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582 The Mountain Crumbles

The words uttered by Destiny were few in number, yet immensely impactful to all those who heard them.

As surprisingly sharp and painful as papercuts, these words slashed through the very existence of the aspect of Fate, whose youthful face was stricken by a deep sense of anger, confusion and self doubt.

His knowledge and nature.. His very existence had been challenged by these few words. Words so powerful that they chipped away at the undefeatable power of the universe’s fate, which, although in an almost inconsequential amount, began to slip out of its aspect’s fingers.

The meaning of these words, of course, had nothing to do with the game of chess the young boy and the old man had been playing. A game Destiny had no doubt he would have lost, had his opponent’s focus not been taken away by more pressing matters.

What the old man was referring to, was the everlasting clash between the concept of destiny and the concept of fate.

—–

For uncountable years, Destiny had tried to prove that free will and opportunities were enough to guide mortals into a path of their own creation. That was the concept which had birthed his consciousness, the power which he possessed, and his nature and belief. Fate, on the other hand, was created by a more tyrannical concept.. The idea that everything that happened was written, and that an absolute path was already laid out for everyone and everything.

While many could have mistaken this conflict as a disagreement between opinionated scholars, that was far from being the case.

The power of an aspect of existence was regulated by the validity and influence of the concept they represented, and while the concept of Destiny was as valid as that of Fate to a mortal’s eyes, that was not the case for their peers, for Destiny required proof to demonstrate that his existence was not just a misconception, but a true competing part of existence..ᴄᴏᴍ

Unable to justify his existence, Destiny had spent the first several hundred million years of its life being considered a fake aspect of existence. A broken product, inferior to all others in status and power, with no hope to stand on the same level of any of its kin. This seemed to be Destiny’s fate, one that in fate’s fashion was forced upon him even before his birth.. A future he always refused to accept, be it due to his stubbornness or nature.

Unwilling to live his eternal life as a byproduct of his brother’s creation, the weaker champion of Destiny had used the full extent of his powers to create a chance. A chance for people to change their future, to lay their own path, and to validate his existence to his peers.

That was how the systems were born.

At first, Fate had considered his brother’s actions a futile attempt at challenging his hegemony.. Pointless, for he could see a future where his rule could never be challenged no matter what the latter attempted. Yet, everything changed with time.

In full contrast to the nature of the universe’s fate, the creatures gifted with Destiny’s gift existed outside of its infinite fabric-invisible to the eyes of Fate and all its champions. It was only as these entities began to grow, that the aspects of existence realized that what Destiny had created was not a pet project, but beings with infinite potential unbound by fate, or any other aspect of existence.

Wealth, death, royalty, domination, love, sacrifice.. These were only a few of the pathways associated with the systems Destiny had created, and which, to the eyes of his own kind, appeared oddly similar to powers of existence. What was truly worrying, however, was their limitless potential for growth.

“What if they are left unchecked? What will they become, if they keep growing?” These questions were repeated millions of times during never ending arguments between the aspects of existence, striking at their minds and cores, and leaving them doubtful and fearful.

As the nature of Destiny’s champions became more and more evident, and their inconsequential existence turned into a tangible threat, the aspects of existence had come to a mutual consensus. Their existence was to be considered an abomination, one that had to be erased from the multiverse, and never be allowed to flourish.

However, despite this shared conclusion, not one of them dared to act.

In the eyes of Fate, acknowledging the threat posed by Destiny’s spawn was akin to admitting that the latter’s nature was above the former.. An admission that would damage Fate’s power the same way a sword would hurt a man when used to sever one of their fingers.

What followed was a time called The Chaotic Era. A time in which the multiverse burned by the hands of the first champions of Destiny, who swarmed and consumed the universes like famished locusts under the eyes of a polarized pantheon of aspects of existence.

In the span of just a few millennia, the most prominent domains were left with a fraction of their territory.. Domains which prayed for their owner’s intervention, only to find deaf ears. A forgotten time in which the mention of a champion of Destiny aroused more fear and respect than the mention of an aspect of existence.

What was a chaotic era for the mortals, however, was but a long and animated debate between the two main faction within the pantheon of aspects of existence. The orderly faction that followed Fate’s guide, and the chaotic faction, which followed the aspects of Chaos, Conflict, Origin, and Design. The former faction wanted to preserve the power of Fate, and rejected any action that would validate the nature of Destiny, while the latter wanted to do the opposite-To exterminate the spawn of Destiny even if it meant acknowledging his existence.

Words clashed like swords in a flurry of existence-threatening exchanges, until finally, after thousands of years, the two factions managed to reach an agreement.

This agreement stated that the champions of Destiny were not to be touched by any aspect of existence, and that only their followers were allowed to hunt them down. Their eventual survival, although unlikely, would serve to validate Destiny’s nature, while their failure and deaths would confirm that nothing was above the written rule of fate. Such were the rules the aspects of existence and their champions had to follow. Rules that not everyone was happy about, but one they followed nonetheless.

With a clear path to thread, the domains immediately fell in line, and like a well-oiled machine, began a thorough extermination of what they called “Destiny’s wretched spawn.” ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀ ꪶ

Uncountable lives were lost, domains were pushed to the brink of destruction.. Yet, one by one, the champions of Destiny were overwhelmed, and ultimately fell one by one. It was only after a very long time, that the domains were able to regain their former power, whilst always keeping a watchful eye for the possible reappearance of Destiny’s spawn.

—–

Back in Fate’s absolute domain, the three individuals were currently standing in silence. The old man now looked happily at the game board while ignoring the ranges of emotions the young boy was going through. Order, on the other hand, wondered whether it was the right moment for him to leave.

His sudden arrival had been a surprise for both Fate and Destiny, and for a good reason. While meetings between different aspects of existence were not a rarity, nobody dared to disturb Fate in his absolute domain. If someone did show up, that was usually an indication that something critical had happened-Yet, not even Fate, in his omniscience, was expecting to hear what Order had to say.

As Order’s report went on, Fate’s attention was drawn more and more.. After all, the death of an aspect of existence, let alone a mid-high tier one such as Equilibrium, was not a small matter. Nevertheless, history was long, and lethal clashes between aspects of existence were a deeply rooted part of it.

Following an aspect’s death, their consciousness would unconsciously pull the power from which they were created towards itself in an instinctive attempt to preserve the aspect’s life. Unfortunately, such a measure was considered flawed, for the moment their power concentrated around their consciousness, the latter had already perished, making it impossible for them to survive.

The only effect this sort of death throe had, was for that power to condense into an intangible mass that, ultimately, imploded, leaving nothing behind a large void.

While the disappearance of a power of existence was a shocking event, in the perspective of the multiverse’s nearly infinite life, that was not the case. Just because the power had gone extinct, that did not mean that the events that had led to its creation would cease, meaning that at some point, that power would reform, and with time, millions of years later, a new consciousness would be born.

What had truly shocked the aspect of Fate was something else. Something he realized not because he was made aware of, nor because he had seen it in the inextricable fabric of fate.. But because of the effect it had on his power.

Without his knowledge, at some point, a champion of Destiny had been born. One that, opposite to the rest of their kin, had managed to survive the net of destruction and death created by his kin to keep them rooted to the ground, breaking out of it like a butterfly bursting out of its cocoon and taking flight for the first time.

It did not matter that his position of hegemony had not been challenged, that Destiny had gained nothing from him, or that his actions were ultimately inconsequential.. The mere fact that Daniel had used Destiny’s gift to forge a path that went beyond the limits of the concept of fate, was enough. Enough to damage his existence.

It was only as his infinite power began to crumble, to be poisoned by doubt and reality, that Fate realized that the newborn aspect of Karma, a being whose fate he could not see, was the bane of his existence.. A drop of ink in the most limpid of waters.

As these thoughts formed in the little boy’s mind, the pearly white island began to tremble at an impressive speed. Its smooth surface began to morph, and gain a yellow hue. Moments later, black patches began to form in its wavy surface, like a layer of rust over what used to be pure white stone, but that was now a bright yellow and extremely hot substance.

Similar events were taking place all throughout the universe, where every planet, asteroid, celestial body, and space itself were being heated by a constantly increasing vibration.

In just a moment, all forms of life in Fate’s ultimate domain ceased to exist.

Despite the catastrophic outcome caused by Fate’s anger, these thoughts were not directed at Daniel, nor at his brother Destiny.. But at the entity that had caused all this.

All-seeing and all-powerful, Fate had the entirety of life’s history from which he could observe and experience schemes and conflicts. An eternity which he was used to peering into to waste time. For a being with such an extensive experience on how consciousnesses operated, it only took a moment to form an educated guess on what had truly happened.

As the base temperature of the multiverse began to reach that of the warmest of stars, Fate began pondering. In his mind, the various voices began to converse with one another.

More than anybody else Fate knew the nature and extent of Equilibrium’s powers. He knew that her existence would have naturally led her to clash against an abomination such as an evolved champion of Destiny, and that for such a being, she would be an immovable obstacle that had to be overcome.

“Was Karma’s power strong enough to defeat a being whose existence I acknowledged as something vital to the multiverse?” He shook his head, causing his hair to float in the incandescent space. “No, that is not possible. He received help.. But by who?” his beady eyes narrowed as his chubby fists began to relax. “A being powerful enough to snuff the existence of Equilibrium in the blink of an eye. Not many were capable of such a feat.. and for what reason? To save Karma?” Once again, his head shook, more vigorously than the last time.

As his head stopped, an expression of realization appeared on his face. He muttered, “To hurt me.”

This realization expanded within Fate’s mind like a compressed ball of cotton. Each strand connecting a thought to another through reasonable explanations and logic, until finally, a name formed in the darkness. The name of the one aspect of existence who would stand to gain the most from his loss of power, as well as from a world where champions of Destiny ran free and unchallenged.

One of the few beings that stood as his equal.. Conflict.