"No!" exclaimed Clotho. "Cease this at once. Do you comprehend the ramifications of that commandment?"
Clotho attempted to intervene, but Atropos blocked her path. "Can't you see?" she said, locking eyes with Lachesis. "Have you ever witnessed her this determined before?"
Lachesis's eyes dimmed, yet glimmered with defiance, refusing to surrender regardless of the toll. She bit her lower lip, drawing blood. Two additional streams trickled from the corners of her eyes, joining the dark flow of blood from her mouth.
Several seconds later, Lachesis coughed up a mouthful of blood, drenching half the room in black, far exceeding the volume her body should hold.
Atropos's hair extended, enveloping the entire room and purging it of any stains. They remained unfazed within the blazing flames, wholly focused on channeling vital energy into Lachesis.
"Why is it taking so long?" Clotho voiced the concern, her tone edged with urgency.
"She must have broken or overridden the commandment," Atropos suggested, her voice tinged with apprehension.
"Why?"
"To see," Lachesis interjected with a cough, glaring at Clotho as she couldn't discern the obvious. "Stop acting so childish."
Clotho pouted and glanced at Atropos. "Don't look at me," Atropos responded, raising her hands in a defensive stance. "Was it Worth it?" She changes the topic.
"Depends," Lachesis replied, her bloodlust seeping out, saturating the palace with a tangible aura of death. "Do you consider a hub meant for the Noor a good find or a bad one?" She clenched her fist, feeling her bones quiver under the pressure.
Clotho's demeanor paled, her once bubbly mood giving way to despair. "It can't be," she whispered in disbelief.
"And why not…?"
"Because it never did before and–" Atropos faltered as she locked eyes with Lachesis, her voice trailing off. Memories flooded her mind—a blank slate of red that her fires failed to purge. There was an overwhelming presence that even her flames could never reach or cleanse. "Omni Wars," Atropos muttered, her flames retracting into a bob cut.
"We have to—" Clotho began to say, but before she could finish her sentence, Lachesis flashed in front of her and severed a thread before it could weave into existence.
"There's a difference between acting and being stupid. I won't be warning you again," Lachesis cautioned them both.
"Now what?" Atropos questioned. "Sit and watch while an all-out war breaks loose?"
"We have the system and Das Sar guiding the rules. There's no way we can lose control."
"Yes, we have everything we need. Why fight for supremacy?" Lachesis remarked with sarcasm.
"We—" Atropos corrected herself. "You saw it. We can change the outcome."
"Tampering with a natural hub where every Noor's thread of time is involved?" Lachesis laughed at the suggestion. "Are you both truly my sisters?"
"If we can't, who else can?" Clotho glared back at Lachesis. "No one can manipulate a thread better than we can."
"Yet we scrape by at the tenth position," Lachesis reminded them. "Rot compelled us to initiate the system, and do I need to remind you how challenging it was to emerge victorious when the hub consisted of only two Noor?"
"We are part of the Das Sar," proclaimed Clotho.
"And are you confident enough to come out unscaved in a battle against Void?" Lachesis slumped back into her cloud, reminiscing about the old days. "He is just one step ahead of us, yet we would be considered extremely lucky if one of us survives."
"A thread of defiance cannot become a hub," Atropos interjected.
"The defyer has a single extension that will never break," Lachesis mused, losing herself within the Thread of Defiance. She had never encountered such a strong bond that surpassed even the connection between her and her sisters before. "Is it because of the natural hub?" she wondered.
"So?" Both sisters said in unison, their frowns converging with each passing moment. "Unbreakable bonds aren't heard of."
"Yeah," Clotho continued, "He might be a Defyer, but facing off against a Noor is the most significant development yet. In comparison, this isn't that shocking. But why are you shifting the topic? For his age, the level of defiance is unheard of, but it's not something the Noor should get worked up about."
"Good," Lachesis sighed, drawing confused glares from her sisters. "I assumed I would have to feed you all the details." She chuckled and clarified further. "The unbreakable bond is with the natural hub or the person at the center of it all."
"Just—" Clotho's voice caught in her throat, while Atropos lost the ability to respond altogether.
"Ever came across a Defyer who collaborated with a natural hub?" Lachesis pressed on. "And not just any hub, but one where the Noor are destined to converge."
Atropos gasped, and in an instant, Lachesis materialized before her, snipping another thread before it could manifest.
"Every action we take only hastens the creation of the Hub. Or do you desire the Noor to unite and incite another war for supremacy?" Another sigh of helplessness escaped Lachesis' lips as she swiftly closed her sisters' gaping mouths with a snap of her fingers. "There's someone even more audacious than the child who created the ladder. It's futile to oppose such power; all we can do is navigate this thread and hope we survive the final hub."
"How long?"
"By the end of this current Ræ."
"That soon!"
"If it had lasted any longer, I would've perished by now. All thanks to the commandment."
"But..." Atropos struggled to find the right question. "How?" She managed to blurt out in the end.
"I don't know," Lachesis lamented, sinking back into her cloud. "Someone or something is destined to become a natural hub, and there is nothing we can do about it. Initially, I sought to exploit the hub, as always, and ascend the ladder. But now I question whether anyone will even survive."
"This is the second time you've mentioned survival. What do you mean by 'survive'?" the two sisters gaped at Lachesis. "A final hub. The end of time. The harbinger of doom," they uttered simultaneously.
The mention of the last word reminded Lachesis of their mother—the warmth of her embrace, the brightness of her smile, and her solemn warning about a child that everyone had ignored. "One child started all of this," she murmured, peering into the vast cosmos, her gaze scanning every inch of the universe. "And the other is going to end it all." She closed her eyes, attempting to imprint the images into her memory.
"I am going to eradicate every thread of defiance," Atropos declared.
"Good luck with that," Lachesis snorted.
"It's not fair!" Clotho yelled before the two started fighting over nonsense. "Those threads should not have so much freedom to do whatever they please."
"We should throw them into a Hub of defiance and see how they like the odds," Atropos agreed.
Lachesis burst into laughter upon hearing her sisters' complaints.
"What is so funny?" Both of them glare.
"Well... First of all, stop talking in unison. It's eerie," Lachesis began, "and second, did you both forget how hard it is to be a Defyer? We tried it and failed miserably not too long ago." Both sisters clenched their hands, lacking a good retort for the truth. "Also, this one has already gone through one, and another is coming for him soon."
Both their hair flared at the news, and they leaned in closer to Lachesis, intrigued by the outcome. They opened their mouths at once, glanced at each other, nodded in agreement that only one of them would speak, and then spoke as one. "How long until the next one? How many more are left? Did he survive the first one without any backlash?"
Lachesis clasped their mouths shut with her hands. "What did I just say?" she sighed in defeat. "Do you understand how a Hub of defiance works?" She released her hand from Atropos' mouth, allowing only her to reply. "Only one possible outcome—" Lachesis closed her mouth again and opened Clotho's. "Only one possible thread," she continued.
"Yes," Lachesis nodded and closed her mouth too. "The Defyer survived with only one measly little chance already and is soon after placed in the path of another. Not to mention he had several other forced hubs and natural hubs of defiance to go through. You call that lucky? Want to switch places?" Both sisters shook their heads sideways. "Good! You have at least a bit of common sense left in you."
"Hmm," Clotho mumbled, eager to speak. Lachesis tightened her grip, seemingly reading her mind and responding, "The next hub should have been his last. I don't understand why so many gods are intrigued by him, but their interferences opened up that one chance of survival. So..."
She glared at her sisters, her eyes radiating a green sheen that could zap them both out of life force. "Any more interferences will only open his one chance of survival, and if he survives this one, every other hub will only increase his chances of survival."
Next, she turned to Atropos as she mumbled a question. "Because he is a Defyer, and every one of us is a greedy bastard. The Das Sar leaders have already shrouded their threads, and so did that brat Adam. Soon the Noor will follow suit."
She turned her gaze on Clotho. "Because we all want to use that damn Hub instead of preventing it from happening. Peace has driven everyone crazy. I don't know why it is like that. It just is," she yelled at both of them. Both sisters slumped beside Lachesis, their vision drifting past the cosmos.
"How many years did you lose?" Clotho broke the silence, her eyes tearing up before the answer arrived.
"Not enough."
"Who is he fighting?"
"A Dandralith."
"Hard match," both sisters muttered at the same time.
"Five levels and a tier above himself," Lachesis added.
Both bounced back onto their feet, sending Lachesis deeper within the cloud. "What the KAR!" Lachesis swore.
"That is an impossible match. There is no way he can win."
"There shouldn't be a person capable of being a natural hub either, and since when is a hub of defiance ever easy?" Lachesis countered their ridiculous argument.
"It only becomes one if he survives, though." They tried to sound optimistic, yet a note of concern lingered in their voices.
"He had already defied death once," Lachesis reminds them both.
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