“Fate!”

He called out to her.

“Darian!!”

She responded back with anxiety nestling in her lungs.

“Do you trust me?”

He questioned. Her response?

“Of course I do! Always, but I saw the vision and-”

He then calmed himself down, and once again, triggered his power past its limits.

“Then jump! Jump without worries!”

She couldn't believe her ears. Is he asking her to die?

“If I do that, I'll die with you! I've used my powers already and...and I saw our deaths! You couldn't catch me! We crashed into each other and....I-I could never allow myself to hurt you like that! The height from all the way up here is just too high!!”

However, even as his nose bled and his hands trembled fiercely, his determined eyes paired themselves with a calm smile at her fear-filled words.

“Don't you worry. If I can't even catch the woman that I love, from the height that she loves, then I'm better off dead. Once again...trust in me and jump!”

No further words were needed. He warped reality itself so that one single change could be forced upon them both within a single moment of their shared life.

He would have the strength to catch the girl of his dreams.

In the very next moment, such a reality truly came to be. As she fell, resigned to her fate: his arms stretched outwards, and the once trembling appendages now brimmed with vitality.

Derian managed to safely catch the woman he loves.

He was happy, that for once, even before his inevitable death due to power over-usage, he managed to defy Fate's prediction, as well as his Clan's destiny to be forever handicapped in strength.

Then, his heartbeat began to slow.

.

.

.

The tears wouldn't stop as she blamed herself for everything.

If only She hadn't gone to the roof without telling anybody.

If only she had listened to her mother and behaved herself properly.

If only...like him, she could somehow defy reality with her own strength.

Possibly due to feeling there was nothing left to lose, but she came to realize something: It wasn't too late!

Using her remaining vestiges of strength, she accessed that soft, ever elusive power once again, connecting right away to a small portion of this 'mysterious energy source'. Before, she could only witness it from a distance. She could just 'see' things about whatever or whoever she thought of...floating down the river of energy...

but this time, while connected...

She plunged her consciousness against the force that repelled her. She tried over and over to force her way through, only to receive backlash after backlash. Her consciousness itself felt like an intimate breath, ready to die out the moment it makes contact one, final time.

Maybe it was pity from the Gods above, but at that moment: a miracle occurred.

A clear, subtle energy flowed out of Derian's hands, entering her body right away. Then, the invisible door that would always block her, began to open.

It was as if her consciousness was struck by a bolt of lightning...she had a sudden epiphany! There was absolutely no need to force her way into the energy stream before her. She simply 'willed' it to allow her consciousness in!

Before her was the entire focus of her thoughts, Derian's pre-determined death. He only had 43 seconds remaining.

.42 seconds remaining...

.41 seconds...

She didn't want this! There was no way she was going to accept such a reality, but she knew.

Her predictions were never wrong.

Because whatever this...mysterious flow is, no matter how hard one struggles, the end result always remains the same. Even though Derian made a painstaking effort to alter their destiny, even though he saved her...he will still die in the end. Maybe not from her fall, but death is still his determined outcome...Death, is both of their determined outcomes.

But she won't give up. She watched the stream carefully until it showed the exact moment her lover would die, and reached forth. Each future situation was shown inside a clear bubble. Out of the countless bubbles, she was only aiming for one. The myriad amount of untargeted bubbles made passage for her to enter the flowing stream, and finally, she was able to steal the deadly moment of his life and squeeze until it popped. The stream went crazy as it changed form from a river into a hurricane, with her consciousness stuck at the center.

She never experienced this before and didn't know what to do! Was it impossible?

Is her lover destined to disappear from her grasp?

Once again, maybe she was focusing on a solution too hard or maybe she simply happened across a coincidence, but 'Fate' felt an odd occurrence within the energy flow.

Out of all the remaining un-popped bubbles, very few had an image or 'scene' playing through them. Most were merely blank bubbles.

She gently reached for one and focused a thought on it, without knowing what else she was supposed to do.

Something began to form. It vaguely resembled her image of Derian!

Then the bubble grew unstable and popped.

Now she had an idea of what to do, but only time would tell if she made the right choice. With her thoughts collected, she once more reached into the hurricane of bubbles, grabbed an empty one, and closed her eyes. After, she returned it to the energy flow in the empty location where she found the scenario of Derian's death.

A *Click!* resounded, and the crazy pressure threatening to scatter her consciousness came to a halt. As if nothing ever happened, the river returned to it's original river-like form.

When her consciousness returned to her body...she blacked out.

And Derian slowly opened his eyes.

Fate would remain in a comatose state for 3 whole months. During that time, another miracle was discovered. Derian, who should have died after forcing his body to strengthen...lived!

However that wasn't the true miracle.

Due to his body-enhancement gamble and Fate's intervention with his life...he became the first of their clans people to obtain a powerful body that could withstand their own power!

For the next 36 years and 9 months, the entire fallen Star Family, with Fate's help, repeated this process until everyone, including the children, had a body strong enough to defy their clan's former destiny. Furthermore, after studying her powers a bit longer, they discovered a few new things about the energy flow that differed slightly from the 'Destiny' energy they specialized in.

The remaining royal family decided to name this mysterious energy flow after the girl who awoke to its mysteries: Fate.

Knowing it was about time to return: The Star Family, Fate, Derian's new daughter and a few other spouses and hybrid children bid farewell to Earth for one final time, before returning to their palace!

Using their newfound bodies capable of withstanding their powerful abilities: quelling the army before it could destroy the palace door became child's play for them. Derian returned to his parents' chamber, only to find the Queen and King dead, while the advisor hugging his pregnant wife as they awaited their demise.

Saddened by the sudden realization of his parents' sacrifice, he vented his grief on the intruders and had them all sentenced to death.

Due to his aunt's refusal, Derian and Fate became the new king and Queen, but that would only last for a while before a certain God commissioned their help. Agreeing to the proposal: Their entire clan moved into the higher realms – the divine planes of existence just a few dimensions above the mortal realm. It is said that the creator God of Earth has commissioned them to manage the entire reincarnation cycle and govern over the Fates and Destiny of the planet called Earth. Later on, they received similar requests by Gods of different planets throughout the universe and now govern over the entire universes Fate and Destiny cycles...but they always pay attention to Earth, the planet that quite literally changed their fates.

…

Aria: “...They say, that once every few thousand years, in order to entertain the Divine beings up there in higher planes of existence: The Fallen Star clan will have their young ones play a little game. They will tell those children: 'I want you to create a human on Earth, and help guide their Fate.' Then, before the child could even accept or refuse, they are sent to specific cities on Earth, but a few years into the future!

With their Destiny already determining that they will create a human, they will be tasked with a second mission: 'Now, without using your powers, go find the human you think you created over these last few years! You only get one opportunity and should you fail, they will not only cease to exist...but you will lose your rights as a guide of Fate!' So...If you ever find yourself suddenly disappearing...that just means the divine being that created you....couldn't find you before their mission was up. Ahh~ I loved that story when I was a kid.”

Ian: “...That story...was all over the place.”

Aria: “What?! H-How?”

Ian: “What do you mean how...FIRST it starts off as a wonderful little drama without giving names or even caring to tell the readers more about what the 'star people' oh I dunno, look like! Then, everyone magically collapses because of a power their own people specialize in! The ending felt incredibly rushed and dull, a tad ominous, the plot setting was very lackluster and...and...

WHAT ABOUT THE MOM?! Did that girl Fate just abandon her mother and go to another part of the universe?! Also, wasn't the MAIN point of the story supposed to revolve AROUND the internal struggle and war against the lesser star families? Why did it feel like an afterthought?!

Aria: “...*Sniff*...But-But...my *Sniff* mother probably rushed a little before her...*Sniff!* death...”

Ian: “A-Ahh yeah that's right! Ahahaha, you said she read it to you a lot as a kid right? May-Maybe when you saw her writing, she was always correcting herself and reading you the parts she just finished! It-It actually sounds like a really nice book now that I think back on it!”

Aria: “*Sniff* R-Right?! I know it's lacking a lot at first glance, but when you think back it is kinda heartwarming and relaxing! I wonder If I'll ever have an encounter lik-AHHH!”

Ian: “What...What's wrong, what happened? Did those girls come back for you? O-Or for...me?”

Aria: “I got so *Sniff* caught up in sharing my mom's story to you, that I *Sniff* that I forgot TO GO TO THE LIBRARY! Wahhh I'll never make it now!”

Ian: “You know...nevermind. Haaah, let's go. I know a shortcut!”

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