Touch of Fate

"Well, child, how did it go?" Opal asked warmly while he was getting his bearings.

"Good, I think. But I haven't signed the contract just yet."

"Hmm," the old dwarf murmured thoughtfully. "You were worried about tricks, right?"

He nodded. "Pretty much. I already forced him to edit several parts of the document, but I could tell that he was still hiding something. If possible, I'd like your advice on whether or not to sign it."

"That may be difficult, since it's still only in your head, but tell me about your negotiations, and I'll see what I can do."

So, Mike related to her what had happened during their discussion, earning a few disbelieving noises from his friends who were listening in.

"He made a solid pact with an ancient being known for their deceitfulness and trickery by accident?" Morris muttered softly.

"Is it that hard to believe, considering who it is?" Sera asked.

"...You have a point. Makes me wonder what else we could do with that blind luck of his if we really tried putting it to use."

"That's a dangerous line of thought. I can tell you from practical experience, that luck of his has a tendency to lead us into sticky situations. Like being stuck in the middle of an all out war between vampires and demons, for example. And that's not even considering the minor ghoul plague we apparently missed in the meantime."

The bard tapped his lip thoughtfully. "You know, now that I think about it, I've been in mortal danger more during the brief period of time since I met him than the entire rest of my life put together."

"Same here, and I spent most of my childhood being hunted down by an evil cult."

Uncharacteristically, Lily apparently felt the need to comment. "I've become a wanted fugitive in my home country."

Finally Mike couldn't take it anymore. "Oh, come on! It's not like I'm doing any of that intentionally! Give me a break."

His outburst only earned him a round of laughter from his friends, who were clearly teasing him in retribution for worrying them earlier. They quieted down after Mike gave them a dirty look. He'd already finished his story and was waiting on Opal to give her verdict, but he found the side commentary rude.

He sighed. [While I didn't force any of them to come along with me, I suppose I do have some responsibility for the dangerous situations they've fallen into. Maybe I should try to take it easy for a while after I deal with the current problem. That is, if the universe will let me.]

His moment of reflection was interrupted when the old Spirit Mage opened her eyes and nodded. "I see. That's what he's after, the sly fox."

"Have you figured it out?" He asked.

"Demons, especially ones capable of ruling an entire realm, pride themselves on their ability to manipulate others. It has been said that the courts of powerful demon lords are filled with such political infighting and back biting that the games of mortal nobles look quaint by comparison."

She stood with a creak of old joints and walked over to the kitchen and poured herself a tankard of ale. "Sorry. Need to wet my throat a bit. Now, as I was saying, deception is as natural as breathing for them, so it is no surprise that he is trying to trick you into making a contract that favors his side. Thankfully, though, from the sounds of it, he's giving you more credit than you perhaps deserve and has already ceded on most of the issues that would have been troublesome otherwise."

"Okay. Then what should I worry about?"

Opal smirked. "He's attempting to play the long game. By the sounds of it, he's already mostly given up on taking full control of your body. Having his true name means that he can't escape making some kind of contract, so he probably decided to make the best of a bad situation. For now, he will bide his time and wait for the moment of your death. Unfortunately for him, I think he's actually underestimating you in one key factor."

Mike frowned in thought for a second, before it came to him. "You're talking about lifespan. It's some kind of hidden attribute, right?"

"You could say that. The System has control over the length of time a mortal being can remain in this world, although the method by which it does so is beyond my understanding. Nevertheless, your lifespan as a Tier 4 and a Hero has already reached the realm of semi-immortal beings. Barring a violent death, you could easily live for thousands of years."

"Yeah, I could see that…" He muttered quietly in response. The sheer scale of time being talked about was so far beyond the scope of his understanding that he couldn't help but feel a little subdued when it came up in conversation.

He glanced over at his companions. Although it was hard based purely on their facial expressions, he could tell that the news had come as something of a surprise. With the exception of Lily, who was more interested in the contents of the kitchen's spice rack than the conversation, they all appeared to be deep in thought, working through the obvious implications. Seeing the consternation on Morris's and Sera's faces caused him to feel a strange pang of loneliness as he imagined what it would be like to outlive all of his friends and acquaintances by millennia.

[...It was always something I'd have to think about at some point. I've been changing ever since I came to this world, slowly becoming something other than human…]

Perhaps sensing the change in mood, Opal continued a little more gently. "I suspect your demon plans on waiting till the burden of years eventually drains you of your will before pushing you towards suicide in one form or another. For beings like that, they can afford to wait a few centuries to win. And in it's mind, that's what it would be, a simple delayed win. After all, mortals were never meant to grapple with eternity. However, I sincerely believe that he has underestimated you."

Still lost in thought, he was only half listening to her explanation, and could only manage a distracted, "huh?"

The elder dwarf leaned forward with a serious look in her eyes. "I believe you have what it takes to become one of the Ascended. And if you were to succeed in doing so, all of his maneuvering would be for not."

That earned a reaction from Morris, "But there hasn't been an Ascension since the Second Age. I know Mike has developed abnormally quickly, but what you are talking about should be impossible. The Creators changed the System to make it that way."

"Harder, but not impossible. In fact, I can personally speak to at least two instances of Ascension since the beginning of the Third Age, and there are surely more that I am not aware of." Opal replied calmly before frowning. "Although it is difficult to understand their intention at the best of times, we can likely assume that the Creators sought to prevent another overaccumulation of Tier 5s in the hopes that this world would avoid the fate it nearly suffered at the end of the Second Age."

"What?!" The bard asked in agitation. "Wait. Are you implying that the collapse of High Elven civilization was…but that would mean the gods are intentionally weakening their own followers in the face of potential enemies. You wouldn't do that unless…"

He trailed off with a look of realization. Sera, however, finished for him. "Unless you want to prevent a rebellion. That's it, right? That's what the Creators were afraid of?"

Opal nodded solemnly. "We believe the ending of the Second Age was, in part, due to an uprising among the Ascended."

"Is that…is that even possible?" Morris asked hesitantly. "Could someone even attempt to use the power given by the System to fight the beings who created it in the first place."

"Why not? When the Creators made the System they created something greater than themselves, a force that ultimately ended up confining them to preset roles and imposing strict limitations on their actions. While I don't know if this was intentional or not, we believe that it is better to view the System as more of a natural force in this world than any kind of divine blessing."

The old spirit mage gestured vaguely towards the sky. "They may have more control over it than you or I, but rest assured, even they cannot dictate what a person does with the power granted by it."

"Wait, wait." Sera broke in. "What you are talking about goes against the very concept of destiny. Certain company excluded, it's considered common sense that the Creators set the course of the world and shape the actions of its inhabitants."

"That's true, but only in the broadest sense. The Creators concern themselves with the destiny of the world itself, and only influence the course of events that might shake its very foundations. They otherwise allow mortals to live as they please. While the Ascended each have their own agenda, and can take action in specific circumstances, it doesn't change the fact that the vast majority of the sentient beings of Ea live their entire lives subject to only two forces. Chance, and the System itself."

Mike thought back to the course of his life up to this point, and found the argument somewhat unconvincing. Despite facing a veritable cornucopia of challenges and dangers, any one of which should have left him dead or worse, he'd always managed to overcome them. Even his enhanced luck couldn't fully explain the way things always seemed to end in his favor. So much so, that he'd actually wondered if there might not be some god-like being watching over him.

[Could it be something else? Maybe I should be offering the occasional prayer to that robot space whale.]

A suspicion that'd been forming in the back of his mind finally took shape. "You sound quite confident in all this. Would you mind telling us how you know about these things?"

The old spirit mage started and began rubbing the side of her head in mild embarrassment. "Aicha! Sorry about that, I get quite heated when discussing religion. It's a bad habit of mine."

"Wait, are you…" Morris started to ask before Tal explained.

"Is Eremite."

"Haaa. That explains it." The bard groaned while sitting back down, any hint of excitement leaking out of his body. "You really had me going there for a minute. You've been playing the role of the mysterious mentor so much, I completely believed you when you started proselytizing."

"Now, now child. Just because we have a questionable reputation doesn't mean that the points I'm making aren't true." The old dwarf shot back while seeming miffed.

Mike leaned over towards Sera and whispered, "What's an Eremite?"

"They are kind of like a cult." She whispered back, making sure that Opal couldn't hear. "They believe that the System itself is the only valid object of worship and that the gods, even the Creators themselves, are merely it's servants. They tend to be a bit utopian, with a lot of their members pushing for pacifism and peaceful cooperation amongst all intelligent beings, so most people see them as being little more than harmless weirdos. Of course, they are also treated like heretics in some places, and persecuted rather heavily."

"I see. It would be hard to avoid it when you make an enemy of most major religions."

"Right?"

Opal huffed once, no longer quite seeming like a wise and dignified elder, but shrugged off her momentary consternation. "In any event, my personal beliefs don't change the facts of this matter."

She fixed Mike with a serious gaze. "Child, I hope that you can at least trust me when I say that you have nothing to fear from this contract as it is now. The demon may try to lay claim to your remains after your death in one capacity or another, but if you succeed in reaching Tier 5 you will be beyond the constraints of any mere demon lord, even in the unlikely event of your death following such a transition. That being said, you should keep your guard up from here on out. Bings like your demon can be incredibly patient with their deceptions. Always remember that it is a creature of pure evil who only serves you out of fear and coercion, and will stop at nothing to take all you possess for itself."

Mike thought back to the events of the last few hours, the way the demon had been slowly twisting his perception of reality and causing him to become increasingly cruel and destructive. It was not something he wanted to experience again.

"I will take your warning to heart." He replied solemnly after a few moments.

"Good." The old dwarf replied with a smile before standing up. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have an appointment that I need to keep."

"Leaving?" Tal asked, the merest hint of loneliness entering her voice as she did.

"Yes, child. Though it has been good to see you and I wish we had more time to catch up, I have much to do before I can rest these weary bones."

"So, that's it? I just need to sign the contract and everything is taken care of?" Mike asked.

"Of course not, but if you do sign on that metaphysical line your immediate problems will come to an end. Indeed, you may even find yourself gaining a great deal from the exchange, not the least of which is acquiring Spirit Magic. However, you must then concentrate on the problems of the future, and what you must do to solve them."

He frowned at her vague advice.

Opal grinned knowingly. "You can start by taking better care of that poor creature sleeping in your pocket. If not for her dedicating most of her energy to keeping the demon in check, you would have long ago succumbed to possession."

Mike flinched and glanced down at Audra, who was uncharacteristically awake and alert. She turned a curious gaze up at him, cocking her head slightly to the side as if to ask him what he was looking at. Her cute and innocent expression only exacerbated the pang of guilt he felt as he did so.

"After that, I would recommend doing something about that god you have hanging around. The vampires will not leave you alone so long as he remains with you. They fear his influence over them and will do everything in their power to claim him for themselves." The old dwarf continued while walking towards the exit. "That said, I think you should focus on finding an equitable solution for the both of you. After all, you are responsible for unsealing him in the first place. It would not be fair to abandon him to his faithless descendants."

This earned him several shocked looks from his party members, but he did his best to ignore them. "I will keep that in mind. In any event, thank you for your guidance. You've helped me out of a tight spot and I won't soon forget it."

The old dwarf paused at the doorway and glanced over her shoulder at them. "Think nothing of it. I was only answering the request of my favorite student. If you wish to thank anyone, perhaps you should thank her."

Then, without waiting for a reply she moved off into the misty streets that were only now beginning to show signs of the approaching dawn.