Jace released the stone as he stumbled back. The shell dropped to the ground, shattering on impact. The dark liquid was gone without a trace, its prison broken.

  Edgis glanced at Jace, the instigator of the madness. Jace's eyes fluttered yet remained shut as his dark hair fell over his face.

  Edgis almost frowned as he took in the sight of the broken crystal before going back to Jace. For a moment he had been worried, worried that the chaos and madness would not follow.

  Even though he had glimpsed the hidden deity behind Jace's lineage, the entity's character remained undecipherable.

  If there was that chance, Edgis struggled to think of what would have happened. At the same time, Jace's eyelids flew open.

  Looking around, he stated, weary and confused “Where am I?”

  Edgis laid his hands on Jace's shoulder just as a thought crossed his mind. It was a rather interesting one and for a second a brief smile fluttered across his lips.

  As he watched Jace, he noticed something. No one else could see it but him. This was what he came for. He reached out into the air, grabbing the imaginary object as he smiled.

  His smile gradually turned into a frown as he gripped the imaginary object tighter. As he did, a small light enveloped his body, his expression twisting into one of anger. He roared, his voice shaking the very foundations of the basement.

  He glanced about the empty room, anger contorting his features as he declared, “You! You think this place is enough to imprison me. To shackle me. Do you…”

  Edgis paused as space ruptured. Like a knife across paper, thin slits appeared in the air, remolding themselves and breaking apart once again.

  The old man watched as a new rift appeared, nearly covering a section of the wall. Edgis turned to Jace, muttering under his breath. And with that he strode into the rift and vanished, the thin slits melding back together and space returning back to its form. As space regained form, Jace regained clarity.

  He stood, his frame rattling as he scanned around. A second ago he had been sure that Edgis was by his side.

  Jace straightened up, feeling over his body. The injury from the shards of the apartment glass back when he was flying across the city were gone, yet Jace could still feel the dull aching or rather knew his body was aching.

  Exhaling, Jace stepped forward. One foot, then the next. He paused as his mind raced. Something was wrong.

  Yet, there was nothing which served to support that.

  Walking up the stairs Jace noticed the doors welcoming him with open arms. Inside the room, Eric sat exactly how he had been sitting hours, no, minutes. It had only been minutes. Minutes ago.

  In his hands was the book he had been reading. Eric tilted up his head as Jace walked in and for a second, a wave of nausea swept through the young Heir. He felt sick. Why? Something was wrong.

  Eric smiled as he approached Jace “Hey, you okay. You and Edgis have been in there for a while.”

  Jace forced himself to smile, the odd sensation growing more prominent as time went by. He asked softly “Where did Edgis go…and how long have I been down there?”

  Eric paused for another second as he turned oddly silent. With his forehead scrunched together he thought deeply before stating “Damned if I know. He just .. disappeared. As for the time, well let's just say you didn't spend much down there.”

  Jace turned silent. For some reason Eric’s answer bothered him more than it was supposed to.

  Hesitantly, he suggested “Why don't we check out the banquet, see if it's still in full swing?”

  Eric brightened up as he commented “Sure. That's perfect. Let's go,”

  As the pair walked out of the library, Jace took a deep breath and felt … nothing.

  Was he supposed to feel something? Jace didn't understand why but something was definitely weird.

  As they walked, Jace took a glance at the artificial sun floating in the sky. It was floating in the sky, slowly dimming but something was wrong.

  Jace tried racking his brain as the odd sensation continued. It was an alien feeling, as if he was an imposter.

  “So, what book were you reading?” Jace asked, trying to keep his mind away from the peculiar feeling rising up inside of him.

  Eric scratched his hair as he replied “Not much. You probably won't like it. Plus, we're here,”

  Jace turned to see the magnificent looking hall. It was too early, they had only been walking for about two minutes and suddenly they were there. Something was wrong but Jace didn't know what. It was like an invisible force was slowing his brain down, hiding certain things from him.

  “Are you okay?”

  Jace looked to his left to see Eric, gazing at him with worry in his eyes. His cold, no warm palm rested on Jace. Sighing, Jace struggled to move forward as he realized blankly that Eric's palm wasn't cold or warm. It was just…there, like air.

  The two strode into the hall. Lights flashed around as the noise of conversation rose. The sudden movement of the spinning balls of light resulted in a burst of light spraying into the eyes of Jace.

  Wincing, Jace attempted to cover his eyes, until he noticed that he didn't need to. The flash of bright light was apparently not bright enough as he could still see fairly easily.

  Jace frowned just as he heard Eric whisper “I'll be right back. Need to talk to some diplomats.”

  Jace watched as Eric walked away, disappearing amidst the crowd of people. Sighing, Jace focused on the crowd of people, noting a few. Councilor Sorn was gone, same with his cousin.

  For a few seconds, Jace considered finding and talking to the Red Leader. As Jace pondered, he saw someone. A man with a pitch black shirt skipping behind the stage.

  The man looked familiar yet at the same time unfamiliar. Almost like Jace recognized him yet he wasn't supposed to.

  Jace frowned as a vague feeling rose up in his mind. No, not a feeling. Creeping slowly, Jace arrived backstage, at the room he had talked to his Father in barely an hour ago.

  At the center of the room were stairs, leading up to the roof. The question of where and how the stairs could have possibly come from or appeared popped into Jace's mind but somehow Jace ignored it.

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  Somehow, Jace had the feeling he shouldn't question that. It had always been there. Right?

  Wincing, Jace walked up the stairs. They creaked heavily under his weight yet made no sound. As if they couldn't make a sound.

  The stairwell led up to the roof of the hall. Jace stepped onto it, noting the glass tiled floor.

  And over at the edge of the roof looking over the city was his father. He stood like a wall, his hands folded at his back and his gaze in the far distance.

  He spoke calmly, his face still turned away from Jace. Yet, Jace could still feel the biting coldness in his voice. “You're here?”

  “I'm here,” Jace affirmed, trying to make his voice sound even, maybe cold.

  Jace's father nodded as he turned. Jace's hazel eyes met his father's grey, as the Leader of the Black Stars spoke.

  “You should be packing or preparing to leave. The ship comes early tomorrow,” He paused as he scanned Jace, his eyes glancing impassively over his son.

  “Why are you here?”

  As Jace's father spoke, the feeling returned. Like he wasn't supposed to be there, that things weren't supposed to happen.

  Jace's father was never this cold. Never this distant. Something was happening. What was going on?

  A sharp pain materialized in his head as Jace felt like his skull was being split open by a crow bar. At the same time, Jace's father changed.

  His eyes softened as he asked, his voice suddenly soft and caring. “Are you okay?”

  Jace gasped as he felt the pain subside. At the same time, an overwhelming feeling of disgust rose in him.

  He didn't know how or why but he suddenly found his father, no, he found the man masquerading as his father revolting.

  Jace's father stretched his hand, his fingers grazing Jace's arm. Jace shifted away, so fast he almost fell back into the stairwell.

  A look of hurt crossed Jace's father's face, as he stretched his hand out once more only for Jace to evade it.

  “What's going on, son?” The man in front of him asked. His voice was gentle and calm, a stark contrast to his appearance a few minutes ago.

  Jace ignored the question of the imposter, still struggling to breathe after the heavy pain.

  He backed away, his foot stepping back onto the stairwell. His father, no, the man's eyes widened as he stretched his arm out as if to stop Jace.

  Desperation flooded his face as he spoke, his voice strained “Jace, I love you.”

  Jace paused at those words. He breathed in slowly as he flashed a grim smile to the figure wielding his father's face.

  If before there was the slightest chance Jace was wrong, now, there was none.

  Jace turned around as he rushed down the stairs and back into the building. Loud banging noises echoed behind him–The figure was chasing after Jace.

  Arriving into the room, Jace strode into the ongoing party, his pace brisk. As he did, he noticed something unusual.

  There was no noise. No faint murmurings of voices, no faint sound of music circulating through the air. There was nothing.

  Jace looked around as he finally realized why. Every single person, whether they were dancing, talking or stuffing their faces. Every single person was frozen, their gaze fixed firmly on one person–Jace.

  As Jace looked around in confusion, he heard it–the loud banging of boots against the metal stairwell, the noise moving closer as it rose steadily.

  Jace walked towards a table, its only inhabitant a young man in a fine suit, a fork stopping inches from entering into his mouth.

  Jace grabbed his plate, bringing it closer to his nose. It was as he thought.

  There was no scent. The food had no scent. In a hall which should have been filled with the scent of various dishes, or the intermingled odor of a dozen humans, there was nothing.

  One last test.

  Jace walked over to a table and grabbed a knife. Behind him, he could hear Eric shout. Jace longed to turn to see whether Eric had shrugged off being frozen or if he was simply there to stop Jace.

  Either way, Jace didn't care.

  Running the knife's sharp edge across his palm, blood appeared. Spurting out from the thin slice on his palm, the dark red liquid slowly dropped to the floor.

  But Jace didn't feel pain. Because there was none.

  An illusion held no pain.

  “How long are you going to keep watching?” Jace called out as the noise around him slowly faded.

  A soft voice that sounded eerily close yet unfathomably far whispered back. “I made sure I took the time to create this. So how did you know?”

  Jace looked up as he answered, “Details. The drones sound being absent, feelings being pulled, my senses disappearing. Your world was vague,”

  He paused, looking around before continuing. “Then there was information. I asked Eric about his book yet he couldn't say anything about it because I didn't know anything about it. All the information you used to set this place up was gotten from me or rather my brain. That's why Eric couldn't answer where Edgis was or about the book he was reading. It also adds up to the vagueness. You couldn't dig too deep so you could only use what you found.”

  Jace paused again as the soft melodious voice asked, “And the last reason?”

  “People,”

  “People?” The voice repeated as Jace nodded.

  “When I went into the library the sun was about to go down yet when I came out it's still at the same place. That and Eric's reaction to coming to the party. You see Eric hates parties, but you didn't know that. The same way you don’t know that my cousin never leaves an unfinished event”

  Jace exhaled as he finished his conversation. He hadn't said the first and most important way he had realized it wasn't real. It was his dad. His dad would never be so cold and at the same time. His dad would never say he loved Jace.

  There was silence and for a second Jace wondered if the voice had forgotten him.

  Finally, the voice spoke again. “So, I presume you have questions?”

  “Only one. Who are you?” Jace asked.

  The voice remained silent before it sighed, “I or rather you people consider me to be Fate”

  Jace frowned at the wording as he attempted to speak just as the voice interrupted him. “No more questions. Learning more at this stage will kill you. I'll be watching you anyway.”

  Jace called out as he felt himself being dragged out of the mysterious space. “Wait. I need to …”

  Jace wasn't able to finish as the voice spoke again one last time, “I hope the next time we see each other, your fate will be ever clearer,”

  “Wait” Jace yelled just as the soft voice continued, “And I hope your fate will be brought back.

  Jace's yell continued as he sprang up from a bed.

  Disappearing from the mysterious space, he found himself in a room.

  Jace stood uncertainly from the large bed which covered almost half of the room as he looked around. The room was empty without any chairs, windows or even doors, except you could call the metal wall at the side a door.

  The smell of scented candles wafted around as the dark red layout gave a creepy design to the room.

  Additionally, Jace couldn't help but feel that he was being watched. Jace walked towards the metallic wall-like door as he attempted sliding it only for it not to budge an inch.

  [You have gained level 1 resistance to poison]

  “Uhn?” Jace spoke, clearly confused as a screen danced in front of his eyes.

  Jace closed both his eyes as he bit his lips before opening them back up to still see the mysterious window floating.

  Jace attempted to tap it just as the message disappeared. Another one appeared almost instantly, larger and taking most of the space.

  [Name:Jace Vicea]

  [Age:17]

  [Abilities:None]

  [Bloodline: Vicea(locked)]

  [Titles: Invisible to Fate, Marked by Fate]

  [Stats] [Skills] [Tasks] [Inventory]

  Jace scanned through the message as he slowly felt a sense of bewilderment.

  First, there was the fact that they had used Jace's mother's surname rather than his father's. Aside from that there was also the bloodline factor.

  Jace knew enough about bloodlines–enough to know they were a fake.

  In the past when abilities were still being developed, a theory had come out on how every human might not only be able to pass on the DNA which gave them their abilities but also their control over it.

  After thorough experimentation, the theory was disproved with scientists stating that only abilities could be passed and not special characteristics developed by the individual themselves.

  But that wasn’t what caused Jace the most confusion. It was the line at the bottom.

  “What the hell is invisible to fate?” Jace muttered as a new message popped up.

  [Invisible to Fate: The Threads of fate regarding you have vanished leaving you without a clear origin or destination. Whether it has been stolen or is simply missing, only darkness awaits you]

  Reading the ominous description, Jace frowned as another message popped up.

  [Marked by Fate: The architect of fate has lain his eyes on you and is watching. Remember, he is always watching.]

  Jace could feel a dozen different questions appearing in his mind but the most prevalent was the contradictory nature of the two messages.

  One framed him as walking his own path away from fate while the other framed him as being connected to fate.

  Aside from that there was the question, was being connected to fate bad or good. Jace remembered the voice in the illusion and it's final statement.

  ‘May your fate be ever clearer’

  That could mean a lot of things, both good and bad. Aside from that there was still the mysterious space he had been to. That and the stone of death.

  Just as Jace pondered all those things, he heard the sound of the door opening. He turned as walking in the room was a middle-aged man, his brown hair clean cut.

  Jace noted the military attire on him, a black shirt with trousers and the logo on the chest.

  The Military Officer walked slowly, his shoes making a clipped sound with the floor as he shortened the distance between him and Jace to almost five meters.

  Finally he spoke, his voice clear but full of authority betraying the dozens of years he has spent speaking with that same authority. “Who exactly are you, what organization do you follow and give me one reason why I shouldn't run my hands through your heart?”