Fates

The void seemed endless as it stretched well into the horizon, an endless line of trees followed along with the pitch black skies. Every so often the green carpet split open to give way to enormous trees, reaching far into the heavens and clearings of lush green grass. Above all else stood Yggdrasil, the great world tree, its once glorious branches, now reached into the void like emaciated claws and the roots were now drying up as the Norns, maidens charged with the care of the world tree, no longer watered either. Midgard hung at the edge of inevitable doom as the roots holding it together were being killed by its own denizens. It was once a gorgeous land of greens and blues but now had become a world of grey hazes and carnage but of course humans, the parasitic vermin, had found a way to survive even then.

 One of the clearings shone brightly, almost invitingly at the foot of Yggdrasil.

Chance, strode into the clearing unexpectedly. 'His'-well her now that Chance had once again changed her appearance as she saw fit- golden hair blew in the breeze that only she could feel. Her dramatic entrance had been for naught as the only audience had been Destiny. Destiny, the last of the three Norns, rolled the glistening dice across the mirror surface of the pond. Destiny’s veiled face rose up from peering within the surface and into the lives of unseeing humans.

Nearby lay a dying being.

The very being that kept Midgard alive and well with his warmth and love, who had woven Yggdrasil’ roots into the perfect shape until they held his vim. Who had shaped Earth with his very force and inevitably tide both in a never ending bind. Life was not well.

 “I see that you two are still here.” Chance’s snide voice rang over the still of the trees and clearing alike.

 “I must be, none of you wish to do what must be done,” Destiny exclaimed with a biting tone as she looked up from the pond for a moment as she kneeled down against the rocky edge, shifted forward and brought the dice back to her slender fingers.

Chance let out a hollow laugh, full of promises but having none of the promised warmth her appearance gave off. “All you do is roll a pair of dice, Destiny. You are barely important in the larger scheme that you claim must be kept balanced.”

The balance that Destiny claimed was merely an intricate game of the four fates; Death, Justice, Chance and herself. The dice were only part of the intricate chain holding her in place. She was to roll them for every fate and herself, four times in total, and have the fates play out their roles whenever the dice came out in their favor by color: Death the color black, Justice the color blue, Chance the color gold, and Destiny of course a color that comprised every other, white. As the most powerful of the fates, Destiny knew the past, present and future of not only humans but every being to ever exist which included Chaos, the Gods of Old, the All Father and All Mother, Father Time and may more. The gods had hoped to keep her inline by charging her with the care of the world tree, Yggdrasil, and keeping her interested in the lives of the humans within.

Death walked in right on time as always. She took her place next to her exact opposite Life. They made for an odd match. Life, who was meant to be vibrant and full of love was now ill and degenerating every day and Death, a being of deepest horrors of the abyss was standing tall and proud.

Justice strolled lazily into the opening, wearing his cloak loose and low around his shoulder, the head of a proud wolf, Fenrir, now lay decaying on his pauldron.

“It is so nice of you to finally arrive,” said Death, who had been quietly watching the two, turned her head until the darkened half of her face came into view and an emerald eye bore into the very heart of Justice.

“Not everyone wishes to arrive on time Death, I am one of those that do not,” Justice ground out, teeth clenched as he stepped over to the pond and sat against the edge without a care.