Page 250 of Of Sins and Sacrifice

Seconds trickle by and as I’m starting to lose hope, his eyes roll back in his head and he wobbles backward.

He opens his mouth to speak, but he cannot do so—not until he is prompted anyway.

I’ve been breaking rules right and left recently, so if I’m going to sneak into the House of Moirai, I might as well bring my full arsenal with me. Which is why I may have decided to use a forbidden rune I found while rummaging through the Cryos armory. It’s an unusual one that has not been used in eons, but it holds extreme power, granting its user complete control over a person for exactly thirty minutes. Of course the catch is twofold: the rune’s magic has to be ingested, hence the pie, and it can only be used once by a person.

But now that Groyo is under the influence, I quickly pose my questions.

“Where are my threads of fate located?”

He flinches but cannot stop himself from replying, “The seventh door on the right.”

“There are no doors,” I mention with narrowed eyes. “Show me!”

He presses his hand against the white right wall and a shimmery light erupts from within before a row of infinite doors materializes in front of me.

“How do I recognize which are mine once I go inside?”

“They will shine the brightest for your eyes only.”

I nod. That’s quite easy.

“Thank you, Lord Groyo. Now wait here until I return and do not move!”

He obeys me, his body becoming slack.

I count the doors until I reach the seventh and go inside. Using my energy, I manifest a timer to tell me when the thirty minutes are about to elapse.

My mouth opens in shock as I enter the room. There are millions of spider-like threads of an opalescent color. They areall linked and interwoven with each other in a complex tapestry that my brain cannot even begin to comprehend.

They all pulse with light, some stronger than others. And as I walk among them, careful not to touch any that are not my own, I realize that this room also stretches to infinity.

Time is of the essence, and fear grips me that I will not be able to find what I’m looking for before the rune’s power runs out.

Taking a deep breath, I stop in the midst of the layers of threads and focus on my surroundings. Summoning my energy to the tips of my finger, I weave a small ice eye on which I carve a transfer rune so I can borrow its sight.

Adding more energy to the eye, I send it flying forward to explore the unknown.

Closing my own eyes, I let the wandering eye see everything for me.

It travels miles per second, taking in the multitude of linked threads with their beautiful colors. But while most of them shimmer with a combination of other colors, none yet shine the brightest.

More distance traveled. More webs explored.

I’ve never given thought to the infinity of life, of creation, of fate. Yet seeing it all for myself now, I find myself in awe at the sheer magnitude and complexity.

I’m just one small part of it all, an insignificant part in the large scheme of things.

Yet it’s that small part that I wish to have control over, that I wish to shape and mold as I want and not let some ancient deities decide for me.

I’ve already lived four thousand years according to the fate assigned to me, never stepping out of that predetermined mold.

And if I hadn’t met Mine, I probably would have never done it either.

I would have rebelled against my betrothal to Theron, of course, but I don’t think I would have had either the courage or the determination to run away, to risk becoming a pariah in the only world I’ve ever known.

That is no longer the case.

I can shun away everything and everyone as long as I have Mine by my side, my best friend, my beloved. And for that, I will willingly exile myself from Aperion so long as I can be free to love him as I long to.

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