I'm sick... ugh. This is all I can do, so here's another chapter. I shall write more because why not. Now while I write, I shall also die of sickness.

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Grasping Fate

Chapter 9

"The only time you run out of chances is when you stop taking them."

He was pacing, pacing quite annoyingly Jerome added, "Quit it! If you're that worried we could off him right now. All your guests are staying over night, it'll be sim--"

"You really are an idiot, it isn't that simple. Don't you think he would expect something like that after making such a blunt threat?"

"Well if he's anything like his son--"

"Adam and his father are nothing alike. Adam, though good in many ways, is a bumbling idiot and his strength doesn't even compare close to mine. I could take him as easily as I could take Ian. But I was trained by only the best of the kingdom, Adam learned only from his father. In only 5 years of training Adam can fight as well as he does. A level of fighting I reached in 9..."

"Meaning?" Jerome hardly saw what the problem was, if Adam would be easy to beat now, then so would the king.

"Meaning, it took me twice the time to reach a level that took Adam half. His father is no ameteur, far better than me! I hardly think it is likely a human or morvic could beat him without getting seriously injured! Jerome, I'm king now, I have to play all my cards right. One wrong move, one wrong step and I'll bring the entire kingdom down with me! I am not risking an entire kingdom on a possibility of success!"

"Fine, fine! Keep your voice down, your highness, man that just doesn't sound right..."

"Are you making fun of me!"

"No, no, no! Hey! You know what I just realized?"

"What," Mitch rolled his eyes and flopped back onto his bed. It was long after the celebrations had bled into the night, Mitch had retired to his quarters to find Jerome waiting here like the sneaky b*stard he was.

"You're the king!"

"Good job, you've won the smartest idiot award..." He sarcastically cheered and raised his arm with little care.

"No! You idiot, that isn't what I realized. Let me finish, I'm talking about that since now you're king. That means you can do anything, right?"

"I just got done telling you I have to play my card--"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," He waved Mitch off, "What if you told everyone, to leave morvics alone! Then there would be no more problems!"

Mitch sat up and looked at Jerome like he just told him he had just told him he was pregnant.

"I take it back, I bestow upon you the dumbest sh*t award instead!"

"Hey! It's a good idea--"

"No, it is not! I can't make problems go away with the snap of my fingers and a magic spell! You understand nothing about how the world works. Simply telling a kingdom 'Hey love morvics and let's move past the death and destruction they have caused' is like telling someone they need to befriend a pack of creepers. It is just not possible, nor that easy."

"But--"

"I can't just erase everything. And don't forget, you're the leader of a group of murderous morvics. You think Duhita is going to forget about all the families you've destroyed?"

Jerome grumbled and took a seat on the ground crossing his arms in defiance.

"If it were that easy I would do it..." Mitch mumbled.

"You would?" Mitch looked over at Jerome, Jerome's eyes widened in surprise and curiosity.

"H-huh?"

"You just said if it was that easy you would do it, would you really?"

"I-I," Sh*t, he didn't mean to say it outloud, it was just a passing thought in his brain. It hardly meant anything...right? "Jerome, we have other things to worry about, it is well past midnight. I need to make my way back to Adam and tell them of what has happened."

"Aren't you the king though, can you really just leave like that, if you want. I can deliver the message."

Mitch sighed, it would be better if he did stay...., "Fine, just hurry. You can sleep first however."

~~~~~

-Earlier the same day-

Retro had given Seto a single torch. It was nighttime and snow was gently falling from the sky. Retro had tried to convince him to wait until morning, but Seto did not have that kind of time to wait.

If he walked with urgency he could reach the base of the mountain in less than 10 minutes and hopefully avoid any mobs.

Seto shivered. The icy cold climate phased completely through his clothes. His clothes made purposely thin for the desert heat. And with it being night time, it felt even colder under the darkness of the sky.

He hugged his arms around him and gripped his wooden staff close in case a mob decided to come by. He was shaking in his boots and the thought that perhaps it would've been better to wait kept crossing his mind, but he urged himself on. He needed to keep going, even if it killed him!

The mountain was not at all very far, and since it was such a large formation, it could be seen from the village as the village was built practically right next to it. Seto exhaled and saw the smoky appearance of his breath. It dissipated quite quickly in the wind and snow and through the darkness and falling fluff he thought he saw something--no someone.

Seto squinted his eyes and moved closer to the distant person, who was it? Seto stiffened when the figure started to move, he looked around for a place to hide, but there really was none.

"Good morning," The figure said and from what Seto could see, the figure took a slight bow.

"M-morning?"

"Yes, is it not technically morning when the moon reaches past its highest position?" Well, it was, Seto thought. So he guess it wasn't inaccurate to say 'Good morning', but it still seemed weird.

"W-who are you?"

As the figure neared, he moved close enough Seto could finally make out his appearance through the snow and darkness. Tall...no, very tall. His hair was almost as white as snow with dark purple eyes. But besides that, his shirt was short in sleeves! Yet, he didn't seem bothered by it.

"I apologize for the late introduction. My name is Alias, Alias Enders, your arrival here has been expected and the Nyx ask you to meet him."

Seto hardly realized he was cold anymore, did he just say, the Nyx wants to meet him? Wasn't he a god, an all powerful dragon beast or what not that was the very reason his friend was sick and dying?

"Where is he?"

"In a cave located near the peak of the tallest mountain," Alias pointed up and through the falling snow, Seto saw it. He saw the hardly visible outline of a cave several hundred blocks above him. How on Ethereal would he make it u there! "Have you come to a decision? Will you meet the Nyx?"

Seto faltered in replying. Taking only a few more seconds before coming to a decision and saying, "Yes."

"Follow me." Alias started walking away from where Seto assumed he would need to go to climb the mountain. Though confused at the action, Seto followed Alias anyways. He let him lead him along the base of the mountain range, eastwards, but never actually climbing the mountain. Seto watched as the moved farther and farther away from the cave, he wanted ask what he was doing, but what would he know. This man obviously knew the area, for every now and then he would point out places to avoid stepping.

"I hope this trek isn't at all tiring for you," Alias said while several meters ahead.

Truthfully, it was, but Seto said, "No, no," he huffed, "It is not trouble at all."

His clothing was not made for this frozen weather and he was sick and tired of it already.

"That is good, I apologize for any previous grievances I may have caused you when last we met."

Last we met? Seto would remember a freakishly tall guy with snow-white hair, "I'm sorry, you must have me confused with someone else."

"No," Alias said. The two continued eastward as the snowfall began to grow heavier and fall faster, "I last met you 38 days ago, in the capital of Emedo."

"H-huh?" The only time he went to Emedo was for his parent's trial--which was really his own, he swore he has never seen Alias in his life.

"Perhaps my phrasing makes this very unclear, while you have not met me under this name and appearance, we have met. I went under a different name and appearance at the time, Valen, if you do remember."

Seto stopped in his tracks and his eyes widened. Valen. He was Valen. Seto trembled and looked at Alias as he stopped walking to peer at Seto curiously, "I am sure you are confused at how that is possible. While I am not truly Valen, for Valen died a month after he dropped you off at the border of Keuta in the beginning of the year, I took over as him for a job."

"You...you were there then... When...when my mother--when my father were going to be hanged!" Seto's eyes started to sting and tear up, "You could've saved them!"

His fists were balled up and he'd stopped walking. If somehow Alias was Valen, or at least the Valen he saw at the trial, and has been for a while then why did he do nothing, "My mother was innocent, the hanging was unjust!"

"I'm sorry, I could do nothing, I am not allowed to tamper with fate. Even if I had saved them, they were to die anyways--"

"That's just stupid! You could've done something!"

"I could not, I'm sorry. We must keep going if you wish to speak with the Nyx." Alias continued walking and for a few moments Seto wanted to turn around and leave, but he was not here to let Tyler die. So much to his distress, he hurried after Alias without another word.

It was a good several minutes, probably five, of walking before Alias spoke up again, "I know your heart grieves, but if it lessens the pain I have done what you Keutians have done. I've lit torches for them."

"H-huh?"

"I've lit a total of 5 torches. Only 1 is visible however, as the other 4 would be suspicious. That is how it works, right? The number of torches lit represent the kind of person that passed, correct? 1 for the elderly and disabled, 2 for the adults, 3 for the children and pets, 4 for the ones not yet born."

Seto knew what he was talking about, at first he was a little confused, but after he described it, it was easier to understand. It was a practiced tradition, a way of remembering the dead through the number of candles lit. Though Alias said he used torches, candles were normally used.

"Ye-yes, thank you..." Seto said.

"Ah, here we are," Alias pointed to a cave that seemed to go farther down, "Follow me, and stay close. It is dark within the cave."

Alias proceeded to walk down the cave with little trouble, leaving Seto to stumble in after him. It felt even colder within the cave, and there was hardly any snow. However, since the cave was shrouded in darkness, meaning no light likely made its way through, the cave probably never experienced the warmth of light.

Seto could hardly see where he was going until a purple glow shined in his face, it radiated, not with heat, but with cold. Seto squinted to see a purple flame in Alias' hands, "This should help."

They continued down in silence, the whistling of the wind and their footsteps being the only thing that was easily heard.

After a few minutes, Seto heard this odd sound, an otherworldly sound. It wasn't until they were standing right in front of the thing making that sound that...Seto still didn't know what it was. It was like a gaping, pitch-black hole that was against the stone wall of the cave. And though their only source of light was Alias' purple flame, it was bright enough to still see whatever it was.

"What is it?"

"A small link in space to our destination. This way you won't have to climb any mountains, after you sir," He gestured to the black hole and Seto cautiously stepped forward. There was this weird lurching feeling and Seto closed his eyes tight in fright.

As the feeling subsided, Seto slowly opened his eyes to find himself in a different cave. A cave that was well lit, and strangely warm. He noticed Alias come through the portal after him and then he heard a voice.

"Welcome."

Yay! Alias is here, he is completely different than Alista omg. XD

and, also, OOooOO, the Nyx wants to speak to Seto? I wonder why.

I think on top of another chapter, I will write another magic lesson for my extras book

~CATtheDrawer