The Achievement Junkie

"You were quite eager this time."

"I'd ask if you knew how hard it was to speak with you, but I'm sure you already know. Can't you make it easier for me, your chosen champion?" muttered Jack.

Daruun shook his head with his emotionless face. "It will be easier in time once you find my temple. After entering there you can ask me anything and everything you want. But until then you'll have to find other means. Also, you should know that this tutorial stone has already been used once."

"Then I only get two questions?" Jack glared at Daruun, obviously unhappy.

"Precisely. Now, what would you like to speak about? Have you finally decided to be yourself or are you still waning to other people's wills? Perhaps this is about your wife's and all the time you enjoy spending with them."

"That's enough… You know very well that my current relationship status would be very different had you warned me better in the past," mumbled Jack, trying not to light the fuse of his short temper.

"I did warn you and you decided to take the lesser of the two options. Therefore, the lesser of the two outcomes came to pass. You chose to try and have the best of both worlds, reviving a fallen friend while also keeping close to the Adventurers Association. Those were your actions and that was your decision," explained Daruun. "I may be the God of Fate but I don't change fate, I can only offer you a glimpse into it."

Jack glared at the stoic god. Old feelings welled up inside him and he did his best to keep them down but some still squeezed their way out. "So, in other words, even though I'm your chosen champion, you'll still leave me hanging out to dry without any warning of my friends dying?"

"The death of a person is practically impossible to stop, even more so if they're closer to you. The more you fight fate, the harder it fights back, as you've started to learn. Knowing who will die,… When… Where… Those are things that you shouldn't burden yourself with. And knowing them will only make things worse," mentioned Daruun under his breath.

"So I should just sit here and let people die?!" shouted Jack. "The reason I pledged to you in the first place was so that I can be prepared for every situation and can reduce the casualty and failure rate of everything me and my party does."

"Wrong..." Daruun held up a hand in pause. "You first joined me and my side to reduce the failure rate of your schemes and plans. This is the first time it ever involved including a party that you actually cared about."

Caught in thought Jack's jaw stiffened, still agape. "Yes… But… That just means now I need to learn their fates as well."

"Wrong again. Precisely because they are your companions, you shouldn't learn much of their fate," corrected Daruun. "I'm sure you figured it out by now but let me rephrase it. You, my chosen champion, were selected to fight fate. That means that the world will be fighting against you."

"That also means that anyone alongside you will also be fighting fate, but they'll find it much harder than you do. To fate there must always be a balance; for every right, there must be a wrong. For every victory, there must be a defeat. For each person to rise, there must be someone to fall. That is the simplest law fate, the law of balance."

"Are you telling me that by being with my friends, they have a greater chance of dying?!"

"That's one way to interpret it, yes. But they've also done so willingly."

"That doesn't matter!" With a raging eyes Jack stepped up to Daruun. "What's the point of me even having a party if all I do is bring them misery?!"

"That's not all you bring," added Daruun. "You also add purpose and fulfillment to their lives, just look at Rydel. He was a lonely Hunter who would have scrounged for money until he had enough to eventually travel to Trodar. But what would it be done after that? Wouldn't he have just given his life defending the country he grew up in? What about Maynard, the bloodthirsty samurai who was always looking for a challenge? Wouldn't he travel until he was eventually overpowered and defeated in battle like he used to always go on about?"

"That's enough…"

"And what about your wives?" continued Daruun. "Maura would've spent her life living by her parents' rules and expectations if you hadn't shown up. And though you don't see it, Eliza was the most sheltered of them all and you were her ticket into the real world. You were the hero of her dreams, possibly the only person her father would have trusted her with. Without you, she never would've left the Fat Goose Guild, a shadow of her true self."

"Just stop--"

"Maybe you've forgotten about Keela. But you remember, don't you? Without you, she would've been married off to a perverted prince as one of his many forgotten and abused wives."

"I said--"

"And that's not including Daliea, the lone survivor of an abandoned race--"

"STOP!" Jack grabbed hold of the robed god. "Shut up already!"

"Should I? I didn't even mention Lina, who would've never been born without you," added Daruun.

No longer able to control himself, Jack shook Daruun back and forth, letting his hot raging breaths cover Daruun's face. "Just shut up! Shut up!"

Time passed as all the world remained frozen.

Teary-eyed with quivering lip Jack kept his gaze on the god before him but said nothing. Neither did Daruun. Both remained there, one weeping and one completely emotionless.

Eventually, Daruun spoke again, "You know nothing of fate. You know nothing of death. To you, the death of a friend is heavy on your heart, but is it heavier than the death of millions? Pursuing a noble cause in an unjust world will inevitably lead to the death of a few, but those few deaths can spare the lives of countless others."

"But… That doesn't mean my friends must die," whimpered Jack, still trying to stand his ground.

Daruun shook his head. "I never said they had to. But you must realize the weight of your responsibility. Didn't Lorwynn mentioned that your job among the three champions was the hardest? It's because you're not fighting one current, but two. You aren't to picking a side, you're making your own."

Suddenly, a solemn tone of regret shook Daruun's throat. "I left this world unattended for too long and grew out of hand… Sadly, I can do nothing personally. That's what you're here to do. To right the wrongs and fight the unruly system that grew unstoppable in this world. The rest of the world doesn't know it, but they will eventually thank you for your interference in fate."

Still quivering Jack's hands released Daruun's robe. "Then how do I keep my friends safe? Why should I let them join me if some are going to die?"

"If you ask around, you may figure out that some of your friends have accepted that fate. You may find it wrong but your friends, in the worst-case scenario, might place more importance on your life than their own. And if you told them to leave, do you really think they would?"

Seeing that Jack remained silent Daruun took the initiative to change the subject, returning to his emotionless self. "Weren't you going to ask me about Trodar and how you can control it?"

"Why do you always bring this up?" asked Jack.

"What up?"

"Something that I never asked for… Last time you made sure to talk about who I really was. This time you made sure to poke fun at me and tell me not to worry about my friends when they die because of me. What am I to you? I thought I was your chosen champion, the person you would help succeed no matter what…"

"It's precisely because you are my chosen champion that I bring these issues up. If you don't learn enough about the world and don't have certain expectations, then what occurs in the future will be even harder for you," explained Daruun.

Jack clenched his fist and shook his head. "What if I don't want that? What if I give up and decide to live a casual life instead?"

"That's impossible," sighed Daruun. "For a time you would live a peaceful life, but you've already stepped on this path. Your decisions thus far would fail to prevent any casual life you may choose from flourishing. Your only hope of a peaceful life in this world is to fulfill your role as a champion and right the wrongs that past gods have done."

"… But that's not what I signed up for…"

"In a way, it was. After completing the achievement list in your past life, you opted to accept the extraterrestrial quest you were given. And I know for a fact that your past self, even knowing what you've gone through now, would have accepted that quest. Am I wrong?"

Silence. That was the only answer Jack could give.

"Since that's the case, shouldn't we continue planning your next steps? You know that without me your plans will fail and you won't know what to do." Daruun finally brushed and fixed his robe. "So, weren't you wondering how you could gain control of Trodar?"