The Demon Lord was talking to himself and the darkness receded seemed to grow as though waiting for him to ask and it would do as he would. "For that, however, I need a few items. Your beating heart will do quite nicely." He plunged his hand into the body of the cockatrice and pulled out the heart. He then waved and he was in a different place from before. This was a strange place. It was similar to a kitchen but it was bare save for a large cast-iron pot that was about four feet high and two feet in diameter. The demon lord smiled behind the black veil that was covering his face. Now there were a few more things that he needed.

The cockatrice's heart floated over the pot, he waved and three more hearts flew over the pot hovering above the rim of the pot. The pot was empty. "A cockatrice's heart, the heart of a courageous man, the heart of a woman in love and the heart of a dragon at the end of its age. Now, what else must I have? I know, a vial of fate." He took a vial of violet liquid from somewhere within his robes and poured it into the pot. The four drops swelled upon hitting the hearts offered in the cauldron. The liquid-filled the pot to the brim and began to smoke slightly as if it was already warm. The liquid still maintained its violet colouration but the colours changed and shone almost as though it was alive. Then the demon lord seemed to worry about the shade of the pot's contents. It still wasn't good enough for him. The probabilities were still not high enough. If a hero came now, he would end up only being around ten per cent of a challenge. A mere wave of his hand would be enough to extinguish his life. That wouldn't do at all. His adversary needed a little bit more kick.

He took the black blade of his from thin air and sliced his finger just enough to draw blood. He let a few drops of his blood fall. The potion immediately turned deeper, bluer and it began to churn on its own as though undercurrents unknown to even the demon lord couldn't read entirely. "Not enough, not enough at all. I must stand a chance of losing, must I not?" he stood simply for a second lost in thought. He stroked his chin in thought.

Then he seemed to smile. "That might help a lot more. I wonder if that might make it too strong a change in fate to make it too difficult to kill. That would be bad as well. The damage from the last 'distraction' of his had been too much to bear. Only now had he built the army once more. But then he needed a little more of a fight from the hero. So he would have to give something more. He was doubtful about what he could do to increase the odds of his hero's success and still remain within the boundaries that he could afford. There was after all a limit to the amount of randomness that he could allow to exist in this world. He could not very well cause the formation of an aberration and let that cause this world to enter the Planar wars again. This world was his plaything and he wouldn't let anyone fight over his jewel. Only he would destroy this on his own. That was his way of doing things. For now, this jewel of a planet amused him and for a while, it would remain.

The thought hit him. There were only a few creatures that could endure his magic but of the few only one race could dare to fight him. So he gestured. An entire dragon's skeletal remains formed out the wisps of steam around the cauldron and then it went into the pot and the skeletal remains of the dragon began to move and seemed not to melt or burn away but rather lose cohesion as it entered the pot. The dragon soul roared impotently as the dark lord waved his fingers impatiently. The dragon was huge and it seemed that it was the last of its kind. The demon lord grinned he really should have thought of this the last time. Well, he could be forgiven because that had been his first time manipulating the fates of this world. Now he was almost an old hand at that once seemingly impossible task that he had taken upon himself to do. The pot turned colour till now it was a strange dual colour of both red and blue co-existing. The colours didn't mix but the colours twisted and moved as though it was a living creature. It was pulsating as though taking a breath with each passing moment.

"So now, he'll be resilient to my spells. Everything is good now. The randomness is within limits and not much can change over the time that I will need this spell to gestate. So then, fate, implement my desire.“ He laughed as the potion in the pot swirled outwards suddenly and swirled once around the demon lord.

This wasn't supposed to happen.

The two halves of the potion formed into two humanoid shapes. Each form was great and magnificent. Yet their features were not evident. and before the demon lord could do anything to these two creatures, the fabric of the world was torn around him. These two were doing it to him. He was in their thrall. These two drew him into a new pocket universe formed almost at will and he was powerless to resist. These two waited for a while and then the limbs of the creatures turned into blades of exceedingly ominous undertones. These two were about to do what he had wanted to see all of these aeons.

Someone was going to kill him.

Then the two creatures let out a shriek of terror. He saw the sparks of darkness begin in those clear liquids that were their bodies. He had been right in adding his own blood into that mix. He needed to control these two things. He wasn't sure what he had done to make a fate potion quite so sentient. Had it been his blood? or was it the cockatrice? Or was it the dragon God? This was so interesting, he mused to himself.

The creatures knelt to him as the darkness took over the entirety of those two. Then the bodies of the potion began to leech away and enter his body. He couldn't speak. This was liquid fate.

It was pleasure and pain so exquisite that he felt himself a fool for thinking that he knew even one iota of what fate entailed. He was so engrossed in the sensation of new power that he hadn't seen the last bits of these new entities, a few drops of both red and blue that had split away to form new bodies free of the taint of his will.

These two were of the size of small rats. These two rats sized entities split open a path in this pocket universe and escaped into the mesh of the world beyond them and these two entities were so alien to the dark lord even with the influx of new power similar to these two that he would never be able to find these two again.

He was a fool.

The fates were done with being his plaything. They had their patience taken away from them. He would pay for attempting to change the fates. There were Gods and then there were the fates. The Gods were capricious and in some ways like the mortals but the fates were another kind of beast altogether. Only Death was aloof from the fates. Everything else moved on their prodding. So it was till the dark lord decided that he wanted that power for his amusement. They would have borne the loss of their power if it had been used for anything but entertainment.

Thus, an insult was what it took for the fates to decide to move a stone in the hope of moving a mountain. This was a game to them also, they didn't know or rather didn't want to see where the entities would go. If this didn't work, there was always going to be more to do to topple their captor. Time existed in a state of flux for them. For now, those two rats would do for a couple of millennia. They could manage with that for a while. Later if required, there would be other opportunities. After all, their captor had one sin punishable even by ones so neutral like the fates.

Hubris, that sin was the one that even they would not brook.

So now the mesh was set. The pocket universe melted away and the world came back to the fore. He felt the power in his veins like liquid fire. It had been a good thing to make this potion. He could manipulate the world by his own will now. He didn't need to use the key given by those guys nor beseech the Gods in charge of this sector. He was his own God now. He was no more a mere Demon Lord, he was the Demon God.

This was new, this was exciting.

This was the knowledge that he had. And so he waved as he floated over his land. He thought and an obsidian throne formed. He sat and gazed over it all. So his very thoughts spread over the tapestry of fate. Yet there were some links he couldn't see or touch. He could sense these links but he couldn't touch them. He didn't want to either. Not now at the very least.

Such a fun dimension should not be unravelled so hastily. It would take too much time to rebuild for him to have fun again. The demon lord went away to the balcony where he had spoken to an older adversary so many years ago. The time for seeing the limit of these powers would be sufficient as he would wait for his will to echo through the ages and grant him his heart's desire. He sat in that same black chair and relaxed with his fingers interlaced. The game was ready. Now he only needed to wait and everything would come to him. He would finally get an adversary worth facing with all his regard. He ensured that his newfound strength would not be required for such an enemy. After all, what fun was there in crushing an insect with a mountain when you could pull it apart and enjoy the process for a longer time? This was going to be so much fun. And so he let everything fall to ruin.

No longer did his name ring. No longer did his actions remain and only in dark dreams and forgotten nightmares did he live, awaiting for something a little more ‘fun’.

And millennia faded away.