(The Land Of Fate, Leo's POV)

Listening to Lady Destiny's words, Leo could not help but ponder about the deeper implications behind the suggestions she was making, however, no matter how hard he thought, he could not clearly see how any of it would truly affect his life.

'I understand that Karma and Destiny are intertwined, and that to bear a great destiny means that an equal price must be paid as Karma….

However, which precise choice is she trying to influence?'

He wondered, as Lady Destiny, having read his thoughts, continued without softening her words.

"When your ancestor walked this path, he did not do so ignorantly, as the Timeless Assassin understood exactly what it meant to challenge history, to push against Karma rather than flow with it, and yet he chose to proceed regardless, convinced that the cycle of suffering had to break at some point, no matter the cost."

There was no judgment in her words, only record.

"He built something unprecedented, an organization that refused divine authority, rejected historical inertia, and sought to force the universe into progression rather than repetition, and for a time, that attempt genuinely succeeded."

Her gaze remained fixed on Leo.

"Gods were destabilized, systems that had endured entire ages were broken, and power structures collapsed under pressure they were never designed to withstand."

She tilted her head slightly.

"But disruption is not the same as resolution."

The words landed cleanly.

"Because while the cycle was challenged, it was not truly broken, and so the debt did not vanish but instead compounded."

Lady Destiny's expression remained composed as she continued.

"For the next two thousand two hundred and fifty years, that accumulated Karma was paid constantly, not by him alone, but by those who followed him, by those who believed in his vision and chose to walk on the path that he carved."

Her eyes did not waver.

"Billions suffered, followers who placed their faith in his ideals, civilizations that aligned themselves with his cause, and descendants who inherited consequences they never chose and never understood."

She did not exaggerate, and she did not dramatize.

"This is what happens when history is pushed forward without being resolved, because Karma does not disappear when ignored, it redirects."

Leo felt something tighten in his chest.

"The Timeless Assassin failed to break the cycle completely," Destiny said plainly, "and because of that, the universe corrected the imbalance in the only way it knows how."

Her gaze sharpened.

"And in the end, he paid the final price himself."

Leo's attention locked onto her completely.

"He died betrayed by his own flesh and blood," she continued, "killed not by an enemy, but by those closest to him, and that moment became what history now remembers as the Great Betrayal."

Leo's eyes widened, as he understood the underlying meaning behind those words.

"And if you walk the same path as your ancestor," Lady Destiny said, her voice steady and unyielding, "there exists a very real possibility that you will die the same way."

The words struck deep.

"Betrayed, outnumbered, and condemned by the very bonds you believed would endure."

She warned, as for the first time since entering the Land of Fate, Leo truly felt the weight of the road in front of him.

Lady Destiny did not press him, nor did she attempt to steer him, instead offering him something far more dangerous than instruction.

A choice.

"So tell me, Leo Skyshard, what will you do?"

Her eyes searched his face.

"Will you attempt to fulfill the prophecy, fully aware of the cost it demands, or will you step aside, abandon the role, and allow history to select another protagonist to bear the weight instead?"

She asked, as the dream scape began to fade, the colors above him fracturing like glass under pressure, while the mirrored water beneath his feet splintered into a thousand reflections that no longer aligned, as though the Land of Fate itself had decided that the conversation had reached its natural end.

Lady Destiny's form was the first to break apart.

Her shifting silhouette blurred, stretched, and then dispersed into drifting motes of light that dissolved into the fractured sky, leaving Leo standing alone as the horizon folded inward on itself.

The rainbow above him shattered next.

Cracks raced across the sky like fault lines, light leaking through the fractures as the world lost cohesion, the reflection beneath his feet breaking into ripples that no longer obeyed direction or depth.

The ground vanished.

And then—

Leo was alone.

Suspended in nothing.

No colors.

No reflections.

No voice.

Only thought.

The last words she had spoken echoed inside his mind with uncomfortable clarity.

'Betrayed by your own flesh and blood.'

Leo clenched his jaw as the phrase replayed itself, each repetition digging deeper than the last.

'What does that even mean?'

The question surfaced instinctively, followed by another that made his chest tighten.

'Will one of my sons betray me… just like Kaelith betrayed the Timeless Assassin?'

The thought unsettled him far more than any battlefield ever had.

Caleb.

Mairon.

Their faces surfaced in his mind, young, unshaped by the world, untouched by ambition, fear, or ideology, and the idea of associating betrayal with them felt wrong on a fundamental level, like forcing poison into something still pure.

'They're children.'

The realization steadied him slightly.

'They're innocent.'

And yet, the unease lingered.

Because Destiny's warning had not been about inevitability.

It had been about belief.

Leo exhaled slowly as another realization settled in.

'If I start looking at them with suspicion instead of certainty…'

The thought trailed off before completing itself, because he already understood where it led.

Thinking that they were eventually going to betray him, planted the seed of distrust into his mind early, causing him to subconsciously distance himself from his children, until the love between them was eroded through caution.

In the end, the prophecy would be fulfilled not because it was unavoidable, but because it was believed in strongly enough to shape every choice around it.

'That's the trick.'

The realization came quietly, but it carried weight.

'That's how prophecy becomes destiny.'

Not through force or divine command.

But through fear shaping behavior, through anticipation altering trust, through people acting in ways that slowly construct the outcome they were trying to avoid.

'No…. I won't be playing your dirty game. You will not turn me against my own flesh and blood.'

He concluded with certainty, as he felt his mind returning to his own body.

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