[STATUS: DYING (98% Complete)]
[WARNING: BODY TEMPERATURE IS DROPPING. VITAL ORGANS FAILING.]
[WARNING: SOUL REJECTION DETECTED. INTERFERING WITH CAUSALITY HAS CONSEQUENCES.]
Pain was not a strong enough word.
For Kyle, pain was an old friend, a familiar sting from a fallen branch or a scraped knee. This… this was existence being torn apart at the seams.
He was no longer in the warm, simple cottage of his childhood. He was not on the wooden floor where he had fallen.
He was in a place that didn't exist.
A limitless, obsidian void stretched in all according to his vision. There was no sky, no ground, only a thick, suffocating darkness that pressed against his skin like cold oil. But the darkness was not empty. It was filled with millions of translucent crimson threads, a chaotic, infinite tapestry that represented the life of every being in the universe. They hummed with a terrifying, silent energy, stretching from a past he couldn't see into a future that was not yet written.
And right at the center of this void, Kyle suspended mid-air.
His body was a map of disaster. The skin of his left arm, which had grabbed the Knight's thread, was blackened, charred as if by a cosmic fire, and covered in thin, spiderweb cracks that glowed with a faint, angry red light. His left eye, the Crimson Eye, was wide open, no longer just leaking hot fluid but pulsating, expanding, threatening to consume his entire face.
[HOST STATUS CRITICAL. INITATING EMERGENCY CAUSALITY STABILIZATION.]
A translucent, runic interface flickered into existence before him. It didn't feel like a helpful "System" from a children's tale. It felt like the cold, impartial judgment of a universal judge.
[CALCULATING FATE CONSUMED: Silver Knight (Level 24).]
[TOTAL FATE ENERGY ACQUIRED: 2,400 Units.]
"My… my family," Kyle's thoughts were a broken whisper in the void. He couldn't speak; his jaw was frozen, his tongue a useless lump of charcoal. "Mia… Mother… Father…"
He tried to look past the runic screen, past the chaotic tapestry, but he could only see the threads connected to him. Three thin, fraying crimson threads stretched back into the void toward where his home had been. One was almost grey, barely vibrating. Another was a jagged, twisted knot. And the third, the shortest one, the one belonging to his sister… it was perfectly straight, and at its end, a single, agonizing drop of crimson energy was pooling, about to drip into the darkness.
No... no, no, no.
[HOST EMOTIONAL INSTABILITY DETECTED. STABILIZATION AT 15% COMPLETE.]
[DANGER: INTERFERING WITH FATE WHILE IN CRITICAL CONDITION WILL RESULT IN IMMEDIATE SOUL DISSOLUTION.]
The runes flashed a searing red, a warning direct to his mind. The void around him began to shake, the crimson threads vibrating with an angry, high-pitched hum.
Kyle understood. He was on the very edge of reality, the point where the laws of the universe were trying to erase him for what he had done. He hadn't just used magic; he had grabbed the very fabric of cause and effect and ripped it. The universe was a wound, and he was the glitch.
"They are dying," Kyle's mind screamed into the silence. He didn't care about Level 24 energy or soul rejection. He cared about the drop of crimson pooling at the end of Mia's thread. "I trade... I trade everything. Save them!"
[ERROR. INSUFFICIENT FATE ENERGY FOR TOTAL REVIVAL.]
[CALCULATING ALTERNATIVES...]
The cold interface didn't share his desperation. It analyzed his worth with mathematical indifference.
[PROPOSAL: TRADE 90% OF ACQUIRED FATE ENERGY AND 50% OF YOUR OWN REMAINING FATE SPAN.]
[RESULT: ACTIVATE SKILL 'SEVERED KNOT' TO 'PAUSE' THREE TARGETS IN A CAUSALITY BUBBLE. DURATION: 24 HOURS.]
[WARNING: THIS WILL NOT SAVE THEM. IT WILL ONLY BUY TIME. THEIR THREADS WILL REMAIN FRAYED.]
It was a bargain with a devil he didn't understand. 50% of his life span. 90% of the power he just stole. For 24 hours of… a 'pause'.
But 24 hours was 24 more hours than they had now.
"Do it," Kyle thought. There was no hesitation. The word felt like a sacrifice, a signature on a soul-contract.
[BARGAIN ACCEPTED.]
The runic screen dissolved into a torrent of white and gold light that crashed into him like a physical blow. The void around him warped and twisted. Kyle felt a sensation of being yanked violently through a space that was smaller than his own body. His soul screamed. His consciousness fragmented.
And then, everything went black.
Cough. Cough. Splutter.
Kyle woke with a violent convulsion, choking on water and mud.
The warmth of the obsidian void was gone. He was on the cold, rain-slicked forest floor. The cottage was gone. His family was gone.
He was alone.
The scent of burning wood and ancient rot filled his nose. Above him, twisted, skeletal trees clawed at a grey, stormy sky that was identical to the one in his dream. He tried to move, and a fresh wave of agony shot through his left side. His arm, his hand, was still blackened, covered in glowing cracks. His left eye was a constant, throbbing source of heat, forcing him to keep it half-closed.
He managed to push himself up on one elbow, every joint protesting. He looked around, and a cold dread settled in his stomach. The three crimson threads were still there, still stretching back towards the direction of his home. But they didn't end in his hand anymore. They were connected to three distinct points on the horizon.
And above each point, a tiny, glowing golden icon of a 'pause' button was floating, shimmering against the grey sky. It was real. It wasn't a hallucination. His family was trapped in a bubble of causality, frozen between life and death.
23:58:14... 23:58:13...
A countdown, carved in smoky gold, was ticking above his sister's thread. Less than 24 hours to do… what? He was a Level 1 boy with a blackened arm and a terrifying eye. He didn't even know where he was.
Kyle collapsed back into the mud, the reality of his situation crushing him. How could he save them? Who were the Silver Knights? Why him? What was this "Crimson Eye"?
[STATUS: CRITICAL. 75% OF BODY AND SOUL INJURIES REMAIN.]
[EMERGENCY BARGAIN RESULTED IN 50% PERMANENT REDUCTION TO BASE FATE SPAN.]
The interface flickered again, a reminder of the price he had paid.
[ACQUIRED SKILL: Perception of the Severed Knot (Passive / Awakened).]
Allows the user to perceive and interact with the primary causal thread of any target. High soul rejection chance if used without sufficient fate energy. Level: 1/100.
"Perception..." Kyle whispered, the word tasting like copper. "I can see the threads. I can grab them."
His gaze fell to the muddy ground near his face. Through his half-closed left eye, he saw a different kind of thread. This one was thick, dark, almost charcoal black, and was connected to a decaying log. It wasn't a life thread. It was a thread of decay. Above it, a faint runic description floated.
[TARGET: Decaying Ironoak Log (Object).]
[CAUSAL STATE: Dead.]
[FATE VALUE: Negligible.]
A strange, visceral hunger awoke in his stomach. It wasn't the hunger for bread or soup. It was a hunger for causal energy, for the very essence of existence. It was a primal scavenger's instinct, born from a power that was designed to devour.
"If I can steal a Knight's fate..." Kyle thought, his left eye glowing with a sudden, dangerous intensity. "Then I can scavenge more. More energy. More power."
He reached out his right hand, the one that wasn't blackened, towards the decay thread. His fingers brushed against it. It was cold, brittle, like an ancient spiderweb. He felt a faint, chaotic energy, a residue of the log's life, trying to resist him.
Kyle gritted his teeth and pulled. The thread resisted, but with a sharp crack of metaphysical force, it snapped. A wisp of grey, rotting energy flowed from the thread into his fingertips, traveling up his arm and pooling in the Crimson Eye.
[SCAVENGED FATE: Decaying Ironoak Log.]
[ACQUIRED RESIDUE CAUSAL ENERGY: 0.1 Units.]
[BODY STABILIZATION: +0.001%.]
It was almost nothing. A raindrop in an ocean. But it was a start. He was Level 1. He was dying. But for the first time, he wasn't just a victim. He was a scavenger of souls, and he had learned how to feed.
The rain continued to fall, the hours bleeding away. 21:12:44... 21:12:43... The countdown above his sister's thread was relentless.
Kyle forced himself to stand. His body was a wreck, every movement an exercise in pain. He staggered through the dense, monster-infested forest, his left eye scanning everything.
Logs. Dead birds. A rusted, discarded dagger. He grabbed every thread, every wisp of residual causal energy. It was grueling, soul-draining work. For every 0.1 units of energy he scavenged, his soul rejection chance increased by 0.01%. He was gambling his own existence on the hope of finding something, anything, of value.
[TOTAL SCAVENGED RESIDUE: 12.5 Units.]
[STATUS: CRITICAL (68%).]
[SOUL REJECTION CHANCE: 1.25%.]
He was playing a dangerous game. The pain was receding slightly, replaced by a cold, detached focus. He was becoming numb, not just physically, but emotionally. He was no longer thinking about his family's laughter. He was thinking about how many more residue threads he needed before he could stabilize his body.
He reached a small clearing, his left eye throbbing. Something was different here. The threads in this area were chaotic, jagged, pulsing with a wild, violent energy. These weren't threads of life, decay, or objects. These were threads of intent, threads of magic, residue of a battle.
Kyle focused his Crimson Eye. Amidst the chaos of intersecting threads, he saw a single, thick, charcoal-grey thread that was vibrating with a powerful, predatory note. It wasn't connected to a person, a monster, or an object. It was connected to a point in the mud, right beneath a large, overturned Ironoak tree.
[TARGET: ??? (Fate Crossover Point).]
[FATE VALUE: HIGH.]
[WARNING: POWERFUL MAGIC RESIDUE DETECTED. ATTEMPTING TO SCAVENGE MAY CAUSE IMMEDIATE SOUL COLLAPSE.]
A high value fate. Right here.
Kyle's right hand began to tremble. This was it. The countdown above Mia's thread was at 15:05:01. He was running out of time. If he scavenged this, he might have enough energy to finally do… what? Heal his body? Find help? Find the Knights?
But the warning was clear. Soul collapse. Immediate.
This was no longer a bargain. This was a death sentence.
"They are already dying," Kyle thought. The numbness from hours of scavenging had solidified into a cold, unbreakable will. He looked at the high-value thread. He didn't see danger. He saw a solution. "If I die, they die too. If I live, maybe, just maybe..."
He took a final, deep breath, the rain-soaked air filling his lungs. He focused his mind, channeling all his remaining residue energy into his right hand. He stepped forward, reaching out towards the charcoal-grey thread.
"Save them," he whispered, a final, human thought.
And then, he grabbed the high-value fate.
A torrent of violent, chaotic magical energy backlashed from the thread, hitting him with the force of a tidal wave. It didn't burn him; it shattered his reality. His mind became a fragmented collage of screams, battles, ancient runes, and the dying thoughts of the sorcerer who had left this residue.
His soul screamed in agony, his very identity dissolving. The runic interface flashed a final, terrifying warning.
[DANGER! DANGER! SOUL COLLAPSE AT 99%. INITATING EMERGENCY FATE PURGE...]
But before the purge could complete, right at the precipice of non-existence, Kyle's mind touched something deep within the chaotic energy. He touched the primary causal link, the single point of truth that defined this fate.
And with a final, desperate burst of willpower, right as his soul was about to dissolve, Kyle tied the high-value thread to the most frayed part of his sister's thread.
SNAP.
💖 A Personal Message to My Fellow Fate Stealers
Hello everyone, and thank you so much for reading Chapter 2 of "Fate Stealer: The Crimson Eye." This chapter was a deeply intense journey to write, exploring the absolute limits of causality, loss, and the horrifying nature of Kyle's unique power.
I am striving to make "Fate Stealer" a Dark Fantasy epic unlike anything you have read before. We are moving away from traditional fantasy tropes and into a world where power isn't just about leveling up; it's about making bargains with the universe itself. Every ability has a price, and we will watch Kyle pay it, over and over again, for the sake of those he loves.
If you enjoyed this chapter and want to see how far Kyle will go, I would be eternally grateful for your support. In a crowded Webnovel world, your engagement is the fuel that keeps this story alive.
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Let's prove that Dark Fantasy still has a powerful heart. Thank you for being a part of this journey.