At fate’s crossroads

151 years after the impact of the Fallen Black Star

Fate’s peculiar whims. It’s fascinating the way this topic is spoken about across the realms, is it not? The matter is not as straightforward as many are keen to declare, nor is it a dilemma with only one answer. The views on what Fate perpetrates, how it reacts and what it will accomplish to affect your reality will differ depending on the direction you tread within the continent and the identity of the person you ask. In certain places, there are those who describe it as cruel or uncaring, rarely giving a solitary damn for the health and bliss of regular people. In others, it is intermingled with luck, implying that Fate can be both on your side and actively work against you, where its caprices are far more treacherous to predict, but still create a result that does not have to be detrimental or hazardous. In even further theaters of landscapes, Fate can be appeased with sufficient sacrifices, whether everyday ones or grander ceremonies, making it out to be a greedy godlike figure which demands a piece of the mortal pie, but will vary in size established on what people themselves ask in return.
For the people in the northern province of Steorshlag, on the other hand, Fate is an entity in between these conclusions. It is referred to as an untrustworthy and unpredictable being, which pilgrimages far and wide along the roads and cities of the continent, unseeingly affecting every event, but never with a clear impulse or mission in mind. One cannot foresee its ends, nor who it enwraps itself around, for what is Fate but the very cogs that drive the events of history forward?

With this being said, what I wonder does not relate to a wider, historical and geographical abstraction, but rather how do you recognize it, my present-day visitor? Is this the manner in which you live your life and what you reckon on occurring in the environment around you? That wherever you tread, those footfalls are underpinned by Fate’s circumfused fingers, but never decided by them? Does Fate’s whispers reach your ears and gull you into the path which it wishes you to pad, in place of bludgeoning you in this direction? Can you truthfully avouch to walk side by side with the gusts of Fate, and be not a pawn to the flood which others are swept up by? Debatably, that is a fair belief for one such as yourself, even if never established.

It furthermore allures me into questioning whether this is how you experienced the encounter on the day when we first met, and if this one crossroad shall be what you will envision in retrospect, years into the future. I recall being sat there on the knee-high rock against the side of the road when you passed me by, somewhere in the northern steppe-laden stretches of the heartland, what you know as Ngoyamen, the central province. The eminent yellow-green straws of grass were wavering in the light wind which enclosed us, the midspring sun was risen high into its noon position and besides the beaten dirt road, not a breath of civilization was nearby. You were walking past me with your raptor companion at your side, the peculiarly frivolous and loyal creature, as she was playing around, my presence being as only a transient patch of dirt against the side of the road, even if you had detected me.

You had studied my outer, sitting there with a black metal staff in hand, wide-brimmed basil green hat with a raven’s feather piercing its center, garnet red cloak swept around my shoulders that swayed in the wind but which revealed the grey robes and black sash underneath, not to mention the indigo blue scarf blocking my facial features from you. A wanderer’s garb, but lacking a wanderer’s pack.
“Greetings, traveler”, I spoke in clear Ahteron without meeting your gaze. “Are you heading somewhere in particular?”

Your raptor had abruptly paused her pace and shifted her reptilian optics at me, distorting her earlier easygoing joy into a nervous discomfort, clawing at the ground and letting out disquieted grunts. You had soothed her with soft touches along her feathery back and scratched behind her head, to relieve the stress which was overtaking her, but neither of you were wholly mollified.
“It’s alright, Razz. It’s just another wanderer”, you claimed in your northern accent, seconds ahead of looking towards me anew. “…I think.” After clearing your throat, you drafted your response to me. “We’re headed towards a town somewhere east of here: Shinripala.” 

“Any explicit business with it?”

“Well, it’s not a huge place, but decent if you’re looking to stock up on supplies.”

Ah yes, you may have been accurate in this statement, and I was informed of the hub, but paid it little mind. It wasn’t important in the grand scheme of things, nor was your fleeting agenda.
“Is that correct? Are you Eyren Katlattar, then? Expert in the handling of affairs interrelated with the Shadow Herd?”

The face you’d granted me had spoken adequately for you as to your sensibilities at the time, that you were staggered by the reality of some stray no-name in the middle of no man’s land having heard of you. And yet, you did not deceive me.
“I um…yes, that’s my name. Not sure I’d regard myself as an ‘expert’ exactly, but…doesn’t matter, I guess. You know me?”

“Your renown does precede you”, I had admitted falsely. It is the way of things, you see, for the wheels of the universe had whispered in my ear. “Walking east isn’t a bad idea, but if you are what they claim you are, I would urge you to trundle south instead.”

“South? To where?”

“Not far, just about a few days saunter, by a minute village. It’s being circulated among the denizens that a beast is at work down there, one of the dreaded monsters of those dark beings, stalking the land and terrorizing farmers. Herdbrand people call them, yes? A knowledgeable savior would do them good, I should think, and perhaps there is impercesms to be earned.”

Upon this utterance, you had flashed a thoughtful face, one not distinctly in mistrust, but deliberation. You had looked at your raptor, who examined you in return, and you appeared expectant to receive wisdom from the steed, albeit at most she cocked her head questioningly in the manner of a dog wondering whether there’s anything amiss. With a light exhale out of your nose, you backtracked to me.
“Thanks for the tip. Might go check up on that, actually. Anything you’d ask in exchange for this tidbit, then?”

A fanciful question to pose right after I had already bestowed you with the full contents of what I know, don’t you think? Most would never believe compensation for a fact granted freely would need compensation and one might ponder whether you were simply being polite or acting on a supposed higher ethical standard.
“Just a wish from one wayfarer to another that you will keep yourself safe. One can never expect what wind will be awaiting around the bend, after all.”

You had mentally dismissed the humor and went on your path once again, continuing onto the road which was laid out for you. But had you realized then, as I raised my head and tracked your steps, that your fortunes were forever altered upon our encounter? This year was the morning of your final, long-drawn and trying journey, and the stage was set for all its actors to be appointed.