Azazel's pupil dilated, his lips parting soundlessly as his breath caught halfway.
His gaze remained on the creature to which the inhumane voice belonged.
The very thing which made his hair prickle was…
An owl?
"Tell me lost soul, what is it you're searching for? What answers do you desire." It spoke again, this time calm.
It was too calm. Unsettlingly so.
Azazel's breath hitched.
"Speak child." It urged.
But its voice wasn't unkind, it was soft.
Like an elder willing to help a troubled young one.
Strangely enough, Azazel felt compelled to speak, his lips were already moving before he realized himself.
"I'm lost, so lost it feels like I was tossed into a story destined for ruin but I don't think I can change anything, there are so many things I'm unsure of, things I can't control even with the knowledge I hold; I'm scared I won't be able to do anything."
The owl turned its neck slightly, then mounted Azazel's shoulder.
It stared into the distance, lingering for a few seconds without making a sound.
Then it spoke.
"Tell me, have you heard the story of the god Loki? The god you're connected to?"
"No," Azazel answered truthfully, his voice barely a whisper.
"Loki was a god who was never meant to be one, he was a mortal destined to die no matter what he did but that mortal did something even gods struggled to achieve. He defied fate, not only that he tricked his fate, the one who was meant to die ascended to Godhood breaking free from the shackles of mortality, even other gods fear him, not because he's the strongest… far from it, they fear him because he's the most unpredictable."
The owl paused.
The pale light from the moon glistened against its midnight blue feathers mixed with brown undertones.
The silence stretched no more than a second before it continued.
"Believe me when I say this but by gods standards? That says a lot. The gods are a highly unpredictable bunch, they don't reason the way mortals do, yet Loki's eccentricity far surpasses what the gods ever thought they could achieve."
Azazel stared at the owl on his shoulders, his expression held surprise and anticipation but he remained silent.
"You asked if you could change anything? Then the answer would be yes, but whether you can change it for the better or worse? Then that answer depends entirely on your actions. You see, fate is a determined concept, its threads hold different possibilities all arriving at different conclusions but those conclusions themselves are most likely determined, set in stone from the very beginning. To defy fate is to shatter it, to sever the very threads which decides what narrative the future follows. Each thread is a story, belonging to different individuals, different organisms, some are tied together, those threads we call them relations."
"Relations?" Azazel couldn't help but ask.
"Yes relations, those threads are the very ones which bind your relationship with others, be it friends or foes, those threads come in contact the moment you meet individuals, in one way or another your fates become entwined together, even if it's merely for a short while but the direction it takes, what leads that fate towards its determined outcome are choices."
Azazel's brows drew together in mild confusion, his lips parted slightly as a question almost slipped out.
The owl noticed this, paused, then said.
"You seem confused, child."
Azazel stared at the ground below, his expression bore a look of uncertainty, one the owl had noticed but chose to remain silent.
After a short moment of hesitation, he spoke up.
"How does one defy fate when it's predetermined, how do you know your actions aren't directed by it?"
The owl let out a low hoot.
"That's a good question, choices are already accounted for in various scenarios most of the time, they're tiny threads woven together to form a single thread in the vast tapestry of fate. Whether your actions are influenced by it or not, If somewhere a thread of fate exists in which that version holds the answer you seek then you just need to make the right choices to navigate towards it. If no thread holds what you seek to achieve then..."
"Then?"
"Then destroy fate."
The owl had turned its head towards Azazel now, facing him with a fierce intensity in its eyes.
"If fate decides your objectives have no place in its tapestry then destroy it, fate is absolute, or so everyone believes, even the gods; It's why they still cling to prophecies and it's why they pay heed to revelations from the elements and concepts that makes up the universe. But fate, even if it can't be destroyed, can be tricked. By doing something which wasn't meant to happen, not in all near infinite possibilities and actions you could have taken, you create a choice and that choice leads to others which makes up a thread, a thread meant to destroy what fate had put in motion. That is the ability you were given, that is the blessing you carry, you are one of Loki's chosen, do not undermine his blessings by thinking light of it."
Azazel frowned.
"You're contradicting yourself, if it's pre-determined then doesn't that mean that it accounted for the fact that it could be destroyed."
The owl replied.
"Just because you accounted for the fact that something might indeed happen doesn't mean you can stop it, if fate accounted for the fact that it can be destroyed then it'd try to erase your existence to maintain balance but what if it couldn't? What if you persist? Overcome whatever it throws at you? What then."
It lingered.
The winds grew colder, silence descended on the forest below.
It felt like the world was anticipating, like the owl was about to speak a truth that it wasn't meant to.
It felt like a silent warning from the world itself.
The owl continued, despite the subtle change in the atmosphere.
"There exist beings outside the concept of fate, beings with presence that shatters the balance of the world, there are forces as well which rivals fate, it is another story if those beings decide to intervene but alas, it isn't so simple."
The owl stared directly into Azazel's eyes.
"I believe I've said enough, enough for you make a decision."
It flapped its wings then leaped to the cold floor below.
Now facing Azazel directly.
Azazel felt a fog clear from his mind, suddenly his guard rose.
His eyes narrowed in suspicion as he asked.
"What are you? What is your goal, why are you telling me all this?."
The owl cocked its head to the side, its eyes spoke volumes of vast knowledge accumulated over years of living.
The owl spoke, its voice cold and inhumane yet its tone bore no malice.
"Well naturally it's an elder's role to guide a young one down the correct path in his journey, you seemed distressed and I provided you a medium to a solution as for my goal, I want stability… peace and order, but sometimes… Chaos is needed to acquire order and wars are fought to guarantee peace."
The owl's feathers began glowing a gold hue, spreading out until it formed the silhouette of a human figure.
One second the owl was staring directly at Azazel and the next? A cloaked figure materialized.
Golden eyes watched Azazel in mild interest from within the shadow of the figure's hood.
"My name is Elzar Priam, the keeper of the forgotten treasury." They spoke, their voice inhumane and devoid of emotions. "You three who bear the mark of the gods and their blood alike, I shall test you all to see if you're worthy of their relics."