The morning sun peeked through the clouds, bathing the Los Angeles skyline in faint, warm glow that marked the onset of dawn.
Yet, gentle taps and clicks of a keyboard filled the quiet ambience of Niall’s apartment, even as the first rays of sun spilled in through his half-closed blinds.
All the way from yesternight, down to this very moment, he had simply remained on his laptop, typing away with a flow state unlike any other... one that had subconsciously slipped him into triggering the Gift of True Aptitude again.
And now, as he reached the final stretch of the last Chapter, he leaned forwards even more.
"You must understand, Tristan,"
"Everything I’ve done, it’s to free this world from its script,"
"And as long as someone wields that token, we’ll be stuck in this godforsaken cycle forever."
The farm boy stared at the former token bearer, a light of realization in his eyes. Then, he whispered to himself in disbelief as he raised his gaze to the skies.
’He isn’t aware, is he?’
Then he suddenly turned to Rayleigh, his jade-green eyes piercing through the man with a clarity unlike any other.
"Then. Now. You and I. It’s a full circle moment. We’ve been on the same path towards one another from the very moment you handed me the token,"
Even as the blood pooled beneath him, Rayleigh’s confusion only deepened.
"The Token of Fate is a relic created to control the fate of Aelderon by the Elder Gods!"
"We’re both pawns in a game far beyond our understanding, Rayleigh!" Tristan’s empowered voice cut through his haze and the realization struck the former hero like a thunderclap.
"It’s why I have been the antithesis to all of your actions," he continued.
"By having me essentially thwarting all your engineered chaos, you’ve confirmed your theory,"
"That someone outside of the supposed ’worthy hands’ is required to end the cycle,"
"But if I were to end you now, wouldn’t that just start a new cycle all over again?!"
With every word the farm boy said, Rayleigh’s thoughts churned, a similar clarity returning to him.
’It all makes sense, all of it.’ he thought to himself. ’It’s the only way they can preserve their control over us,’
’So, when an unwanted variable came along, they had to get rid of it,’
’And the fastest way to do it, was by leading him back to me,’
With that realization in mind, Rayleigh lowered his head slightly in introspection;
’Afterall, I’ve become a man hell-bent on saving the world, even if it comes at the cost of claiming lives and destroying the world first,’
’But he has remained as he always was... a man who just wants to help the next person as best as he can,’
For a moment, the winds swept past both figures, carrying with it the frosty scent of the snow-covered mountain.
Then, a sudden bang snapped Rayleigh out of his introspection.
Whipping his gaze up, he watched as Tristan, jammed the token into one of the rugged edges of the rocks, a fiery blaze of conviction in his jade-green eyes!
"Tristan! Destroying the token will most certainly come with an expulsion of energy that may as well kill you!" Rayleigh cried.
"That’s a price I’m willing to pay to rid Aelderon of this godforsaken relic," Tristan responded and once again, jammed the token into the rock!
Watching the scene through his merlot-red eyes, the realization dawning on him that this was probably his last chance to atone for all of his sins, Rayleigh struggled to his feet.
Midway through jamming the token into the earth once more, Tristan felt a hand on his shoulder.
Yet, before he could turn to face Rayleigh, the former hero tossed him off the mountain with a gravity spell.
As the world slowed to a halt, Tristan seemingly falling to the depths of the sea below, he watched as Rayleigh gave him the warmest of smiles whilst mouthing;
Thank you, for saving me.
Then, as time snapped back into place, Rayleigh faced the token and raised a dagger to the skies.
Then, with a powerful spell than imbued the weapon with the searing heat of the sun, he struck down!
Realizing it was in danger of being well and truly destroyed, the token began to release a terrifying wave of energy to fight back.
Yet, resisting with all his might, along with a deafening roar of the spell at the top of his lungs, Rayleigh’s dagger pierced through, shattering the token in half.
A brief pause followed.
Then suddenly, a powerful shockwave erupted from the destroyed token as it vaporized into motes of dust, sending the former hero fatally colliding across the rugged earth.
The mountain shook to its core, and began to collapse... and with it, a falling Tristan watched it quake to ruination.
Then his body plunged into the sea below.
The moment Niall wrote that last word, a familiar otherworldly tingle washed over him.
Naturally, he pulled up his icons to confirm it.
Lo and behold, the silver frame of his fountain pen had begun bleeding into gold, only for it to stop halfway, much like his film slate icon.
Yet again, the young actor was made certain of how to improve his skills.
The [Token of Fate] was a book he’d written before, all things considered. It was also the reason why his writing skills were probably originally at a silver grade.
However, now that he had re-written the entire book with a completely different idea, it could be likened to him writing something new and fresh, hence why he’d suddenly jumped by half a grade.
With a genuine smile blooming on his features, Niall then took to writing the book’s final Chapter.
Ch. 25 - Beyond Fate
The seer in the woods is revealed to be one of Aelderon’s Elder Gods. She, amongst a few others were banished by the other Elder Gods to Aelderon for refusing to agree with their plans of keeping Aelderon in a cycle of suffering, just to prevent them from growing stronger and someday usurping them. Now, as she performs a ritual, she receives visions of the future; Tristan leading all of Aelderon and the other banished Elder Gods in a war against the other Elder Gods.
Upon rounding that up, Niall leaned back into his sofa, a soft sigh escaping his lips and a euphoric expression gracing his features.
Finally, after what would be three months since his regression, he had finally completed the novel.
Now, it was only a matter of publishing the book.
That in itself though, was an entirely new hurdle for the young actor.
*
A golf ball soared through the air, spinning rapidly as it descended onto the golf course in a wide arc.
Raising their rangefinders to an eye, Callow and his buddies watched as the ball hit the ground, tumbling and rolling... only to eventually sink into the golf hole a couple seconds later.
Whistling triumphantly, Callow grinned, his words goading his fellow golfers;
"And that chumps, is how you do it!"
"We’re not gonna hear the end of it for the next couple weeks, are we?" one of the men in the group whom was equally an agent, sighed in resignation.
"As if losing the bet wasn’t enough, now we’re going to have to deal with his gloating," another agent in the group clicked his tongue distastefully.
"Why, do we do this to ourselves..." another droned in frustration, dragging a palm down his face.
"Hey, hey, hey..." Callow vaguely gestured to the trio with an outstretched arm, a mock pacifying expression on his features.
"Don’t be such terrible sports. If you’re not happy with the results, blame yourselves for sucking ass, okay?"
"That’s pretty rich coming from the guy who angrily hurled his golf club into the lake last week ’cause he lost the bet," the last individual of the group of five grinned mockingly, his chin leaning on the back of his palms which was equally propped up by his golf club.
A few snickers followed that comment from Richard Gold, a casting director for two massively popular shows called on a rapidly rising streaming platform called BingeFlix.
Dismissing the allegations with a casual wave of his hands, Callow simply remarked with a shit-eating grin;
"Doesn’t matter now, does it? After all, you lost the most exciting bet we’ve ever had in a while."
"Now if you’ll excuse me," he briefly spared the trio a quick, condescending glance to which they all synchronously rolled their eyes.
"Richard and I over here, have some business to discuss." he gestured to the man who simply chuckled in amusement and then proceeded to walk with the smug agent.
"So," Callow began after they’d walked a fair few meters away from the trio.
"What’s this big opportunity I hear you have? A new role on [Holmes: Case Zero]? [Silverlake High]?" he inquired curiously.
"You mean roles?" the casting director corrected.
Callow’s brows arched up in a genuine mix of curiosity and surprise. Then he spoke;
"Well don’t keep me in the dark. Give me the deets, Richie."
"Two individual roles for each series, if I’m being specific." Richard obliged, gesturing with two raised fingers as he explained further.
"The first role’s from [Holmes: Case Zero]. He’s bound to be a recurring character in the series,"
"As for [Silverlake High], it’s a supporting role. Bound to show up for two, possibly three episodes." Richard paused, turning to face Callow with a casual smile.
"And since you won the bet, I guess I’ll be pitching two of your talents to their respective executive producers as you see fit."
Callow grinned upon hearing that and then proceeded to inquire;
"Any general details about these roles?"
"Hmmm..." Richard mused audibly and then spoke;
"We’re looking to cast a young Moriarty. I think that should give you all the info you need regarding the former,"
"The other’s a bit of a nice guy... a romantic runner-up, you could say," the casting director thoughtfully remarked, then added with a casual tilt of his head;
"Albeit he does serve as a plot device to drive the main character’s growth forward."
To that, Callow’s grin widened as he responded;
"Send me the scripts as soon as you can. I think I just might have the actors you’ll need for the roles."
Advance Chapters are available on Patreon!
https://patreon.com/Caer07