Michael walked behind Gabriel and Azure who were all making great pace, especially when considering the newly acquired injuries that would make both young adults quite useless in an actual fight.
But it looked Azure didn't mind keeping an eye out while they continued along.
They had walked for weeks at that point, only using their affinities when absolutely necessary.
However, Michael found it all to be a blur, and could not recall much of the journey, as he once again found himself to be lost in the thought of it all. As if he were alone in a large ocean, slowly drifting from his origins.
The thought didn't make much sense, even to the one coming up with it. Yet, he still couldn't strip it from his mind.
There was a terrible pain in his sternum, that had only gotten worse since they had departed from the ruined shack they had tried to stay the night at.
For a moment, a mental picture of Leo passed through his internal vision. And for the first time, Michael wondered if Leo was still alive.
He had figured that Leo would venture back to Olympia to find Reinhart; however, his catalyst had shattered, and therefor his connection to magic was gone, just as they had once thought had happened to Reinhart.
But it wasn't necessarily whether Leo would survive without it, but Michael himself.
Because, Michael feared that he would be next.
Leander had said that his catalyst had been repaired, but the cracks could still be felt along its surface.
So did Leander lie? Or is the breaking of his catalyst inevitable, which would also be a lie on Leander's part.
Seeing as how Michael was supposedly free from fate, free from the shackles that would have otherwise killed him long ago.
In any way, how is one supposed to live with the thought of knowing that even the universe, even the gods... Had already pre-planned his death, and many other deaths.
He didn't want to be thought of as ungrateful by saying so, as Chase had technically saved his life by slaying the Naga before Michael had arrived there.
But can one little coincidence truly save a life?
Michael didn't even realize that he had stopped long ago, standing still under the morning sun as his icy blue eyes gazed with distance at the snow covered path below him.
'Snow?'
When Michael looked up, it was as if time had finally caught up to him.
'How far have we travelled?' He wondered, looking up and onward as a beautiful veil of snow fell from the gray clouds above.
He had thought it was still morning in the marshlands, but somehow they had already made it into the southern quadrant of ice...
He squinted his eyes, looking beyond the twisting white trees before him. He could say Gabriel walking forward while looking up at the sky.
So, when Azure tapped his shoulder from beside him, it was only reasonable that Michael jumped in shock.
"Ya good, mate?" Azure asked, clicking his tongue and leaning forward with the cocking of his eyebrow and the flashing of his teeth.
Michael slowly turned his head and kept his gaze forward, yet his legs still remained unmoving.
"What is the meaning of fate?" Michael found himself asking as if in a trance, and only then was he reminded of the last trance he had been put under.
He felt his blood begin to boil and the hairs on his arms begin to stand up.
However, the second that he had asked the question, Azure's normal cheerful and unserious expression suddenly slipped like the curtains falling amidst a great play.
"Fate...?" Azure stood tall, putting his hand across his mouth as his eyes suddenly grew a kind of distant yet observing meloncholy.
Michael nodded, but it took a few moments for Azure to say anything else, as if truly pondering if this had been some sort of trick question.
"I don't quite get the question, mate..." He shook his head, following Michael's gaze towards the snow ridden forest before them.
"Neither do I..." Michael sighed, looking down at his outstretched hand.
Suddenly, even though there was no sense of danger, and there was certainly no oncoming death about to swoop over and rob Michael of his already countlessly risked life...
He felt every moment in his life pass once more, every sense of pain, every sense of joy, and every sense of longing.
He had three older brothers who were all on track to become Paladins in the near future, and he had loving parents who would support him no matter what he longed to be in this world, and he came from a lineage that came from legends and old stories that had been passed on for decades, and would be passed on for decades to come.
Yet, even knowing all of this.
Michael wanted something, no... That wasn't quite right.
Michael needed something, something that he couldn't quite understand, let alone name or ask for.
"Perhaps if you gave me some context... I could probably tell you something that could help with whatever you're going through mate..." Azure said, his voice low and almost shaky, as if he himself could see not only through Michael, but himself as well.
"A great man recently told me something before he passed away... He told me that I had been freed from fate, and yet the fate that I had been given originally, was to die a gruesome death alone in the maze of a beast when I was fourteen..." Michael said it so easily, allowing the words on his mind to escape through his vocal cords.
But there was a sort of pain and heaviness that came after, as if there had still been a wound that hadn't properly healed.
Azure himself took a second, and instead of answering directly with any sort of wisdom, he looked up at the gray clouds above.
"What do you reckon would happen... if the sun never rose again after tonight?" Azure asked quietly, leaning against Gabriel's trident that stuck out of the ground next to him.
Michael shook his head, figuring that there was some meaning behind what Azure was asking that he just couldn't figure out.
"Neither do I... Because it has never happened, and because it probably will never happen. And based on that, would you say that fate is responsible for that? Because say that today is the last day of light, and the world will forever lack the night... Would you say that fate decided that the day was no longer needed? Or perhaps for some meaning beyond ourselves, the gods felt that it was simply necessary in the grand scheme of things?" Azure put his palm out facing the sky, as snow slowly fell into his palm.
He gazed down at the snowflakes landing in his hand and let out a sigh.
Michael on the other hand, could not comprehend what Azure was saying.
"Could you maybe explain it differently?" Michael asked, feeling quite stupid in response to whatever ancient wisdom the usual clown had just spewed in the moment.
"No need mate... It's simple really, does fate exist? I think so, but to what regard? I couldn't tell ya, all I know is that anyone can be free from fate. Because while there is fate, that does not automatically mean that free will is out of the question, all it takes is one crossroads, one choice, and a little bit of magic for a specific outcome to be completely voided even after it was written in stone. Can you believe that, mate? That all it takes to completely change the world, is a little bit of awareness and determination..." Azure was smiling, but not his usual grin...
He was looking down at the snowflakes with humid eyes, smiling as the veil around him continued to fall as it was already predetermined to do so...
"I don't get it..." Michael said again, still struggling with understanding what it was that Azure was truly trying to get across.
"Alright, mate... What is stopping me from killing you right now?" He asked, turning his gaze towards Michael with a soft blue glow emanating from his eyes.
"Nothing I suppose, but wouldn't it be fated if you did so?" Michael asked, unbothered by the obvious threat.
"I'd say no, because I have that choice... The way that I like to think about it, because believe me mate, I have thought about it long and hard, in places that I hope to the o- *Clears throat* gods that you never have to see. But anyway, I like to think of it as a sort of barrier around the world, but not within the world. Sure we can be destined for concepts and ideas, like meeting our end or rising to a new beginning, but at the end of the day, fate cannot affect how we perceive the things that happen to us, and therefor cannot determine how react to them... And in that sense, Fate can only be applied to natural forces, the same as gravity, or the need to drink water. And in that same sense, it is simply a natural law that we just have to live with, now whether we can be free from fate or not... Depends entirely on the one it is trying to destine..." Azure cleared his throat again, and pulled the trident from the snow.
"Now come along, we have bigger fish to fry... And I'm sure you've heard enough of my rambling..."
Michael stood in complete silence while Azure made an attempt to catch up with Gabe.
For some unknowable reason, the ideological anvils that had held him in place... Had not existed in the first place...
So, he stepped forward, and followed in Azure's footsteps...