farr.
He was not even D Rank.
In the grand sche of the power of the world, he was just a cog, a cannon fodder that could be erased in a single breath by a great existence, and he knew it.
His na was supposed to be Theodore, right?
His parents were farrs who lived in one of the neighboring villages sharing a border with the Midnight Forest. Like tradition, just like his father inherited the profession from his grandfather, Theodore and his two brothers also inherited farming from their father.
Considering the power and level of Qi Beasts that dwelled in the forest, the only reason why his family dared to settle in the village was because of the rulers of the Midnight Forest.
The Druid Society were not just the rulers and protectors of the biggest forest in the world, but they were also the protectors of the villages neighboring the dangerous forest.
Apart from the Druid Society, in recent years, rumors began spreading that hunters had encounters with Witches in the forest.
Considering that the Druids have not yet made any official statents about the rumors, the villagers believed in them and continued living their normal lives.
Theodore was one of them.
He wasn’t just a farr, he was a hunter too and that night, he left with his two brothers on a night hunt but sowhere along the line, he beca lost.
He made a rookie mistake and wandered away from his brothers.
’Brothers?’ Theodore felt confused. ’I have brothers?’
Then he beca even more confused. ’What is a brother?’
And soon, he forgot his own na!
He made the greatest taboo of all hunters who knew the Midnight Forest as he wandered into its depths where powerful Qi Beasts lurked and made their territory, and yet for so reason, he didn’t et disaster yet.
He felt like sothing was wrong but he couldn’t quite pinpoint it. His na felt distant, as if it was being spoken through water.
Why was he even here again? He didn’t rember.
Well, it didn’t matter.
Tap... tap...
Everywhere was silent, all he heard was the sound of his boots and soon enough, even his boots no longer made a sound.
And then...
Bzzz!
He experienced a sudden squirmish sensation that disappeared almost as fast as it appeared, and then he felt like he’d stumbled into another world.
Each breath he took fogged faintly violet under the glow of the silver moon which glow now had a sinister edge to it, drawn from a sky that should not have existed at all.
The trees changed.
There was no more green, just different hues of black.
Above the treetops, a slow, spiraling firmant turned, lavender and abyssal like the pupil of so colossal eye.
The Fate Realm had opened!
10 years ago, after the ambush against Zaratul that resulted in the death of 1 of their S Rank High Priestesses, the last surviving High Priestess of the Demoness Sect took the difficult decision to hide their coven headquarters from the public.
High Priestess Seraphina Duskveil went into hiding with the Demoness Sect.
She hid Ravenhelm, the coven headquarters of the Demoness Sect using an artificially created Artifact that she personally created through a high-ranking ritual, she called it Fate Realm.
The S Rank Artifact has only 1 effect which is to create a secondary dinsion outside reality to hide Ravenhelm from enemies.
Even S Rank Sovereigns cannot sense the Fate Realm.
And yet sohow, this young man who already forgot his na just stumbled inside the Fate Realm.
He did not rember stepping through it, he just stumbled ahead.
Ahead of him, he saw a massive black coven rising from a floating mass of stone and petrified root, a Witch Citadel of jagged spires and crescent towers suspended in mist.
Gothic and alive, it seed grown rather than built with iron-veined walls pulsing faintly and windows glowing greenish gray like watchful embers.
Bridges of bone-white arcane light crisscrossed and interconnected at impossible angles, connecting the towers of the castle.
Staring at this castle, Theod... He blinked, who was that? Who had that na? What is that na?
Well, it doesn’t matter.
He felt like ti bent subtly around the castle, making his heartbeat lag, then beco hurried, then slowly steady to a rhythm that was not his own.
And then a whisper touched his thoughts.
’Co closer...’
His feet obeyed.
He was under the influence of the Level 40 Witch Skill, Puppet Curse!
...
Inside the castle, the air was warr, thick with smoke and old qi.
The heart of the coven opened into a vast hollow chamber grown from the trunk of an ancient, dead god-tree.
Blackened roots curved upward like ribs while at the center burned a ritual fire, gold at its core, bleeding into crimson and then void-black at the edges.
Inside this hollow chamber, 5 Witches stood in a circle.
They were not chanting yet, they were waiting.
Each of them wore long, flowing robes in shades of night and dried blood, their wide-brimd hats casting sharp shadows over eyes that glead with intelligence far older than their faces suggested.
Power clung to them like perfu, seductive and suffocating.
The flas of the ritual fire bent subtly towards the Witch at the center who cradled a shallow obsidian bowl where fire burned without fuel- Seraphina Duskveil, the only current High Priestess of the Demoness Sect.
The young man under her curse stumbled into this hollow chamber.
The mont he crossed the threshold, the fire flared as every head turned, focusing on him as their eyes glead in a sinister manner.
’So this is the offering,’ they thought.
This was not just any offering though, this was the offering that they were willing to sacrifice in their first offensive against the awakened Zaratul in 10 years.
"Zaratul is back," the High Priestess stated calmly as her voice echoed through the chamber like dozens of snakes slithering through grass. "Like they say, 2 Tigers can’t rule one mountain".
"We and Dreadmoor can never coexist, one must die to accommodate the other".
"We have a blood feud that must be settled!" Her eyes glowed in a sinister silvery hue.
"Through my Fate Mirror, I spied on the battle of Falaniondor".
She smirked. "Right now, he is weak and susceptible to assassination".
"This is our best chance to assassinate him".
"But we can’t send our sisters to Dreadmoor," she hissed. "That ugly Vampire would notice their unusual fate threads imdiately".
"This is why I’ve brought this young and unblemished soul".
"Fate is such a delicate instrunt," she revealed a sinister smile. "And yet it always delivers what we need".
"He shall help us kill Zaratul".
As she spoke, she stepped closer to him, her fingers tracing symbols in the air even as she started chanting an ancient and sinister incantation.
As she chanted, her finger-tracing motions pulled at sothing invisible inside him, unthreading his mories and rearranging his desires as he felt a warmth bloom in his chest, replacing fear and pain with trust.
"Theodore," she whispered his true na in an echoing voice that made his knees buckle, prompting her to calmly support and steady him.
Her qi flared.
Fated Outco!
Conceptual Curse!
BZZZ!
As an S Rank Awakened of the Fate Witch pathway, Seraphina has access to Fated Outco. The Level 60 Skill Fated Outco when activated enables a Fate Witch to manipulate the threads of fate to force one future outco on a target.
As for Conceptual Curse, it’s a Level 100 fate skill that enables a Fate Sovereign to dictate probability. When activated, if an outco is possible, it becos certain for lower-ranked targets.
Conceptual Curse is Seraphina’s failsafe for Fated Outco.
After activating both skills, she gently caressed the young man’s face and said as her voice took on an echoing resonant tone.
"Theodore, here is your fate".
"In 2 days, you shall et a Demon from Dreadmoor that’ll be impressed by your physical ability and will lead you to the castle where you’ll make contact with Zaratul in a few days and gain his trust".
"This is a reasonable developnt, he won’t suspect anything. Afterall, you’re a talented Beastkin".
"After gaining his trust, you’ll pray to for a ritual blessing on a dagger that’ll give you the power you need to kill the weakened Zaratul".
"Because she’s weak and in hibernation, Lilith will not sense the unusual fate threads on ti".
"Then, when he’s least expecting it, you’ll stab him in the back".
"Zaratul won’t see this coming, he won’t be able to defend against this and he’ll die".
Her silvery mirror-like eyes glead. "This is a reasonable conclusion".
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