Consequences

Within the unstoppable current of a river called Fate, events that were influenced by small twists and turns streamed onwards. Fate was both the cause and effect. It was both the reason why and the result of the direction people's lives were taking.

Prior to gaining The Storytelling System, Magnus had never bothered wracking his brain about this notion. Something about Fate was just too convoluting and philosophical for his liking, and dealing with it was wasteful for his time and energy. It would take him down the rabbit hole where he pondered too much about the future and therefore failed to focus on what he should do in the present. He had always believed that by trying his hardest to make the best immediate outcome out of the current situation would help him arrive at favorable conclusions in the long term.

Turned out, it was not that simple. The future remained unpredictable no matter how good he tried to shape his present. Apparently, one plus one didn't always equal two.

In this case, all the things he'd done and influenced up to this point had led the river of Fate down a certain path. And when it finally arrived at a Key Moment, the current had become too fast and heavy that it was too difficult to redirect, let alone stop.

He did possess a cheat, in the form of The Storytelling System, previously known as The Script. It had the ability to basically make the river turn in a certain direction without him having to rely on an accumulation of actions that would take time to bear fruit. It couldn't control the sum of Fate, as in the whole collection of rivers. But it could at least nudge one river a little bit, prompting it to alter its own path just by a tiny degree.

That was what he had been doing ever since he'd obtained the system. He'd been altering his own Fate, starting with sending himself back into the past. In the copied Universe. He was pretty sure that making a copy of The Universe, in itself, was an act of altering Fate. Although, he wasn't sure if he was the one responsible for this or if it was The Viewers. Regardless, him arriving one year before the Prolog in the copied Universe was what had started it all.

The origin of the current path his Fate was taking.

Along the way, it would inevitably give birth to new Realities. Sure, there were always alternate paths Fate would have taken that didn't count as a Reality, but they were usually small turns that didn't have much effect on the current path, causing it to never diverge too far. However, a Reality was a whole new path that had its own set of possible future events. It differed so far from the other potential Reality.

After arriving one year prior to the Prolog, Magnus had been using the system to make tiny alterations to Fate. He made a narration that led him to Summer, creating a small turn for Fate where he was eventually introduced to the Wang family. This would be his first contribution to creating a path that would lead him toward the Key Moment where he passed out in the lake and wasn't able to wake up soon enough.

To put into perspective, that particular Key Moment counted as a small one. The Reality it would give birth to would probably only affect the people in his life. Bigger Key Moments usually involved an entire population of a city or country.

From the moment the Wang family came into his life, their Fates had been tied to his own, together shaping up the Key Moment from where the new Reality was eventually birthed.

However, he felt that the Fates of the Wangs were not the biggest contributors to this new Reality.

His eyes landed on the impaled body of Mei Liu. He had a feeling her death had a much greater impact that would trigger many future events that would otherwise not have happened, had she been alive. He didn't know what they were, yet. However, he just knew in his heart that his decision to send her and the Wangs to go ahead first had basically doomed the woman. He had been somewhat reassured that they would be able to defend themselves with the skills he'd taught them and the boosts provided by his Language of Magic. Besides, there was strength in numbers. If it hadn't been for those reassurances, he would've never thought of sending them away.

He had only been using the system to help improve their stats. He had never thought that such simple usage of narration would drive himself to be convinced it was okay for the women to separate from the group. He had even requested them to find their next shelter.

No, in fact, Mei's gruesome end had perhaps been written since the day he invited her to TJ's house. Or, it was maybe even further than that.

His decision to keep all his powers might've been the start of it all. He didn't know if the gods were able to sense his higher-than-average Divinity. However, he was sure that retaining all his powers and occasionally using little bits of them even before the Prolog had raised the gods' alarm level. Just the fact that he had chosen to keep his powers had brought many dangers to those closest to him. He knew this was a risk, but he thought he could handle it.

Besides, his decision was also based on the hope that he would be able to protect them better with his powers. As a result, he had been able to teach everyone magic spells faster by demonstrating them. He was able to kick Scoville off the premises, empower TJ ahead of time, and repel Dazhbog all because he had his original powers.

But he might've bitten more than he could chew. His powers had definitely provoked the ire of the gods more than he had predicted. It was true that with his help and guidance, everyone was able to grow stronger faster. But if this growth was constantly stunted by the dangers that kept coming from every direction, then what was the point?

'Could it be that...what I thought was best for them had turned out to be my worst decision?'

No, perhaps his presence in this Universe alone had inadvertently doomed Mei Liu and Luna Wang. This thought made him a bit more hesitant to utilize the system. His ability to alter Fate using the system was the cause of all that had happened, after all.

He could tell himself to be more careful when using it. But he knew that no matter how careful he tried to be, the future didn't always adhere to his effort in the present and the predictions he made.

Was it right to think like this?

'Agh, I don't know! Fate is too complicated for my puny brain to comprehend. I'm not even sure what has caused what anymore.'

He had come up with the name The Storytelling System on the spot. He didn't think much of it at the time. It was just a name. However, he realized now that the name might have a deeper implication.

He was basically using the system to tell his own story. And in a way, his story could be said to represent his own Fate that was tied to others'. And as the storyteller, he needed to be responsible. He was dealing with literal Fate, after all.

Magnus yanked his axe that was still lodged in the unnamed dead woman's head. She had been one of the redhead's cronies, and also the one who had shot Luna to death with her earth bullet.

To the side, Mrs. Wang was holding her daughter's dead body while crying her eyes out. She kept repeating 'I'm sorry' as though the phrase could bring her daughter back. Magnus knew not to look at her face, as he was already feeling guilty after entertaining the train of thoughts regarding Fate. Just the agonized tone in her voice was already making his heart ache. Looking at her would just squeeze his heart more.

That was when Lisa, with her trembling legs, entered the room. She knelt beside her mother, tears streaming down her face. At one point, Magnus could see her eyes sending an accusatory look to him.

However, he didn't take it to heart. He knew she didn't mean it. It was just a natural instinct that when a tragedy befell you and your loved one, you would instantly blame anyone in the immediate vicinity who looked to be in charge. Even though Magnus had never intended to be their leader, he had to admit he had been acting somewhat like one. No matter how much he wanted to deny it, it was just natural, given his knowledge and powers.

Lisa's mind, weighted by her great grief and distress, was probably currently filled with thoughts like, why did Magnus come late? Where had he been? Why couldn't he save her sooner? Why must he expose them to this many dangers? Among all other questions pertaining to his actions and decisions that had led them up to this point.

Again, he didn't take any of it to heart. When she calmed down, she would realize all that blaming was futile. In fact, he could already see her retracting her accusatory look. It seemed she knew she couldn't blame him. He was not at fault.

At least, not as far as she knew.

Instead, she began blaming her own inability to protect her sister. Luna would have still been alive if Lisa had been stronger. That redhead would've stood no chance against her. Magnus could see the look in her eyes slowly shifting to that of determination. The girl needed to get stronger as fast as possible.

He thought back to the fact that retaining his powers had painted a huge target on himself and those closest to him, exposing them all to many dangers. What if...these dangers were the surefire way to temper their hearts? To force them to adjust to this changed world faster and adopt a more appropriate mindset, instead of being complacent by relying on Magnus all the time?

However, must it really take the death of a loved one for people to reach such a conclusion?

As bitter as it may be, perhaps that was just how it was. Magnus wouldn't have his heart steeled enough to venture to other Realms if it weren't for his parents' death. And he wouldn't have had the guts to defy the gods and be granted a second chance like this if it weren't for Alana's death.

When he was about to turn around, his eyes accidentally met Mrs. Wang's. Immediately, the guilt in his heart intensified sevenfold. The woman's guilt was immeasurable, and thanks to Magnus' empathy, he could feel it, too.

He took a deep breath to regain his senses. He needed to be able to distinguish which one was Mrs. Wang's emotion and which one was his.

Maybe in another Reality, all this tragedy didn't need to happen. If his level of Divinity had been two levels higher, he would've been able to let Magnus 2.0 narrate something that would alter the Key Moment. Maybe if he hadn't been reckless enough to exert himself to the point of passing out after facing Dazhbog, he would've had the time to get to this apartment sooner.

He shook his head. No matter how guilty he was feeling, he needed to live with the consequences and carry on. It wasn't as if it was his first time feeling this way. It was just that...having access to the system made him feel more responsible for the turns of events that had occurred so far.

Nevertheless, he needed to pull himself together before the others arrived. Especially Matt. Magnus didn't know yet how he was going to deal with the guy. He had a feeling that he had to tread very carefully, lest he risked triggering an even worse Key Moment in the future.