Nancy just stared at him her ice-blue eyes locked on his pale, calm face. There was a flicker of confusion behind her steady expression. His words about Razeal about him defying fate and making things worse for himself echoed in her head.

What did that even mean?

Razeal defying fate? She didn't understand. Razeal didn't seem like someone who cared enough to defy anything. He did whatever he wanted, yes but not because of some grand rebellion against destiny. Still, Riven's tone carried a certainty that unsettled her.

Nancy shook her head slightly, brushing off the thought. She didn't want to drown in another maze of someone else's riddles. She already had too many questions clawing inside her mind, too many confusions she couldn't afford to lose herself to.

And yet, the more he spoke, the heavier the air around him seemed to become.

"I see," she said finally, her voice steady. "Let's say even if there is no justice in nature, as you claim… even if it's all balance and cosmic order…"

Her expression hardened. "Then what does that have to do with me?"

Riven raised an eyebrow slightly, still smiling faintly.

"What job is it of mine to fulfill any 'responsibility'? I don't want any duty." Her tone sharpened now, carrying the steel of her frustration. "And why should anyone or anything.. decide something for me? Whatever fate or destiny you're talking about… shouldn't I be the one to choose my future?"

Her voice grew firmer, her shoulders squaring as she spoke. "If not, then what's the difference between that and being completely controlled by something else?"

She took a small step forward, her cold aura brushing against the grass around them, making the tips of the blades glisten with frost.

"Defying and fighting to decide my own end.. my own journey I have that right," she said, each word precise. "So I'll choose to reject this. Whatever you call it fate, destiny, divine purpose ..I don't care. I reject it."

Her words lingered in the air like shards of ice.

Honestly, she wasn't even sure why she was arguing with him. Why she was still here, debating the very concept of destiny with someone she didn't even know. Who was he, really? Why did he speak as though he had authority over the very flow of life itself?

The feeling was strange standing before him made her feel like her thoughts weren't entirely her own, like the deeper she looked into his white eyes, the more transparent her mind became.

It felt like standing before something that wasn't entirely human.

And she hated that feeling.

So she resisted it, forcing her gaze to harden again.

Riven tilted his head, his soft smile never leaving his face. "So you want freedom," he said gently, "without responsibility?"

His tone wasn't mocking, but the subtle amusement behind it made Nancy's teeth clench. He had ignored everything else she said her anger, her arguments, her rejection.. and focused only on that single thread.

"What responsibility?" she snapped. "What are you even talking about?"

Her frustration bled into her voice now, the control she prided herself on starting to fray. "How is this my responsibility? And responsibility to die and suffer? What kind of lunacy is that supposed to be?"

Riven smiled again, soft as ever, his calm tone at complete contrast with her anger.

"You have a duty," he said. "And it will be rewarded."

Nancy's eyes narrowed, her expression unreadable.

"You shouldn't be afraid of it," Riven continued, his voice serene, almost soothing. "Rather, you should be proud that you've been chosen for such a divine role. It is an honor ..not a curse ot bad luck."

He clasped his hands loosely before him, his posture relaxed as if explaining a truth too obvious to argue against. "You have no idea how much you've gained from fate and destiny," he said quietly. "How kind they've been to you kinder than they are to most."

His tone deepened slightly, an almost philosophical calm settling over his words. "Fate is cruel to far more people than you can imagine. It has been merciful to you, Nancy Dragonwevr.. and it still will be, even after your death."

He paused, his gaze steady and unnervingly compassionate. "Your soul will find pleasure in the eternal paradox of warmth, happiness, and peace."

Nancy stared at him ..and for a moment, she was speechless. Not because she was convinced, but because she couldn't even process the absurdity of what she was hearing.

Riven continued, his expression unchanging. "Think about it. Your childhood was spent in a noble, powerful family. You had every comfort, every privilege. Happiness, safety, access to power, to knowledge.. to opportunity."

His voice was calm but firm, like someone delivering a divine lecture. "You've lived a life most people will never touch, no matter how hard they work. Did you ever thank your fate for that?"

"No," Riven said softly, answering his own question. "But now, when fate asks something back in return, you defy it."

He shook his head slowly, the same infuriating smile on his lips.. not mocking, but pitying. "Such is the hypocrisy of the human heart."

Nancy's brows furrowed deeply.

"Many people had it good," she said sharply, her voice rising again. "Some even better than me."

She took a step closer, glaring directly into his white eyes. "My family has been powerful for generations nobles, dukes, dragon-blooded heirs. All of them lived grand, fulfilled lives, and none of them were ever cursed with some stupid cosmic responsibility."

She breathed out sharply through her nose. "Even my mother.. I've never seen fate demand anything from her. She's strong, respected, alive. So what? Why me? Why is it that fate only takes from some and leaves others untouched?"

Riven watched her quietly, his expression still soft.. but there was a shift in his eyes, a faint, distant light flickering behind them.

"Not everyone," he said at last, "is worthy enough to bear the honor of such responsibility."

"Only a few," Riven said, his voice lower now, steady as an echo in a vast hall, "are born vast enough to hold the balance of many within themselves. To suffer, not for punishment, but for continuity."

His tone carried weight, each word like a quiet verdict.

"When the cosmic order finds someone strong enough to bear its burden," he said slowly, "it doesn't celebrate them. It doesn't reward them. It trusts them... with the pain that others could never carry."

He looked at her then, his white eyes almost glowing faintly.

"It places the world's weight on their heart," he said, "because it knows that heart will not break."

The garden fell silent again.

"It will hold it," Riven said softly, his white eyes glimmering faintly, "transform it… and one day, through its cracks, light will pass."

He took a slow breath, his tone almost reverent. "You were never chosen to suffer. You were chosen because, through those little cracks of light within you, the cosmos itself will find a way to shine."

He smiled.. that same calm, gentle smile and nodded toward her as though giving her recognition, as if bestowing an honor.

"You will help the cosmos restore its balance," he said. "You are part of that equilibrium. Through your pain, light will return to all things."

Nancy stared at him in disbelief, her lips parting slightly. Did he just call this an honor?

Riven's words sounded more absurd with every breath he took. Her blood boiled, but before she could respond, he chuckled softly to himself.

"And your mother…" he said suddenly, almost playfully. "Fate never demanded anything from her? How do you know that?"

Nancy frowned sharply, confusion flickering across her face. "What?" she asked coldly.

"Nothing," Riven said lightly, waving a hand as though brushing away the thought. His smile didn't falter.

He tilted his head, his gaze softening with something that looked almost… fond. "You are very lucky," he said. "Believe me."

That word.. lucky made something twist inside her chest.

Lucky.

The more he spoke, the more absurd it all sounded no, the more disgusting it became. To her, he wasn't describing divine truth; he was dressing suffering as a gift. Wrapping her pain in poetic words and calling it purpose.

Her expression darkened.

"What the fuck is lucky in this?" she said through clenched teeth.

She didn't even realize at first that the words had escaped her mouth raw, trembling, unfiltered. Normally she was measured, restrained, never this impulsive in speech. But right now, it was like something inside her was being peeled open, stripped of control.

Without realizing it, she was reasoning with him not fighting to win, but trying to be understood.

Her usual temper, her instinct to snap, to walk away, or to attack… was strangely quiet. Her anger didn't flare outward.. it turned inward, twisting.

She didn't know it, but it was the effect of Riven's divine truth domain.. his subtle reality. The space around him that reflected the heart's voice, that softened rebellion and made mortals speak what they truly felt.

Nancy had come here to question him, to demand answers and if they were nonsense, she would've left. Maybe even attacked him for the insult of it.

But she couldn't. Not here. Not in this presence.. And scariest part? She didn't even realise it..

She couldn't stop herself from talking. Couldn't stop her mind from trying to convince him.

And deep down, buried beneath her fury, something whispered: If she can prove him wrong… he'll help her. He'll save her.

Riven's gentle expression didn't waver. His smile was faint, his tone calm.. almost patient, as if explaining something to a child.

"You are very lucky," he repeated quietly. "And there's no reason to raise your voice about it."

He clasped his hands behind his back, white hair glowing faintly under the sunlight as he continued, "Even if I don't explain why you're lucky, every being born into existence should feel the same. Grateful."

His tone deepened slightly, like a teacher beginning a lesson. "You speak as if dying is a curse. But death is not a curse."

He shook his head slowly. "You mortals fear death only because you misunderstand it. You treat it like an end ..when it's simply the final act of balance."

Nancy just stared at him.

Riven stepped closer, his voice soft but firm, each word heavy with a truth she didn't want to hear.

"Do you know," he asked, "the probability of a being ever being born?"

Nancy didn't respond. Her silence only invited his words further.

"You might not have thought about it," Riven continued. "From your mortal perspective, life is a simple chain ..two meet, a child is born. Routine. Natural."

He smiled faintly again, but there was something vast behind that smile an unshakable serenity that made him seem older than the world itself.

"But the truth," he said, "is that the probability of a single conscious being being born… is astronomical. Perhaps one in a billion trillion of trillion s. Or a trillion quadrillion. More than that, even. Beyond counting."

He gestured faintly with one hand, tracing an invisible circle in the air. "The number of lives that could have existed, but never did, is greater than the number of stars in the sky. Greater than every breath ever taken in the universe."

He looked back at her, smiling softly. "So tell me. What greater miracle could there be than simply being here?"

Nancy's lips pressed together, her body rigid.

"In simple words," Riven said with a faint laugh.. quiet, almost kind "you are one of the luckiest beings in the entire cosmos."

He held her gaze, his smile spreading slightly as he spoke the next words.

"You ..no, we are the lucky ones."

His tone softened again, turning warm. "Because we get the chance to die."

Nancy blinked. For a moment, she wasn't even sure she heard him right.

Riven continued before she could speak. "And one only get to die," he repeated, his eyes shining faintly, "For only being lived."

He took a slow step toward her, his expression filled with what almost looked like joy. "We were born. We could see, and hear, and feel. We could love, and rage, and grieve. We were given the gift of existing."

He paused then, his voice lowering into a near whisper, soft but trembling with conviction.

"There is nothing luckier than that."

Riven tilted his head, his expression serene. "Most who could have existed," he said quietly, "never even had the chance. Most souls that could have been.. never were."

A faint chuckle escaped his lips then, low and light almost wistful.

"They will never know the joy of dying, because they never knew the joy of living."

The garden went silent again.

Riven stood there, smiling softly, his words echoing like ripples in the still air.

Nancy stood silently for a long moment, her eyes fixed on Riven's face. She didn't understand why, but his soft chuckles that gentle, almost melodic laughter.. were slowly calming her.

Not soothing exactly, but numbing. The kind of calm that comes not from peace, but from exhaustion from feeling as if no amount of anger could reach the thing standing before her.

And yet… the words he spoke were undeniably heavy. Deep. True in some distant, philosophical way that made her chest tighten even as her mind rejected them.

Riven looked at her with the same serene expression, his voice low and steady as he spoke again.

"Shouldn't you be happy," he said softly, "that because of you, many will live happy lives? That countless people will be released from their suffering.. never to feel pain again?"

His white eyes shimmered faintly as he tilted his head. "Tell me.. if you could trade your pain for their peace, wouldn't that be beautiful?"

He smiled faintly, his tone warm as though speaking of something sacred. "I think many great-hearted souls would give their lives joyfully if they knew that by their sacrifice, thousands could live without sorrow. And in your case…" He paused, almost admiring her, "…your sacrifice would bring peace to trillions."

He looked at her with quiet reverence. "Is that not something to be proud of?"

Nancy blinked once, slowly, then shook her head. Her lips parted before she even realized she was speaking.

"Will they know?" she asked quietly. "Will they know that it was me who suffered for them?"

It wasn't an accusation, not even defiance. It was a genuine question ..one that slipped past her restraint without permission. She didn't even realize she'd spoken until the sound of her own voice reached her ears.

Riven smiled at that.. a small, tender smile, but one with an infinite sadness behind it.

"They will not know your name," he said gently. "But they will carry your soul in their strength. Your pain will become their courage."

He looked at her with soft, almost mournful eyes. "And that is immortality beyond memory."

For a moment, she couldn't move. She just stared at him at that calm, eternal smile and felt a strange hollow ache in her chest.

Riven mistook her silence for understanding.

He smiled a little more, as though relieved. Finally, he thought, perhaps she will accept it.

He didn't want to see her ruin herself any further. He already knew her fate was heavy, sorrowful, and unchanging. But he also knew that if she kept defying it, trying to bend what was not meant to bend, her pain would multiply beyond imagination.

Even for him a preserver, bound to neutrality it was difficult to look at her and not feel something human stir in him. Pity, perhaps.

He stayed silent, waiting for her answer.

And after a long, heavy pause, Nancy finally spoke.

"No."

Her voice was calm.. steady, certain.

"No, I wouldn't," she continued, meeting his gaze head-on. "I wouldn't let anyone or anything decide something like that for me."

Her eyes hardened, their blue glow intensifying. "Yes, I'm thankful to be alive. I'm thankful for whatever impossible probability let me exist."

She took a step closer, her voice sharper now. "But if my life was given to me only to be controlled, to be dictated by someone else ..then it isn't worth living."

Her words were like steel now, each one measured and deliberate. "If giving my life was my choice, if I chose to die to save others, I'd accept it gladly. I'd even feel proud."

She shook her head, her breath steady, unwavering. "But to have that choice made for me? To be told my suffering is for the 'greater good' without my consent?"

Her expression turned cold, her voice almost trembling from restrained fury. "That isn't life. That's slavery. A world without free will is not worth existing in."

Her gaze pierced through him like frost. "Even if rejecting this means I'll suffer more, I'll still fight it. I'll still fight fate, destiny whatever name you give it."

She straightened her shoulders. "I won't let anyone write the end of my story for me. Not even the cosmos."

For the first time, something faint.. almost imperceptible flickered across Riven's perfect calm. A shadow of surprise.

"I see," he said quietly.

He closed his eyes for a brief second, then opened them again. "So be it."

He didn't try to argue further. His smile returned.. thinner, quieter but his tone was no longer warm.

"No one can lie within the domain of divine truth," he said softly. "You spoke from your heart, which means your choice is made."

He nodded once, his expression unreadable now. "And I, as the Preserver, will not intervene. My duty is only to guide, not to force. Fate will lead you down the path it has written."

His voice dropped to a whisper, and for the first time, there was something like weariness in it. "And if you wish to fight that path… then fight. Every being eventually learns what their rebellion costs."

He turned slightly, the edges of his white cloak shifting like mist as he began to walk away.

"Just ignorance," he murmured under his breath. "The ignorance of mortals." He said in his head..

But Nancy didn't move. Her voice stopped him before he could take another step.

"Wait," she said.

Riven paused, half-turning his head back toward her.

"I have one more question."

"Oh?" His lips curved slightly again, his tone light. "I thought you had already decided."

His white eyes glinted faintly, as though he still saw a chance a thread left to pull. "What is it, then?" he asked, voice calm and patient. "Ask. I will guide you to the right path if I can."

Nancy met his gaze directly, the air between them taut with tension. For a moment, she said nothing. Her eyes studied him, searching and then she finally spoke.

"Did Razeal really try to rape Selena?"

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Thanks for reading, everyone!

Sorry for the late and fewer updates these past couple of days i've been super busy.

Also… I finally bought a MacBook! 🎉

But I probably won't be able to use it much right away since it's my first time using one. The keyboard's gonna take a week or two to get used to, but I'm giving it my all. I really want to improve myself, and I think this could be a big step for my writing.

My writing's fine, but some readers say I write less because I type only with my thumbs 😅 so let's see how much I can improve!

Thanks for your patience, and don't forget to send power stones and golden tickets, guys! 💖

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