Strings of Fate

The next day brought a breeze of change in Magnus' heart. He woke up with a smile, got ready for an exciting Sunday morning, and had breakfast with his parents who noticed his lightened mood. He was, for the lack of a better word, wearing his sunshiny emotion on his sleeve.

For that day, he would be bringing back he who had once been called 'Death'.

Even though the irony of him being happy to bring Death back into the world hadn't been lost on him, he didn't care. In fact, it made him laugh a little.

"Bye, mom! I'll be with TJ for the whole day!" he shouted before opening the front door in a hurry. He descended the elevator and upon nearing the entrance, he spotted a black-haired teenage boy wearing his usual running outfit waiting for him outside. Magnus beamed, adding a spring to his steps.

"Yo, dude!" Magnus greeted him. Perking his ears upon the call, TJ turned his head and noticed Magnus coming out of the building. "I told you I'd be awakening you today, right? We're not gonna go for a run," said Magnus while glancing at TJ's black T-shirt, sweatpants, and running shoes. After Magnus' tale the day before, he asked TJ if the guy wanted to be awakened early, since that would give him a head start, ahead of everybody else who would be awakened during the Prolog. TJ had agreed without hesitation.

"What, am I being prohibited from wearing whatever I want now?" TJ retorted sarcastically.

Magnus shrugged and softly bumped his friend's shoulder with his fist. "Let's go," he said, signaling TJ to start walking with him.

They headed for Lincoln Park and searched for a clearing that was scarce of people. It was a space of about some tens of meters squares in size, surrounded by trees and decorated with a couple of benches.

"This looks good enough," Magnus mumbled while scanning around the area. He glanced at TJ and told him do some warm ups around the clearing. Meanwhile, Magnus needed to do some preparation. "Time to get to work, other me!"

'Yeah, yeah, alright,' replied Magnus 2.0 with unrivaled enthusiasm.

The screen for the Script then flickered to life in front of Magnus, before letters began to appear behind the blinking text cursor.

ʳ Determined to avoid the prying eyes of the gods, a thin membrane began to envelope Magnus' and TJ's bodies, making it seem to the gods as if they were completely invisible and were not there at the park clearing. Though invincible, the membrane could only be maintained for an hour at a time before it disappeared and arrived at a fifteen-minute cooldown period. ʴ

Magnus smiled as he read the word 'determined'. 'It seems you've learned how to use the words that emphasize a strong emotion.'

'Uh-huh,' replied Magnus 2.0.

The method of using such words would allow them to give a reason that was equal to the scene they created. That way, they didn't have to worry about disappointing The Viewers or writing an invalid narration.

After consulting the system some more, they had learned about valid and invalid narrations. Valid narrations were those approved by The Viewers, even including ones that might dissatisfy some of them. As long as they weren't too far from acceptability, anything went. Invalid narrations, on the other hand, were those containing outrageous scenes that were not only out of place, but also written to give the Author a massive boon without providing an adequate reason nor price. These narrations would cause either instant deletion before the Author could even finish the sentence, or a major setback in The Viewers' Satisfaction Level in case the Author somehow managed to be fast enough to finish the narration.

Magnus also noticed his copy applying the prices they had agreed upon—the usage time limit and cooldown—in order to lower the AP cost. Both Magnuses had found the chance to discuss this topic the night before, and being faced with the hard bargain driven by the system, they had come up with these prices in exchange for a significantly lower AP cost.

Magnus waited for a few seconds, but then he noticed the absence of changes happening on his and TJ's bodies. 'Uuh, did it not work?'

[The membranes have been created and are now protecting the host's and his Protagonist's bodies for the next hour. However, both of them cannot feel the membrane's presence since it is not created using mana or any worldly energy. It is a product by the system, made of tiny strings of Fate.]

'Wait, so how does it work exactly?' asked Magnus 2.0.

[Strings of Fate are the basic components that made up this Universe. They are both the causes and effects of change, and both the beginnings and endings of Realities. By enveloping the host with strings of Fate, the gods are unable to see the changes happening to and around him. This includes minute changes such as fractions of light particles that are disturbed by the host's presence.]

Magnus' eyes bulged for a moment. 'Does that mean I can control Fate with the system?'

'Are you an idiot?' asked Magnus 2.0.

'Right, it seems I am,' Magnus immediately realized how stupid his question sounded. They had been using the power of Fate ever since they got the system. Still, the system decided to answer his question.

[The system uses strings of Fate to realize the changes written by the host on the Script. However, what the system does are only tiny examples of how Fate moves and is moved by The Universe. It can manipulate Strings of Fate, but only on a much smaller scale. While Authority Points enable the hosts to wield a tiny snippet of the power of Fate through the system, nobody can control Fate on a larger level. Not even the individuals known as gods.]

Hearing that, Magnus got to thinking. 'They said The Universe would be frozen if The Viewers abandoned it. And since Fate is what makes up The Universe, what would happen to it once The Universe's time stops ticking? Are The Viewers in control of Fate? But if that is so, then why would they need to warn me against using invalid narrations, while they can't do anything to undo it if the Author was successful in finishing the narration? Instead, they opt for a threat about dropping the Satisfaction Level. They can't even undo a valid narration even if it dissatisfied them! All they do is complain about 'satisfaction this, satisfaction that', while it is the system that uses strings of Fate to realize the narration and determine the AP costs.'

After wracking his brain a bit more, desperately trying to satiate his curiosity, Magnus came up with yet another question. 'Does that mean they can't control how Fate works and moves the Universe, but they can still prepare the board or flip it when they've had enough? I mean, they did use the system to copy the entire freaking Universe, and also halted the original's time in place. Maybe the system is the link between...agh I don't know!'

'Time's ticking, dude,' said Magnus 2.0, reminding his original about the time limit of the membrane. He then opened up their Status Window to see how much AP had been deducted. 'A hundred points. That means fifty for each person.'

Magnus snapped out of his stupor to find TJ sitting on a bench, scrolling on his phone screen. He approached the center of the clearing while saying to his friend, "Sorry, I had to do something for a bit to prevent the gods from snooping in on us."

TJ glanced up from his phone. "So you're done with it now?"

Magnus stopped at a spot in the middle of the area. "Not really. I prevented the gods from watching us, but if someone came here, they could still accidentally bump into us."

Getting up from the bench, TJ approached Magnus. "So what are you gonna do?"

"This," said Magnus, getting down on one knee and placing his palm on the grassy soil. During his journey, he'd learned a trick or two on how to combine skills that fell under the category of magic spells. First, he prepared to cast [Unbreakable], his most versatile as well as the toughest defense skill. The skill was mostly executed by the system, but Magnus could still control how big of an area it would cover. Slowly, he felt his mana being drained while it traveled through the ground in a full 360-degree direction. The circle of mana then rapidly expanded in radius until it touched the edge of the clearing. Once Magnus was done, a light blue transparent barrier started to rise from the ground where the mana circle ended, quickly rising in an inward curve as if it was going to meet up at the center top and form a full dome. But before the barrier reached halfway through its height, Magnus immediately casted another spell, [Subtle] on the barrier to disperse the Aura it was giving off.

TJ watched in awe as the blue transparent barrier started to rise around the clearing, but was confused when it suddenly disappeared. "Wait, what?"

Seeing his friend standing in confusion, Magnus chuckled. "Everything in this world gives off what is called an Aura. It's basically the presence of something. Or someone. As soon as I was done casting [Unbreakable], which is the blue barrier you saw just now, I casted another spell called [Subtle]. What it does is basically latching mana to the barrier's mana and dispersing its Aura by carrying it all around the area, blending it to the Aura given off by, well, everything else you see that's present all around us. Not only that, since people tend to be drawn to things that give off thicker Aura, I also upped the intensity of the spell so that most of the dispersed Aura would move towards the outside of the barrier, subtly repelling people from even glancing this direction."

TJ took a few seconds to digest that information. Magnus could still feel his slight confusion, but the teenage boy understood enough to form a conclusion. "The barrier is preventing anyone from entering this area, while your other skill is masking our overall presence," he tried to summarize.

"Precisely." Magnus then opened TJ's Protagonist screen. "Ready?" he asked TJ.

TJ firmly nodded, giving his friend a green light.

"Aight then."

'System, please awaken TJ now,' he instructed the system.

From the outside, there were no perceptible changes happening to TJ. But then, his dark brown eyes widened when he saw a holographic screen flickering to life before him. There were only a couple of sentences written on it.

[Congratulations! You have been awakened! You are now able to use magic and are no longer restricted by the natural limitations of a mortal.]

The version of the system for non-Author didn't possess a voice, but it communicated with the user by using notifications that appeared on the screen.

"I can use magic now…?" TJ quietly muttered to himself, still staring at the screen with wide eyes. Before he could wrap his head around it, the previous sentences disappeared, replaced by a few new ones.

[Your life is about to change, but so is everybody else's! From now on, the strong ones will rule, and the weak ones are going to be left behind in the dust. You don't want to be another one who bites the dust, do you? Of course not! That is why the system is here to help you! So, now what do you do? You get more power! Gain XP, level up, and get stronger! Sounds simple enough, doesn't it?]

"The fuck?" TJ asked, thoroughly perplexed.

Seeing his friend's expression, Magnus laughed his ass off. He knew the guy had just read the system's second notification, which, if added with a jingle, almost sounded like a 1950's commercial. Magnus too, had read the same lines once upon a long time ago.