Errant threads of design interweave and twin together, binding paths irrevocably. Catalyzed by shared experience, mixed by blood and empowered by the witness of a god.

  Tremble, Origin’s threshold and weep.

  

  Shivna

  Nuu’s Quarters, The Crystal Spire, Kavlaka

  

  Eyes glazed over, Shivna stared at the dramatic drivel that her ‘beloved’ guest had proudly presented her.

  “I do hope the improvement of my craft is as obvious to you as it is to myself. The boon this room provides me is incomparable to anything I might have imagined!” Eyes slowly traveling up the blurry page, they focused on the beaming horned man’s plain face.

  Resisting the urge to sigh, Shivna found herself thankful for the constant roiling mist which obscured her features: a rarity. Pressing back the disgust she felt at the grandiose yet apparently meaningless prose of Nuu’s latest chapter, her voice was warm and full of encouragement. “Nuu, dear, you always surprise me! Each time I visit you show me such wonderful work. Do tell me, this particular volume of your grand working, have you yet imbued it?”

  The sparkling fool positively preened under her praise. Too much. He must feel the need to change. Thankfully, he answered with a quick shake of his head.

  “I fear not. As of yet, I have not confirmed that this particular style of writing will be well suited for illustrating my design. If I may, this is something I was hoping to speak to you about. These quarters you have provided to me, and their ability to compress time are well and truly appreciated. I feel the near-stagnation of the outside world enhances my ability to weave my narrative into the grander flow. And yet…” He hesitated a moment, clearly uncertain how she’d receive whatever it was he wanted to ask.

  “Please, my dear, do not hold me in such suspense! I am bursting with curiosity.” Although she knew her tone of eagerness slipped a bit too close to sarcasm, Nuu was clearly oblivious. He nodded resolutely and began his wind up to, hopefully, get to the point.

  “Very well. First, thank you again for your hospitality, patronage, and companionship. Not to mention your understanding and grace! You are a true inspiration. Should one in a billion fae be such as you, I daresay the entire world might be changed for the better.”

  Taking a breath, he did his best to look toward her eyes, hidden as they were. “However, I think I need to leave for a time to test my latest hypothesis in regards to this newest style of writing. The truth is, I believe I am hitting upon a truly potent method of crafting a plot which may capture even the most resistant or powerful within its groove. However… I am currently left with only speculation and anticipation, rather than knowledge and fact.”

  “Hmmm…” Shivna reached between them, retrieving her glass of wine and a small white and red fruit. Tossing the sweet bulb into her mouth, she swirled the sparkling peach liquid before lifting it to her lips. Sharply bitter chased the sweetness down her throat, coating and tickling her throat delightfully. She hardly noticed.

  Despite having immediately decided on her answer to Nuu’s request, Shivna acted as though there was much to ponder. Finally, she sighed and replied, “Nuu, dear, as much as it pains me…”

  He tensed, his mouth opening slightly in preparation to protest whatever he thought she would say. Though the words stuck in his throat, his habitual politeness far too ingrained to allow him to interrupt her. “…I suppose I must bid you farewell for a time. Just do, please, promise me you shall return posthaste? I believe I may go mad here without a decent conversationalist to take my mind off of the mundanity of this planet.”

  With a deep sigh, Shivna stood in a single fluid motion. She reached one hand, wrapped in the kaleidoscopic mists as ever, and pulled Nuu to his feet. Looking into his eyes, she wished she could part her mists to truly grasp hold of his easily wandering attention, “Do not forget to message me often, tell me of your adventures and your writing! I can hardly wait to hear what comes next. I do so enjoy our talks.”

  Then, shocking the formal man, she pulled him into a hug and whispered softly into his ear, “Please, come back to me.”

  Stepping away, Shivna made as if straightening herself. Smoothing some imagined clothing beneath her mists. Showing the man her own embarrassment, turning her head down as if she was avoiding looking at him. In reality, her eyes watched him carefully, her gaze hidden and unknowable.

  The flush across Nuu’s face and slight tremble in his posture told her that she’d succeeded in her gambit. He would return. It was unfortunate he had yet to complete the work ‘he’ had been working on, but it had been started and the beginning was imbued. Each target was set upon their intended path. The question now was whether they would remain. More importantly, it was yet to be seen whether she, through Nuu, would be able to continue to dictate that path to the end she desired.

  Although the man was a bit annoying, his insights and ability were truly outstanding. A pity his insights did not resonate with herself or her few confidants in any way. In the hands of someone competent, it could alter the shape of reality itself on a scale unheard of for anyone under godhood.

  Seeing Nuu raise his hand and open his mouth, clearly about to start some romantic prattle, she spun on her heel and rushed out of his abode. Hopefully, he took her retreat for embarrassment and a desire for him not to see her emotional at his upcoming absence.

  A slight smile played across Shivna’s face as she carefully maintained her line of sight, straight across the passage toward her destination. It wouldn’t do to be caught in the Crystal Spire’s glamour, there was much she had to prepare before her ‘dear Nuu’ departed.

  Well, I may not have a world-shaping insight… But I can control someone who does.

  

  Willow

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Sheerna Entrance, Outside Vesheen City, Shee

  

  Eyes only slightly moist, Willow pulled herself out of her dojo. The deep blue rift floated in a few paces away, patiently waiting for her.

  “So… When I go out there, will the rift immediately close? Is everyone going to know it’s my fault?” Her voice sounded hollow and faded into the distance unanswered. Clearly, Jemin, or Sheerna, or whoever had been talking to her before wasn’t going to answer her questions.

  I guess Jemin did say no more questions… She grumbled under her breath for a few moments, hyping herself up for whatever happened when she exited. If the locals tried to capture her immediately, she’d resist. At least, if it seemed like they knew for sure what she’d done. If they were confused, maybe not?

  “Urgh, I need Ravvy and Luzzi! They’d probably know!” Realizing she was pacing, pulling at a strand of hair, and muttering to herself, Willow stopped and forced herself to relax. It was strange feeling more anxious about exiting the rift than she had entering it.

  With a brief moment of focus, Willow fed the anxiety to her discipline aspect. Feeling better, she took three quick steps forward, her foot touching the rift’s surface in the middle of the last step. Her foot landed on stone and she entered her moment of focus.

  She was entirely surrounded, her instinctive activation of her ability the only thing that saved her. Mere centimeters separated her from hundreds, maybe thousands, of pieces of shrapnel. Shards of stone, splinters of wood, various bits of metal, not to mention what she thought was bone and flesh. Being intimately familiar with what exploded creature looked like, she could only scowl. If I’m still inside that stupid rift and the rat kind scenario started again, I’m going to go absolutely insane.

  The thought quickly faded as she examined the area. She was definitely in the same clearing that she’d entered the rift from. It was much more chaotic, though. Feeling slight tugs at her mana, Willow realized both of her mana aspects had been depleted to almost half. Whoa, stopping all this stuff took more than I thought.

  Usually, using a lot of mana was straining. She wondered briefly why she hadn’t felt anything, but didn’t have much time to consider. There were beings beyond her ability’s influence clearly moving about and one was the cause of the tug on her mana. Someone had entered her focus’ area of effect.

  Actually… Now that she looked around, she was surrounded by beings. That might explain why so much of her mana had been used, though she hadn’t felt them enter. That clued her in. It’s just like when Luzzi and Ravvy entered the rift. They’re caught by the ability and don’t have any chance to resist.

  Piecing that together, she spun in place looking for her friends. They were there! Rushing forward, she tapped them both. Sending packets of imperative commands to “Be free”, they both looked around in apparent confusion.

  “Heya!” Willow greeted brightly, “How was jail?”

  Luzzi’s tail whipped into a loose C, swaying back and forth as she slapped both of her hands to her cheeks. While Willow didn’t remember exactly what all that meant, she got the gist and grinned. She rubbed the side of her face with one hand in reply. I think that’s amusement, right? Urgh, it’s been a while. Like… She missed Luzzi’s answer as her mind drifted.

  Her hand stopped mid face-rub. “How long?” She muttered aloud, her brows furrowing. Her fingers tapped her temple as she thought. It was definitely a long time, but most of it was blurry. She remembered four or five encounters with the rat king. She also remembered her epiphany, which had lead to one of her new rooms. It was weird feeling like it’d been a long time since she had seen Luzzi, long enough to have forgotten some of the body language she had been taught, and yet not actually remembering most of the time since then.

  “Willow? What’d you do?” Ravvy asked, voice full of glee.

  Looking in his direction, she saw him observing the devastation all around.

  “Right,” she dropped her hands to her sides, “We should get out of the way of all this shrapnel before I let my ability go.”

  Ravvy snorted and started walking toward the north of the cracked and pitted stone plinth they were standing on. “Genius plan, as always.”

  Both following, Willow looked at Luzzi, “Hey, ah… I’m sorry for not listening to your advice. I should have asked why or something. It just seemed… Wrong… To let them capture me without a fight.”

  The end was lame, of course, Willow know it. Luzzi knew it. Ravvy made it plain that he knew by turning around to walk backward and rolling all five of his eyes up at her. She winced and shrugged. It was really the best she’d been able to come up with, as far as an apology was concerned. At least it’s the best I remember coming up with. Maybe somewhere in all the blurred out memory I had something better?

  “As I recall, the moment was tense and you were magically and mentally strained far beyond what you were used to. You are forgiven. If we are to enter another rift together, we shall train for such situations first.” The Paavaras reached out and ran two fingers along Willow’s arm. It likely had some specific meaning, but Willow was satisfied to assume it meant she wasn’t angry.

  As they walked, Willow carefully altered the shape of her moment to keep everything that was previously caught from moving until they were ready. It took more of her already diminished mana, but it was fine. Probably.

  Reaching the limit of how far she could stretch her ability from herself, Willow stopped and warned the others, “I’m going to start releasing my ability from the other end…” She pointed back in the direction they’d come from and traced a line from there to herself, indicating the path of ‘resumed time.’

  “Got it, I’ll put a shield in front of us if anything comes this way. Luzzi, think you could hide us from prying eyes? I don’t know exactly what happened, but I’m guessing we don’t want anyone to know we were here.”

  “I can hide us for a short period, yes. Just don’t do anything too flashy close to our bodies.”

  With that settled, Willow slowly retracted her ability, pulling the edge back toward herself at a careful pace. As she did, sounds of impacts, screams, roars of fury and pain, and lots of confusion filled the air.

  Plenty of people were hit by the huge quantity of shrapnel as it was released from her ability’s influence, though it seemed that most beings were either resilient enough not to be too badly wounded or had some form of skill or ability to defend themselves. Willow was glad, she’d feel more than a little guilty about a ton of people dying just because she beat a silly rift.

  “So, uh, rifts explode when they close?” Willow asked as she continued her careful retraction. She told herself doing so slowly was giving everyone their best possible chance to dodge or defend themselves from imminent damage in some other way.

  “I guess so, though I would guess they either explode multiple times or at multiple points. The edges of this area are already devastated, despite your ability holding so much shrapnel.” Ravvy tossed her a quick look as he answered, but immediately refocused on watching the progress of Willow’s retraction in case he had to protect them.

  Luzzi spoke softly, while clearly focusing on something Willow didn’t see. Probably a one-way illusion or something. Is that a thing? I should ask later. “It is vanishingly rare for a rift to be closed. I’m not even sure how or why they do close. Each time I’ve heard of such an occurrence it’s reported as a shock akin to a natural disaster.” She shrugged, “At least we were able to run this one before it ceased to exist.”

  Willow was shocked by Luzzi’s answer. She had assumed the fuzzy woman knew pretty much everything there was to know about rifts. Though, it made sense she wouldn’t know if the large organizations wanted to keep it as a secret. It would be much less profitable for them if people constantly tried to complete rift trials, rather than just running their challenges.

  They were all silent for the remaining minute or so it took Willow to finish her task. As she fully canceled her ability, a relatively small cluster of random objects-turned-ballistic were vaporized by a single quick beam of intense light from Ravvy’s palm. A few beings looked around, clearly having noticed the beam, but didn’t move to investigate. No one appeared to have actually spotted them.

  “Let us take our leave, I think we need to discuss what happened.” Luzzi suggested.

  Ravvy smirked at Willow, “Translation: What the hell did Willow do.”

  Smiling brightly, Willow could only agree, “Yeah! It’ll be so great to talk to someone who will remember me who isn’t a literal giant talking rat!”

  Luzzi tilted her head, while Ravvy gave her a look that fully conveyed true worry that she’d lost her mind. Pffft, so much for being world-weary and experienced! They haven’t even been stuck in a time loop before. Amateurs.