Chapter 316 Choice A, or Choice B... But I'm...
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/Shuaa…/
/Crackling…/
While he was distracted, a long, pale gray arm reached out from the dark, transcending the barrier of space as it grabbed the Envelope straight out of his inventory, defying everything he once thought and believed the System to be.
The arm looked old, frail, weak, and bony… I was non-human.
Yet, there was a certain feeling of familiarity, peace, tranquility… Eternity to it.
Like the sun, it is always there… And so it would be, for entire lifecycles and on.
Because of this strange feeling, Dale did not move, not feeling in danger...
However, even though his senses told him nothing about this creature, his rationale played differently.
It may be just him being paranoid, but his knowledge from reading and watching many books told him that it was best not to provoke this mysterious existence... And neither to trust it.
He was ready to jump back at any moment… Although if he let the creature approach him, it may already be too late by then…
After all, albeit thin, the fact he felt nothing about the creature could very well be its hunting mechanism…
He had already been pulled into a trial grounds against his will, who's to say he couldn't be pulled somewhere else by a creature with not-so-friendly intentions?
"..."
But amidst these thoughts, Dale watched in silence as the creature stepped out from the darkness, still holding out the envelope high above his head.
/Step…/
The creature wasn't that scary… Because there was nothing to see.
A long worn-out cloak that seemed as old as a mountain itself was being dragged around the wobbly ground, completely covering its body from his eyes.
Torn in many places, everything about it screamed ancient.
Its edges were cut, with many pieces missing, and its once smooth engravings had now been washed away with its colors, completely indecipherable if they once had any meaning.
It was as if it could fall to pieces at any given moment…
As for what existed underneath it, Dale could not tell.
There was only a single spot with a hole in it, the place where the long arm came from.
But even then, it was disproportional.
The arm was over three meters long, arching in the sky and having over two joints, being almost insect-like.
Just by looking at the arm, it would be enough to give anyone the chills...
Atop the cloak, over three meters above the ground was a very confusing mask, hiding its owner's face.
In fact, it was only his impression, but Dale felt that this creature was taller, much taller than it showed.
As if it was arching over to talk with him on a closer level, or because something prevented it from displaying its true form.
For a moment, Dale imagined a massive Karkavan standing at a whopping 5 to 6 meters tall, only then would the arm's size make sense.
Although, it having more than one joint was already enough to prove it didn't truly resemble a Human in appearance.
At least its hands had five fingers each, albeit Dale counted at least five joints on its index finger.
It was… Way more than what he thought possible.
/Give…/
After holding onto the letter for a while, the covered being extended its arm back to Dale, giving it back to him.
Following that, it did a slow and smooth action, telling him to open it.
Aside from that, the creature did nothing, not even a single sound.
Dale couldn't even hear the sound of its cape hustling as it moved.
It's arm moved almost robotically, like a mechanical arm in a factory assembly line.
/Rip…/
He opened the letter, pulling a piece of old, decadent paper from within.
Like the very being in front of him, the paper seemed ready to disintegrate into dust, but whatever held it in place was a power he could not feel.
There were some words within it, ones he could not recognize, strange runes with shapes and sizes that seemed disorderly but had a certain order to them.
A form of otherworldly orthography, a language beyond those he was used to.
But as he looked into them, they began to move around frantically, reorganizing themselves into new shapes and forms, ones he could understand and read.
It was as if he had scared them, forcing them to run away from him like ants running from a foot.
The message read as follows:
"Congratulations, the beginning of what others call the end, you have achieved it… If you wish to treat it as such."
Some phrases in the letter seemed to be missing, but it wasn't due to the paper's decaying...
It was as if... The scrambling letters did not know how to reorganize themselves, leaving gaps between the paragraphs.
And although the way the phrases were organized didn't quite make sense... He could still understand them.
"..."
Dale raised his head to look at the creature, but it remained there, unmoving.
So he continued reading:
"The questions you possess, their answers were already written... But 'we' cannot comply."
"... Bound to their own oaths... 'We' included."
"And from the start... Beginning... A promise was intricately crafted,?it meant: To not intervene."
"But today 'We' gather, in compliance to the call of Fate... To inscribe the passage of its... Descent."
"... 'We' present to you, a choice. A choice of bounty."
"Some may affirm you have unlimited opportunities ahead, but could not be further away from what is reality... What is perceivable is not often all, but it cannot be ignored that it is all, to another entity."
"Fate has slowly enforced a Destiny you may not desire."
"It is hard to attest to such changes when one does not even know what they have lost."
"The endless possibilities that each of your actions provokes are not for the mind to peer upon... To gaze upon the 'consequence' from the 'action' strains from the... Of ..."
"..."
Dale frowned as he read this paragraph, it was the most incomplete and cryptic of them all.
But he knew that it wasn't cryptic for the sake of it.
It was just that the meaning behind some words could not be conveyed into his own language, at least, that was the idea he decided to believe.
The truth was held underneath this creature's veil... And he wasn't quite interested in finding that out.
At the very least, from here on, the paragraphs became more complete, as if the being who wrote this letter became more proficient in writing in a way that could be translated into his language.
But how was that possible? For it to make sense, this creature would've had to have seen the future...
"... 'My' first reward is exactly that, to give you a glimpse of the path you now walk."
"What lies at its end? Would it be satisfactory to you?"
"If not, change it, walk further down the path, instead of stopping somewhere along its edges, like many others do..."
"..."
Dale raised his head to look at the creature again, and for a moment, the arm moved.
The creature extended its limb to him, as if asking for the letter.
A strange gesture, but one Dale understood.
The creature was asking if this was Dale's final choice.
/Shake…/
But he shook his head, he wasn't done reading yet.
"Nonetheless… Many do not believe in the whispers of Fate, and for those who only believe in themselves, that may be the case."
"Conviction is a form of power also, the steering wheel that confidence in oneself relies upon so it may lead a man to move against the tides and provoke the impossible, altering Fate and breaking the balance."
"That is what 'my' second reward entitles."
"If you do not wish to peer into the turbulent waves, then you might wish to gain the power to challenge it, and steer away from it also."
"A Key, a Tool, an Answer, a Direction… Something that can rebound you out of your current path, albeit into an equally unknown one."
"To somewhere beyond the Thunderstorms."
"Anything you desire."
"Right now, your 'Fate' remains at a standstill, it has no power here."
"A choice, beyond the confines of... Time... Space..."
"It won't hear it here."
"Aside from me."
That was the end of the letter, a short, but heavy one.
Nonetheless, its contents were somewhat simple to Dale.
He could either choose to peer into his own future, his so-called, "Fate"…
Or he could wish for… Anything?
Was it truly anything? An idea? A Power, An object... Maybe even Godhood... Whatever he conceived as that to be...
But…
Was there a price to it?
Or maybe even… Was there even a choice?
The idea of two things to pick through, with one seemingly much better than the other... Was that intentional?
If you can wish for anything, you can easily wish for something better than merely knowing the future.
But at the same time, it felt too easy.
It was like a game where someone is presented with two doors, even though both lead to the same place.
Was he truly free to make a choice, or was he fated to make one from the start?
This could all be a game to play with his psyche, or from the start, the only thing limiting him here was his own mind.
Maybe he should just stop thinking and make a choice.
"... I'm done." Dale said as he placed the letter back inside the envelope before giving it back to the creature
He had an idea of what this being could be, but it didn't matter right now what it was or what it represented.
Since it end, it couldn't answer his questions.
Nonetheless, Dale had one question:
"What…?"
But before he could finish his words, the being raised its index finger, shaking it side from side before pointing at his letter again.
And when he looked at it, one word began to shine… Reward.
"... Alright."
'If it's like this…'
Dale had made his choice... As he always did...
And would continue to do so, until the end.
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Notes
The source of this c𝓸ntent is fr𝒆e(w)𝒆bnovel