《The Crawford's Multiverse of Madness》Chapter 274 - Perdition
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Sitting next to Henry, Zeel could feel the radiant energy he emitted. To others, Henry seemed like a normal man, but to Zeel, Henry was like a beacon that called forth the power of Fate.
Zeel could not see Fate, but he could feel the energy if it was concentrated enough.
And the last thing Zeel wanted to touch was someone so closely intertwined with Fate.
Seeing the look on Henry's face, Zeel could tell that the man did not seem to particularly mind being a slave to the Book Of Fates.
This was enough for Zeel to know that Henry didn't truly understand what being a slave to the Book Of Fates entailed... or maybe, he just didn't care.
"You don't think it's bad to be a slave to the Book of Fates?" Zeel asked, curious.
Henry smiled slightly and shrugged his shoulders, not forgetting to take a sip of his drink.
Zeel was confused because Henry seemed reasonably knowledgeable.
"It hasn't inconvenienced me so far. Everything it asks of me is in line with my own thoughts and morals," Henry replied nonchalantly.
Zeel shook his head and stared at Henry as he concentrated his divinity within his eyes.
It was uncomfortable using his divinity so much, but it was the first time that Zeel was so curious about a mortal man.
It was difficult to look at Henry using his Traveller's eyes, but Zeel only wanted to see the price he paid for the deal with Fate.
There, at the forefront of Henry's journey through life, was a woman – Evelyn.
"What did you see?" Henry asked, knowing that Zeel had used some sort of technique to peek into his life.
Zeel shook his head in disappointment "Not much sadly, but I know what you think,"
Zeel placed his hand on the counter as a Gravitational-Ball swirled around his fingers.
Henry stared at Zeel's hand, knowing that Zeel wanted to show him something. The Gravitational-Ball in Zeel's hand turned into a string that created several loops.
"This is how you humans view time…"
Then Zeel flipped his hand over and the Gravitational-Ball turned into a fluid that churned, twisted, and constantly shifted shapes.
"This is what time looks like to the limits of human understanding," Zeel said, making sure that Henry was watching and carefully listening to his choice of words.
"You think the future doesn't affect the past but that is wrong since everything occurs all at once or not at all,"
Henry looked at Zeel confused, not entirely sure what Zeel was trying to say. Seeing this, Zeel sighed and decided to be a bit more direct.
"At the point, you entered servitude, it affected both your past and future. Do you know what Fate is?" Zeel asked sagely.
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Henry nodded and responded, "The natural course that things come to be or are supposed to end!"
Zeel nodded, since it was indeed an acceptable response that reflected someone who had sacrificed a lot, and achieved some sort of enlightenment.
At this time, the soldiers Henry brought with him were already standing and listening to the conversation.
Henry had given the go-ahead for everyone to participate in the conversation.
The men and women of Henry's organization were staring at Zeel in awe, reverence, and fear simultaneously.
They knew that Zeel was a Supernatural Being, but The Book Of Fates did not say what kind.
Zeel was comforted in his heart, knowing that The Book Of Fates did not know anything specific about him.
Obviously, information about Supernatural Beings was given, but nothing about himself, specifically.
Knowing everyone was listening in, including the two girls secretly peeking from the bathroom.
Zeel felt the need to prove his magnanimity to those less knowledgeable than himself.
With a couple taps of his fingers, the entire room flickered as the Gravitational-Ball in his hand bent rays of light to form a 3D dimensional image.
The image formed a baby crawling to the edge of a table with multiple golden threads wrapped around its body.
The threads guided the child forward, and only pulled the child away just before it could fall.
"Fate… and not 'faith', just to make the distinction clear... Fate is a force that guides people that are not capable of ensuring their own survival independently.
More than likely, the child on the table will continue to crawl until it reaches the end of the table and falls to its inevitable demise.
That child is basically all mortal races, or as you know yourselves – humans. All humans move forward in their lives without knowledge of what lies behind the veil of reality.
Basically, you are unable to make your own decisions so Fate guides you all like the child on the table.
Fate is the force responsible for making sure that you don't fall off the table," Zeel said, waving his hand as the room returned to the club it was before.
Henry nodded his head, but several questions arose in his mind.
"And how can that be considered bad?" Henry asked, not getting the point.
Zeel shrugged and explained "Fate guides humans, but as you can see, the golden threads were connected to the child all the time but didn't act until the moment before the child fell.
Fate already decided the child was going to crawl until it fell, but by doing so, Fate also made sure the child crawled forward until the point it could intervene,"
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Henry nodded and finally understanding what Zeel was attempting to teach him.
"By Fate's guidance of the child... Fate had to ensure that the child would arrive at the point where it could intervene before the fall.
Hence, by wanting to stop the eventual fall of the child, Fate became the mechanism through which the child arrived at the point it would originally fall,"
"Exactly!" Zeel nodded, happy that he found a slightly smarter mortal amongst the dumber ones.
"I don't understand, why would that happen?" Malik stated, he was the right-hand man of Henry.
Zeel did not mind answering Malik's question because Fate could be considered a complex topic.
"Fate decided the child would crawl to the end of the table, so it made sure the child got to the end of the table before it saved the child.
But what if the child suddenly stopped halfway? What if the child fell asleep? What if below the table was a sponge?
What if the child fell and survived the fall, learning a valuable lesson in the process?" Zeel questioned, trying to get his point across.
Henry nodded and gestured for Malik to be quiet.
"You are saying that being bound by Fate somewhat guarantees safety, but gets rid of every other possibility?" Henry asked, intrigued by the topic.
This made Zeel realize that Henry was someone who was looking for a specific piece of information, but he wasn't sure exactly what.
Zeel felt that he needed Henry's help if he was going to achieve his purpose in this Universe, so he didn't mind answering a couple of questions.
"Fate does not guarantee safety… it guarantees that sh*t gets done! There is a difference, and anyone strong enough can defy Fate and create a new possibility for themselves," Zeel replied and then asked, "Is that enough information?"
Henry slowly nodded his head slowly, knowing that Zeel had figured that he had also been doing his own test.
While Zeel was interested in the combat aspect of Henry's Organization, Henry was interested in the knowledge Zeel could offer in return.
"My organization is called Prodigium, from the Latin 'a gathering of monsters'," Henry simply stated, while retrieving the Book Of Fates from the bar table.
"Zeel Crawford… a 'combat-warlock' that resided in the Nandavi Mountains of India. I was injured, and trapped in a crystal a couple of years ago," Zeel said without any indication of lying on his face.
Zeel felt a pang of headache at his half-true statement but thankfully, a Homo-Superior could convince themselves of any lies by just thinking about it.
Henry nodded and rose from his feet, gesturing to the nearby soldier to bring a chest forward.
The soldiers walked in front of Zeel and slowly placed the chest down, making sure to open it slightly so Zeel could inspect the insides.
Inside the chest was a hundred kilograms of Gold-Essence.
In fact, Zeel could have gotten Gold-Essence from the core of the volcano on The Mysterious Island, but that would have been a very small amount.
Zeel found it impressive that Prodigium could access so much Gold-Essence. After all, Gold-Essence was made from concentrating one hundred tons of gold into a gram of Gold-Essence.
Feeling that the gift was a bit too much by mortal standards, Zeel decided to give something in return.
Before anyone could react, Zeel grabbed Henry's left hand. Zeel urged the nanites in his body to draw a symbol on Henry's hand.
Zeel was careful not to use any of his own energy since he still had not devised a way to use Runes and his divinities simultaneously.
After Zeel was finished, Henry held his hand in pain but did not give to order to retaliate.
Slowly, something squirmed beneath his skin, and soon, Henry saw a strange symbol appear on his arm.
The symbol pulsed with blue-light and generated comfort throughout his body. For the first time in years, Henry felt his mind clear of any and all evil thoughts.
"Marvellous!" Henry admired, staring at the complex symbol on his arm with appreciation and fascination.
"Perdition," Zeel said.
"Pardon?" Henry inquired.
"The symbol is a Hybrid Rune for Perdition – you have evil inside your body, and Perdition means 'eternal damnation for wrongs'. Basically, that symbol is like fighting poison with poison," Zeel said shrugging.
"I cannot cure your ailment because I don't have experience with curses, but science is applicable everywhere," Zeel mentioned as he got up from the chair and started to walk outside.
The chest that was on the floor was already inside his storage dimension.
"Wait! How do we find you?" Henry asked quickly before Zeel could exit the club.
Sadly, Zeel's figure blurred the next moment and he was gone. There was no flash of lightning since Zeel was using just his natural speed.
After all, the God of Speed could not be slow even without his divinities in use.
Henry felt like the trip was a wasted one, but the symbol on his hand pulsed with light.
This gave Henry the answer to his question - the answer to finding Zeel had already been on his body – it was the Rune for Perdition.
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