Music of Life is Composed of the Sounds of Fate (Open Ended)

Embers of Soteria
1

It was rare for the three Fates to be together for any period of time without arguing. This time, however, they were far from that. They were sitting in a circle, each one sitting in a different way showing their divergent personalities. They were speaking quietly in the clearing of the woods, nature seemed to accept them, unlike a person sitting in the leaves and on the fallen logs, it felt as if the woods wanted them there.

“We should not act,” one says in a voice, “They must struggle on their own.” The voice was strange, melodic but with a perfect kind of disharmony, at once strange but wonderful. A mortal might describe it as perfect disharmony.

“We take our chance, to bring them together. It is a chance for them to grow together.” This voice was harmonic, sweet, and each word flowed like a song from one syllable to another.

“But we would deprive them of the truth of life.” the first voice says to the second.

They continued to argue in this way for some time, their melodic voices so different but at the same time somehow together in an otherworldly way. Finally, the third voice speaks up, “We do neither.” it says softly, somehow when it speaks it has the qualities of the other two in balanced measures. “As usually, we cannot agree on how to act, and thus we do not. The only way in which we may act and agree is by the chance of being asked. Someone finding us to ask, otherwise it is our business to pluck the strings of those we oversee, weave the pattern of life.”

There is silence then for some time. Each one does believe that the situation is deteriorating, but they can never agree on what to do about such things. It is not in their nature.

Ok, someone please jump in, come across the Fates in the woods.

2

And Med/Cub being Med/Chub, I love me a good roleplay

Let’s just say this takes place some time after Sunn’s escape from his prison, since this particular narrator won’t have to redescribe his hairstyle to everyone that way.

Sunn was in the radiant spring, bathing and washing his clothing. This is simply where he normally bathes, as it’s an open area and usually peaceful there, so his temper isn’t bothered here. He obviously took off his clothed then rested them on a tree branch nearby. He bathes and rests for a bit in the spring before be decides to get out and rest himself on a rock, layin down until he was dry. When he was done with that he washed his clothing/armor, washing it all at once in the spring, saving time. He then let it all dry off as he layed down again.

Finally after about an hour of washing everything, he took his armor, put it all on and finished off by wrapping his head cloth around his… well head and ended up looking like he usually does, hairstyle and all. He then heads off into the woods, hoping to look for a nearby town and find some bounties to hunt. When along his way, and about 50 feet away from him, he faintly heard people chatting. He went in the direction of the talking, then when he was about 20 feet away, it went silent. He approached more cautiously, going up into a tree and silently moving around to where he heard the noises originate from…

He slowly moves the branches out of the way of the tree above the three figures to get a closer look at them

3

The water of the spring was special, it had a quality of power that lingered on the body, the clothes, it was hard to feel at first but after a few days it would be more evident. The three Fates sat in their various ways. The one who hardly spoke was sitting quietly, cross-legged on the forrest floor while the one whose voice was a perfect melodic harmony sat, back against a tree, legs stretched straight out, one knee bent up just a bit. Finally, the one with the strangely lovely but discordant voice sat with its knees both up, back against a rock. When Sunn approached, they all three looked in his direction, they all nodded, and the one who hardly spoke said softly, as if for the other two, “The universe provides.” simply. “You can come out of hiding, we can see the threads of your life beyond this moment even. Come, and speak with us.”

4

Sunn very slightly recoiled in the tree at the three looking at him, but still did it so he made no noise in the tree “What the hell? They all knew I was in the tree, even though I was as quiet as I could get. What kind of people are these?” He thought to himself as he thought about his actions for a small bit. Soon though, after a second or two, he decided to come out of the tree, and so he did.

He flipped out of the tree and landed dead center in the triangle that was the three Fates, or as Sunn saw them, strangers. He looked at the first one, then turned his head to the second one, then to the third one, eyeing them all shortly before speaking up

“You want to speak to me? What for?” *He asked in a voice that was a full mix of seriousness, caution, and concern. He crossed his arms and very slightly shifted his weight to the his left. To a normal person it would just look like him shifting his weight into his left leg. Though in reality, Sunn had lifted his foot ever so slightly off the ground, ready to use his magic and create a dome around him if things get ugly. He doesn’t know these strangers, so he’s taking the necessary precautions in case things get ugly

5

Ok, I posted images of the 3 Fates in this topic from #media-content.

The one which looks like it could be a boy or girl, who is cross legged on the ground, stands up slowly. “I am Timbre.” it says, “And you are Sunn” it smiles at the man. The other two then stand, “I am Discord,” the one who looks like it’s probably a boy, then the other says, “I am Harmony,” the one who looks like they are probably a girl says. “We are glad you are here.” they say in unison, since they are truly in agreement their voice rings in complete, like a song in words clear to make the wind listen to you. “It appears that chance has chosen you to act. Since we cannot agree.”

6

Sunn stood still, since even though his foot wasn’t that much off the ground, it was still off the ground. And because it was off the ground, he couldn’t exactly turn to hear any of them speak. Well, besides Discord, since that was who he was facing when he lifted his foot off the ground. When Timbre said her name Sunn began to slowly turn to… it… But when Timbre said they knew Sunn’s name, his arms unfolded in a panic, and he violently and suddenly finished turning his head to it. He puts his foot on the ground but doesn’t summon up any glass, but just so he can fully turn his body to the Fate.

“I KNOW my face is hidden enough, so why the hell does he know my name!?” Sunn thought to himself, deciding to himself that the little child of a Fate is a boy. Once Discord introduced itself he turned to the Fate, and the same for Harmony. Then once they all spoke together, Sunn’s fully green eyes widen immensely, his ears twitching slowly as far up as they can go, perplexed by how their voices sounded so perfect when all together.

Once they stopped speaking, Sunn was confused above all else about what just happened. His cautiousness was suddenly… just gone, due to their combined voices being so reassuring. He looked around slowly at the three Fates
"What do you want to speak to me about?" He says in a calm and reassuring voice, a completely different tone from how he spoke before

7

The three are still speaking unison, “There are things of which your kind is not aware and we have not yet decide on who this burden will fall.” Then Timbre says, “What part should you play?” Right after that, as if part of the same sentence Discord says, “Will you quest for the good of all?” then Harmony continues in the same way, “Or will you pull those around you to share the burden?” and this cycle of voices continues as they say… “Or perhaps you will advise.”, “You could challenge.”, “Or perhaps you could use such things for your own gain, and damn the world and all.”

Again, they speak in unison, “What roll shall you play?”

8

Sunn keeps himself calm through them speaking in unison. But then as soon as they stop, Sunn’s senses switch slightly back to his cautiousness like before. It felt like he was cautious again about the situation, and not entirely nor very lightly. It’s as if he got a slight push of caution and awareness, but not nearly as much as before, when he first ran into the Fates. He looks to Timbre, then Discord, then Harmony. Then it repeats, him switching to whoever was talking…

His caution and urge to just run away or yell to stop this weird ass charade, at least to him, had grown immensely through them all speaking one at a time. His mind was racing and racing with thoughts and questions and solutions and escape plans. But then… it stopped once they all spoke in unison again. He was completely calmed yet again by the three Fates speaking as one

“What do you mean by my “role”? Explain yourself” He says in the same calmed and reassured voice as before, though a couple of things didn’t mix in with his tone of voice. His words sounded like they’d fit best with someone trying to pry an answer out of someone. And his face was that of a shocked dead person, mouth slightly open and eyebrows lifted, though obviously it could still move since Sunn was alive

9

It would be difficult indeed to pry answers out of the Fates. They did not take well to those trying to force them to answer anything, even the Old Gods had to be careful of this. The fates occupied a unique position, they controlled the web, the weave of time which bound everyone together. The tapestry of history and the future was theirs to control. It wasn’t just a matter of being able to say when someone should live or die, it was more than that. They plucked at the strands of time which made up each persons life, adjusted them, moved them, and if needed cut them out.

The three Fates looked at Sunn for a moment, then at each other, and then back to him. Their movements were slow, and somehow strange. It showed that these were not forms they took often, even though they were their own forms. The Fates spent little time in the material plane like this. Finally, Timbre spoke, “The strand of your life is one recently brought here, and it has been chosen for something greater than you. It is up to you how to use this, we ourselves came here to discuss what to do but we are in disagreement as to the best path. This is often the case, and your thread was drawn here, we had no hand in brining you.” there was a pause, though the person never seemed to run out of breath as it spoke, “The hand which has moved you here is your own and your choice - unknowing as it was - has sealed you into this pattern. You will have a role to play, you cannot avoid it, the pattern has you firmly in its grasp and we must weave around you what you will need to play this role.”

Then Harmony started to speak, “The curtains between the worlds are wearing thin.” then Discord picks up the sentence, “As we know they must.” and back to Harmony, “A mortal hand requires choice, to make a difference, and you have… Protection, of the waters of the Radiant Spring, they drew you to us by chance or folly, you are here, your are chosen.” Then Discord again picks up the conversation, “To save or damn the world and all who are in it. Your hands now hold this power, will hold it… Have held it… Your power is choice. The veil grows thin,” then Harmony picks up again, “If the veil comes down, the living and the dead will have no separation, life will become death.”

Then Timber begins to speak, “And death will become life. All as we know it will end, and now, your choices will matter. See that you remember that.”

When he pauses, all three speak up in unison again soon after, “We cannot tell you more, as you must choose your own path, remember that words have no meaning to us, your actions will guide our hands.”

Before he can ask anything else, they melt away as puddles evaporating into the air, they are gone.

10

Sunn switched his sights between each Fate as they continued on the conversation. Normally at this point his cautiousness would begin to increas just like before, but this time he knew that if he kept up changing how he felt, whether he did it by choice or not, he’d get a headache. So he decides to force himself to be as calm as he could be as the conversation went on between the three. And as he knew it, once the three spoke together all as one, he felt that same calming flown across his body as the other times made it.

Though that didn’t stop the questions running through his head. Though they can all be summarized by “Why the hell are they saying I’m some skrt of chosen one!? Is this some sick, twisted prank!?” as his main thought. They couldn’t be normal kids, they knew his name even though his face was covered up. He knew something was strange about them, but once they turned into puddles and evaporated, Sunn’s body instinctively got into a ready-to-fight stance as he jerked his head between all of them melting and evaporating

Once they were gone, he finally spoke up “What the hell are you expecting of me? I’m no more than an adventurer, and yet you talk like I’m the chose one who’s going to save the world…” He said to himself. He was worried and confused now about what the future might hold for him. He’s been in these situations before, and he’s been in far worse. But this time felt weird to him, like something was gonna happen

“If fate is leading me to some sort of destiny as a hero, then I’ll just let it come to me” He says to himself again after moments of silence. He then begins to walk off to where he was heading in the first place, any nearby town where he can collect some bounties. The thoughts and the entire conversation lingered in his mind immensely, and he didn’t know where to start this “journey”. Fate would have to bring the start to him

11

Funny thing about Fate was, it had not chosen him exactly. To the Fates, he had chosen himself. They had no manipulated or pulled his string to the Spring or to come see what the voices were. This was a key point, his involvement had to untainted, free will, in order to change the world. There was always a certain amount of random chance involved and while the Fates could see a great long way into the past and present, they seldom planned for such things as to have a person in the exact place at the exact time to save things. That wasn’t what they did, it’s like how some people focus on the big picture and some people focus on the here and now. They were big-picture types. Shaping the pattern of life.

Still, they could have been less confusing. Perhaps it was that they didn’t speak to others very often or perhaps it was their nature to just be vague. Who really knew? Who could really know the Fates. No matter how he might try to speak to the air as if they were there listening, they were not, and he would get no answers. Just the sunlight filtering through the canopy, the soft breeze blowing.

12

Regardless of whether he got a reply or not, Sunn didn’t know what to do to start the quest. He wasn’t about to go on a wild goose chase to find his destiny and become the hero who saved the world from total darkness. He never even wanted this crazy thing to happen in the first place, he just wanted to evesdrop on a conversation before leaving, maybe even a fight if it came down to it. Maybe this was him leaving the world to be damned, as the Fates said that could be a result of his “heroic journey”, but he knew better

They said he’d have a role to play on this journey, no matter what he did. They said that it would be unavoidable and that he will eventually be forced to call to action. So that’s why he let the start come to him instead of him coming to the start, wherever it was. He continued on his walk through the forest, going where he intended to go from the start. He had planned to go to a nearby village to find some bounties, and that’s what he would be doing unless something forced him otherwise.

Whatever force that was going to make him start his heroic journey, it’d have to force him to start, and he wasn’t chasing down a ghost to have him come to it

13

Fate was a hard thing to understand. The role he had to play didn’t have to be a hero, but it wasn’t like they actually told him that. He could be the villain or really anything else. There was nothing saying that he had to be the hero. Still, the Fates did not interfere, they watched though from their place beyond the mortal world.

His walk through the forest was uneventful until he comes across a tree with a shiny gold object dangling from the branch. It is small, but hard to say unless one were to actually go and look at it. He has passed by here before, the spring was not far off. This wasn’t on the branch when he was by here last time.

14

Sunn saw the object dangling from the tree, yet couldn’t make it out just yet. He decided to get a closer look at it, but deciding to snatch it out of the tree and look at it in his hands. This was just to make sure to him that it wasn’t some sort if illusion.

Sunn walked closer to the object but then suddenly had a small glass platform form off the trunk of the tree the golden object was on. Sunn then ran to it and jumped off of it, grabbing the golden object then landing without any trial and error. He opened his left hand since that’s what he used to grab the object and see just what it was… That was if he could grab it. It could have been an illusion, who knows?

15

It is a well made but relatively simple locket pendant on a gold chain, the chain itself is still clasped tightly. It has a small diamond at the center, surrounded by sapphires and then the very edge has more diamonds on the outside. If he tries to open it, it will not open. If he tries to unclasp the chain, it will not unclasp. If he can sense magic, it is intensely magical, an exceptionally powerful artifact.

He can hear a soft voice singing, the words are hard to make out, and the sound is very faint. It is coming from the Radiant Spring nearby.

For Reference

16

Sunn studied the artifact, and noticed its magical presence. He tried to open it and see if there was anything else he could do. But alas, nothing would happen, as he can’t really do anything with it

“So this is the start huh?..” He said aloud to himself, looking at the pendant. He then hears the noise comig from the spring, and turns his head to its general directon at a normal pace “If I can’t avoid me playing a role in this journey, then I guess me not heading to that sound will lnly mean somethinng else makes me do something. I guess I have no choice” He finishes, and with that he walks over to the spring. He looks to where the singing was coming from

17

When he arrives at the spring, he finds someone bathing in it, singing gently to herself, her eyes are closed. At first it is clear she’s just bathing, nude, her white dress and other garments hung over a tree branch not far from where Sunn had put his not long before. Then, unaware that someone was there, the girl stands and dances splashing around in the water. If her body didn’t make it clear she was of age she might be mistaken for a child with the way she was singing and dancing and splashing in the water.

Somehow the girl becomes aware of his presence, and stops, water dripping off of her slowly, her dark brown hair soaked and in her face until she pulls it aside, “Oh…” she says turning red, but not covering up, “oh you’re… Not someone I know.” Then she see’s the pendant in his hand and touches her neck, “Oh my… I seem to have lost my locket, though…” she thinks and looks confused, “I don’t know where, can… Can I have it back? I thank you so much for finding it.”

18

Sunn comes into the sight of the girl, and very quickly tightly shuts his eyes, only getting a half blurry half clear image of her before he acted. He listened in to what the girl had to say, as the bit of face that did show for him turned red as well under his face cloth

“Uh… y-yeah. You can have it back if it’s yours. I found it hanging off a tree branch…” He pauses, his eyes still closed as tight as they can go, before speaking up “A-and you can go put your clothes on too. P-preferably you put your clothes on first. Don’t worry, I-I’m not looking” He finishes, his voice clearly embarrassed

19

She looked at herself, “I don’t so much mind if you look.” she has no idea why that is… This confuses her, “I should mind though, shouldn’t I?” she says half to herself. Still she goes and puts on her simple white dress, then the simply silk sash the ties around the waist. There were no under garments to speak of, nor any shoes. “I must admit, I feel safe here, but I am not entirely sure where, here, is. Do you know?” and then as she finishes, “You can look now.”

20

Sunn still kept his eyes shut, and responded to the woman’s request on whether she should care if people see her nude or not
"Uhhh… Y-you should care,really. You probably grew up somewhere where that kind of thing wasn’t something to be shameful about. So… ummm…" Sunn couldn’t think of anything else to say, since he was too embarrassed to say anything after that

When she said Sunn could look, he opened his eyes, him still blushing red from what the woman could see. He walked over to her and handed her the locket
"Here… here’s your locket…" He says. Once she took the locket he continues “You’re at the Radiant Spring in the Erast Forest. Were you lost coming here?” He finishes, his voice now normal, but his face under his cloth still blushing red