And I showed them what the future might hold.

I spun [Illusion and Glamour], forming images with the scenes of history. The history of weapons and war. Wars that might be actual events based using those images of the events that would occur on Earth mixed with the differences that existed in this world.

Because this world shared the historical figures that were found on Earth, it was easier to extrapolate that future. The hardest part was factoring in the magic races and magic itself. I relied heavily on my own powers of [Prophecy] to alter those events that might come to pass so that they would show what the future held for this world if it followed the same trajectory.

I showed how bigotry and hatred could be used to stoke the fires of war. I showed that there would be crusades and that Constantinople would fall. The Roman Empire would fail. And the fight between religions would become harsher and more widespread as each nation’s army called upon the blessings of their Gods for boons, buffs, and attack magics.

The inclusion of Divine energies in a world at war made it more and more dangerous as the advent of weapon development fostered deadlier and deadlier weapons resulting in massacres that followed the same pattern as Earth. The people became immune to the horrors of slaughter as time passed- even when technology advanced far enough that those images could be shared in individual homes.

There was no discrimination in who was killed. Noble, merchant, farmer. Old, young, pregnant, or suckling babes. Military, civilian, and enslaved persons. All were slaughtered.

And when the armies of Man learned they could offer their enemies as sacrifices to the Gods, the boons and buffs they were blessed with became incrementally stronger with each death.

It was eerie how similar the historical timeline of war and innovation in this world paralleled that of Earth. Strange that was until the new understanding I was gaining, having reached [Rank: Godling], had given me some insights into the nature of the Multi-verse.

[Time] flowed like a river, with history being the water that symbolized the events as they happened. The Multi-verse was governed by cosmic precepts, [Time] one of those [Universal Laws ].

The river of history flowed continuously, and where it overflowed the banks of [Time] or was dammed or diverted, that was where the differences in history across the Multi-verse occurred.

But for all the permutations and changes that occurred along the flow of history, the course, the banks of [Time] remained the same. There was an inevitability of certain events, and my abilities of [Prophecy] were just barely powerful enough to factor in those minor deviations to the river of history this Universe floundered under.

I showed how the Elves, Beastkin, Vampires, Dwarves, and Sidhe were persecuted. I showed how each race was forced to hide and seek safety in the most inhospitable isolated places on the planet.

The scientific method gave rise to the industrial revolution, mass communication, and nuclear proliferation. I showed the use of atomic weapons and the destruction of cities to wage war. I showed the first fumbling steps into space, the landing on the moon, and then the explosive exploration of the galaxy as the Gods grew frenzied to gain more planets and increase their influence.

I could have stopped there, but I didn’t. I showed one final future possibility, the one that would happen if I was not able to complete my quests. I showed Odin and Zeus killing and assimilating the [Domains] and [Authorities] of the Gods from every Pantheon, including their own. I showed the decimation of every Pantheon and the death of every God until Zeus and Odin were the last two to stand.

And then I showed that last battle, as the two stood fought for control of a multi-verse that had all but perished.

“This is the future I would have, you see. The future that I hope to change,” I said as I allowed the [Illusion] of Odin and Zeus to contemplate each other, the death of the Universe inevitable at this point.

“The Fates and the Norns can speak to the truth of what I have shown. And here before [Justice], they cannot lie, they cannot prevaricate, and they cannot refuse to answer.

“What I have foreseen may come to pass unless actions are taken now. The creation of this body as a Senate that gives equal weight to each Pantheon, to work as a set of checks and balances upon the whole may work as the first step in changing this future.”

Neither group of Goddesses responded to my provocation. That refusal to respond was an answer in itself.

“Neither group is going to rebut or deny the future I have shown?” I taunted. “Isn’t your [Domain], your [Authority] to cut the threads of Fate, to weave the great tapestry of past, present, and future?

“Is what I have shown a likely future, a future that the Fates and Norns have woven as they snipped the threads of mortal life to fit events, so that this becomes the most likely outcome? A future where a world of science, technology, Divine intervention, and first planetary expansion, then Universal domination, becomes the mandate of those who adhere to your Pantheons?”

“Enough!” Zeus bellowed, lashing the room at large with his [Domain]. I should have known it would be him to answer my challenge, to react to my taunts. He had always acted as he pleased, engaging in mortal delights without worrying about consequences.

The problem this time was that he allowed his unrestrained nature to show before Universal concepts that were more powerful than him. The power of his [Domain] was snuffed out beneath the gaze of [Justice].

And Zeus found himself suppressed for the first time since he had defeated the Titans.

“[Evidence has been provided. A seeming was presented of a possible future. The Fates and Norns will answer the question. Is this future the Tuatha de Danann presented a likely outcome, a future that the Norns and Fate have seen and allowed to make manifest?]” [Justice] asked, demanding an answer while containing the fury of Zeus.

Zeus’s power was insignificant before [Justice’s] own, and I took a certain satisfaction in watching him squirm. Silenced and restrained, he was impotent at this moment, unable to act or impact what would be.

“It is,” the Fates and Norns answered in tandem. Their voices synchronized, the weight of [Fate] converging within this point of time and space to make known to every God, every Pantheon that was anchored in some way to this world, the truth and fullness of the knowledge they shared.

It was the closest to true omniscience and omnipresence that was possible. A co-joining of [Fate] displayed before the powers of [Justice], [Order], and [Chaos].

And it was enough to harden the resolve of every Pantheon in attendance, exclusive of Asgard and Olympus, into an alliance that would see Zeus and Odin’s greed and overreach chained. Each Pantheon had its own God or Goddess of Fate, and the dozens of [Powers] that included that [Domain] came together to act.

Each representative of [Fate] sharing enough of their [Divine Nature] to tangle the skein and tapestry of life that the Fates and Norns had woven. Their powers remained, but they would forever after be forced to weave the tapestry of life under the watchful eyes of every other Pantheon.

This shared and co-mingling [Authority] of [Fate] was witnessed and allowed by [Justice]. The future I showed might still happen, but if it did, it would happen with the full knowledge of all the Gods.