It was funny how they had done all of this to get resources, and yet hadn’t gained any.

But, it wasn’t like it was that bad; they had money, more than they could ever need to buy enough food. It was just bad luck that the closest civilization to them was awaiting a war.

They had eaten before the war, and even if the battle had taken a lot out of them, especially Aether, who had used Erosion two times in this war, it was still enough to reach the next. As bad as it might sound, they were going to have to starve themselves.

Normally, this would have never happened, even without money for food. They can still eat animals, or even monsters, if the situation was really that desperate, but now, was fighting such a good idea? After all, they were all in bad condition, since they decided to leave so far.

Many might say it was a bad decision, and he knew that. But he had promised that he was going to finish this before he turned seventeen. And he was going to stay true to himself.

He hadn’t forced Kade and Lucien to continue to follow him; it was their decision.

As much as he liked having the two of them with him, and how helpful they both were, he wasn’t going to force them to do anything; he wasn’t going to cloud their judgement, manipulate it in his favour; he wasn’t that kind of leader.

He had even considered leaving them behind sometimes, even after the war, and seeing how strong they had become, a part of him still believed that making them leave him and go on their own paths, together or alone, was a good idea.

He didn’t want to get them killed, and this war proved to him that even he couldn’t protect them from everything, I mean, he had been the one who had needed help, not them. So how could he be the one to take a stand when something stronger than all of them came?

Maybe it was also the effect of his past, the whispers in his mind, the doubt, the anger, all the emotions he had felt; he didn’t wish to feel it all again.

Along his journey as a Reader, which has felt like forever now... almost all of his companions have died, and he knew each one so well. From Frozen Crown to now Demon of Dread, where the friends he made in the Tides were in danger, fighting a war of their own, it seemed like everyone was close to dying.

It was as if there was something that kept killing them if they decided to stay by his side or behind him. But in some cases, even those who stood in front of him, those who were against him, even they died most of the time. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

If he thought about it, the only people who have fought him and are still alive... are the prince of the Blue Rose, and his party.

And...

Lilith.

The one and only Vessel of Freedom, someone with the power to shatter fate himself. Ironic, really, how there are two Gods directly opposite of each other, it made him wonder who came first. It was almost like the question of what was first, the egg or the chicken.

Just that in this case it was different.

If the egg was first, then it just broke out and became a chicken, and if it was the chicken that came first, then it just skipped the first step.

It still was the same being; both possibilities have the same outcome.

If Freedom was created first, then Fate was born to bind it, to enforce law and order upon the world, to create a steady and straight path, since before, there was none. Which makes Fate seem like a gift, something that gives reason and motivation for everything.

But what if it was the opposite, and Fate came first? Then had Freedom been created for the world to make choices on its own? So that people can take a detour from their path, to make things more unpredictable? But... does freedom fully change fate? Does it lead to the same ending? Or does it create another one?

And if you change your path and create another.

Wouldn’t that mean you’re still walking a path made by fate? Just a different one? One where your ending is changed, but still fixed?

We’re always following fate, no matter what happens or how much we try to change it.

So I guess you could say that Fate had been the one to come first... right?

But... whenever a game is created, the rules aren’t the first that are made; instead, they are made after, to limit the actions of those who play them, so they don’t have utter Freedom to do whatever they want.

...

It does make you wonder... just what does true Freedom feel like? Hard to imagine, probably not something that any mortal, or god, can understand, only those that were born before anything existed.

...

So if he had to answer the question of which made first... none of them were the first.

They were both created at the same time. That way there could be balance...

If he had to say, if any of these two were to vanish, the world would be in chaos...

And yet, everyone sees Freedom as a Hero, and Fate as a Villain.

’It’s in human nature to want to be free.’

And who was he to talk, it wasn’t like he wasn’t like the rest of them.

Well... now he was focused on something else. But it wasn’t like he never desired freedom, and a part of him still did, a different freedom, where he could make his own decision without anything manipulating it. But he had his goal clear to him for now.

What he was going to want after... he didn’t know.

And a part of him was scared... not frightened, but spooked.

Dreams can be dangerous; if you focus too much on one, you could dedicate your whole life to it, you could lose everyone around you, and even forget about everything going on around you, desperate to reach it.

But being without one is even more dangerous; nothing is worse than having nothing to desire, nothing to want.

Even those who say they want nothing, that...’They got everything they could ever want.’

...

They’re just liars... ’They wish not to lose what they have. To live a happy life, alone, or with their family, they wish to keep.’

Rather, the feeling of not having a goal is not one of achievement, of relief, but one of confusion, of hollowness. When there is no reason for you to keep going forward, you just stand in place, confused about what to do next, wasting your life until you die and regret every one of your decisions.

It was not something he wanted to become... but for now, he had to finish his current goal, before he too became obsessed with it.

...

It was funny, how he got to this point, how off track he had gotten.

Though it wasn’t like it was something unheard of, his mind was something you could say with the ability to switch topics constantly, and just... think. You almost wanted to put a freshly painted wall in front of him, and make him watch, and see just what his mind made up. Really, his mind needed something like fate; it had too much freedom, too many paths to walk...

Maybe that felt like True Freedom.

...

Maybe not having a goal was that freedom, being stuck between paths, and not choosing any one of them, but having the choice to do so.

But then, if this was the case... then why would anyone even want this kind of Freedom?

...

But enough of that, there was still a more important question he had to answer, and that he had almost forgotten about, with his mind just wandering around.

...

...

...

’Will I be able to keep those around me alive this time? Or would this curse... continue to kill them over and over again until I’m broken?’

...The worst thing about this is that he couldn’t predict it and, at the same time, see the true answer. If he decided to leave everyone and go alone, cut all connections, he would technically predict their death and stop it, but he would never know if it would have happened.

And the only way to test it was just continuing and hoping that there wasn’t a curse.

...

Aether took out his compass, making sure they were still going in the same direction, and that they didn’t accidentally pass the shard... and luckily they hadn’t.

"Lucien, do you know the next civilization that we will find if he continues walking in this direction?"

Lucien nodded, leaning in closer.

"Yes, it’s a place where my parents have been many times.

The City Born in the Sky.