Sovereign of the Karmic System

The place Daniel and the others found themselves in wasn’t dark and cold like the dead universe they had spent the past several hours in. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Around them was an immense expanse of pure white, not too different from the Trigate, but without the uncountable interdimensional portals littering the background like faraway stars, or the enormous traffic of cultivators and wayfarers making the journey from one portal to another.

Yet, while not completely foreign, there was a peculiarity that made this white expanse the furthest thing from familiar. And that was the presence of uncountable threads, tense to the point of breaking, stretching infinitely from one direction to another. Roley and the others, still discombobulated from the breaking of the weave’s workings, could only stare in silence as Daniel approached one of the threads. Then, before their minds could even formulate words of caution, they saw him run his finger across it with a gentle touch.

The moment Daniel’s finger came in contact with the thread, an image appeared in his mind. It depicted an old lady patiently sitting by her husband’s deathbed. Her leathery, rough hands gently caressing his increasingly colder one, while occasionally brushing his hair with the gentleness of a heartbroken lover. The sadness in her sunken eyes deep as a deep-sea abyss.

Daniel observed in silence for a moment, then allowed his finger to trace the white thread to the right stretch of it. When he did so, the events depicted began to change, rewinding to the old couple’s earlier days, when they had happened to meet during times of war. One a nurse, the other an injured soldier–half a century back. Excited, Daniel traced his finger in the other direction, and sure enough, the events sped forward, beyond the death of both, to images of children and grandchildren alike visiting a well kept shared tombstone engraved with both their names.

A knowing smile formed on his lips, but before he could test further, Roley’s voice caught his attention.

"What the hell was that.. It felt awful. I thought my head was going to explode!" Roley barked out angrily. The sight of Daniel noticing his and their friends’ pained expression, yet still continuing his tests, had not escaped him. His rage shrouded the scholarly curiosity that would take over his mind whenever he would find himself in a new, strange place.

Seemingly annoyed by the man’s outburst, Daniel rolled his eyes while answering matter-of-factly. "I am afraid there was no avoiding that. Testing the endurance of the weave’s workings was always the goal, and I would have had to test things out regardless of whether I warned you or not. This way, at the very least, we managed to avoid the pointless back and forth regarding whether you were ready to face any eventual suffering or not."

"And what if it didn’t work?! You could have killed us all!" Roley added impatiently. Hair burning with true fire and lightning, instantly evaporating the layer of sweat that the previous torture had drawn from his skin. His hastened heartbeat sounded out of his chest like the quakes of an earthquake, grumbling and grinding stone.

Daniel took a moment to observe his companions. Other than Roley and Der, who had somehow managed to resist the torture thanks to their powers, the others were in complete disarray.

Joan was sitting on one leg, embracing the other while resting her forehead against her knee–thin black hair stuck to her sweaty jaw and temples as she tried to contain the instinct to empty her stomach on the pristine white floor, while Ian, weakest of them all, was kneeling on the ground with his head wrapped tightly in his hands. A horrified, almost primordial sobbing sound came from within the ball of trembling flesh and bones he had rolled up into.

Not too far from the two lay Aeron’s body–Somehow paler than the already pale shade of green his skin usually was, he lay motionlessly on his back. Slightly above the body, a shade of green mist hovered quietly, suggesting that, at some point during the torture, Aeron had decided to split mind from body–If only to limit his perception of the weave’s collapse to as few senses as possible.

Similarly, Wolfe had devolved himself into a simple sphere of what appeared to be lead. A durable, dense metal impervious to the weather the rest had just gone through. He was now slowly retaking his innate wolf-like shape not too far from Der, who was quietly meditating in silence, breathing in and out slowly in a more composed version of what Joan was doing.

Noticing the state of his companions, Daniel shrugged indifferently. "Everyone seems to have survived." Arrogant words that succeeded in plucking a chord in Roley’s already volatile state of mind. Yet, before he could speak, Daniel grinned, opening his arms in a welcoming gesture, and added, "And here we are. The weave of fate."

Just like Daniel’s previous words had enraged him, the latter ones reawakened Roley’s scholarly spirit, allowing him to finally realize the uniqueness of the place he was currently in. The infinite white space devoid of stars and portals, the invisible yet present pristine white floor they all were standing on, and the presence of uncountable threads running beyond eye’s reach.

"Woah.." He blurted out in surprise as his fingers reached for a nearby thread. He felt it teeming with an immense amount of existential power. The same that, he assumed, had been fueling the obliterating strike that would smite them in case of any interference. It was remembering the power of the white lightning that, in the end, made him stop his hand just shy of contact with the tense, luminescent thread. "This is.. the skeleton of the weave of fate. How did you get us here?" Roley asked.

After a brief shrug, Daniel responded, "The armaments aren’t different from the objects created by the systems of Destiny. They do not possess infinite power, and their workings are linear and precise. So I simply disturbed the one working I knew would make the loop collapse on itself."

"Mhh.. and what was that?"

"Well, the weave doesn’t simply restart the events, but goes back to the known point of origin of the event it is showing.. So what happens if, when the weave goes back, the event is different?" Daniel said casually, struggling to bury the boastful grin that threatened to split his lower lip into two. "What happens if the event is different every time you force its reset?" He asked again before taking a dramatic pause. "Eventually the event would have changed beyond the point of recognition, causing the illusion to collapse.. and here we are."

Roley turned pensive for a few moments, then nodded in understanding. "That is why you chose that empty, dead universe. Because interfering in a living universe, like the first one, would have left too small a mark to confound the armament. While in a dead universe the sudden implosion of dozens of existential attacks would have been the most significant event in that universe.. too important to go unnoticed."

"Precisely." Daniel responded while casually touching another thread, observing the events it depicted with indifference. "At the end of the day, existential powers develop consciousnesses, not the other way around. So it isn’t too far-fetched to believe a portion of it to be relegated to the inner workings of the armament. I just had to confuse that part of Fate’s consciousness."

By now, Der had managed to regain his composure and walk over. His helmet had been removed, and was now hanging from the fingers of his right hand, revealing a stern face glistening with sweat. "Any chance our transgression might have been noticed?" He asked.

Daniel shook his head calmly. "If our intrusion did trigger some sort of defensive measure, Fate would have been here already." He responded before getting a feeling of his surroundings. He breathed in and exhaled slowly, then continued, "The power necessary to operate this armament must be negligible.. equivalent to the effort humans require to breathe. You don’t notice it unless someone points it out. To Fate, our intrusion must have felt like a drawn breath. Inconsequential."

Reassured by Daniel’s explanation, Roley and the others were finally able to focus on their surroundings–Only now able to notice the uniqueness of the odd space they were standing in.

The floor beneath their feet was almost indistinguishable from the rest of the space, smooth, unbroken and pristine. The air was still, giving a sense of quiet purity, as though time and space had paused in the boundless realm. Thin, delicate threads stretched from every direction, with both ends vanishing into the horizon and seemingly never intersecting.

"So this is it.. this is the weave of fate?" Roley asked while slowly approaching one of the threads. He once again raised his hand, mimicking Daniel’s actions, but before his fingertips could come in contact with the silky thread, he heard words of caution.

"I wouldn’t do it if I were you." Daniel said, loud enough to shake Roley out of his stupor.

Surprised, Roley asked, "Why not? You touched one."

"While these threads are a one-dimensional version of the looped illusion we were stuck in before, they work differently." Daniel retorted with a matter-of-fact tone. "Touching one of the threads will not only show you the events, but force you to experience them as the subjects of it.. Your mind isn’t prepared to withstand something of that magnitude." As he finished explaining, Daniel’s gaze slowly turned to the now sitting figure of the pale mental cultivator. "You, on the other hand, should have no problem with it."

"I think I will pass on the opportunity." Aeron said with a rare sarcastic tone–His voice still disembodied, and injected directly into their minds. The others might be unaware of Daniel’s scheming words, but how could his pettiness escape him? His mind was powerful, but even it had limits. Feeling the collective experience of thousands, maybe more people all at once.. it might not make him lose his mind, but it would definitely give him a headache of ages.

Slightly disappointed by the refusal, Daniel’s attention focused once more on the thread in front of him. He could tell that, had his humanity not been damaged by his ascension, turning him into an apathetic god, he too would have struggled to bear the burden of one of the weave’s threads.

"Regardless of whether our presence has gone unnoticed or not, we should not dwell here too long. Are we any closer to what we were looking for?" Roley asked anxiously, feeling the research value of this space being extinguished almost completely.. After all, as a being connected to primordial mana, the space’s light-less brightness, its airless space, the odd lack of a temperature.. everything within this space made him feel like a fish out of water.

Daniel nodded in agreement. He too did not wish to overstay his welcome, so instead of fiddling with more of the threads, he turned towards the old warrior with an extended hand.

Before Der could react, the sword he carried jumped out of its scabbard and landed gently into Daniel’s hand. Then, with a swipe of his arm, the sword was swung down at one of the threads. Its edge gleaming a faint gold color.