Control

Is that the reason the fates brought her here today? Was he supposed to show her, what others had shown him all those years ago? This time his mind wandered back to years before he was the keeper of fate, to the day that he wondered through the golden arch-way to this library. He had come in here with the same questions for a power that he himself had gained through a greedy means, he wanted to control that power that he had taken from a pool of knowledge that had turned him into the broken entity of magic he was. The woman had seemed to break pulling him from the own shattered parts of his mind, maybe it was time, time he had displayed to her what the lack of control could eventually do to her. Gabriel grasped the top collar of his cloak and pulled it apart allowing the simple piece of fabric to fall away from his body and slip to the ground where it disappeared into a pool of energy. Underneath the cloak however was not the body of a man nor anything at all.

Energy

Energy is what guides the whole universe every living being needs a form of energy to survive, and this is what Gabriel needed to survive. Before Rowena stood well just that energy in its purest form, Gabriel’s entire body flowed; or lack of a better term was energy each flow seeming to act as the functions of a body on a normal person. He allowed her to take in the sight before once again the cloak from before reformed upon his body. He stepped back to the shelves of book, gloved hands guiding along the spines searching until he found one specific book and tossed it on the table where the chess board had once been. The book a deep sapphire blue color donned with the same designs that he himself had been donned with. He eyed the book on the table before his lips parted and allow a light sigh to pass through the part.

“Rowena, control is something that can be taught can be gained through experience. Magic even that which was gifted to you to take the taint from its history does have a terrible cost. The scar is a form of power that signifies that you have the power and is used as the source of that power. Many of mages before you who lacked control and hid their powers were consumed by them, if they were lucky they had enough power to sustain them in a form like mine if not they simply faded and became nothing more than they were in the first place a part of the circle of life. You have something your husband lacked when he took the first wrong path. A chance.” Gabriel snapped his fingers and outside the storm that had raged on merely faded leaving the bright light of the moon piercing through the clouds of the night sky. “Allow me to help you change the world for the better.”

The lightning flashed through the sky outside casting the library and her within a beautiful yellow light, seconds ticked by until the flash subsided leaving them both standing there in silence. Seconds turned into minutes before her voice pierced the silence like a knife through butter calling him on his interest. He thought, his eyes slipping shut each word she had spoken swam in a massive pool in his mind. There were a many of things he could say or do to show her that her life was not over, that her life could lead into a brighter one for many generations to come. Seconds turned into minutes, and minutes into hours it seemed before his eyes slipped back open. His plan was perfect and could maybe wake up the girl to her own destiny, her own fate. Gabriel extended his hand forward towards the girl, a light smile dancing upon his lips.

“Rowena do you trust me enough to show you something that nobody else has ever seen, a journey that could bring ruin and devastation to everything that you may know? If so take my hand.”

When Rowena grasped Gabriel’s hand, the library around them seemed to shift in on itself simply fading from their view leaving them standing on a white space. Seconds ticked by, each second bringing the white closer and closer to the end of their journey. Almost all at once a light of blue pierced through the white and began expanding, the light bringing forth a land. The ground was covered with blades of grass that brushed against their knees, the feeling exciting a pain and a slight tickle to their very touch. The sky was a deep dark navy color with white lights just spread out enough through it to give them a brilliant display upon a canvas. Gabriel let go of her hand at this point and pointed in the distance towards a small city lit ablaze in flames, even from here they could make out the small gathering of townspeople and the knight that stood in front of them.

“What I can gather from the history of mortals this is called the holy crusades, this is the origin or at least the first known record of the power that rests in you making its first appearance. Watch the older woman kneeling closer to the knight and how they interact.”

The knight steps forward towards the older lady his horse behind him neighing loudly, his armor clanked and wheezed on each of his movements. He stops inches from the woman, his eyes shift down upon her as he raises the edge of his longsword and rests it against the back of her neck. “For your insolence and the neglect for your people to choose to fight on the side of God I sentence you to death all of you.” The knight rose the sword up into the sky and went to bring it back down upon the woman’s throat, as the blade inched closer to her the very air itself seemed to manifest into a mist of crimson red. It poured over the woman and the townspeople holding them within its dark embrace. The woman rose from her kneeled position and stepped towards the knight, her once brown eyes now a deep crimson red, the knight’s blue eyes recoiled in terror as the woman approached but before anything else happens the scene fades becoming the library around them once again.

“Why do I have an interest in you Rowena? The answer to that question is quite simple, the magic inside of you, that lays dormant inside of you rivals mine in power and could be used to change the entire world for the better. The woman that you saw in the memory is your late husband’s first generation and the last one to use the power to save others rather than just herself. She never harmed anyone with her power and instead brought peace and prosperity to a dying world. Every generation after her brought plague and famine to a living world, and I think that the power has found someone that could break the cycle of hate and anger with the power. For the next to be consumed by the power will force us to have to end the powers fate. That’s why I have an interest in you and have faith in your ability to bring good things with that gift that you have.”

“But dear that is the beauty of Fate, if it was just a concept would there really be people like me. I am what fate is in the flesh, I commend and reward people for what my superiors believe to be an act pushing the person out of their comfort zone. Fate rewards as it does punish, the world is fairer than people give it credit for. Take your example, the man from the prison that returned only to be slaughtered for the way he viewed the world. The other prisoners were given a gift from fate at that point and also a punishment, the gift was they were given a world to look forward filled with more than they were being offered. However, they chose to merely accept their punishment, the cave, or prison as they saw it was how they chose to live, how they chose to remain within the prison until their own lives faded was the punishment they themselves were set to endure.”

Gabriel turned his gaze towards her, and despite the fact many mortal’s eyes would have been drawn to the scar that had been pasted there his eyes instead were drawn to hers. He kept the gaze for only a second before turning back towards her husband’s book. He flipped through the pages before finally stopping on one, he raised his hand from the book pulling an image from it and expanding it around the room. The image was of a couple, the husband and a mistress before that of Rowena, the two seemed to display some form of love for one another and after a selection of pictures they come to a wedding scene. That scene fades into one Rowena would remember from her time, a room with the husband standing in the middle the walls painted with blood and his clenching his fists in anger. Soon the image faded and was drawn back into the book leaving them there silent again that was until the mage spoke once again.

“The man found a cure, he used his magic for good at one point in time. He found a cure for the Black Plague, was able to prevent far more from dying than had already died, but he fell in love with one of his patients. A woman whose skin shone brightly, but was plagued by the black of the plague, for weeks she came to treatments and they feel further and further in love and they married. Though once the plague had subsided a richer stronger man came a long and the ran to America together. Weeks passed as he searched for her hoping that the rumors he was hearing was a lie, it was when he tracked them down that he was given his two options in the wheel of fate. Was he to be good or bad? He chose wrong completely killing and dismembering both her and him using his magic out of anger. With each choice came consequences and the man was given such, instead of his dearly departed being murdered by him, I extended her life long enough to allow her to curse him.”

Gabriel once again turned towards the shelf and shifted through the books, he pulled three books from the shelf, one a dark red, another a dark blue and the last one white. He finally once again took a seat allowing the three books to shift and rotate around his body. He remained silent for almost a full five minutes before he shifted his gaze towards her and the whole atmosphere of the room turned dark and despair filled even if for a second.

“She cursed him to always fill nothing but jealousy, to know that at any second the woman that he chooses to spend forever with leave him for another. Due to that factor, the man was obsessed with finding a way to cure the curse, but every woman that desired him also fell for somebody close to the man. Eventually it led him to killing or excommunicating any of his servants because he was worried his current wife which was you at the time would leave him for one of them. You see so when you ran off with Maxwell you caused him to lose it for the last time he went crazy and decided it would be the last time. When he tracked you guys down he decided once again to stand against fate and cursed you to live by his side forever and killed what and who you loved the most. Maxwell and your beauty. So fate once again cursed him and blessed you with the power to kill him. Once he was dead that was not all fate had in store for him, the magic that was now inside of you was to be changed for the better but when we noticed you refused to use the magic did we finally decide it was time to meet you.”


“As for your other questions they matter not anymore Humans and the way they think are no longer an interest to me. My new interest now rests with you and the way you think for it has been a long time since I had such an interesting conversation.”

He was taken back by her answer, of course she could not speak about the entirety of mankind but she could speak of herself and that was enough. She spoke of what mortals think, how they would view the 'hideous' mark so almost perfectly carved into porcelain skin. He had viewed the woman since the beginning, he had watched every scene play out, he had known about the scar and the events that would lead up to this moment. It was in this moment that fate did not have the answer, following her words was even more silence, this time it was Gabriel's turn to think on the questions posed before him. A debate, an elegant debate that had been centuries in the making and he had found one person that would be able to dance with him. First though it was only fair that the two dancers allowed their partners to see their face, and it was in those graceful moments that the two partners would see more than anybody ever had of each other.

Gabriel reached up and gripped the edges of the cloaked hood that covered his faces, slowly he pulled the fabric back until his own face began to appear. Sapphire stripes seemed to be so menacingly drawn upon porcelain skin, black locks of hair seemed to fall from above combed to the almost perfection. A small smile danced upon pink lips drawing in even the most willful of women and men alike, but the most beautiful feature that lined his face was neither of those things it was the ocean that swam in thoughs deep hues of blue. Gabriel motioned towards her with his hand and spoke but only lightly. "You are the first to glimpse upon the face of the guardian of Fate in years, I so graciously ask that you also remove your hat so that I may look upon you as you have me."

Gabriel would wait, whether she removed her hat or not Gabriel continued on adamant on answering the question posed before him. "Potential, dear, is weighed by the ability to achieve a goal set for you. Humanity has had the option to outdo everything else that has been done throughout history, and yet you tell me they are more interested in beating each other until they run dry of their own lifeline." Gabriel turned at that point towards the bookshelf behind him, which at this point had seemed to change to something much different than what it was before, different books lined the shelves and it seemed like something pulled out of time itself. "Many humans have done a lot with the lives they have been given, from developing very useful inventions to releasing themselves from their own prison..it is just a matter of how you spend your time."

He rotated back on his feet to turn and face the woman Rowena, his fingers raised only lightly to point at her husbands book. "Tell me what was the one good thing he did with his life? Tell me the one thing the fates commended him for, and then the same reason he became jealous and manipulative."

Can Fate be changed?

A question used as an answer that was rather smart, so that led Gabriel to believe that the woman herself knew a little more than she let on, but either way the test had been passed and Gabriel was permitted to answer her question. He turned away from her for a second, his body carrying him to a shelf of books that lay behind him. Slender fingers traced along the spines of each of the books searching until finally he pulled from the shelf a rather slender book and tossed it on the table in front of her. The book of course looked the same as all the other books in the library except for one main difference. The title of the book was one only she would understand. The Life and Times of Maxwell. Her lover that now lay buried deep beneath the soil of the earth, he would give her a minute to look over the book before he would speak again.

"Yes the very wheel of fate can change, each outcome here is merely a what if scenario. Say for instance this meeting, there is always many ways an outcome can occur, you could of answered my question wrong and you would have been expelled from this library or you answer the question, I like your answer and then this conversation begins. Though if you are asking the question if your lovers fate could have been changed, yes, but there always comes a price for the change."

Gabriel took a minute to catch his breath his eyes shifting back to the shelf behind him searching for another book. Finally he pulled the book from the shelf and tossed it down above the other one. This book was different from all the other books, the color of the book was a deep crimson red color with no words on the cover. The book was empty on the inside but it seemed to be filled with life. "That book is for your husband, despite the fact his living body has faded he still lives on, fate is fickle in that aspect. If one aspect of the person still remains whether it be physical or not causes your fates to be entwined. So in short whenever you do something with that power you have it is written in yours and his book. Those are the only ways that fate can be changed."

"So now it is my turn to ask a question, Rowena. Why hide your face from the world around you? A scar carved upon skin, it is for nothing more than a stripe added to a tiger, your beauty does not come from the outside. That is one thing that make humans so intriguing, while the skin is beautiful you guys believe you are gods and goddesses among men, but as soon as porcelain fades you believe you have become mortal. To me though you humans possess another beautiful feature, the ability to unlock a full potential of your entire minds. You humans are the most intelligent beings in the universe, yet you guys hold yourselves back..why?"

The book had told the tale, even before the girl had stepped through the heavy oak doors, the meeting it had spoken would open the eyes of the older mage to the humanistic world that sat on the brink of destruction and to the girl her eyes would open to the vast world of magic that even spanned to the beginning of time. Gabriel played coy even as the woman began to fill her arms with book after book, his normal routine the same even years later. He would play chess with himself up until the visitor revealed themselves to him...it was a test to see who was worthy of the knowledge that filled the shelves. Time ticked seconds fading into minuted before she made her way around the corner, a flash of crimson following behind her like a shadow. Fingers grazed along the plastic pieces until she seemed to find the one she seeked, mist leaked forth covering the piece in its form until the move was complete and then the board returned to normal. The last part of the test was always the easiest, for him at least it was, to her it could be the hardest.

"You have stepped into the Library of Fate, where all the knowledge of the past, the present, and even the future hides. I am the guardian of fate or at least of this library, and before this game or even our meeting can commence you have to answer me one question. What do you seek here? What knowledge do you hope to gain?"

He looked down at her as he spoke but just as with her, everything from beneath the hood of the cloak was hidden except for the deep sapphire eyes. His eyes swam like an ocean, the deep sea of blue filled with an immense amount of magical power and she would be able to feel it if he was right about her. His hands raised to cross over his chest folded together patiently waiting the answer he hoped to hear, the answer he needed to hear. He hoped she was here for what he believed she was, but if he was wrong that meant that he would be forced to expel her from the library and move on to find another he believed to be worthy of the honor.

Sapphire fingers danced across the top of the very pieces of the chess board, lacing the tips of his gloves over the pale white pieces, many strategies of a simple game danced through the shattered confinements of his mind. He gripped the pawn that stood in front of the king his index finger and thumb slipping the rounded head between his fingers lifting the small piece from the board and turning the piece in his grasp watching, eyeing the very small piece before setting it back down upon the board two spaces ahead of the place it started. All was quiet around the entirety of the room, the silence seeming to reach out and grip the cloaked man in its icy embrace causing him to spit a small breath from beneath the hood of the cloak, pushing the chair back forcing the only sound into the small room to echo about before being gripped once again by silence. He stepped around the room his fingertips trailing along the selection of spines of the books seeming to search for a specific book seeming to pull it from the shelf the instance he found it and returning to the seat he had once rested it moments ago.

He flipped through the pages of the book running his fingertips along the edges of the pages, each word of the book seemed to make their way up his fingers disappearing beneath the cloak that lined his body. The pages of the book laid empty after that, seeming to allow seconds to pass before the words seemed to appear back upon the empty pages, it shot up and back onto the bookshelf lining itself back upon the place it was removed from. Thoughts danced upon his shattered mind one by one seeming to figure what would be the next move he would play, he shifted seats moving to the other side of the board running his fingers over the queen side knight and lifted it from the space moving it to the front of the pawn on the queen side bishop, his lips curled up into a light smile the sapphire tint to his eyes gleamed brightly seeming like in his eyes he did the greatest move known to history, with that he circled around to the other side of the table taking a seat at the table and seemed to eye the board again truly thinking again.