Damien floated in silence, the air around him pulsing with something ancient—something that didn't belong to any single moment in time. The figure before him radiated calm power, but beneath that calm, Damien sensed an overwhelming urgency.
"You said I have a key... a key to fix or destroy everything. What is it?" Damien asked, his voice low, uncertain.
The cloaked being didn't answer right away. Instead, they lifted their hand and a flickering, translucent orb emerged. Inside it, Damien saw flashes of himself—moments past, present, and even ones that hadn't happened yet. He saw himself fighting, hiding, evolving... and then, he saw something terrifying: a vision of himself wrapped in shadow, devouring everything around him as rifts tore reality apart.
"That is your future, if left unchecked," the figure said quietly. "The Rift grows within you. It feeds on potential, on destiny itself. If you allow it to fester... you will become the end."
Damien recoiled. "I never asked for this. I just wanted a second chance..."
"And you were given it," the being said. "But all second chances come with a price. You were born in this world ten years before the Child of Fate. That alone is an anomaly—your existence shifts the scale."
Damien was silent. The Child of Fate... the protagonist. The one the world would center around. His arrival would change everything, and Damien's premature reincarnation was a wrench in the clockwork.
"So, what do I do?" Damien finally asked. "How do I stop the Rift inside me from growing? How do I not become... that?"
The figure slowly approached, extending the orb toward him. "You must walk a path of restraint, growth, and understanding. You must master the power within you—not surrender to it. And when the time comes, you must face the truth of who you are."
Damien's core pulsed. "The truth?"
"You are not just a reincarnated soul," the figure said. "You are a fulcrum—one who can tilt the fate of the world in any direction. The Child of Fate may be the world's chosen, but you... you are the world's consequence."
Those words struck him harder than any blade. A consequence. Something born from imbalance.
He wanted to scream, to say it wasn't fair. But deep down, he already knew. This world wasn't a story written for him. He was the twist, the mistake, the unpredictable factor.
Damien looked at the orb once more. He still didn't know what to do. But he did know one thing—he couldn't let that future come to pass.
"Tell me what I need to do," he said at last.
The figure nodded. "Seek the Pillars of Origin. There are four in total—each tied to the elements that hold this world together. Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind. One by one, you must visit them, absorb their essence, and let them temper the Rift within you. Only then can you face the final thread... and decide your fate."
The world around them began to tremble. The mist cracked like glass. The vision was ending.
"Wait!" Damien shouted. "Who are you?"
As the space shattered and the figure faded, their voice lingered like a whisper in his mind.
"I am the Forgotten Thread... and I will be watching."
---
Damien jolted awake—if you could call it that. He was still a slime, resting beneath a massive tree, deep in the forest. The morning light pierced the leaves overhead.
But everything had changed.
He knew his path now. It wasn't about becoming strong just to survive. It was about mastering what he had become... before it mastered him
A/N:
I will stop here for now and continue maybe next month.