He has no idea, Fate thought grimly.

The first puppet lunged, its glassy eyes rolling lifelessly in its head. Fate was there in an instant, his fan flicking open with a soft, lethal snap.

“Rest now,” he murmured, sweeping the fan in a tight arc. Threads of light tore through the puppet, and it collapsed into itself, dissolving into a faint shimmer of dust.

Another came, then another. Their jerky, unnatural movements didn’t falter as he cut them down one by one. Each severed thread sent a faint pulse through the air, a quiet echo of lives already lost.

You poor things, he thought, his heart heavy despite the ease of his movements. You never stood a chance. Each creature crumpled to the ground, limbs twitching as if trying to rise before they, too, realized they were gone, and their bodies dissipated to dust; more and more came pushing towards Heart, but Fate’s hand shot forward again, attacking one after the other, cutting off their advances towards Heart. Each time they surged forward, he cut the poor hapless creatures. Discarding them to the side, they faded away with a sigh, like the world was weeping for them.

Weeping for their end.

An end they did not deserve but had chosen for themselves.

They are already gone. All you have to do is give them peace. He reminded himself, even though each hit felt as if he was stealing the lives he was supposed to cherish and protect.

It is already too late; you have already failed them.

The puppets lunged as one, their movements disjointed and wrong. The stench of decay hit Fate like a wall, but he didn’t flinch. His fan sliced through the air, severing threads with precise, merciful cuts.

Fate’s heart ached as their bodies crumpled, fading to nothing.

When the last of the wave vanished, he stood over the silence they left behind.

“May peace find you, little ones, even though your soul is gone.”

He turned, and the alleyway darkness practically split with those lifeless eyes.

A second wave, this is serious!

He stepped forward and pulled out his fan, flicking it open.

The other puppets hesitated, their heads snapping toward him as though sensing the danger he posed. For a brief moment, there was silence. Then, they attacked as one.

He crushed them all, only breaking a sweat on the last wave. So many waves he had lost count, but each one had brought him closer and closer to Heart until there was no choice.

He turned and approached.

It will not stop here, they will be back soon, his scent is all over this place.

Just as the last puppet fell, Fate turned to the boy and saw them, two glowing eyes, dark and burning with malice, blinking into existence behind Heart.

Mara.

Fate’s breath caught. Mara was closer to Heart than he was. A single swipe of his clawed hand could sever the boy’s thread forever.

Mara’s eyes glinted in the darkness, watchful and heated, with a malice burning behind them that only Fate could catch in the reflection of darkness that glinted off the ground. He lingered for a moment, long enough to make Fate doubt his next move.

There was no way Fate could make it to him before Mara did that.

Yet, Mara didn’t.

Fate glared at him, his glare posing the question. If you want him so badly, then why? Why do you not try? I cannot get there in time.

Mara’s grin stretched unnaturally wide, his claws glinting as he gave a mocking wave before slipping back into the shadows as though he were the night itself.

He didn’t know why Mara was not attacking, but he wouldn’t waste the chance to save him. Fate flung his fan in a practiced sigil that flew out and surrounded Heart with a golden shimmer. A bubble of safety. Still, he did not know if Mara would be back, and there was no way he could promise Heart’s life if he were distracted fighting Mara. He had to get Heart away from here, a place where the boys scent would be lost, and Mara would not be able to locate him. Until I can get a protection barrier set up.

The last of the puppets dissolved into a scatter of ash that twinkled for a heartbeat and then vanished. The alley fell so quiet that Fate could hear the small, ragged sound of Heart breathing. The boy held his lighter still flicking it but faster, unsure as if he wanted to be somewhere else, anywhere else than here where he had just seen the darkness coagulate and bubble into forms that resembled humans but scattered and dissolved into ash when touched by a fan.

He knew there was no explaining it to the human mind so he did not even try, Heart would forget. But it was still best to protect the kid in case there was a third or fourth wave. Or even to protect him for the future.

He stepped forward. A halo of gold spread from his palm a protection spell, it wouldn’t do much in this situation for Mara. But from the puppet’s it would protect him.

Fate reached out, catching his wrist before he could think better of it. The sigil flared gold for an instant, then sank into the skin as though it had always belonged there. Heart blinked, confused, rubbing the spot, unaware of the weight that now bound him. By the time Fate’s compulsion settled, between the boy’s own curiosity and the seal’s pull, resistance was no longer possible.

He would follow, without ever knowing why.

Fate had expected fear, panic, maybe even tears. Humans were fragile that way. But Heart only stumbled after him, disoriented yet steady, never fully understanding that his path had just been rewritten. It was… unsettling.

He told himself it didn’t matter. The boy would forget soon enough. They all did.

That is how the magic worked. One touch and thrown into the world, a look away and they were foggy blurs to even their memories. He watched Heart waiting for it, for the haze that came the moment gods let go of their hand, and the human looked away. Five minutes and everything would be erased.

Because knowledge of gods like Fate was detrimental to human existence.

As it should be.

The boy blinked, dazed, shaking his arm like he’d brushed against something hot.

Good. That will have to do for now. I can speak with Aurela and figure something else later.

Fate released him slowly. Around them, the shattered air finally began to settle. He turned his gaze downward, the ground was strewn with red threads, glimmering faintly like veins beneath clear water.

That’s Impossible.

He froze. His fan slipped from his hand. They hadn’t existed moments ago.

How?

He crouched, running his fingers through the air above them. The lines hummed, alive, responding not to him but to something else.

His breath caught. Slowly, his gaze turned to Heart.

Intrigue flickered through the fog of his disbelief.

The boy knelt on both knees, in the dirty back alley, brow furrowed in concentration as he gathered a single thread with careful, untrained hands. Fate’s throat tightened as he watched. The strings didn’t recoil as they should if a human came near them; instead, they softened, almost glowing under Heart’s touch, curling toward him as if seeking his warmth.

In all the centuries he had lived, he had never seen such a thing.

Why?

Is this why Mara tried to mark you for death? Because the strings not only appeared to you but allowed you to touch them, cooperated with him. One single string had even glowed brightly for a moment. Touch them?

It was absurd. It was impossible. And yet he could not look away.

Heart worked quietly, fingers trembling from exhaustion, gathering the glowing strands into small, imperfect balls. Fate stood motionless. No haze fell over the boy. No memory slipped away. Mortals should never retain this kind of sight. Five minutes was all it ever took for them to forget. But Heart did not forget. He lingered, still tethered to what no human should be able to see.

Fate felt his chest tighten with something close to awe, though he quickly smothered it.

He is human. Just human. That is all.

Then why do the strings yield to him?

It was a nervous thought indeed. One that pried even more questions from his mind.

Why is one glowing more than the others? One of the brightest sparks he had ever seen in his entire lifetime of watching over the universe danced in Heart’s hands happily as he spun them back up into their little balls, shaping them gently.

Interesting.

Why five, why these five? How can you do this? If this is why you are a target, how does Mara know this fact when I do not? And what does it all mean?

There was a thing of which he was certain regardless of not having a single answer and only more questions.

The boy was in desperate need of protection until he got the answers he needed. Not just him but the strings as well. I will have to look into their lives, their fates. Their destinies.

He smirked.

Well at least I bested Mara this time… If only as a little thorn in his side.

Trying to steal a thread like Heart from the world. Not on my watch.

Although, what does this mean for the future? Especially for Heart… Will I have to continue watching him the rest of his lifespan? How long do these things live again?

He counted on his hands the centuries, his eyes widening.

Surely not. There has to be a better way. You guys live for so long.

I suppose figuring out why all this is happening will be a lovely little way to waste time rather then dithering in nothingness.

For now, he couldn’t see the answers; he couldn’t know them.

So let us watch. Hmm, let us see why a things have changed so heavily. Why the thread called out to you, and why one of those linked around your little ankle is throbbing so desperately. Yes, let’s watch because things have suddenly become all too interesting.

Very, very, interesting.

He watched the kid get into a cab.

A small, intrigued smile played across his face as he did so.

Heart looked back, but Fate knew he was far enough into the shadows that even if the magical pocket he was watching from were to catch in the street light, the shadows were to deep and dark for Heart to see him. As Fate observed for a split second, Hearts’ leg glowed faintly in the taxi’s light. and he could make out the five small iridescent red strings before the door closed, and the taxi pulled away.

“I wonder why it’s you of all people, Heart? Just why do you matter so much?”

“You don’t seem like much… Let’s find out what it is, Hmmm? See you again soon, little one.”

Fate clicked his tongue, then turned and walked off. The alleyway and its double street lamp light flickered strongly, and then he closed his pocket on the world he had grown to disdain, but that he wasn’t so keen to turn his back on now.

*Mara is the demonic celestial king that is associated with death, rebirth, and desire. Mara is often described as the personification of the forces antagonistic to enlightenment. “Mara” comes from the Sanskrit form of the verbal root mṛ it is the verbal noun from the causative root and means ‘causing death’ or ‘killing’. So He is literally the form of temptation and death.