John was a simple man. He knew that comparing himself to others was a lost cause, let alone fictional ideals.
Some would say harboring grand ambitions was healthy and normal, but he begged to differ.
Sure, you may notice some change in the efficiency of your work if you always compare yourself to the highest standard—but what about its cost?
You would live a life of naive pursuit, doomed to mediocrity.
John was satisfied with the life he had, even if it was dull, since many had it far worse.
Sometimes, his subconscious would go against him. It would show him visions of grandiosity, of success, of making history.
What a terrible and mysterious thing…the human mind.
Alas, such thoughts distracted one from their work, and his boss wouldn't like that.
"John! Dazin' around again?" A scruff voice called from his back, followed by a firm grip at his shoulders.
A middle-aged man turned around, facing the looming figure with an empty yet somewhat sorrowful gaze.
"Sorry boss, it won't happen again…"
Satisfied, the giant of a man removed his grip and scratched his short beard rhythmically with a grin.
"Sure it won't."
Only after the beast had turned around and left did John allow himself a sigh of relief. 'What an unlikeable man… Leave me to do research at my own pace; isn't that what you hired me for?!'
Such thoughts would never be said out loud. This wasn't a world that permitted free speech, whether governments said so or not.
Besides, he was nearly finished with his latest project.
'I think two more days are enough… then I can leave!'
John considered himself a realist. He believed that while one shouldn't aim to be the best, it was also important to not simply idle by as your life ran out.
He opted for a middle ground of sorts. And this project was the culmination of years of middle-ground thinking.
Exhilarated through a rush of motivation, John typed faster as he concluded his thesis. Today, he set forth the theory; tomorrow, the evidence; and after, the results.
Hours trickled past, the building switching to artificial luminosity.
Placing his personal belongings in a small yet spacious backpack, John shut off the lab devices and left the facility.
Exiting to a short road, he crossed the street and joined a wide sidewalk. His apartment was a fifteen-minute walk from here, so he could let out his day's worth of thoughts.
'Let's see… At three o'clock tomorrow, the appointment at the YB Research Center should—hopefully—provide me with conclusive proof. After that, I can attach the evidence to the application form, and that should be enough to grant me acceptance.'
For the past years, John had been working on a private research project. He aimed at developing the first truly efficient design for a nuclear fusion reactor.
Such a large endeavor was nigh impossible for one man alone; thus, he opted for a singular improvement to current designs in the hopes of furthering this field.
Just yesterday, he had established the theory along with the practical design blueprint for his idea. Tomorrow, he would put it to the test in a supercomputer.
It wasn't concrete proof, but it was enough to get him acceptance to the new Nuclear Fusion Endeavor Program—or NFEP for short. His salary would be much higher there, he would be working on truly significant things, and he would be surrounded by men and women of similar minds.
'For three years I've been working in this hell…'
This project of his had stuck with him since before his current job; however, only now was he at the precipice of this relative masterpiece.
Soon, he would be free.
***
Across the inconceivable vastness of space, a ripple of fate and time spread. It passed through countless stellar bodies, planets, and even extremes of reality such as black holes.
None were affected in any way, the ripple passing through without pause. It seemed as though it had a will of its own, guided by forces beyond understanding.
Eventually, the ripple condensed to a thread of unknown properties—stretching forward and into a spiraling gathering of stars and mass, a milky galaxy.
It continued past the supermassive black hole at the center and to a seemingly random point in the galaxy's disk.
Most of what it passed was empty space, yet it reached its goal nonetheless.
A solar system of a single star and eight planets.
It passed the majority of the planets, zooming into the third one from the sun.
A home to life.
***
As John passed by familiar streets and stores, he neared his home. There, he could rest.
His parents had died when he was young, and he had little to no memory of them. He similarly had no siblings to count and no grandparents or aunts or uncles of any kind.
He was, for all he knew, the last living member of his family.
But he had his cat, Fred, resting comfortably in the apartment a few minutes ahead. There, his relief for the day awaited.
'Wait… No, it's fine. I got him food yesterday, so we should be good for the coming weeks.' John thought, inching closer to his home.
It was then that a change occurred. Something that would forever engrave itself in John's mind, for ages to come.
He waited for the green walking symbol to display, before he absentmindedly crossed the street.
He'd even looked right and left, though out of muscle memory.
Yet, all of a sudden, his vision flipped.
His eyes blurred, and his lungs turned heavy. He couldn't breathe; the world flipped again and again.
Then it hit him.
A pain unlike any he had ever felt, radiating from his right. Half of his body pulsed with otherworldly agony, the other half turning numb from shock.
Powerful winds whipped him from all directions, leaving a strong metallic taste in his mouth. He barely caught a glimpse of concrete below, unable to register just what it was.
He couldn't think. In an instant, his mind went from 'cat food' to an abyss of shock and pain.
With a wet slap, his body slammed against the ground.
A trail of red traced behind him as he rolled a short distance, eventually pooling around him in a nauseating puddle. Bones stuck out of his ruptured skin; guts and gore leaked out in the prickling air.
In these final moments, John was unable to formulate any thoughts. Still, a single emotion burned in his dying heart.
Regret.
***
A line of unseen light circled the globe many times over, searching for a suitable target. Despite crossing such vast distances, less than a second elapsed since its arrival on Earth.
Finally, a body lost its soul, and the next phase could be initiated.
The string attached itself to a lingering soul, ripping it from its now unrecognizable body. It pumped the wisp through its unknown dimensions, sacrificing itself as a cost to initiate such a process.
With every meter traversed across this line of impossibility, a meter was lost from its head.
It shrank and shrank, retreating from the Earth and from the galaxy it resided in. It crossed the empty vastness of space to a distant edge of the universe.
Finally, it shrunk to the faintest remnants of its inconceivable structure—back at its point of origin.
An archipelago world, larger than any planet back in the solar system of the stolen wisp, containing countless lifeforms and mysteries beyond mortal comprehension.
The thread returned to a small emblem in a devastated land, to the epicenter of an ashen crater.
A single object survived such devastation, a ring belonging to an emperor turned legend. The wisp reacted with the ring, resulting in a transcendent glow as the object disintegrated.
The misty soul was flung across the vast planet, to a faraway island rivaling continents on Earth, to a small kingdom near the countryside, in a moderate village, within a simple household, and finally into the womb of a human mother.
Thus, the first decree of the Book of Fate was reached.
And thus, the words would flow—undisturbed by all physical laws and any conscious efforts.
The womb conceived a tiny embryo, a child of an otherworldly soul carrying a universal fate.