Kismet’s Tale

      Mavin somehow knew that was the case. He had suspected that Natalya had been seeing visions that are close to reality and had been suffering for it. To Mavin, he didn’t feel anything other than he was just walking one path.

He understood that to defeat the Imperator you need to cut her off from the path. Defeat her within a single timeline. It was only possible in those memories because they have received a miracle that made them able to do that. That miracle was the ability to rewind time through using ‘saves’ that are made using various points.

Gather the boons of fate and defeat the Imperator by cutting her off from the stem of the world, where she would not be able to connect with the spark of the world. She would lose the ability to see through those visions and give the heroes a fighting chance. Even in the true ending, they could not defeat her without sacrifices.

Mavin was not surprised. But he would be lying if he said that there was no fear in his heart the moment she told the truth.

How many times had he died in front of her?

He himself didn’t know, but he thought that it was something he would definitely do if he was faced with a choice. He would run away from all of this. Deliver his life for the sake of others, not out of suicidal thoughts, but that it was just a gamble.

A gamble to save one’s life.

In those gambles he lost, and Natalya won. She had somehow reached this path where she would stand by his side, not out of love, not out of devotion, but a pure twisted desire to stand by the only person who would understand.

She was not looking for love.

She was looking for understanding.

Mavin felt bad knowing that even she had the courage to tell what she was seeing, and yet Mavin could not do that. He had already swore that what he remembers would be buried with him, so he didn’t speak of it. Those memories, at least some of them, were useless to Mavin now.

The world had twisted into a magic-less world where the spark was crippled. The Nullers were probably going to go after the nuclear bombs, and the Magi would move to blend in and assess the situation and possibly find a way to create a spark.

It was impossible. Mavin was sure that even in those ‘memories’ there was no method found to connect the spark again. That was why he could not find the emotion to react. He merely nodded, thought about, and reflected on what she had revealed. He was calm and yet there was something else that made him think differently.

He had done what he wanted to do. He was merely listening to her woes and thought of nothing other than it was to be expected. She had tried to follow her own path, and got herself thrown into visions that were close to reality. No, those were her realities that she lived and experienced.

Mavin didn’t know what to feel. He couldn’t understand her despite seeking for understanding. There was no way for Mavin Tomas to understand the feeling of repeating the same action and words. To him it flowed normally without sudden jumps or twists.

He knows what it was that made her like this, but he wouldn’t understand it. All he knew was that the power of the Imperator’s Crest had been cut off. He had no goal to speak and even if he does know, there is a chance that she could recover her power in the near future.

Why would that matter?

None of it matters.

It was a horrible thought that made Mavin feel like a big part of him had become apathetic. He thought of what he should do during this time, and what actions he should take. He had been proactive, and had everything he could have possibly done to reach this far.

It was not luck.

It was how he made sure that all the details and preparations were there. He had made a cruel move to end the demifiends living in the nest. There are other problems that the world would come to know, but they were not his problem.

All that he had done was for the sake of reaching this far. He had prevented the civil war for now, and even managed to improve the state of Greater Lazon. It won't be long before the transcontinental railroad would be constructed, and they would find a way.

The most painful thing that Mavin had realized was that unlike the ‘memories’ the people here acted like people, it took him years to understand that, and only through seeing Kohl reunite with Maria that he had abandoned the thought that they are nothing more than tools.

He didn’t abandon it completely, not until he could pierce the heart of the nest. He had done everything that needed to be done. To mess with the war, prevent the treaty from going wrong, break the ebony market, and help the two ‘heroes’ before they could grow further into their stupidity.

He couldn’t understand why he would need to wait and let fate unfold before him. If it could be cured, then why would he not try to cure it before it could happen? That was Mavin’s thoughts as he schemed for the nest to be destroyed. That was why he couldn’t understand the pain of someone who had been experiencing the same thing. No, the memories were visions of a future that might happen, futures that if not prevented would cause suffering.

He wasn’t altruistic enough to believe that it all can be done by being good and kind. That by relying on the goodness and common belief that it can be saved. Perhaps he was being too pessimistic, but he chose to do this path and won.

Did he win? Was this over? No, the camera kept on rolling, and their lives would continue. It was not suddenly a happy thing where somehow witnessing the end would mean that they could live on and automatically solve things so easily.

Their lives would continue and no unknown force would suddenly take over. He felt lost and helpless that he couldn’t stand the feeling. He had a goal once, but now it is gone. There were things that Mavin could do, and with the war ended, he could live on without worrying over the world.

He was broken somewhere and he understood that no one could remain unbroken throughout their life. Yet he really does feel broken by how he had nothing now. He had lived his life with the idea that he could leave life at any moment. He had not relented, he had not stopped even once, but faced with an obstacle that made him think of what he should do from now on made him feel truly broken.

Mavin listened to Natalya without running. He let her lean on him while telling him about what she had seen and experienced. Even if it was visions, she did feel the reality of killing him. She had done it forty-two times and had even done something that made him feel afraid.

What this woman could do when cornered frightened her. He only truly won because she broke first before he could notice. The heavy drinking, the vague talks, and the way she asked some of those things were because she wanted to find hope. If she did not give up, if she did not relent, then it meant that he would have continuously died under her. He would give up his life for her as a gamble, and they would continue the process.

Mavin didn’t want to know how many times she had repeated this time. He knew that it was around the million count, but he refused to know the exact number of times she had repeated.

It was truly not love. But it was a dangerous inability to continue on without having one part of them gone. Their relationship was unfortunately like that. He hated the thought of it, but he found out that he couldn’t let go.

That was why she asked for him to become her warden. Mavin could not refuse the role given to him. He had asked for it, and now there was no way he could escape from her grasp. If anything, she had promised what he feared the most. 

Natalya was his wife because of the demands of the Emperor. She would use that role to keep him, and could only accept it. But now it felt like a chain that had been invisibly wrapped around him, forcing him to stay with her.

Mavin accepted her advances. He moved as if entranced by her and perhaps he had given up on resisting. 

“Let’s run away then,” Mavin said suddenly while she still wrapped herself around him. “It’s time to go back home to Lazon. Out of reach from the Emperor and free from this place.”

They would be coming to make a mess out of this capital. He wanted to help Rene and Kristine, but he believed that they would be just fine.

Natalya looked at him seriously, and nodded. “Okay, let’s run away.”

This city was drowning them, so until they could figure out what they wanted to do. He resolved to leave this city and return home alongside his partner from now on.