Ambition?

It was a weird scenery seeing so many copies of Moirai in the same place doing various things. Some were training, others were talking while some even decided to battle each other. Amidst this chaos, the sleeping Moirai did not draw any attention, even after he stood up again, no one bothered with him.

Only a single Moirai walked closer to him and began to talk to him in an unperturbed fashion. which should not belong to an NPC.

" It truly is interesting to see, his different reaction to this. Though I had hoped for something more than his usual ridicule. I truly wonder what it might take to break through his reserve."

The Moirai, which had just woken up was not bothered by the atypical words the other Moirai had uttered. He gave him an acknowledging glance before he gave his reply in a reserved manner.

" I find your fascination with him hard to fathom. While he truly has a lot of strong points, I do not see his potential merits to be big enough to warrant that kind of attention. His unique disposition will never come into fruition, regardless of what you and I try."

The other Moirai looked at him full of indifference as he calmly waited for him to finish his statement. After waiting for a few seconds he began to speak once more.

" A more suitable choice would have presented it sooner or later, but my attention on him is not born from the circumstances surrounding him. Currently, he is not even the only one I do look out for, but he is by far the one hardest to predict. The true mystery remains, why you settled for him."

This question was only met with a slight smile and a soft head shake.

" I would not call it a choice if there is only one option. So the explanation is nothing more than the lack of suitable alternatives. I find it amusing, that you try to insinuate something when there clearly is nothing to imply."

His interlocutor did not seem to mind the sarcasm used in that context. It was rather the opposite, as he appeared to be a lot more interested in the conversation, despite the clear lack of change in his expression.

" Still you appear to be not very displeased about your misfortune. It might have been a blessing in disguise and there is still more you are not willing to let me in on."

This kind of accusation was treated as if it was nothing more than pure speculation. Giving away their secrets so easily was not something that would happen to oldtimers like them.

" Rather than wasting my precious time thinking about what might be, I prefer to actually see what can be. Although choosing an idiot like this is at times quite regrettable."

The last part of the sentence was only murmured, but the disappointment in his voice was still crystal clear, in it lied a sensation plagued by his humiliating experiences.

He did not intend to dwell on thoughts of such a nature any longer and raised his voice again to suppress these memories once more. Yet a faint smile formed upon his lips as he began to speak.

" Although the idea of mimicking the behaviour from my host is certainly an interesting method, I advise you to reconsider your approach. His behaviour is not the most rational and psychological stress which would leave others deeply disturbed just ends up as motivation for him:"

This advice went unappreciated as the other party clearly did not pay any mind to his opinion. The other Moirai was seemingly more interested in watching his surroundings, then giving a reply. After a short period of absolute silence between the two, the communication resumed once again.

" Only our interests align, yet you still try to advise me. I do wonder, what of that is for your own good and what was is the benefit of someone else?"

" As much as I like the new things he has to offer, it is still not enough to compensate for the fate he is not able to outrun. This is nothing more than a temporary distraction. "

" Of that I am sure, otherwise you would not be standing here and be able to talk to me." The threat was spoken nonchalantly but there was no room to doubt its authenticity. Despite the seriousness of the situation, the reply was only a heartfelt chuckle.

" Always so serious, it is no wonder you found yourself bored in this kind of world. Truly not something to be envious about. I would take having a useless host over this kind of fate every time, but of course, we both did not have a choice in that matter for different reasons altogether."

While they had been talking the other Moirai had not been standing still. All of the attention had been drawn from the audience, which still could not truly understand what was currently happening right in front of their eyes.

Even if they were aware that they were currently in a fictional space, they could not fathom how so many versions of one NPC were currently active and doing various things. Some even showed a behaviour, that the initial Moirai had not even shown.

Still, although it was something which they could not comprehend, they were trying their best to find the purpose behind it. But this task would remain unsolvable for them, because even the person, who these copies were based on, had absolutely no idea either.

He could only speculate about the intention of the party responsible for something of this nature. There had been many things he had seen and lived through in this foreign land, but this sight left even him speechless and unable to rationalize exactly what was happening.

The act of going to sleep was nothing more than a silent admission of defeat. It was a rare sight to see him going to sleep without his body forcing him to due to injuries.

In fact, it was so rare, that it was the very first time for him to do so on his own volition. Nevertheless, none of them had noticed this detail as they started to discuss several topics not related to the previous one.

These ranged from their view of certain players to the realism in this simulated world. But no one in their near surroundings noticed this strange conversation amidst the general chaos. One Moirai was already enough to gather a lot of attention and having so many versions in the same place could not end well.

Absolute pandemonium was the only logical consequence when this much insanity was amassed in such little space. Brawls broke out left and right due to different opinions or other reasons which would not make much sense to the outsiders.

Although this madness was merely the beginning as more and more Moirai came towards this huge group. It was no use to count their numbers as it was steadily increasing with no end in sight. Each of them was a mix out of traits, that the original Moirai had shown and this detail was a recipe for disaster.

While their looks and behaviour were strikingly similar to the original, they lacked one thing and that the thought process of Moirai. Without adapting their actions to the circumstances they were bound to fail horribly.

Despite the abundance of eyes no one noticed the small red circle slowly widening beneath their feet, as the group of Moirias formed as more and more arrived. This ghost town had turned into a living hell made solely out of clones. Except for some poor lost players who were rooted to the spot not knowing exactly what was currently happening to them or their surroundings.

One Moirai had been scary in its own right, but it was hard to put in words what they felt staring at this wave of NPCs, that did things that they could find an explanation for no matter how hard they tried.

The different worldviews began to clash anew, leaving them behind with their mouths wide agape unsure whether they still could trust their own senses or if they were just witnessing an illusion.

A development like this was not something any sane person would have expected. Not much rationality was present in it either way. This would never have happened if several seemingly impossible coincidences had not come together against all odds.

Even if miracles are not uncommon in a world full of magic, something like this is more than just a peculiarity. This could not be explained by sheer faith and goodwill. Even the prayers, that were silently spoken in the back of their heads would not be of any help to them.

Their effort remained futile and their pleading unanswered. It was apparent that they did not manage to reach the Gods with their earnest cry for help. Though it was not like they had expected a reply from their Gods in the first place, rather it was the last option which they good resort to.

It did not seem like, those NPCs were interested in their state of mind, as they just continued their activity regardless of what they thought of them. They appeared to be much more interested in other things, some even had started to hunt monsters.

The red circle on the ground was spreading ever so slowly and nobody took notice of its existence. Whether said knowledge would have had any impact on their decision making will remain unsolved.

This huge group of Moirais was not something which acted based on thought and reason, at least not judged from an outsider's point of view. Just like any other creature they acted based on their mood and their instincts. A situation like this would never happen in a civilized society.

The question exactly what a civilized society is would receive vastly different results depending on who is asked this question from this huge chaotic group. Some might even ask you back, what society is in the first place others might give an answer, that would let them end up getting burned for being a heretic.

The potential heretic in the making was currently out of commission and therefore unable to see just how many copies of him had come together in this small space. Not that anything would have changed if he had been aware of it.

No, the original Moirai was currently having an intense discussion session on his own. But this sort of discussion was just as brutal as the one the copies are having, just a bit less physical.

A flame was currently haunting it and forcing Moirai. to give his all just to barely avoid getting hit by it. Without any chance to catch a break another flame came closing in on him aimed directly at his face.

Yet Moirai looked at the flame without any worry in the world and just tilted his head to let the flame pass him by. Not any second later he jumped forwards to avoid the flame, that flew at his former position.

He did not stand still and kept on moving to avoid the flames that came from every possible angle right at him. Still, there was no trace of distress visible on his face, regardless of how bleak the current situation appeared to be.

His movements did not look refined as he struggled to dodge the attacks, that had increased in frequency. Despite this change, it still did not seem like Moirai was perturbed in any way.

Rather he looked displeased as he could not keep up anymore, after barely dodging yet another wave he was caught off-guard and hit directly at his right shoulder. Afterwards, all of the flames retracted and Moirai was shaking his head, clearly dissatisfied with the outcome.

Right in front of him appeared a big cluster of flames, which just floated in front of him as if it was waiting for something. Moirai looked at it without any big change appearing in his countenance.

" While I do have improved I am still a far cry away from being able to stand toe to toe against anyone from this world." A big sigh escaped from his lips as he confirmed the cruel truth.

" Quite pathetic, I would not even dare to utter those words if I were on my own. All of my success is just built on the goodwill of those 2. Do they think I really did not notice?" A mad chuckle came from him as he continued to speak casually to the Flame that just levitated right in front of him.

" If they want me to believe, that I managed to live through all of this solely thanks to my inborn instincts, then they should have made it a little more believable. Someone like me, with next to no prior fighting experience, just wins over the most talented magic wielders and I should not get suspicious about that?"

The voice was full of sarcasm and his entire demeanour was radiating a form of mocking, though it was not apparent who the target of it was. But the flame still remained silent entirely unaffected by the spoken words right in front of it.

" The spells that luckily miss me or the fact, that each spell that does hit me, just deals enough damage, that I can still fight on. Oh, how fortunate I must be for just being able to barely survive such a situation, which normally would have been a death sentence for me. I truly seem to be favoured by the Heavens."

" Since when?" The flame only said those 2 words, but its previous stance had been broken.

A vicious smile appeared on Moirais face.

" Does anything change, if you know when and how I started to question everything? If so, then it was from the moment of my arrival. Everything did not make any sense to me and it still does not even today. So many contradictory statements and information, only a fool or a lunatic would not dare to question them."

" You might know of my origin, from your partner in crime. But let me say it like that, where I am from magic and the likes do not exist. Therefore I find it hard to place any trust into something I do not know anything off."

The flame did not react at all and was just silently listening to the words that crossed Moirais mouth. It was hard to judge, what kind of thoughts were currently running through it. Moirai did not seem shocked by that behaviour as he just continued to voice his thoughts.

" Becoming a pawn to their ambition was inevitable, it was a fate I could not escape from no matter what I had tried. In your eyes, I am nothing more than a simple plaything and I see nothing wrong with that."

" But tell me one thing, with all their ambition why are the still trying to fool me. I have stressed multiple times just how much I value honesty and that I know of their grand ambition so why do they still insist on treating this in such a way?"

A short pause yet no reply came back.

"You, the entity responsible for the cleansing should know a little bit more. It still might be part of an elaborate ploy but just waiting for my demise is not something that suits me. In this world, I have no hidden agendas, no ambition which dictates my life, no rules and principles to follow. "

" I have nothing that ties me to this world, no family, no friends. I am a foreign object in this world. But yet still I stand right in front of you telling you all of this, does it not seem abstruse to you? For someone who has no motivation and no obligations, is it not a bit strange?

No reply.

" An apathetic coward, with no value outside of his knowledge. Someone who does not fit into this world, due to the lack of several critical abilities. No magic, no talent and no knowledge about this strange little dimension and its underlying principles. "

No reply.

" Someone who is made out of a substance, which is rejected by magic, should not even exist in the first place. Or was I mistaken, that the magic you aimed at me did me no harm? Which begs the question why do I have a body in the first place, if magic can not mix with me at all?"

No reply.

" Is your magic too weak? Someone of your calibre should be able to hurt me, even if you weaken your magic after all magic is not something that exists in my world. So how should my soul be able to cope with it?"

No reply.

" It is amusing to know that my entire body suffers whenever I do get hit by a spell, but somehow I am still immune to magic if it solely affects my soul, does that not seem illogical to you? Are the soul and the body not entirely linked? Why else should I feel something, when my body is stimulated?"

No reply.

" I seem to miss some crucial information, otherwise this entire thing seems like a mountain of lies. So what am I?"

No reply.

" It is not like I expected you to give me an answer in the first place, nor was I interested in knowing the details. Nothing would change even if I am aware of my circumstances. Both of them still will use me as if however they deem it fit and discard me the moment I have lost my usefulness."

No reply.

" Why I even said all of this to you can be summed up with ease. I do not need ambition or lofty goals to do something for myself. it is that simple."

No reply.

" Shall we just resume my practice, I want to improve my own capabilities at least, although I might never come close to the likes of you, it still feels good to improve myself."

No reply, but another wave of small flames started to rise and flew towards Moirai with a moderate speed indicating the start of the new training session. No particular change was visible on the flame after hearing all of this, but the flames it emitted seemed a lot stronger and vibrant.

Moirai smiled upon seeing this chance but did not comment on it, even if he wanted to he had no choice other than to dodge the flames that were hurdled at his position. It was only a matter of time until he was hit again despite his best effort.

But this time around a painful sensation ran all over his manifested soul. Instead of crumbling under this pain, the smile on his face only grew wider as he screamed to continue the practice once again. Sometimes no words were necessary to convey a message.

This strange event did not draw any attention from the Observer or of the entity living inside of Moirais head, as those were still busy discussing their plans amidst the ever-growing crowd of Moirai copies.

Only the red circle was expanding ever so slowly...