“When are we going to be sent back to Beacon?” Desa asked, trying to avoid looking out the window.

“I have no idea,” Rissia replied calmly, efficiently continuing to sew together the signatures of her current bookbinding project. The strange woman was their attendant on a daily basis, and she’d bound at least a dozen books in the last few days. Far stranger to Desa’s eyes was how the book she was working on looked like half the pages had been ruined by water damage. “That’s up to Emonael, and she always has her reasons. I can’t imagine why she rescued you to begin with, but I’m not going to argue.”

“She said something about paying a debt, and that our deaths would undermine the payment,” Alissa said, looking out the window in fascination. Desa couldn’t imagine why the woman kept watching, as the view made her feel somewhat ill.

They were in a palace, complete with a small city around it. The city was populated primarily by humans and elves, but Desa had seen a few dozen dragons along with hundreds of other creatures, including a large number of demons. All of them seemed to be spellcasters or scholars, and it’d taken her some time to realize that these must be the deceased faithful of Emonael.

It was what was beyond the city that made her feel ill. The city was floating in the center of a massive sphere, small continents spreading across the interior of the sphere between the segments of a massive spell-form that seemed to twist as she watched. She knew there were cities on the continents as well, but it was only the first of thirteen nested spheres. It was difficult to see through the gaps of the spheres, but when she could, Desa wished that she wasn’t able to see beyond it, for she was looking onto the blasted demonic landscape of the lower planes.

The land below was often crimson as rust, with occasional patches of vegetation. While there were normal rivers, there were also rivers of lava and mountains of obsidian. Smoke rose into a sky of rippling chaos-light, without a sun or moon to project a sense of normalcy to it. And above it all, among the clouds of smoke, Emonael’s realm floated like a citadel or moon all its own. With the way it made her stomach churn, Desa preferred not looking outward at all.

“Well, if that’s what she said, it should be true. There’s no reason she would have helped you, otherwise,” Rissia replied, tying off the thread and looking up, smiling thinly. “I think the two of you should be thankful for the chance. I know of only five mortals who’ve been guests here in the past millennium.”

“I am thankful. I just… I’d like to go back,” Desa explained, shrugging. She paused, then asked, “Why is that book damaged?”

“Oh, this? This is a tome of lost knowledge regarding water magic. Emonael wants me to plant it in a corner of one of the dungeons in the mortal world,” Rissia replied, and grinned at Desa’s stunned expression.

“Why would she do that? I thought she was the goddess of lost knowledge!” the mage protested, looking at the book in confusion.

“I am, but just because knowledge is lost doesn’t mean it needs to stay lost, Desa,” Emonael answered in Desa’s own voice, stepping into the room with a smile on her face, carrying a book as she wore her strange mirror of Desa’s body. “It’s also part of my duties to ensure that knowledge that’s needed in the world is discovered once again. Forbidden knowledge is something else entirely.”

“L-lady Emonael. Good afternoon,” Alissa stammered, turning quickly and curtseying, swallowing hard to suppress her nervousness. “I wanted to thank you again for rescuing us.”

“Ah, but I didn’t rescue you of my own volition. I made a bargain with you, some of your time and conversation for your freedom. It’s an important distinction,” Emonael replied softly, smiling in return. “I do thank you for the thought, though.”

“Why is that an important distinction?” Desa asked, confused. “And why are you constantly wearing our shapes, but with different colors?”

“If I took my own form in front of you, it’d both ruin the mystery and leave your minds useless, so I prefer to take a shape based on those viewing me. Besides, I’m the Queen in Mirrors, so it’s only appropriate to mirror you, no?” Emonael answered, then glancing upward as she murmured, “As to the other… well, you’re going to find out shortly. I do believe that my bit of subterfuge is about to finally be unmasked.”

“What?” Desa asked, as even Rissia looked at the goddess in confusion.

Emonael smiled and offered Desa the book she was carrying. “Here, a bit of reading material for while you’re here. Eskar’s Frozen Soul, a treatise on ice magic from before the Godsrage. You might even be able to decipher it.”

“Umm… okay…” Desa murmured, taking the book and wondering what the goddess had been talking about.

* * *

“What’s going on here? These threads… they shouldn’t be behaving this way. Their lives aren’t supposed to be continuing this far…” Fate murmured softly, examining the incredible complexity of his tapestry.

As the war in the mortal world between Kelvanis and Sifaren progressed, the tapestry had been impacted at least a dozen times. That wasn’t supposed to happen, and that it was occurring was all but driving Fate mad. The tapestry was supposed to take into account changes to the destiny and choices of mortals from the beginning to the end of time itself and show the future nearly perfectly. Only if someone managed to make a decision that all of time and destiny hadn’t expected did the tapestry shift, and that it had this many times was worrying.

Something was wrong, and Fate looked at the tapestry still more closely than he normally did. Even closer than he had when he’d first suspected someone interfering in the destinies of others. At last he frowned, looking at a thread that shimmered oddly in his close examination. Tapping the thread, the illusion masking it shattered at his touch, and piece by piece, an elaborate illusion shattered all around the tapestry as he looked on in open-mouthed shock.

Much of the tapestry was unchanged, but one thread that had seemed entirely uninvolved was instead interwoven deeply into the events in Kelvanis, and the effects on the rest of the tapestry were incalculable. Staring at it for a moment, Fate’s brow furrowed in thunderous rage, and his shout shook the entirety of the Palace of Fate.

“EMONAEL!”

* * *

It suddenly felt like the air around Desa had frozen solid, and a strange shattering sound filled the air, even as the floor trembled underneath the mage’s feet. For an instant she thought it was just her, but then she saw Alissa clutch at the window as if to steady herself.

“How rude,” Emonael said in an irritable tone, and stamped her foot once. With the impact, the floor shuddered a last time, then steadied once more.

It took a few more moments, but then the air in front of them split open and an immense silver mist came through it. The power that enveloped Desa felt like it should have been suffocating, but there was a strange sensation about it, as though it wasn’t quite real. Moments later the mist swirled, coalescing into the form of a distinguished older man with silver eyes and hair, and an enraged look on his face.

“Emonael, how dare you interfere in the flow of destiny? You’re going to answer to the Primals for your temerity in breaking divine law!” the man thundered, pointing at the goddess. His voice echoed like it should have shaken the world itself, but it was slightly muffled. It took Desa a moment to realize a thin, shimmering barrier surrounded Emonael and intruder.

“Hello, Fate, it’s nice to see you, too,” the goddess replied idly, and Desa staggered backward a step, her eyes going wide at the identity of the silver-haired man. “Now, what are you talking about? I haven’t interfered in my destiny in the slightest.”

“Your actions have caused a ripple of changes through the tapestry of fate, all the way to the end of time itself! I watched the tapestry reweave itself!” Fate retorted angrily, then gestured at Desa and Alissa. “As for those two, you’ve directly interfered in their lives! That’s against divine law, Emonael!”

“No, I didn’t. Yes, I caused the tapestry to reweave itself… but that’s because I took actions to ensure that our universe lasts as long as possible. However, if you looked more closely, you would have noticed that my fate hasn’t changed at all. It’s forbidden for gods to affect their own fate, not that of the universe as a whole,” Emonael corrected him, smiling as she added, “Besides… I made a bargain with these two. They could have refused, but they chose to accept my offer. Thus, I didn’t affect their destiny, they chose to change their destinies. That’s allowed, Fate. Go ahead, call a conclave of the primal gods. I followed the rules, though I may have bent their intent into a pretzel.”

“You little…” Fate began, only for Emonael to interrupt.

“Check, Fate. I guarantee you, I’ve followed the rules with precision,” the goddess told him, her voice sharp.

“Fine,” Fate growled, and his eyes grew distant as he paused.

Desa slowly inched her way around to Rissia, who was staring as well, and asked softly, “Umm, what’s going on?”

“I don’t entirely understand, but from what I can tell, Emonael has been manipulating things such that they’re changing the future, and Fate’s upset about it. If she has, that’s far more daring than I believed even she would be,” the succubus replied softly, reaching up to adjust her spectacles nervously. “I didn’t realize she was playing such a dangerous game.”

“This isn’t a game, Rissia. Not with the stakes being what they are. I refuse to allow things to turn out the way they were going to end up,” Emonael interjected, looking at them and smiling. “Certainly, it doesn’t affect my destiny in the slightest, but I’d rather not have things come to an end any sooner than they have to.”

“What do you mean, come to an end?” Alissa asked, her eyes wide.

“Why… our universe, Alissa. All things come to an end, and however indirectly, Irethiel was working on shortening its life,” Emonael explained with a shrug. “I honestly couldn’t care less about your life or Desa’s. I rather care about the place where I live, however.”

“Oh, you psychotic, demonic witch!” Fate’s gaze snapped back into focus as he scowled at Emonael. “You knew that nothing you did would affect your own destiny, didn’t you?”

“Of course. Why else would I have dared to act like I have?” the goddess replied with a smile.

With a growl and glare, Fate cut a hole between space and stepped back through, leaving them alone once more. After a few seconds, Rissia asked softly, “Mistress, how did you know that your destiny wouldn’t be changed?”

Glancing at Desa, the goddess smiled even more, and her voice was pleasant as she answered. “My first rule of thumb is simple. Always have an escape plan. I’ll leave all of you to think on that. Study the book, Desa.”

With that, Emonael left the room, and Desa was left staring after her, clutching the book tightly.