Pat! Pat! Pat!

“Hey kid, you there? Hear me?”

Two city guards who were patrolling the area near Attenburg Dock suddenly heard a scream that came from a warehouse, and quickly rushed over, only to find a 5-foot-7 teenage boy with a pale face, short, soft black hair, and dressed in what seemed to be some ragged clothes lying down unconsciously on the ground.

“No response. We should get him to the clinic”

The younger guard with curly short brown hair, hazel eyes, half kneeling beside the boy stood up and walked over to his partner with medium-length blonde hair, blue eyes, who was standing to the side surveying the surroundings.

“Tch. You think this child has enough to pay for his medical fees? Just look at what he’s wearing, a perfect example of a homeless street boy. We’ll just bring him back to the office; it’s the only thing we could do right now.

“Alright…I’ll carry him back.”

Just when he turned to look for the boy, his expression turned heavy. It wasn’t because the boy had disappeared from the spot, but he was there, standing. He could feel that something wasn’t right. His partner on his side also sensed the abnormal behavior from the boy and slowly reached for his baton. He saw that the boy was gripping a knife in his right hand that was half hidden under his sleeves. 

For a moment, no one spoke a word.

“Hey… are you feeling alright? Do you mind if we ask you some questions?”

The guard with short curly brown hair slowly approached the boy.

“We would like to—.”

“Back away, Geldard! He’s got a knife in his hand!”

Before Geldard could even react, his neck was sliced open and dropped to the floor, rolling across the ground before coming to a stop at his partner’s foot.

“Shit! What kind of monster is this kid? If it weren't because of me desperately needing money to pay my debt, I would be in bed right now with a good dream!”

The middle-aged guard entered an offensive stance with his baton ready in his hand, visibly shaking uncontrollably. Just as he took his first step towards his target, he saw his vision turned upside down and soon blacked out.

The next second, he was gasping for air, hands touching where his neck was, seeing if it was intact. 

“Varis?”

The older guard heard his name and turned to the side to look. He saw his partner standing beside him.

“Geldard, why are you here?”

“I don’t know… I can’t remember what happened earlier; I only remember that my neck got sliced open, and I woke up in this—”

Geldard couldn’t finish his sentence as if he was stumped by how to describe his sight. Varis shifted his head to look up and saw what Geldard was seeing. They saw a vast amount of figments of shattered scenes of themselves. They saw scenes from their past self, their present state, and scenes that they hadn’t seen before…as if they represented the future. Their future fate was presented in front of them moments before they even got to experience it. This whole sight brought a chilling feeling into their bones.

Then, all the scenes shattered, and what was left was just a sphere of light. The spherical light soon turned black and eerie. Suddenly, the black sphere of light started morphing and soon transformed into what seemed to be a human, a man. Donned in a black cloak adorned with intricate lines and symbols, with a divine and mysterious sense, he wore a silvery mask on his face, unable to discern his facial features. He traversed through the void and appeared in front of the two guardsmen. 

Varis’s body convulsed uncontrollably when his eyes met the male’s golden gaze.

“Who are you? Are you a pariah? What do you want from us?”

An uncomfortable, eerie silence inhabited the darkness.

“You may address me as Mr. Falkon. What you witnessed earlier is your fate. I have sensed that you two will be driven to the brink of death from the corruption that persists in this world; this will likely affect people around you or even everyone.”

His cloak fluttered as he descended from above.

However… If you are willing to comply with my requests, your fate will be altered onto a different path. 

He paused before continuing.

Of course, if you don’t trust my judgement or capabilities, you may go back to the life that you currently live in, unaltered. Now, what will your choice be?”

“I will follow you with my deepest devotion! Your orders are my will!”

Geldard swung his fist in front of his chest and immediately agreed without hesitation, but Varis saw that Geldard’s feet were trembling intensely; he bet this young fellow had already wet his pants just seeing this powerful entity. Varis, on the other hand, did not immediately agree and had his doubts about whether it would be the identity of this man named Mr. Falkon or his words coming out of his mouth. Their sudden death experiences, and how they were brought here after, were still a mystery to them.

“He might be a pariah or above…better not make any risky moves…” Varis thought inwardly

“Tsk, it’s not like I have a choice; who would want to die before they even strike rich?”

Mr. Falkon did not say a single word after, as though he had predicted how this event would unfold. Then, he magically created two rectangular medals. On these two medals engraved an unexplainable symbol mark that neither of the two guardsmen had any familiarity with.

“What’s this?”

“You will use this medal to communicate with me. Just insert a certain amount of mana, and you will be able to use it.”

The two guardsmen were stunned. Not because they didn’t understand the usage, but because they never had any mana.

“Don’t worry, you two have already received a mana capacity boon from me. In the future, you may use them to cast spells.”

“Of course, you will keep your newly gained power a secret and only use it when necessary.”

Mr Falkon turned his back to the two guardsmen.

“Let’s end it here. You two will be dismissed and returned to the real world. You will await the orders of your first task.”

Before the two guardsmen could even say anything, two bright beams of light suddenly descended from the darkness; the bodies of the two guardsmen were instantly enveloped. When the two beams of light vanished, so did the duo.

The next second, the two guardsmen found themselves back at the warehouse.

“Did we just meet a god…”

“Impossible. Gods are a myth in the past. He might just be a powerful paragon, likely to be a pariah… or slightly above...”

“Let’s head back, or our colleagues will suspect that something happened.”

“You’re right.”

Void of Fate, main chamber

“Phew, that was tiring. It’s easier to act like a low-life than to act as a superior being.”

“I’m still getting used to this fate-grasping power; it’s still hard to believe that it can be so powerful. That messenger must have strengths much scarier than this…”

Falkon removed his mask and looked into the void filled with shattered panes of what seemed to be a representation of fate.

“I wonder what my fate will be.”

Falkon exhaled a quiet sigh. 

“Well, it’s useless dwelling on it too hard.” 

Just when Falkon was about to turn and leave, he saw a few shattered pieces suddenly stitching together and showing a reflection—a female...