Chapter 1854 — Chapter 1854 Destiny & Fate

Vera's casual attitude quickly faded, and her smile disappeared, as the topic of the Nexus event was stirred. The possibilities of what one could do with the knowledge of when it would occur were truly frightening, and it all depended on what one wanted to ultimately do.

She had been looking into it, and came to the eventual conclusion that the only thing limiting one was their imagination.

"Alright, fine. But before we begin, we need to touch upon a few concepts first. How much do you know about fate and destiny? Their differences and similarities?" Vera asked as she sat opposite to him.

"For the sake of this conversation, let's assume I don't know anything," responded Lex. "Start from the beginning. What do I need to know?"

Vera ruminated for a few moments, considering her words before speaking.

"Destiny and fate are two very abstract concepts, and are similar enough that most people use them interchangeably. I can tell you my understanding of them as an oracle, and as I use them, but honestly, because of the abstract nature of these concepts, my understanding may be critically flawed or even entirely wrong. It could also be correct. These are just the things we have to figure out on our own.

"In essence, destiny is a lot more fluid and flexible than fate, but both point towards events or occurrences that must happen within the existence of any item or being. Let's take, for example, a person named Andrew.

"It is Andrew's fate to be hated, but his destiny to be a hero. Neither of those define specific ways in which they may happen, but as long as Andrew is alive, or continues to exist, both of those will come true. It may happen that in his life he was hated, but in his dying moments he became a hero - even if no one knew it. Or he may be a villain, recognized as such throughout his existence, but in the final moments of his life accidentally became a hero. Or maybe he was a hero for certain people, but was hated for it by everyone else. "In this example, both fate and destiny can be achieved through many ways, which is why there is often confusion. But consider this: Andrew's fate is to be hated due to a misunderstanding, but he is destined to be a hero in the thirtieth year of his life.

"In this case, no matter what he does, how he explains, or how he justifies himself, he will always be hated due to a misunderstanding. Maybe, he may live his entire life extremely carefully, avoiding all misunderstandings, but as soon as he dies, a misunderstanding flips his entire existence on its head, causing him to be hated.

"Conversely, to be a hero at the age of thirty, he need not live carefully or with purpose. He could live his whole life as a villain, and in his dishonesty do something that causes him to be named a hero. Or, he could spend thirty years, working hard all for this one single goal, finally achieving it at the age of thirty. Or… he could die at the age of 29, and in his thirtieth year, his death, or his memory, or his legacy could somehow turn him into a hero.

"In this case, he can achieve his destiny through many means, but no matter how he tries, he cannot escape his fate. The problem is, in such examples, the line between fate and destiny blurs, because from a certain point of view, it seems like destiny is also inescapable.

"But regardless of how confusing it may seem to be, the original definition is what I live by: destiny is fluid in how it happens, yet fate is undeniable. The reason for that is that there is power in understanding the difference. "These concepts, by design, are not easy to understand, and we can argue or debate about them for centuries as philosophers have done, but we don't have that kind of time, so for the course of this explanation, let's just take those two definitions as true. In that case, some questions arise: can destiny and fate be changed? Can one person, or one item, have more than one destiny or fate? Or is, perhaps, every single moment of a person's existence governed by destiny and fate?"

At that point, Vera stopped talking to let Lex consider everything she had said. Truly, these were topics he had not given much thought to before. So, if he assumed what Vera said was true, and fate is inescapable, and that a person can have any number of fates, then theoretically, every single moment of a person's life could be written down beforehand - a collection of his fates. In such a case, free will is the ultimate illusion, for from the moment of conception to destruction, each moment may be preordained by, or perhaps through, fate.

"That's a scary thought," Lex muttered, refocusing on Vera. This definition also somewhat reminded him of the Essence Wormhole. If one fused with it, then for their entire existence, nothing could be changed. Every instance of their entire existence would become fated, and knowing or not knowing the future would become irrelevant, because at that point, one would merely become a slave in their own body to the machinations of fate.

"Indeed, it is," she agreed. "The problem is, I cannot even answer those questions for you. All oracles, throughout history, have tried to answer those questions, if not for others, then at least for themselves. But, more than fate, we tend to focus on destiny.

"Owing to their flexible nature, prone to change, spying upon future or past destinies is also more forgiving. Also, among the oracle community, there is a general consensus that very few beings or things have more than one destiny at any given time. It is usually only upon the completion of one destiny that another is created, and this pattern continues until the subject of that destiny ceases to exist entirely."