"I meant to bring you directly to this construct the moment you touched the staff," the being before him explained. "Who knew that you wouldn't even approach it? Instead, you used the mana construct copy of yourself to try and get rid of the staff. I was forced to pull your soul directly into my presence," She explained. "I did my best to rein it in, but for a fraction of a second, you were exposed to a little of my aura, hence the injury," She continued. In the mouth of anyone else, the words may have come off as extremely arrogant. With the one before him, however, they were just statements of facts. Greg wasn't even sure why she was explaining herself. With the power gulf between them, she could tear him into a thousand pieces and there would be nothing he could do about it.
"I've found that getting off on the wrong foot with someone can make things a lot more complicated than they have to be," She said. "You humans, despite being acutely aware of how weak you are, can be a rather strong-willed and rebellious bunch when not properly motivated," She said "It may have been unintentional, but perhaps being hurt on your first interaction with me might be the only excuse you need to have a bad impression of me. Which would in turn make you reticent to abide by any agreement we have. You would drag your feet, and try to do the utmost to do the least that you can get away with and nothing more" She relayed. "An all-around headache that I would eventually have to torture and kill just to vent my frustration," The words were spoken so casually that Greg almost missed the threat. Part of him knew that the being wasn't even trying to threaten him, she was just plainly reporting what she would do in such a situation, a fact that somehow made the whole thing far worse. "Most of my kind would never deign to humor the whims of you mortals. But, over the eons, I've found that a simple, straightforward interaction with your kind tends to yield much better results than being mysterious or forceful. With your soul being that of a mortal and not another being like me, if all it takes is a wave of the hand to heal it, why not wave it?" she posed rhetorically. Both his wondering at why she was explaining anything to him and his lampooning of her healing him with the wave of her hand had been answered. The being had directly answered Greg's thoughts making him realize that not even those were hidden from her.
"Indeed Greg, nothing about you is hidden from me," This was the first time in a while that someone had called him by the name that he had back on earth. Greg immediately understood that she was indirectly letting him know that even his life back on earth was an open book to her. "So, I'd kindly ask that we skip the testing and prodding that you mortals try to do whenever you come across beings such as myself. As soon as the thought enters your mind, I will know of it. Any trick you might wish to try would be pointless," She informed him. There was no threat in her voice. She might as well have been reading the words off a piece of paper. And yet, Greg couldn't help the absolute terror that seized him at the warning. She might appear calm and composed now, but Greg didn't want to know what she was like when she became angry. A smile slowly crossed her lips. "I'm glad we understand each other," She said calmly.
"Y... you seem to appreciate candor," Greg forced himself to speak up, unable to help the slight tremor in his voice. "So I'll just come right out and ask," He said. "Who are you and why did you bring me here? And what do you want from me?" he asked one after the other.
"I can only answer one of those questions," Came the reply. "The simple fact of knowing who I am will draw the attention of beings that, believe me, you do not want to look your way. So, I can't tell you that," She informed him. "What I want from you, I also won't say as of yet as you are too weak to even be of use to me right now," She said. "Telling you right now won't achieve anything. You might even try to act in cross-purposes to my plans in a misguided attempt to break free of me. You humans do love your illusion of freedom," She said, adding the offhand comment at the end. "Ask me again when you are at the same level as the healer," She said, causing Greg's eyes to widen. Just knowing what this being wanted of him required that he be a seventh-tier mage! Greg got the distinct impression that the being didn't think much of the healer's power. But to him, who hadn't even touched on the first tier, it was like looking up to the peak of a mountain from its foot. "Until then, you are free to live your life however you wish," She stated.
"The answer to the question of why I brought you here is simple. You and I never had the chance to talk before I sent you into Roka's body," She informed him with a smile. Despite the fact that it had been a suspicion at the back of his mind, Greg still couldn't help the shock he felt when the entity before him outright revealed that she was the one responsible for his new lease on life. There were a thousand and one questions that he wanted to ask. Part of him, however, suspected that she wouldn't be willing to answer ninety nine percent of them. As such, he only settled for the only obvious question before him. "You just said that I am not powerful enough to know what you want from me," he said. "Why bring me into this realm then?" He posed.
"Three reasons," she replied. "The first is to inform you, the second is to warn you, and the third is to reward you," She went on. Greg nodded for her to go on. "I gave you a second chance at life, Greg," She spoke calmly. "I didn't do it out of the kindness of my heart or because I like you or some other flowery reason, I did it because I plan to use you," She spoke plainly. "I have plans. Plans that will require your participation at some point in the future," She informed him "When the time comes, I will call, you will answer, and do as I say, no questions asked!" She declared. "If you can agree to this, I will send you back to go on living your life as you please. Like I said before, I probably won't call on you before you reach the same tier as the healer," She relayed. "However, if you find this objectionable, now is the time to speak up. I won't harm you in any way, I'll just find another soul that is willing to abide by my plans to replace you," she said. "Don't answer immediately," She cautioned. "I would advise that you think on this very carefully. Because if you say yes now and then, later on, try to backtrack on your word, you will have me as an enemy," She didn't add any threats on top of this declaration. She didn't need to. The look in her eyes was enough to send chills coursing through Greg's soul. "I will allow you the duration of this conversation to think it over," she offered.
"Next is the warning," She continued calmly, causing a look of confusion to cross Greg's face. Hadn't she just delivered the warning? He wondered. An amused smile crossed the being's expression. "No, Greg, I didn't. I was just informing you of the paths before you," She replied calmly. "The warning, Greg, is that, For reasons that I am as yet unable to pry into, you have crossed paths with an inordinate number of powerful entities in a rather short amount of time. A seventh-tier mage, a primordial turned sentient, a Herald of the abyssal realm, and myself," She listed out. Of the four listed, Greg only knew of the first one, the healer. And the last, simply because she was currently seated before him. Which primordial the entity was referring to, Greg didn't know. And a Herald of the abyssal realm? Was that who was behind the staff that turned his uncle into a tier zero mage? Greg could only wonder.
"The majority of people go their whole lives without even seeing the least of these, the seventh-tier mage. And yet, in a little less than a month, you have come across four such entities," She informed him. "Normally, when the strings of fate become so tangled, you are either meant for great things... or fate has noticed an anomaly that it is trying to amend," The being calmly warned him.
"And by amend, you mean..."
"Kill you," She finished Greg's statement with barely any hint of concern for him.
Greg was quiet for a long while before he spoke once more. "You speak of fate as if it's sentient," he said.
"It's starting to be," Came the cryptic reply.
