Touch of Fate

The emperor stood before a glowing tear in the fabric of reality, face already twisted in delight.

"So, this will really take me to another plane of reality?" He asked the last remaining member of the captive band he'd brought from the phantom cities beyond Blistering Wastes.

The strange creature was once a proud and majestic being resembling a centaur, only with a feline lower body. The speckled markings and intricate tattoos that dotted the tan skin of his humanoid half indicated that he belonged to the Nustari caste of the Iumund clan, which meant that he was one of the rare members of his species capable of communing with the powerful spirits inhabiting divine realms, or so her research suggested..

Following the emperor's lightning-fast conquest of a region largely thought to be myth, Lithkala had spent several weeks learning about the empire's new subjects and their fascinating culture. Unfortunately, she was soon forced to use that knowledge to help her ruler better exploit his most recent victims.

The Nustari, who understood the question quite well despite the language barrier, rumbled a series of expletives in his native language.

The emperor turned his baleful gaze her way. "What did he say?"

"Although he does not have much experience in the matter, he believes this will take you somewhere else, Divine One." She replied passively, knowing well that a direct translation would only end in more blood being spilled. Thankfully, she could explain any major discrepancies with an admission of her own inability to interpret. After all, even the most demanding of psychopaths understood that it took longer than a few weeks to master a completely alien language.

The emperor tilted his head as he gazed into the swirling mass of energy that was the portal. "Does he know where it leads?"

She turned to the captive, "The emperor would like to know where this portal leads."

"You can that murderer that the only thing he will find through those portals is suffering and death." The Nustari growled.

"He believes this particular one leads to one of the Hell realms, although he doesn't appear sure of which."

The emperor grinned. "I always did want to rule Hell…maybe it's time for a visit…"

"Divine One, with respect, I fear that leaving your throne at this juncture will lead to uncertainty amongst your subjects. We are currently engaged in an unprecedented war of suppression across all corners of the empire. To be bereft of your…leadership for an extended period of time could lead to the collapse of all you have built." She felt compelled to add, even knowing in the back of her mind that nothing so mundane as the destruction of the empire would have an effect on the monster in front of her.

""You have a point, Lithy, as you usually do." He said while nodding sagely, a cruel grin still in place. "But I can't exactly pass this opportunity up. Who knows when I'll find another cat centaur…cataur… like this who can make portals. I've had to kill most of them to even get this far. Although, I suppose trying to acquire their skills played a role in that, as pointless as that turned out to be. Anyway, as my father always used to say, 'Never turn away a gift, settle for less than a full repayment of a debt, or pass on an opportunity for profit.' May he rot in his pauper's grave."

"If that is your wish, Divine One, I will not stand in your way." She replied while supplicating.

"As well you should." He muttered distractedly while gathering up the few belongings he valued enough to take with him. "Just tell everyone that I'll be back in a bit, and if I find any hint of rebellion once I return, I'll show them a little something I've been working on. I don't want to spoil anything, but I got the idea from stories about Vlad the Impaler. Historical figure, mind you, not the pop culture nightmare they made of him later on. The real thing was always much more impressive in my opinion."

Just as he was about to step through the portal and hopefully vanish from their lives for good, the emperor turned back. "Oh, I almost forgot to clean up after myself. Silly me."

He gestured at the Nustari. At first nothing seemed to have happened, but slowly his body began to swell up. His skin began to stretch taut over his expanding innards. He continued to grow, more and more, until…

Lithkala shut her eyes, but couldn't block out the wet popping noise that soon followed, nor the splash of warm liquid that now covered most of her front.

"Hmm, that took longer than I thought, I'll have to work on that in the future." The madman pondered. "Oh well. Take care of the place while I'm gone, Lithy."

And with that he vanished, leaving her sitting in the aftermath of his bloody escapades. .

She watched the place he'd left for several minutes before she'd worked up the courage to start running.

"So what's this place called again?" Mike asked Tal while they waited for the rest of the group to finish restocking supplies. They were resting on a low stone wall that ran along one side of the only road passing through the tiny village.

"Velish'nathakan, in the language of my people." She replied calmly, face tilted slightly to enjoy the warmth of the afternoon sun passing through the trees overhead. "It means the weeping place, although I think its current inhabitants call it Riverbend."

"Sounds like it has a lot of history."

She glanced at him then, a slight wrinkling at the corners of her eyes showing her intended smile. "According to the legend, it was here that the ancient Sage King, Elandar first heard about the destruction of his home and the death of his wife and children. So overcome was he by grief that his tears filled the valley until it resembled a lake. Although the waters eventually receded, the divine power of his tears was said to inundate this land, leaving it blessed."

Mike looked around at the sparsely populated region. "You'd think there would be more people wanting to live on blessed land."

"That has more to do with politics than legend." She replied with a small sigh. "Not many are willing to live along the border between the Riverlands and Mirithia without the protection of city walls and an armed garrison. Those who do must maintain certain deeply ingrained preconceptions about their neighbors."

"Which is why we are waiting outside of the primarily human village while the others do the shopping. Makes sense."

"Indeed."

He could tell that the situation bothered him a lot more than it did her, so he decided to leave well enough alone. Still, it felt like a shame.

"So where do you think we should head next?" He asked, hoping to change the direction of the conversation. "You know, after we get done meeting with the Sable Enchantress. We never really decided."

She went silent for a few moments, evidently lost in thought. Finally, she offered him a carefree shrug. "I don't think it will matter in the end."

"What do you mean?"

"I tried to think of somewhere I'd like to go, or even somewhere I felt we needed to be, but ultimately I realized that the destination doesn't matter. So long as I am traveling with you, I am content."

Mike felt his ears burn at that, and had to cough to distract himself from the rush of teenage hormones that sentiment inspired.

[I really wish I'd made that firefly goddess reincarnate me into a body that matched my previous age. Living through my teenage years a second time is damn painful.]

Finding the prospect of talking about her implied statement too embarrassing to contemplate, he continued, "Well, surely there is somewhere you'd like to visit. You can't have seen the entire Inland Sea Region, right?"

She nodded. "Of course. I've long wanted to see the famous wonders of the world. The Spires of Cadun, the Imperial Palace of Bergel, the Frozen Kingdom of the Serpent Lords, the Vale of Solace, and all the rest, but I have plenty of time to see them. For now, I am simply enjoying going from place to place with my friends, wherever that takes us."

"Fair enough." He admitted with a chuckle. "We'll figure it out later then. At least for now, I can safely say that Dovistan is off the list. The last thing we need is to get involved in whatever is going on in that place."

"For now. Although I suspect your path will lead you there sooner or later." She replied with a hint of amusement in her voice. "You cannot seem to resist heading directly towards trouble."

He grimaced. "Ugh…don't remind me. I'd be happy just to have a few weeks free of any kind of drama. Is that really so much to ask?"

"Let us hope, then, that our near future will be filled with the most uninteresting of times."

They ŀȧpsed into silence for a few moments, simply enjoying the breeze wafting through the trees. He was about to ask if she would like something to drink, already preparing to open his inventory, when he caught sight of something impossible.

Across the road and deeper into the untamed forest that surrounded the village, he saw an unusual monochromatic patch. As he focused on it, he realized that it was a black cat, with a white splash on its ċhėst in the shape of a triangle.

A cold chill crept up his spine as he rose to his feet, eyes focused on the animal. He didn't know if letting it out of his sight would be the trigger or not, but his brain was working on overdrive to consider all the alternatives.

[I'm not sensing anything dangerous. There is no indication of any hostility anywhere. Does this mean that something outside of my control is going to happen?]

"Mike?" Tal asked in her usual monotone, although she was clearly uneasy. "What is it?"

The cat gave a long, slow blink, still matching his gaze before finally turning and vanishing behind a tree.

He grabbed Tal and immediately flew into the air while pouring as much mana as he could in a shield around the both of them. Once they were close to five hundred meters in the air, he stopped and expanded his senses again.

They stayed like that for close to a full minute, but nothing seemed to change. After about five minutes, he slowly lowered the both of them down to the ground. He kept his guard up, but there was no indication that anything out of the ordinary was going on.

Finally, when it was clear that nothing was happening, he relaxed with a sigh. "Sorry…I thought I saw…something in the woods. Something that shouldn't be here."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

He looked over and met her clear, judgment-free gaze. "I saw a…cat, with an unusual marking on its ċhėst."

"...Is that a problem?"

"I saw the same cat on one other occasion, seconds before I died in an explosion in another world."

She went silent at that, but eventually nodded. "And you thought it might be an omen of death?"

"Something like that. I don't actually know what it is or what it is supposed to mean, but I can't help but worry about it, for obvious reasons."

"There are many legends surrounding cats, but I cannot think of one that would help in this case. Perhaps you should consult with Morris. He is quite learned about unusual topics."

"That's probably a good idea. I'll talk to him about it as soon as he comes back from shopping." He replied with a strained smile, trying his best to relax.

It appeared that he didn't have to worry about dying and being transferred to another world again, at least in the short term. And yet, he couldn't shake the feeling that something bad had just happened.

—----------------------------------------------------

Yilon floated in the cramped bubble of reality that it used as both its workplace and its primary habitation. From there, it observed a veritable wall of arcane symbols displayed on a large, flat plane of light. Periodically, its body would sprout a small tendril of absolute darkness which would flit towards the screen and adjust one of the symbols.

While such a spectacle would likely confuse any common inhabitant of Ea, those familiar with the technologies of Earth would recognize that the god was using an interface to edit some kind of text document.

The other Creators were under the impression that Yilon had somehow acquired the ability to interact with the System's various functions during their joint creation of it, but in truth it was this place that gave individuals the ability to manipulate it.

The reason for that was simple. Despite what the other Creators might think, the System was not something they put together by themselves. Rather, they merely produced a terminal interface to tap into an existing construct that spanned over countless worlds and universes. This bubble was the control center of that terminal.

It was the reason that the Creators, even Yilon who was supposedly charged with maintaining the System, could only change the most basic functions of it. It was also the reason they struggled so much to fix problems when they occurred.

At that moment, Yilon was currently focused on the task of correcting an error that had formed when a dungeon realm had imploded. The resulting loss of connection had created bugs throughout a number of the terminal's subsystems, and it was taking the god a great deal of time to chase them all down.

Fortunately most of the damage was limited to the dungeon realm itself, allowing Yilon to isolate it to contain the problem until he could restart its growth cycle. Though it would likely take several decades, it was probable that the dungeon could be returned to its previous state.

Not one for introspection or doubt, Yilon set about its self appointed tasks with near mindless efficiency. Never once suspecting that the errors it was correcting might be concealing something abnormal taking place within the System.. Hiding the ripples of uncertainty caused a particular individual, whose actions would indirectly lead to devastating consequences.