Meddling The Omniverse

Time: right after the previous chapter

Seth, Madame M., And Eris were walking through a corridor. The corridor was long and its end was still far from sight. Knowing this Seth inquired, "Madame, where are you bringing Me and Eris too?" Seth asked.

"Wait patiently dear," she replied. Hearing this Seth and Eris turned toward each other before resuming their walk without a word.

Dozens of minutes later they arrived at a gate-like door, madame M. in her cloak extended her arms to open it. 

As it opened, the three of them could only see nothing, it was pitch black inside. 

Madame M. beckoned the both of them to enter, which they did. All Seth and Eris could see was pure darkness and one other thing.

"It's been a while, Seth." The ball with the top hat greeted him. The ball floated in the void as ifit was lit in the absence of light. Its yellow-colored orb of a body could still be seen as if it was still in a well-lit room.

The ball snapped his finger and light returned. As their sight returned, what the two saw left them speechless. They were on top of a watch tower, under them was an endless plain of stars, stretched across the horizon with no end in sight.

The whole place was dark and empty like space, although they could see tiny wisps falling from above. It was unclear about where they came from, the only obvious thing was that they always landed or got sucked into one of the endless stars on the plain.

"Can you guess?"

"Is this related to the isekai project?" Eris first asked.

"Yes."

"Are those wisps people?" Seth asked second.

The ball nodded, which can be easily noticed by the bobbing of its hat.

"Then those stars under us are the worlds or universes?" Both Seth and Eris connected the dots.

"Yes, they are." The ball tone went a tad colder, "Now Seth, use your clairvoyance, can you get something out of it?"

Without hesitation Seth's galaxy-dotted iris darkened, he replied "Yes I do, a bit blurry but I could."

"Congratulations, this makes you one of the few who could achieve that."

"Achieve what?"

"To activate their prophetic or fate-related powers here, in this place."

"Excuse me?"

"This place here is the hub for all the worlds that are receiving transmigrators and reincarnators from our isekai project; It has an uncountable amount of universes and multiverses," 

The ball continued, "Most people who activated their future-fate-related abilities here would react in two ways, between getting nothing or fainting from backlash."

"May I inquire more?"

"At the nexus of countless worlds, an unfathomable convergence of destinies occurs at this very place. Those who dare to use their prophetic or fate-manipulating abilities must bear the full weight of multiple worlds, which often overwhelms them."

"So it's like trying to find a single dot on a piece of paper that has been scribbled so much it became black. If you tried to trace that dot, you either see only black or be overwhelmed by the number of scribbles."

"Correct, for your clairvoyance to still work here is an achievement worthy of praise."

Seth focused hard on his clairvoyance, he could see many strings of fate connecting them both to other worlds below him, the wisps that were currently falling, and those that hadn't been sent above him. 

As Seth harnessed his power, something snapped in him, causing a profound change.

A breathtaking sight unfolded before him. Stretching out across his entire field of vision were the delicate strings of fate, numbering in the billions, suspended loosely like strands of light, delicate silk. 

They illuminated against the vast expanse of the empty black sky and the endless sea of stars, casting a mesmerizing glow and transforming the surroundings into a scene of otherworldly beauty.

The plain of stars beneath them shimmered like a celestial meadow, each star a twinkling gem in the velvet expanse. Above, the strings of fate ascended towards the void, their ethereal canopies stretching majestically overhead like the boughs of ancient willow trees in a dreamy forest.

As Seth gazed upon this surreal landscape, each wisp of light attached to the strings danced and fluttered like delicate petals caught in a gentle breeze, their soft twinkling radiance lending an enchanting aura to the scene. 

It was as if he stood amidst a magical grove of cherry blossoms, bathed in the ethereal glow of a thousand stars, a moment of pure, transcendent beauty suspended in time.

With such a sight, all he did was admire its beauty, ingraining all of it into his memory.

As a consequence, Seth became entranced in his world. Unresponsive to any stimulus that comes his way.

—

The ball and Madame M. noticed Seth's current trance, and with worry, Madame M. asked, "Is he fine? He's not reacting to our call."

"He is fine. He is having a moment of revelation or enlightenment. It's best to leave him be."

"Why am I… here?"

The two of them turned towards the one who spoke those words, Eris.

"Will you answer me, why am I here?" Her voice was laced with destitute.

"I understand why he is here." Eris pointed at the unmoving Seth, "But I shouldn't have been here in the first place."

Before they could reply, Eris stated, "This place is the most sacred and protected place of The ***. The very foundation of all that we as a united front stood for."

"One of the many foundations the *** stood for." The ball remarked.

"My question still stands, why am 'I' here? I'm just a humble goddess from a normal pantheon. I… I have no business being part of this...." her voice barely audible from overwhelmed.

"Eris, calm down."

"Me being here! and witnessing all of this! This could have jeopardized us! Leading to the destruction of so many things!" Eris held her head in distress as she stumbled.

"WHY am I here!? I'm not special like any of you!"

"ERIS!" A ripple was released from the ball. causing Eris to snap out of it.

"Calm down…"

Eris blinked. Clarity returned to her eyes. Yet still, she stared at them, "I… I… shouldn't be here, I don't have the qualifications." 

With the ball and Madame M reflected in her eyes, Eris stated matter-of-factly, "We have enemies out there. They could have captured me and forcefully extracted the coordinates of this place. Giving them the chance to strike a fatal blow to our organization."

Madame M. finally spoke, "Eris, we know you're not a bad person. Plus you already signed the contract, nothing bad would happen to you-"

"No! Tell me honestly why you brought me here. I know it's more than that." She replied with resoluteness. The idea of becoming a liability, of inadvertently putting her pantheon and others at risk, weighed heavily on her conscience.

The ball and Madame M. stared in silence, taking the hint, eris lowered her head as she affirmed her will, "I only wanted to do what's right, for the greater good. At least answer me this one question, will others be in danger while I know this place here?"

Madame M. asked, "Do you know about our grand plan for Seth?"

"Partly, I was informed of only the goal, the task, and some information about him. Though I believe the last one was fake when he protected that lich."

"That information about him was not fake, we just informed you of only one of Seth's multifaceted self." The ball clarified.

"Should we sir?" Madame M. inquired.

The ball moved his finger, and a golden fleece surrounded Seth's head, disallowing him to hear what would be spoken next. As the fleece tightened, the ball began answering.

—

Seth in his mindscape inspected everything his power had wonderfully revealed.

As he watched in stupor at this fantasy. A tint of yellow suddenly covered his whole view. Weakening the enchanting beauty of what he saw.

"What just…?" Seth asked himself as he recollected what he remembered.

He surveyed his surroundings and noticed three shadows in the tint of yellow.

*******, Madame M. and Eris? Seth stared at the blurry silhouette of the three of them, with Eris showing signs of vulnerability.

Seth assumed they must be having a sensitive discussion. He stretched his hand and saw something abnormal.

What he lifted wasn't his hand, but the 'soul' of his hand. He was having an out-of-body experience.

Unfettered by this, he analyzed the dream-like world his clairvoyance brought him.

The falling petals made of strings of fate were wisps of individuals who were not fated enough to be with him, hence the falling petal look. 

By technicality, everyone was always destined to be with someone. However, the degree to which someone is fated to be with another varies. 

For instance, two strangers who were never meant to cross paths with each other were still 'fated' towards each other, though their fate was 'fated to never meet'. 

Nonetheless, two individuals who were meant to be with each other usually have a stronger string than those who were not.

What he is seeing now somewhat proves it. The strings on those falling wisps were not thick enough to be visible from end to end, thus creating the illusion of petals while they were technically still connected to him.

For those stars that represent the universes underneath him, strings of fate stretched far across them. It was just that they went under the stars, allowing those stars to shine brightly like they were supposed to. Yet he couldn't help remarking that it has spread its roots to an indescribable distance.

As for the canopies that stretched to the skies beyond, they showed too many things that he decided not to mention.

When he touched his soul hands at one of the floating petals, he received snippets of information.

This one's gay. He then touched a different one, and this one's horny. Yes by touching those strings and concentrating on it, he could get certain information about the object on the other end of the strings, may it be person, world, and more. He only found out about this gimmick after he came back from Kazuma's world. 

That was how he got Buggy's future, the isekai department was obligated to hand over Buggy's past, but for his future, they could not.

This stems from the fact that obtaining information about the future is very risky and requires a cost. So those specialists (oracles, prophets, fortunetellers, etc) wouldn't do it without compensation. Luckily due to his clairvoyance power, Seth technically became one of them, meaning he could get the future information by paying a price of his own.

Seth won't divulge the cost, but after some calculation deems Buggy a worthy investment for the price he had to pay.

Seth's powers leaked from his body into the strings and got more information. The horny one will become a bard who had successfully swooned a dragon, accidentally forcing him to marry her. He regretted that he couldn't get more ladies but at least the dragon morphed into the hottest woman he had ever seen. Seth commented with detached bemusement.

Seth did this with a few more petals and received mixed results, some mentioned the cause of their death. One about their daily life before reincarnated, their regrets, habits, and more.

Seth leered at the strings that were headed towards the stars underneath them. As he slowly extended his hand towards it. A gradual magnetic push affected his hand, preventing him from touching them.

Seth both was curious and wary, as he stood indecisive, he sought an answer from the divine power inside him. All he got was, "To embark upon action or remain in stillness both hold the advancement towards a brighter future. Yet, it will be stated that the path of action leads to a labyrinth of chaos."

Receiving this answer, Seth decided not to touch it. Sadly a variable knocked on his door.

"No." A black ray of light emerged from his left ring finger. It formed into a hand and grabbed the strings.

Dread came upon Seth like a truck. Before Seth could react, a torrent of cosmic ethereal light surrounded his field of view. As the vortex enveloped him, a screech was heard, "SETH!!!".

Chapter's Title: An Unplanned Action