Chapter One: The Fates

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Unknown Cavern

Unknown Location

April 5th, 1997

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A hooded figure made her way through dark caves in a hurry, glancing over her shoulder as if to check for pursuit. The figure carried a newborn swaddled in white and supported by a piece of pink fabric tied around her shoulder. The figure wrapped slender, feminine arms around the baby, like she wanted to protect the newborn from the world, as if simply breathing in the air was fatal.

Bright green light flickered off the walls up ahead, but the figure didn't slow. She started to walk faster, desperate to reach her destination. Her hood slipped off, revealing a gorgeous woman. Her skin was porcelain and flawless, and had its own luminance. She seemed to radiate her own light. She had two bright blue eyes, surrounded with lush lashes and framed with perfect eyebrows. Her lips were full and pale pink. Her golden blonde hair shined. She was gorgeous, but in the harsh lighting, her flaws were obvious. Her exhaustion was evident through deep rings and wrinkles under her eyes. She walked as if every step pained her. Her hair was oily and knotted, and pulled back in a messy ponytail. It looked as if it hadn't been washed in a couple of days. A bejeweled circlet sat in her hair, but it was askew. Still, she was more gorgeous than any woman in existance.

Generally, this figure would have cared more about her appearance, but she was too concerned for her child.

The woman emerged in the clearing, her arms tightening around her daughter. Around the cavern, strings of every color hung, tangled and intertwined with each other, framing a trio of women. The first was a small toddler, the second, a middle-aged woman, and the last, an elderly woman. The young girl would spin fabric into thread before handing it off to her sister, the middle-aged woman, who would weave the thread, before passing it off to the last sister, who wielded a pair of golden scissors. Every time she cut a string, the snip seemed to resound all throughout the cave. The figure could almost feel in her, similar to the feeling of moving quickly and leaving your stomach behind. The elder cut a purple thread, causing the woman's baby to wake up and cry.

All three women towards the figure, who was trying to soothe her daughter.

"Hello, cousin," the middle-aged woman spoke. "It has been a long time."

"Lachesis, Clotho, Atropos" the beautiful woman spoke in a voice that was like bells, but exhaustion and sadness were evident. She stepped closer to the three females, shifting her baby from her hip so that it was slightly behind her. "It has indeed been a long time. Not long enough."

"Have you come all this way to insult us?" the little girl mocked, her voice childish. She had a slight lisp.

The woman regarded her coldly. "You know why I am here, Clotho."

"Yes," Lachesis spoke up again. "You are here for her." All four pairs of eyes fixed on the baby, making her squirm uncomfortably. Her mother stroked the white fluff on her head and stared at the three.

Lachesis pulled a light pink and silver thread from the walls and twirled it between her fingers best she could. It was only an inch or so long. "Your daughter. Ananke."

The woman trembled. "Her destiny. Can she avoid it? Is there any way to spare her from that suffering?"

The last woman, the elderly woman, cackled. "Life is suffering, goddess! If you want to spare your daughter, kill her now."

"Silence, Atropos!" Lachesis snapped as she returned Ananke's life thread to its original position. She turned back to the woman, becoming calm again. "Goddess, there is nothing you can do for your daughter. Her fate is set."

The mother made a sound of protest. "You control fate, though! Can't you change it? Please? I am begging you, please help my daughter."

All three women shook their heads adamantly. "We cannot," Lachesis said firmly, but sympathetically. "Your daughter has a role to play, and, without her, there will be a hole in the fabric of the universe. Small, at first, but it will slowly spread until the entire universe is destroyed."

"You see now why we are so important," Clotho chirped childishly.

The mother drew herself to her full height, trembling with anger, fear and sadness. "I don't care," she snapped. Clotho flinched and Lachesis looked regretful, but Atropos didn't seem to care. "A mother will move heaven and earth to save her child, and I will do no less for mine."

"Then you are a fool," Atropos said bluntly. "You would destroy the world for one? Is not the loss of one is worth the saving of many?"

The woman seemed to swell with indignation. "Do not forget what you have done here, cousins. I will not forget what you have condemned my daughter to suffer." The woman glowed with a bright light. "I swear it on the Styx: I will do anything in my power to spare my daughter of her suffering, destined or not."

The woman vanished in a shower of golden sparks, returning the cavern to its previous darkened state. The three women glanced at each other, communicating through their glances. After many millenia together, they knew how to read each other well.

"Ananke must fulfill her destiny," Lachesis insisted quietly. "No matter what."

"We will make it so," Atropos added darkly.

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