A/N: hey reader, please read the 'A Word from the Author' in Aux chapters before starting.
001 – Naming Ceremony
The sins did fall.
One by one we were born, or so the tales are told, and like that, we all met our ends.
Well, that is if you believe the tales, anyway…
My fall was a little different from the others… I struggle to remember it all, but I can tell you this…
The others all struggled against the end, but me…
It had been too long since I had last closed my eyes… too long since I was able to sleep…
So, when the end came I did what any sane person would do… I'm pretty sure it's what a sane person would do…
---
"Please just let me rest," I pleaded, I was before the only one who could grant me my wish, people call him death, I used to call him a circumstantial friend.
"It is in line with the convent," did Death answer, but his scythe did tremble non-the-less, "You have cheated time for far too long."
"That's alright, I might be ancient, but I am still so very young…" I smiled upon Death, reminiscing upon an old little joke, "Those were your sisters' words, a pity they are no longer here, I would have liked to have seen them just this one last time," I never thought I'd have ever said such words, but time has a way of making one gain perspective.
"Still, you've played a foul with fate, have you given any thought to what your death would do to the Infinite Weave?" asked Death.
"Of course, how could I have not, it shall bring with it chaos to the weave and who knows just how far it will stretch, not any aspect of creation will be spared, but it shall also bring with it what you have sought, just wave the scythe and be done with me, let the seventh age be born," my smile prevailed, death could not choose to go against the convent, the convent I broke, he was caught in my trap for it was a trap of his own.
…
---
I embraced my death with joyful zeal… glad to finally be able to get some rest… I think… The memories are a little… hard!
It was such a happy occasion… until something went horribly wrong!
Of course, something disastrous had to happen, the black void of nothingness… that was my destination!...
Yet it seemed to last for only an instant…
My eyes opened up along with this burning sensation rushing through my lungs…
- The end of volume 19 of 'Heavenly Paths'
---
Hello there, Lucian Niklaus Thatcher, here at your service, and right about now you're possibly a little confused, if you're familiar with my work then you know me by my Pen name, Lucian Lore.
I know… a little cringy in its inception but you can blame that one on my lovely wife Elsie, she says that I have no naming sense and that it stems from my long name that… apparently has no flow to it, I still wonder what she means by that… I sometimes wonder if she blames my parents… so she takes it upon herself to pick out all the cool and cringy names you find in my novels.
So yes, if you haven't guessed it by now, I'm a writer of books, you may call me an author if you're being kind.
But hold your horses for a second because I have a secret… yes a very big secret and I'm willing to bet that most of you reading this have already guessed it, at the very least you can, there would be no point in writing that extract if it had no meaning… so I'll tell you right here and now you're probably correct…
But in order to explain, I'm going to give you the summary of the final volume, volume 20 of 'Heavenly Paths', well truthfully there is only the summary, the main key points…
The final volume was never meant to be released, after all it's all been acted out already, and the only way anyone will ever get to read the plot points is over my dead body…
---
-"Congratulations you have a healthy boy,"- the lady in a blue outfit was speaking in some foreign tongue as I whipped my head about taking in all the new sights.
-"My, my young man I get that you're curious but you're going to hurt your neck if you keep moving like that,"- the lady in the blue uniform was saying something as she kept a delicate grip on the back of my neck and wagged one of her long fingers in my face.
I had no clue what she was saying, but I got the message, as I felt that grip on my neck, I could feel my own weakness, my neck could barely support my own head.
My brain was having a hard time processing… which happens like never… yet the various clues that littered the room around me all pointed to one thing…
From the panting woman on the bed, whose bloodied legs were still apart, to the various instruments that were only meant to be used by practiced hands and the woman I assumed to be a nurse that was holding me in her arms.
I really wanted to believe the other possibility, that I had just been snatched up by a group of giants, but that couldn't explain the panting woman, nor my own weakness.
I had reincarnated!
I wish that I could say that reincarnation wasn't part of the plan, but it wasn't supposed to be like this, it was supposed to be a clean slate, no memories… nothing at all, even the erasure of karma…
Karma is hard to understand, even harder to escape…
The point being that I wasn't supposed to remember, how was I supposed to rest if I remember!!!
The door to the room suddenly barged open, from my position in the nurse's hands I had a good view and watched as a man with a robust belly came barrelling through the doors wearing a grey fedora and a matching grey trench coat.
His forehead was beaded with sweat and he was panting like a dying fish as he raced in, his van dyke beard looked like it got hit by a rain storm as it dripped with sweat, he took one hard look at me and our eyes met, his lips curled up ever so slightly if I had to put a word to that smile I would call it mischievous.
Like someone who finally got a new toy to play with and I felt chills run down my tiny weak spine.
-"Margot,"- the man called out and raced to the woman his robust belly reaching her first, he took one of her hands in his grasp, -"I'm so sorry Marg, bloody taxi's caused a jammed up, I had to run 10 blocks,"- he spoke with a croak.
-"Can you believe it, I actually ran, … cough… haven't done such a thing since gym classes in high school,"- he laughed while panting, which resulted in a cough that was brutal on his throat.
By that point I had already put two and two together, the partially overweight guy with the fedora was my dad.
My mom suddenly sat up straight when she heard his cough, despite her tired face she squeezed his hand tightly, -"You alright Jim?"- she asked worriedly.
-"Yeah…yeah… fine… just a little… queasy, I'm the one that should be asking you that dear"- he waved his hand that was covered by a black leather glove.
The more I looked at him the more I started to realise just how fine his clothes were and the way he looked, for crying out loud he had a van dyke beard, all he was missing was a cain, 'Could my father be one of those rich tycoons,' I wondered, but that was all, there was no sparkle in my eye, it was just an observation, it wasn't something that truly interested me.
-"Mr. and Mrs. Thatcher, I'll be getting your son cleaned up, I'll bring him back in a minute,"- the nurse suddenly spoke up.
-"Wait,"- Jim raised a hand to stop the nurse, -"Just a… moment… cough… the boy needs his… cough… name first,"- he said something while looking me in the eye and turned to my mother.
-"Marg it's time,"- he managed to wheeze out without panting and he quickly put both his hands in front of him, his left palm flat and open and his right hand rested on it in the form of a fist.
My eyes widened for a second as I recognised the stance, 'No way this world has it too!' I exclaimed, as my tired droopy-eyed mother suddenly looked alive as she took on the same pose.
-"Rock,"-
-"Paper,"-
-"Scissors,"-
-"Shoot!"-
I looked on blankly, not entirely sure as to what was going on, I had recognised a child's game from my world, but I had no idea what they were talking about, new languages were terrible that way.
I guess Oratio's universal language did have some merit to it, I give credit where it's due even if it is to one of those useless gods.
But from observing the twitching eye of my nurse, for some reason, I felt like I should be infuriated or at the very least insulted.
The results were in, and my father's wheezing voice crooked as his rock met my mothers' paper, and a victorious smile crawled up her tired face.
Jim looked like he wanted to protest for the best of three, but a fiery look in moms eyes turned him away.
He turned from her bedside to me, -"Well sonny boy, I do hope you can forgive me," he managed to say with a single breath, "You will now be named after the most overrated chef in the world, from now on you're…. cough… Niklaus…"-
An indignant pout came up on my mother's face as my father spoke, but a moment later he stopped talking altogether.
Thud.
---
That was the first and last time my father in this life spoke to me.
Honestly, I don't remember it very much, I mostly used the stories my mother told me to try reconstructing the events, though the thoughts I had are disturbingly clear.
I imagine that a hospital is likely the best place for a person to have a heart attack, but despite a near-instant response time, it was too late.
My mother only told me the story twice in my life, it seemed that my dad wasn't lying when he said the last time he ever ran was in gym class.
As for my name, they both had a name in mind, and they used that game of rock, paper, scissors to determine whose name I would get.
Naturally with my father's passing my mother ensured that I received the name he chose as well, so I became Lucian Niklaus Thatcher.
Lucian was the name of a local chef… yeah you're probably seeing a theme over there.
My parents owned a chain of restaurants, so they were obsessed with any and all chefs who caught their eye.
- The year was 2042 when a couple birthed a sinner.