The Fates (Book I) - 2014 Watty Award Winner!

3.7 - The Source

Dear Readers: Back in the Cave, to see what Chaos has to tell the Fates...

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Scene 7: The Source

2020 B.C.

So Chaos told the Fates the story.

“When Nyx took on her form as a vortex and set out to conquer the cosmos, the only deities too powerful for her to overcome were your mother and me,” she explained. “But she had thought that I was dead; only your mother and few others knew the truth, that I was dormant. So Nyx prepared just for her final confrontation with Ananke, believing that—once she devoured and absorbed the force of all the other gods—she would be strong enough to overpower the last one standing. The almighty force of destiny.”

“Wait,” Atropos interrupted. “Our mother ordains everything that ever happens, in the Book of Fate. So if what you say is true, she must’ve written it to be that way. She must’ve planned out all those terrible developments on purpose. Is that what you are telling us?”

Chaos smiled a little, tragically amused by the self-righteous fire in Atropos’ eyes. “You believe things very fiercely, Atropos.”

The emerald fire flared intensely. “As I should.”

“A little doubt might do you good. For instance, why don’t you question this belief: that your mother determines all events that ever happen. Ask yourself—did anything exist before her birth?”

“You,” Atropos scornfully spat. “But you are nothing, by your nature. You’re the void.”

“And from the void, the cosmos formed. From nothing came something. That was an event—a thing that happened, long before your mother started writing in her book. Before she ever lived.”

Atropos smoldered, as the seeds of doubt were sowed.

“The Book of Fate is just part of the story,” Chaos stated. “There are powers that precede and prevail over the force of destiny. Powers we can never know. Powers that cannot be transcribed onto a scroll.”

“So Nyx tapped into that sort of power?” Clotho inquired. “How?”

Chaos shook her head. “I do not know. I doubt she knows herself; such power can spring up without being summoned.”

“Well, in any case, she swallowed up all the other gods, and then came for us and our mother,” Atropos recapped. “What next?”

Next, Chaos explained, Ananke saw the vortex coming, sent her daughters down to earth, and hastened to awaken Chaos. Told Chaos what she knew of what had happened, and then asked her to guard the Cave, keep the Fates safe—for only Chaos would be strong enough to do it. With all the power that Nyx had absorbed, Ananke did not believe that she could overcome the vortex. But she knew that Chaos could, and so she begged her to please look after her daughters.

Ananke, for her part, had to flee Olympus to distract Nyx, who was sure to chase her all across the cosmos. Ananke hoped to keep Nyx as far from Olympus as possible, far from the Cave, forever.

And if her efforts were to fail—if Nyx should ever overtake and vanquish her, and come back to Olympus for her final prey—then Ananke trusted Chaos to protect the Fates. Forever.

“Why would she trust you?” Atropos queried once the tale was told.

“Because I am her sister,” Chaos answered levelly. “And that is what sisters must do, when they have nothing but each other.”

Atropos was plainly unconvinced. “She expected you to protect us, against the aims of your own daughter?”

“She expected nothing. But she hoped. And she was right to hope,” Chaos asserted. “I would never kill my daughter—yet while she lives, I will do everything in my power to keep her from harming you.”