I stared down at the floating blue screen in front of me. The system was something every kid under the age of 10 dreamed of, and every adult saw as a simple way of life. Yet despite what it granted, the system was not under the control of people. The experience points it granted, its skills, what counted as enough practice to train a skill, none of it was controllable. So as I stared down at the system prompt before me I was reminded rather harshly of a simple key fact.
Underneath all the kindness, warm tea, and cozy bookstore atmosphere sat a man able to exert such power over reality that even the system bowed before them, a man that could hold a conversation with someone on par with Red as if it was a discussion over brunch.
"You seem hesitant, would it be easier if we brought Will in on the conversation?"
As if on cue, the room shifted and I heard the scrape of a chair on wood. Turning to my right there was Will, same hair, eyes, classes, and clothes as me, sitting in the other chair with a look of bewilderment as he stammered out.
"How in the?"
"I do apologize if that caused any discomfort, we are currently in your mind, in order to make the shift less jarring I made the impression of the bookstore around us, though we can return if you would prefer, after all my customers comfort is my highest honor as a simple bookstore owner."
Will and I looked over to each other as the bookstore owner grabbed the teapot and moved it to the side where it seemed to vanish.
"Not going to lie, I figured you would be freaking out more at this."
Will said crossing his arms as he leaned back in his chair.
"I think its more shock and Ill just start screaming from confusion and panic in a couple minutes, or not, we will have to see."
I said honestly mimicking Wills pose as we both turned to look at Mr. Lee who was steepling his fingers with a polite smile as he waited for our choice of the 3.
While I know some people would struggle to pick, Will and I had come to roughly the same conclusion of what to pick even before we were in here. Power talked about reading a book, which may mean skills, but even a powerful skill may have a use cost higher than the mana I have for a long time, so thats a no. Potential was more tempting, however the vagueness of the description made me hesitant to select it. So we were left with one choice as in unison we said.
"We would like knowledge."
The bookstore owner nodded as he held a hand up, a piece of paper seemed to materialize as he laid it down.
"Uh, you never mentioned a contract Mr. Lee."
Will said as he looked the paper over without unfolding his arms.
"This is not a contract of the generic sense, this contract basically serves to both allow you to learn knowledge without fear of falsehood as well as be prevented from attack based on those who would prefer certain knowledge stay unknown."
We both looked down at the contract as I glanced up.
"Why would you do this, if anything it seems to benefit us and not you."
Mr. Lee chucked as if I had said a funny joke and took a sip of his tea.
"A store, no matter how well stoked or how well the prices will remain empty if it is known for having a body count will it not?"
We both looked down at the page for a moment before agreeing as I signed.
The scroll rolled itself up as Mr. Lee leaned forward, supporting his chin on his palm and his elbows on his desk.
"Seeing how there are two of you, and you hold Ms. Indigo's recommendation, I shall grant you 3 questions of knowledge. Shall we start with Will?"
I turned to Will, curious as despite him being a part of me, he seems to have developed into more of a separate entity than a facet of myself.
Will leaned down as he pondered for a moment before he looked up to Mr. Lee.
"What is a fateless."
Mr. Lee's eyebrow raised as he chuckled.
"Going for the big questions right off the bat I see. In order to answer that question I must ask, what is fate in your mind?"
Will took a moment to think as Mr. Lee stepped up from behind the desk, a blackboard began to wheel in as if someone had pushed it over as Mr. Lee began to draw something.
"It's the thing that controls the future I think?"
Will said sounding very much like he was guessing as Mr. Lee turned back around. On the board was a stickfigure on the board with a line running off its head as a strange grove surrounded the line.
"Every single creature to ever exist, even the gods have something known as a string of fate, this string serves as what some people call lifeforce, or the soul. If this string is cut, the result is a death that not even the highest leveled people can reverse, no matter how much they desire it. Fate serves like a channel for this string, moving it one way or the other and directing the person attached along with it."
Mr. Lee stepped over and drew another picture as this one showed a string that seemed to lead up to a hand.
"Fateless are similar to regular people with a core difference in that a being is said to grab their strings of fate and manipulate it themselves, their influence causing the fate of those around them as well as themselves to shatter as the influence causes actions and reactions that go against the preordainment of fate."
"W-Wait, beings that can shatter fate by accident, does that mean anyone near a fateless becomes one since their fate is shattered?"
I asked, raising a hand like I was asking grandpa to run me through a potion step again.
"No, as the shattered fate doesn't travel beyond the instance, as such a fateless leaving a location will have those affected return to normal after a time."
Mr. Lee said as he turned to point his hand holding the chalk at Will who raised his hand.
"So what happens in the moment, is it just an instance of the person being directionless?"
"Some say so, however the true cause is the breaking of the curses and gifts of fate, so things like luck and unluck fail to function correctly, some would even describe it as a roll of the die."
Mr. Lee said looking back to me as I held my hand up again.
"What about these beings that can grab the strings of fate, what is their whole thing?"
Mr. Lee seemed to think for a moment, as if trying to come up with an analogy as he asked.
"When it comes to things like war, a soldier see's brutality, carnage, and loss. In the same fashion a king would see only numbers, pieces on a map, and discussions of strategy beyond a battle. Would you not then be able to describe the soldiers as pieces to a game of the kings?"
"So you're saying that these beings see this as a big game?"
Will asked as he held his hand up, a simple wooden chess piece forming as he fiddled with it.
"Yes they do, and while a king can change how they play their game by giving their soldier training and equipment, these beings design every facet of their chosen pieces. This includes injuries, traumas, fears, talents, classes, skills, and even their very history from the time of infancy to their current age."
As Mr. Lee spoke, chunks of the chess piece seemed to carve away and fall off until he finished and a familiar face of Ymer formed where a simple pawn piece had been before. Will and I looked between each other as I asked.
"What do you mean they can control their history, how would they even do that?!"
Mr. Lee seemed to chuckle for a moment as he said.
"They are 4th dimensional beings, things like the flow of time can be changed with a thought. Fateless are said to move in strange, almost optimized ways because their controller is often said to pause time to discuss the best way to go about an action, even discussion between each other without a single word spoken aloud, and yet moving with the unity of a well developed team after moments of meeting each other. Though you are right, the reason they create and hold avatars is exactly because they cannot directly effect things, that is where Red comes in."
We both paled at the mention as Mr. Lee continued as if he had just mentioned a detail.
"You see, Red had made a deal with these beings that many have dubbed "Players" due to their status as controlling people like they are game pieces. A player submitted a backstory and Red is in charge of making it happen."
Will leaned forward as he asked.
"Ok, so what, he changes someone's name, and makes a few things happen in their life?"
Mr. Lee frowned as he shook his head.
"Actually they seem to believe that trauma builds growth, though I think it would be better to just show you an example."
Mr. Lee held up a hand as a page appeared before sliding it over to us. On this page was a rather horrifying list
Red: can you give me a list of all the injuries Rib has, want to make sure I get them all, you sent a big list.
Shrimpfry: I want Rib to had been burned alive, electrocuted, bludgeoned, irradiated, flayed alive, mouth carved open, and eyes have been ripped out, and just about any Torture tactic you can think of drugged, beaten, stabbed, mauled, crushed, basically any thing terrible you can do to a person and being experimented on and having pain joy severd from your body
Red: Man, you are a cruel bastard
Shrimpfry: hey, the perfect experiment is what they would call rib
lets also not forget used by a scapegoat by those he called family
and the trama
emotional wounds as well
as well has the experiments involving someone trying to steal ribs body
anything bad to can think of they had 20 years to do to rib
the trama builds character
Response: Red: Man, you are a cruel bastard
Shrimpfry: Thank You
Will and I finished reading as we looked up to where Mr. Lee seemed to have a sad expression on his face.
"T-This is real, i-i-it can't be. This isn't just cruel, its inhumane and sick. What's the point of all of that, nothing survives personality wise from something like that."
Will stammered as he held the page, his hands shaking.
"Normally you would be correct, but when a player controls their character as they call them, they control everything, even their personality. Rib, the boy has died years ago, his body alive and being puppeted by a player because they desire entertainment, and while this is an example of one of the worst cases currently active. That does not mean that most fateless are not without trauma, and deep scars."
Mr. Lee stepped back to his desk as he sat down casually, his expression shifting back to one of cheeriness.
"That is your first question, Aiden, what is your next question?"