Episode 8 – Rebirth (1/2)

◈ City of Eleasia, Temple of Fate ◈

Ti forward, branching into many possible futures

The river iscreatures inhabiting the world

Their drops of life are swept down the river, unable to resist the flow, unable to change the flow No le, what can one restless drop of water do in a stream made out of countless drops of water?

To the drop itself, its path is very important If it hit a rock, or collided with other drops, the force of the impact could push it into another stream of drops

But when you look at the streale drop of water?

When you look at the water… all you see are the fish

But when Sanarra Arten gazed at the river of time, she couldn't see the fish There were no fish in the river of time Not anymore

Granted, she, as the envoy of fate, could only see that which was right in front of her She couldn't look into the distance to see as and ill be She neither held the power to see the past nor the future

What she could see was very specific Very limited

She couldn't tell what decisions would a single drop make or the consequences of that decision unless it was never their choice to begin with but a path that had been already predetermined from the start

She couldn't see the possibilities, she could only see the inevitable, the things that cannot be changed

That unchanging certainty - the lack of choice - that is what people labeled as fate

Can fate be changed? That question was as old as time itself

Sanarra knew the answer to that question Mortals can't transcend the scope of their fate Fate is an integral part of reality; only that which holds the power to alter reality itself on the fundamental level can alter fate

And there existed only one thing that could alter the basic laws of reality - Aetherneal ic

Sanarra, of course, couldn't use Aetherneal ic, that was the domain of the Gods But she wasn't completely unfamiliar with it After all, she used to wear a divine artifact around her neck

Still, as ic in action, she had yet to see it alter fate

She didn't expect that 'yet' to couard

It had been a hot su, drinking h the s le musically

Her breath suddenly caught in her chest, her eyes widened, and her hands lost their grip on the tea cup

Her eyes were glued to the flower-adorned cup, slipping through her fingers in slow motion However, she could not see it - her mind had been pulled to the river of time

That's when she saw it, just as it happened

She knew not what decision had been made, she didn't even knohich drop of water was decisive It e was a result of a butterfly effect - caused byup to reach this point

Sanarra saw a da it

She saw a single rock on the dahtly, pushed under the pressure of the water Yet, like a stack of dominos, the entire dam crumbled in an instant, overwhelmed by the stream

Every hair on her body stood up as a wave of chills traveled down her spine

The path of time had been altered, the tier a way to stop, to revert back to the old road The future of the entire land of Halnea had been changed

She didn't hear her cup crash on the floor, because at that moment, all she could see and hear was tile drop

She knew that drop

That drop was the key to everything

And that key was in the forolden seed, deep inside of it A seed, that with proper nourishs of light that could swim freely in the river

It had been a fish of light that entrusted this task to the first envoy of fate several o

The envoys of fate had only one purpose They were created by the fish for the sake of the fish

It was the invisible hands of countless envoys of fate that lead to the appearance of this golden seed, and it was up to her to make sure that it turns into a fish

Sanarra sh she didn’t knohich path the seed needed to take for it to grow She smiled as the river of time blurred and disappeared in front of her eyes

She felt the thrill of the unknown coursing through her body She alking in the dark, yet she had hope Inability to see the fate- the future was an ocean of possibilities

Sanarra exhaled the breath she didn't know she was holding and prayed

Prayed that a waterfall wouldn't come Prayed that there would be soile seed would survive the test of tirow in ti the hopes of many envoys of fate that prayed, breathed and bled just to bring the light back into the river

The choices were not hers to make

All she could do noas pray

Kiel was rudely awakened by the stabbing pain in his right ar at his skin was gradually fading away He was lying on the forest ground, his vision blurring in and out He blinked furiously trying to focus his eyes Everything looked so brighttoo bright

He could hearhi, as if they were suddenly getting louder or quieter

Did his hearing i to filter out all of the sounds, and ain? Was this how the world sounded to elibu? Their long ears had el ears Were they constantly annoyed by irrelevant sounds like these?

The thought made Kiel reach for his ears He didn't knohat he expected to find, but he let out a sigh of relief when he found that his ears were just as small and round as they were before

As he inhaled the air around him, his nose twitched It wasn't just sounds that suddenly becaer also He could still sel he had devoured hours ago

And even beyond the overload of his senses, he was overwhel over, but his entire body was still shaking, consu

His h he just woke up His breathing was irregular and shallow His feelings and thoughts were jumbled, he didn't even know if they were his own – they felt so alien It was as if his loss of consciousness merely paused the tornado until he woke up

Histo hi to him or is it just a drea seemed different He didn't feel like himself at all!

Realization struck him like a hammer

What have I done?!

Kiel's conviction wavered, regret and dread threatened to consu ripples and shaking him to the core

He did not sign up for this! How could he have taken all of this so lightly?! That spell was not just a si much more He felt truly bound to her, like she had become a part of him He should have known that it wasn't as simple as she made it out to be!

Kiel would have entered a frenzy - afraid of what he had done, terrified of what he had become - if it weren't for her mana It flowed into him with every contraction of his mind He could feel it clearly, it was undoubtedly her mana, yet it felt like it was his just as much as hers

Elaru'sheart

Don't panic Kiel told himself This was just a tradeoff

Yes, it wasn't all bad! He felt y andwas possible He would get used to these changes eventually It is a blessing in disguise

Kiel took a deep breath and exhaled slowly He was going to be just fine

As he calh him, excitement sparked deep within him He never knew… he never kne incredible it e, to constantly feel such power flowing through them, like life itself Pure, dense, abundant mana

This was a good choice after allKiel reasoned with himself

He didn't kno long he had laid there unes in himself and his own perception of the world The sense of time taken by the spell slowly returned to him, it could have lastedtime to notice the softness under hiround

He propped himself up on his elbows and looked down on what he had been lying

The realization left him speechless

His head was right next to Elaru's, his legs on the outside of hers, her soft breasts were pressing on his chest