Zelos then continued living out his days much the same way as before, dedicating nearly every free moment he had to researching new applications of magic and creating spells to add to his arsenal, for that steadily was the only productive path he could truly take in his current life.
Among the many branches of study that drew his attention, healing magic remained one of the most important, and so he pursued it with greater care than most of his other experiments. He was not satisfied with simply repairing the body in its present state, as most healing spells did.
Instead, he wanted to refine the concept entirely by mixing it with the principles of Time Magic. His goal was to imitate the infamous healing ability of Keyaru, who could restore an individual to their very peak condition. But Zelos had no interest in replicating the dangerous drawback that came with it—the erasure of memories, caused by forcefully reverting a target's body to a past self.
That kind of healing would make someone lose not just their injuries, but also all the experiences and progress they had since made, which to Zelos was a flawed and incomplete method. So he began carefully combining the most basic incantations from the two different branches—traditional healing magic and the manipulation of time—layering them together, refining the pattern of mana flow again and again until he achieved a stable balance.
What eventually emerged was a hybrid spell, a kind of "reversal healing," which allowed him to heal someone by restoring them to their most optimal physicality, their peak self, without triggering the dangerous memory reset of a full-time reversal. Satisfied with his theory, he decided to put the spell into practice, and his first attempt was naturally directed at his own mother, Faye.
Yet when Zelos invoked the spell upon her, something unexpected happened. A strange, unseen force interjected into the process, immediately dispelling his magic as though swatting aside an insect. He frowned, confused, for it was clearly not a defense born from Giant magic, nor anything he had encountered before.
'What is this…? Some sort of higher authority interfering? Could it even be something above the three Sisters of Fate themselves?' Zelos thought silently, his mind racing as he glanced upward out of instinct, though of course there was nothing to be seen in the sky above him.
Unwilling to let it go so easily, Zelos attempted the reversal healing once more, this time focusing his senses fully on the strange interference rather than the healing itself. As he did so, he felt the foreign energy push back against his magic again, but this time he reacted quickly, weaving a secondary spell to capture and contain a small fragment of the mysterious force. To his surprise, it offered no resistance once isolated, almost as if it wanted to be studied.
'What is going on here?' Zelos muttered inwardly, baffled by what he had just collected. The sensation of it within his containment spell was unlike any kind of energy he had catalogued before.
Before he could think further, a familiar voice broke his concentration.
"What is the matter, Zelos? Is something troubling you?" Faye asked gently, having noticed her son's furrowed brow and the uncharacteristic hint of unease in his eyes.
Turning toward her, Zelos did not dance around the subject. "Mother, do you believe there is a higher power—something that oversees and controls the fate of every living being in this realm?" he asked directly.
Faye blinked in mild surprise, taken aback by the weight of his question, before a small smile tugged at her lips. "There is not," she said after a moment. "Every foreseeable future is born only from choices and actions. Those who claim to see the future can only perceive the likely paths that people may take, and from there they deduce the possible consequences. But there is no single thread of fate predetermined for all individuals. The lives we live are not dictated by some cosmic hand, only shaped by the consequences of our own decisions."
Her words were calm and reassuring, but Zelos could not help but harbor doubt. He already knew that Faye herself had foreseen the great journey that Kratos and Atreus were destined to take, all the way to the time of Ragnarok. If she could see that far ahead with such certainty, then the line between "choice" and "fate" was far blurrier than she was willing to admit aloud.
Still, he offered her a respectful nod. "Thank you for your insightful answer, Mother," he said politely, even though inwardly he remained unconvinced. With that, he excused himself and stepped outside the cabin, turning his focus back toward the strange energy sample he had captured. Whatever it was, he knew he had to study it further, for it might hold answers beyond even what Faye was willing to speak.
------------------
Zelos continued to study the strange energy he had collected for the following years, never letting it out of his sight, always running new experiments, and recording his observations in detail. Through countless trials, he eventually discovered that the energy carried a signature remarkably similar to the essence that flowed through the World Tree itself. This discovery gave him a clearer direction, and he dedicated himself to developing a specialized magic that would allow him to perceive the energy directly instead of merely sensing fragments of it.
When the spell was complete and activated, his surroundings shifted. For the first time, Zelos saw the World Tree and its countless invisible branches spread across existence, weaving through the realms and attaching themselves to nearly every living being. The branches stretched outward endlessly, forming a massive network of connections that shaped the flow of fate itself.
Yet one detail stood out. No branch was connected to him. He confirmed this by examining not only his own presence but also his eagle summons, and each time the result was the same—they carried no ties to the World Tree. What caught him off guard even more was the fact that Kratos, despite not being a god native to this realm, still possessed his own branch, firmly anchored like the rest.
'So this explains why the giants are able to see the future,' Zelos thought, carefully tracing the patterns of the branches. 'They must be reading these connections, following how each one shifts and interacts with others. By observing the flow of the branches, they can deduce the most likely outcomes and claim them as visions of fate.'
Wanting to test the extent of his new ability, Zelos decided to focus his sight on the branch tied to Faye. Immediately, a scene unfolded before him—her body being mourned by three figures: himself, Atreus, and Kratos. Afterward, her remains were carried and released in Jotunheim, returned to the land of her people. The vision was brief but heavy, confirming that her thread would inevitably end there.
He then turned his gaze toward the branches of Atreus and Kratos. What he saw was familiar, almost unsettlingly so. Their futures revealed fragments of events he recognized, moments that aligned with the story of the God of War he had known before. Battles, journeys, tragedies, and the great clash of Ragnarok all appeared as if they were already etched into their destinies, waiting to unfold.
Finally, Zelos released his focus and looked at himself once more. His earlier suspicion was correct—there was no branch. Nothing bound him to the World Tree.
'So it's true,' Zelos concluded silently, his thoughts calm but firm. 'I am fateless, unbound by the burdens of this world. My path is my own, beyond the threads of fate that control others.'
But before he could reflect further, his vision shifted again. Without warning, five glowing lights began to take form directly in front of him. They appeared gradually, pulsing with a strange rhythm, neither fully divine nor entirely magical, and their presence disturbed the balance of the space around him.