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[bakedapple]

Hey, everyone. It's... been quiet. I know it's sort of a complicated question, but... how is everyone?

[ As usual, Link's presence in Communion is humble and mild. Where he would normally be accompanied by the smell of morning dew on grass or the sensation of cold wind pricking one's cheeks, today is different — it's warm, like you're sitting next to an indoor fireplace, and there's a strong scent of expresso mixed with a hint of dusty paper. ]

Something has been on my mind lately. If you don't want to talk, you can tune this out now. It's fine.

[ Link usually does not manifest a physical, visual image in Communion, but there's a slight, soft imprint of the ridges of his fingerprint scraping against the edge of a sheet of paper. ]

Have you heard of "fate" before? Um, I guess most of you probably have, but it was sort of new to me. Not something I ever really thought about until I came to Kenos.

It's this idea of... everything that has happened, was always going to happen. And everything that will happen in the future has already been decided on, and can't be changed.

Do you think it's real? And what about... "destiny"? Is it different from fate, or the same thing?

Comments

[bakedapple]

...

[ Link regards the settling of Yuber's mind, like he's curling up for a good story, and considers whether he wants to tell it. But the story itself — it's no secret at this point. Not only has he told so many others already, but one of those explanations was broadcasted to the public during the Harbinger Oracle. Most people know at this point, and those who don't can find that information very easily.

So, there's no reason not to answer. ]

I'm a hero, chosen by the Goddess Hylia. Stories say that someone like me appears any time our kingdom is threatened. The details were always sort of fuzzy... the legends have been passed down through many eons of warfare and hardship, but... the basics were pretty straightforward. Someone who appears, and fights, and saves everyone.

I don't remember when this happened, but when I was a kid, I wandered into some dangerous woods that people generally don't come back from. But I did come back, and I was carrying a legendary sword. Apparently, that's how everyone knew I was going to be that hero. Nobody else can wield that sword.

[eightfoldfiend]

[Yuber listens intently, aspects of Link's story striking him as familiar.]

Do you resent your fate?

[bakedapple]

If that was where the story starts and ends... I don't think I would.

[ Now it's Link's turn to settle in, relaxing as he looks inward, as if hugging his knees to his chest. ]

I've found out since coming to Kenos that all those other heroes in the past, from those stories, are also me. Or, there's some part of them that I inherit? I'm not really sure how it works. Something like being reincarnated, but not strictly that, either.

And all those evil beings and forces that I've been fighting over and over are destined to keep coming back, too. So... I was never really destined to win. Just to keep fighting them. They come back, I come back, over and over, forever. That's what I resent.

[eightfoldfiend]

Hm.

[The sense of a flickering flame, a cat twitching its tail.]

I have my own relationship with the tyrannies of fate, Stars of Destiny, and the will of the Balance.

You know what I think?

I think these shackles of fate can be broken.

[bakedapple]

...

[ The proposition makes Link hesitate. Yuber is far from the first person to make that kind of bold assertion to him. Usually, it's a Meri trying to tell him why he's wrong — so maybe it's that difference that keeps Link from turning away from this topic. ]

What do you mean?

[eightfoldfiend]

There are a thousand threads of fate weaving through every world and only the gods remember where those threads lead.

[It sounds like metaphor but as far as he's concerned, he is speaking literally.]

But it is the gods themselves and the will of the Balance who direct the threads.

It can all be unwoven with the death of a single god. It might be a great sacrifice, who knows how much damage that would do? But then mortals would be free.

[bakedapple]

So... killing a god would get rid of fate?

[ Of course, Link knows he's probably talking about the way it worked in his own world. That's the frame of reference Link has been pulling from during all these conversations as well. But nevertheless... ]

How do you know?

[eightfoldfiend]

It's what makes sense, isn't it?

[Yuber's presence curls like a serpent giving a gentle caress.]

If the Balance is being unreasonable then you have to break the scale.

[bakedapple]

[ Link is quiet for a moment following Yuber's answer... and then, he sighs softly. This isn't the first time someone's told him this, but it's the first time a Zenith has. ]

Okay. And how would you do that, then?

Where's the god? How do you find them? How do you kill them?

[ He's trying not to sound dismissive, but it's one thing to come up with this idea. It's another thing to actually do it. ]

[eightfoldfiend]

Where I am from the power of one god can destroy another and they have a habit of making themselves known.

[A slight, meaningful pause.]

But it doesn't matter, does it?

Oblivion has done our work for us in this case. Our worlds and gods are dead so we can decide our own fate. As long as Zenith wins, that is.

[bakedapple]

I see.

[ Well, in that case, it makes sense. If you live in a world where killing a god is not some kind of theoretical, metaphysical proposition, but something that has already been done before, then of course you'd feel confident that such a thing were possible. For Link, it's not so simple.

And, Yuber is right, anyway. ]

So, you feel that there is no fate at play in Kenos. [ as he speaks, the tension in his voice disappears, and there's a sense that he's softly nodding in agreement. ] It makes sense. If the forces that impose fate in our worlds are as dead as the worlds are, then fate must not exist here.