Chapter 4 :- The Essence Of Destiny
RECAP :- We are tragically predictable because of our emotions.
Burdened with guilt when confronted by Mark Rossteau's two sons, Richard Gamblin secured his own death. An answer to the simple question of who killed his father had evoked pure shock in Tuomas, leading to a preventable car crash.
Emotion is the essence of Destiny.
I was born with omniscience.
At just three months old my mother was supposed to be killed. As she held me in her arms and comforted me, I knew she was meant to die. I had been waiting for the entire span of my short life for that day.
But I knew how to save her. Simply cry long enough to make her dither a few seconds longer at home. And in doing this I denied fate its demand, and practised free will.
And so it was, like a malignant cancer spreads, the decision to save her had causes and effects, repercussions which threatened to tear this universe apart. In a different parallel universe I was fated to save her, but not here. Here I was cursed to know when she would die, the circumstances, and worse of all why I could not intervene.
It is the ramifications of changing destiny, the consequences of that single decision, that has forced me to do what I do. Many who otherwise would not have died must now be killed to make the world right again. The price of giving my mother five extra days of life.
That incident had taught me to be remote, to look into myself for solace, and to spurn any who would dare to befriend me. Most of all it taught me that Fate can never be denied. The price is never worth it.
I would not wish the curse of omniscience on anyone, not my worst enemies or even the worst humans of all time.
At least thats how I explained it to Travis. The truth, however, is much more complicated than that.
And in thinking this I am reminded of the two lives that have just been extinguished by a head on collision, because of a mistake I made so long ago.
Mark Buchanan should have lived longer. Thierry should have raised a son and daughter and never had killed Richard Gamblin tonight.
But both have to die, for the sake of the human race and the stability of universal order. I knew how to make this so, and in the most easiest manner possible. And like a chessplayer I made my moves, and spoke using prewritten papers only what had to be said, did only what had to be done. Paid my penance to the fickle Fates of Fury.
And as Travis and I drive to within visual range, there is a woman checking for survivors. She finds Mark Buchanan dead in a white Landcruiser - scattered articles in the vehicle's wake leading to a mangled wreckage of metal and crimson flesh. She now peers inside the red Holden ute, where only one has survived. Tuomas. Thierry's decapitated corpse lay serenely in the passengers seat, draped in a manner that prevents the woman from seeing the two shotguns used in the recent armed robbery. Petrol spilled onto the back tray has just caught alight.
"Are you OK?" Karelyn Rodgers yells at Tuomas. "Can you hear me?"
Travis parks our vehicle just a few metres behind Karelyns still running car, and disembarks to survey the scene. He picks up the scent of fresh death, and it invigorates him.
Travis understands me better than anyone else. He is one of the few that realises due to omniscience I am capable of lying for my own advantage. He is the only one in the world that accepts that fact. He accepts all I say without question. He fears no one else but me, for I know his weakness.
And he knows mine.
And as he advances forth, I plant a prewritten message just beneath his driver seat for him to find later.
Tuomas awakens to the choking stench of burning fuel. And the ghostly image of his father standing just beyond the dented bonnet.
"G'day son."
But he is still nauseous and his vision, it swirls and ebbs.
"Don't worry, I'll get you out!" Karelyn shouts as she tugs at the twisted metal that was once the driver side door. Suddenly she realises she cannot save him. The door is well and truly jammed.
Her heart pumps at a relentless pace, and the baby within her senses the fear.
The conflagaration is growing, issuing dark smoke with ever increasing viciousness.
Tuomas is beginning to reel from sensory overload as he starts to recognise the precariousness of his situation.
He is noticing the blood on him.
Now he realises his brother in the passenger's seat is dead.
I can see him silently mouth a plea to God. But an anthropomorphic representation designed for human spiritual salvation has nothing to do with this, for even God plays second fiddle to Fate.
Mark Rossteau is trying to calm his son, but to no effect. All Tuomas can think of is why.
"Don't worry son." The entity of Mark Rossteau is attempting an explanation. "Thierry is with me. He is alright now."
Tuomas can hear his father's voice coming from within him, and he struggles to comprehend. But slowly he begins to recognise other sounds. The crackle of flames. Karelyn trying desperately to open the door to free him from being entombed. And as he glances down he finds his feet coccooned in distorted metal.
"Dad?" Tuomas gazes at the ghost that resembles a photo of his father, taken only weeks before his death. "Dad? Is that you?"
Karelyn is wondering now whether or not Tuomas has lost his mind due to the crash. But infact he is beginning to understand.
"Dad?"
The ghost smiles at Tuomas and without moving it's lips speaks. "Yes, it's me. Don't worry. You'll be alright."
Tuomas notices his fathers eyes gaze past the car wreck, and as he turns to see what it is he hears Karelyn's voice speaking to another person.
"Hurry! The fire is......."
Now Karelyn screams as she is roughly grabbed by Travis and horribly flung across the road like a rag doll by an enraged spoilt child.
She is unconscious. Her baby, an unborn second son, is dead.
Travis has ripped away the twisted door, snapped the seatbelt that confined Tuomas as though it were string, and is currently reaching down to pull apart the jagged peices that encase his legs.
And now he calmly walks back, Tuomas as light as a sack of wool on his shoulders, the flailing and bloodied arms of The GhostTalker reaching out in vain for his brother's carcass that roasts and sizzles in the flames.
Within my presence Travis is becalmed and with minimal fuss tosses Tuomas in the back of the car.
Travis can possess the most booming and authorative baritone voice in the world when he wishes it to be so. In using that voice now, sprinkled with expletives as he deems necessary, Tuomas shrinks away, fearful of provoking the ire of an obviously supernatural being.
Travis takes the drivers seat once more and as we drive past the wreck I can hear the shotgun shells inside it cooking off. Eventually the vehicle explodes, ending another mission, a mere fourteen minutes after the death of Richard Gamblin.
The entity that is the father of Tuomas is on the backseat now with him. What Tuomas sees is a spirit that resembles his father, Mark Rossteau, as he was when he was the exact same age as his son.
Of course, it is not a real ghost, merely a reflection of a unique subconscious mind. For all the "ghosts" that Tuomas will see, will all be his exact age. They will behave in a manner akin to how those people acted when they were his age.
At first he will only see his ancestors. His father, grandfather, and great grandfather. But as his powers progress, he will be able to see the ancestral spirits of other people.
And yet even now, the spirit of Mark Rossteau is perplexed at his own existence, and how he seems to know who we are, and what we must do. He is in awe of me, wondering at what force of nature made him suddenly come to be. Slowly it is dawning on him. The answer lies in me.
If I am to fulfill my destiny, and the fate of this specific universe, it is necessary for me now to utilise such a skill, to lay the foundations for the future that is prophecised.
His father is presently trying to bring resolution to his son, and tell him that we are not here to harm. Indeed, we are here to make him the best he can be.
But Tuomas is in terrible pain. Not physical, but emotional. And just as guilt secured Richard Gamblin's death back at the fuel station, guilt at bringing about his brothers death will seal his fate. He had seen the lights of Mark Buchanan's vehicle head straight for him, and in a split second reaction that preserved his own life, he had drifted far enough across the road so that his brother in the passengers seat took the brunt of the collision.
For the essence of Destiny is emotion.
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I would really love all criticisms about this chapter be said so I can truly make this story shine. Is it too complex? Is it understandable? Is Shadow a mary sue character? Grammar and punctuation as well, is it all befitting a character that is omniscient? This is a very complex story, and I want the reader to wonder what is the truth and what is the lies in what she says here. Did it work?