Blake felt weightless as he floated among the stars. His eyes told him this was not the real sky but in between realms. Each star was the manifestation of a realm. But what was this darkness? It felt... Alive. He could almost hear breaths. Or maybe those were his own.
Suddenly a light hit him and he was flown with the speed of light to one of the stars. He hit something hard and groaned as he rubbed his sore bottom opening his eyes to a strange place. It looked like he stood on a... Carpet?
He saw no end to it, and it had been woven with an array of glowing colors not seen in the mortal realm. He could feel his eyes heat and he focused on his eyes. Soon he saw it. Threads all woven together. This was the Tapestry of Fates.
Blake pulled back his hair with a groan at the revelation. If this was the tapestry of fate then this was far tougher magic to master than he had thought. He could see the tapestry but it was too massive to be of any use. Right now he was standing on the fate of a random farmer in Bhutan. He doesn't even know where the country is located.
Finding any useful information would be like finding a needle in a haystack.
"Child of Khaos, is that you?"
A booming female voice echoed over the tapestry and if Blake could sweat, he would. This was such a bad idea.
Suddenly, the sky moved and for a moment it turned into the visage of a woman with a long cape. The cape twisted itself and left the sky only to form an old lady in front of Blake who had stopped breathing.
"Ahriman, you damn... Wait, you are not-"
"I am not!"
The old woman's eyes narrowed. She did not look as dangerous now but knowing she materialized from the sky ensured Blake knew this was not a normal woman. Then the woman's eyes went wide before she broke out in a grin making her already wrinkled face even more so.
"Ah, I know you. I wondered when I would see you again," the woman who must be Moira laughed.
"Ehm, I am fairly sure I have never met you."
"So, you do not remember. Well, why would you? I am the Anterion of Fate. I have met everyone before," Moira huffed and walked closer. Her hand stroked his cheek. "I didn't think you would be so young, though."
Blake cleared his throat which seems to wake Moira up from her pondering. "Well, what are you doing here? Come to change my tapestry like that fool?"
"Oh no, I don't... I mean, I don't even know how to weave!"
"Didn't stop Ahriman from trying. Though if you want to. I can teach you how to Fateweave."
Blake cocked an eyebrow in surprise. "I thought only you could weave fate."
Moira huffed," I weave the final fate of all things. That doesn't mean you can't try to change your fate. If I like what you have woven, I might allow it to be woven into the Tapestry of Fate."
"So it's more of a request for a change of fate?"
"Yes, though I should warn you. It rarely works if you weave a too big of a change."
"What do you mean?"
"If you, for example, weave to change your exam result, it might be a small change according to you but the repercussion are far bigger than you might imagine. You were supposed to fail, give up, go back home to start a farm and marry a girl. Get a family. But because you suddenly aced it, you go to the city, get into a university. focus on your career. Become successful but die alone. You see the conundrum?" Moira explained while waving her finger. She really looked like an old grandmother.
"So I can only use Fateweaving if it doesn't affect the person's fate too much," Blake concluded and Moira nodded. "Doesn't that make it useless. I cannot save someone who was supposed to die."
"It is not useless... Just less useful than you assumed," Moira cleared her throat. "You can still help someone to heal faster as long as that person was supposed to heal. Or maybe make sure that a person takes longer to get to their destination as long as they are supposed to get there in the first place."
That doesn't sound very useful but Blake was not going to turn away a gift. Especially when it is given by a person who guards the place where he had broken into. Maybe he could sneak some more peeks of the Tapestry...
*****
The door flew up to the Conservatory. Jaxon walked into the greenhouse with Hadrien at his heels, this was normally not the usual hangout place for Jaxon but he knew Blake had used it for his training since it was abandoned. Only Hamish still came here to take care of the flowers though he was nice enough to remove the wolfbane.
Jaxon looked up and froze in place at the sight before him. Ahriman did not even look over at them and instead stood by a glowing circle, smeared in blood and with an unconscious Blake in the middle.
"Blake!"
Jaxon rushed over and was just about to enter the circle when Hadrien grabbed him by the neck and pulled him back.
"Let me go!" snapped Jaxon but Hadrien did not listen. Instead, his eyes were plastered upon the glowing circle with a frown. He turned to Ahriman who still wasn't looking at them and focused on Blake's face which twitched.
"Is he okay?"
"Clearly not, he is bleeding!" Jaxon said and tried to wiggle himself to freedom.
"If Blake has not suddenly turned into a rabbit then that is not his blood," Hadrien huffed an let go of Jaxon when he stopped struggling. Jaxon took a sniff of the air and frowned as he realized Hadrien was correct. That was the blood of a rabbit.
"It's Coney's. He used himself as a sacrifice to help Blake cast a spell," Ahriman finally said though he still wouldn't look at them.
"Coney is dead?" Jaxon asked confusedly
"No, only his temporary mortal form. He will be back soon."
"Spell? What spell?" Hadrien asked and watched Blake. He seemed satisfied to know Blake did not seem hurt.
"He is learning a new form of magic. It requires his soul to be sent to another realm so we help him to Astral Project. I will need to watch him though as if something goes wrong I will pull him back," Ahriman assured.
"He doesn't need to learn new magic," Jaxon muttered with a pout. He still got the shivers at the thought of magic. Ahriman snorted at his silly remark.
"That is like saying you shouldn't use your wolf. It is a part of you and cannot be ignored."
"Will he be okay?" Hadrien intervened before Jaxon could start an argument.
"Yes, if something bad happened it would already have done so. He is staying longer than expected but shows no signs of wanting to leave so let's leave him there for now. He has most likely found something of interest and want to study it," Ahriman said with a shrugged and seemed more relaxed.
"Good, because we need your advice," Hadrien said.
"We do?"
Hadrien rolled his eyes when he heard Jaxon's words.
"We are going to do something rather nasty and the advice of the evil twin brother of God could help us."
Ahriman finally looked up with a twinkle in his eyes. That sure caught his attention. Jaxon wasn't sure that was a good thing but ignore the gnawing feeling in the back of his neck.
"Is the little pups doing something bad? What can it be?"
"We want to mess with Mark Rowe. He has joined Ronan Walsh and Elliott has tasked us with handling it," Jaxon explained reluctantly.
"And? that is the task, what is the deed?"
"We want Ronan to throw Rowe out and to do so we will trick Rowe into doing something bad enough for Ronan to exile him. He is traditional so it has to be something which breaks tradition," Hadrien explained.
"So you are going to make him run through the city in a dress?"
"What? No, we teens do that every year. Hazing the new students... Well, or just being drunk," Jaxon shrugged and heard Ahriman mutter something about times changing.
"Well, it might not have worked anyway since Ronan seems to get turned on by men in dresses," Ahriman sighed.
"Wait, what? How do you... Is that true?" Jaxon curiously asked.
"Ask your brother? He should know," Ahriman answered before stroking his lips with his thumb while tilting his head. "I know of one thing... But it seems a tad too cruel."
"What?" Hadrien asked eagerly and Ahriman frowned at him.
"Don't be so eager to walk down that path, little one. There is no return and Blake would not like it."
At the sound of Blake's name, Hadrien relented and did not ask again.
"So there is no way?" Jaxon asked.
"Not necessarily, sometimes many small deeds can equal a large punishment. If this Mark Rowe keeps messing up, Ronan might cut him loose. This is not just a protest he is orchestrating, it's a takeover. He cannot afford mistakes as each mistake make him lose power and credibility," Ahriman explained casually.
"So, we can kill two birds with one stone," Hadrien said eagerly.
"Exactly, the young pups are easily agitated and rash. Make them lose control and Ronan will lose some of his prowess."
Jaxon watched the two talk with a conflicted expression on his face. On one hand, he was delighted to have a chance at handling the task Elliott has given him. It was the first time he had entrusted such an important task for him. On the other hand, it felt like he just sold his soul to the devil.
Jaxon didn't need to ponder it for long though as he soon heard a familiar groan.
Blake opened his eyes to meet his.