Chapter 54 - Fate's enforcer (3)

Hearing that this end was still two hundred years away did not exactly fill Hati with any kind of urgency. But he immediately realised that he only thought this way because he was still thinking in mortal terms. 

It may be a long time for mortals, but he had already set foot on the path of an Einherjar, which usually led to a lifespan far beyond just two hundred years. 

He had just started grasping the power this second life offered him and wanted to make the most of it. He wanted to live a long time with his wife, recreate the harem of maids they had back on Earth, and become powerful enough to look down on the rest of Asgard or even all the Six Worlds.

He wanted to find the other halves of his wrath and lust shards and see if he could recreate that feeling he had when he first met Luna, where all three of his sin shards were under his control.

He wanted to find out who else was messing with his life and grab his own fate by the balls so he could squeeze them until it obediently left him to his own devices.

But what was the point of any of it if he would die in two hundred years? Could he even fulfil all his goals in that time? 

After all, he would have to be at least a sixth-revolution Einherjar before he could even stand on equal terms with Asgard's elite, let alone control his own fate when it involved forces beyond even the sixth revolution.

He sighed heavily while wondering if there would ever be a time when he could truly be considered to have complete control of his own life.

He freed himself from these thoughts and decided to focus on the moment. He needed to know why this woman was telling him all this; surely there was a reason?

He looked at the enforcer with a somewhat tired gaze before he asked her, "Why are you telling me all this? Am I somehow important in making this end happen? Because you'll have a hell of a time convincing me to help.

Assuming this is all even true and not an elaborate lie."

The golden woman snorted, "Hmpf, what reason would I have for lying to you? Consider who you are; if it weren't for this fate, you wouldn't be important enough to lick my boots."

She continued, " And I don't want your help in making it happen; I want your help in preventing it."

This caused Hati to narrow his eyes as he looked at her. To be honest, he had half expected this; otherwise, her current approach made little sense, but why would she want to prevent the fate she was supposed to help create?

So he asked her, "Aren't you the enforcer of this fate? Why are you trying to prevent it?"

Upon hearing his question, the enforcer stood up from her throne and looked intensely at Hati, who actually managed to find some passion in the otherwise indifferent gaze of this golden woman as she spoke her following words, 

"Do you think I don't want to live? I may be forced to follow the will of fate, but I still have my own thoughts and mind. 

Perhaps it is cruel that I am the way I am, born from nothing, with no one to talk to, forced to follow the will of an uncaring master while retaining the ability to think and feel! But it is still my life, and I prefer it over whatever death means for one such as myself!"

Hearing her speech, Hati gained a newfound respect for this woman. She may be annoying in her indifference, but there was still passion and desire inside her as well.

The enforcer sat back on her throne and regained her indifferent gaze as she spoke with another shrug, "Besides, this was never supposed to be the original fate. Worlds are not supposed to end as quickly as this.

The fact that the red thread looks like it was forcefully torn is no coincidence, after all."

Hati frowned, "So who tore it then? And how will the six worlds be destroyed anyway? Can we not stop it?"

The golden woman answered, "First of all, I think I should tell you that, although we call it the Six Worlds, there is really only one world, while the other five are connected to it, but not worlds in themselves. Can you guess which is the real one?"

He didn't have to think long; he knew from his father that only one world was truly different from the others, so he answered with a nod, "Earth is the real one."

The enforcer nodded back, "Indeed. The world that will be destroyed is Earth, and through that act, the other five worlds will cease to exist aswell. But it's not the time to talk about why the Six worlds are the way they are, why Earth will be destroyed or why the thread of fate is torn.

We need to talk about you.

You see, when I realised what had happened to the thread of fate, I started to devise a plan to stop Earth's destruction. Of course, I could not stop this course of events myself; after all, I am bound to ensure it occurs.

I can only somewhat move between the lines, but when I step too far out of bounds…" At this point, Hati noticed some golden-tinted blood leaking from the enforcer's nose, which she quickly wiped away, "I receive a backlash.

As you can see, even just talking to you is causing problems; doing much more to stop this fate would only see me destroyed and replaced by a newborn enforcer who does not yet have the will or experience to go against fate in any way."

Hati quickly realised what she was saying, "And I guess that is where I come in?"

The enforcer nodded, "Exactly. I needed someone I could not track or control, someone who did not fall under this fate's jurisdiction. So I gathered power for centuries before I unleashed it all in a desperate attempt to grab a soul from outside the Six Worlds."

Hati frowned, "I suppose that would be me. Does this mean you killed the person I was before I was born on Earth?"

The enforcer shook her head, "I have no idea. All I did was reach out as far beyond the Six Worlds as I could, grab the first soul I could get my hands on and rip it away with brute force. I have no idea whether it was already part of the life and death cycle or inhabiting a body.

You can believe me or not, but do you really care? You don't have that person's memories; you are someone else."

Hati thought to himself for a moment. Did he care? Perhaps not that much, but it was still a disturbing thought. Then again, everyone was someone else before they died, and their souls were scrubbed.

Was it really so different for him?

Seeing Hati remain quiet, the enforcer simply decided to continue, "Moving on. After I grabbed your soul, I could only toss you into the life and death cycle of the Six Worlds before I fainted for a few years, both from exhaustion and backlash.

When I woke up, you had been born as Hati on Earth, with three sin shards. Since you didn't have those shards when I first took your soul, I can only assume that something happened during your time in the cycle.

If I had to guess, I'd say that some of my power was rubbed off on your soul because of my forcefulness, causing it to strengthen considerably while attracting multiple sin shards. But I really don't know enough about the shards to be sure.

Regardless, because of my actions, you are a soul from outside the Six Worlds and, thus, not bound by this world's fate. Of course, you'll still share its fate when it is destroyed simply because you don't have the power to survive such a thing."

Hati sighed at the influx of new information. He would have to spend some time digesting all this and thinking about what it meant for him and how much he cared.

But first, he had to finish his conversation with this woman who was now bleeding from her ears as well as her nose but remaining seemingly indifferent to it. "So what's the next step then?" 

He didn't like letting others take the lead, especially when he didn't know them, but he realised he was out of his depth in this situation, at least for now.

The enforcer smiled a little too smugly for Hati's liking, "I am glad you are willing to listen like a good boy."

As Hati dealt with several throbbing veins on his forehead because of her attitude, the enforcer continued, "Now, you go get your wife, and afterwards, I will stop shielding you from fate."