Blood is louder than screams. You learn that early in this world.
It sticks to stone. Seeps between cracks. Stains faster than fire. And when it pools beneath someone else's feet instead of your own, you start to realize what it means to be unwritten.
The guards found the body at dawn.
One of Kael's personal enforcers — a man named Varric, known for his brutal loyalty and the cruelty he dealt out like coin — was laid out in the training pit, throat slashed clean through.
No sign of a struggle. No magic used. No trail.
Only one message burned into the sand with embers still warm:
"He was meant to kill me."
I stood in the shadow of the balcony, watching Kael from above as he examined the corpse. His jaw was tight. His men were whispering.
Good. Let them wonder.
Because that man was supposed to kill me — in the original timeline. It was Varric who "accidentally" left me for dead during the rebellion ambush in Arc 1.
But I got to him first this time.
[Timeline Interference Registered.]
Original Death Thread: SEVERED
+500 Chaos Points
New Skill Unlocked: [Foresight Fragment: Deathpaths]
"You now see fragments of death destined for others… or yourself."
The System flickered behind my eyes, then pulsed.
A new string hovered in my vision — pale silver, splintered like glass. It led away from the pit, away from Kael… and toward the outer courtyard where the hero's envoy was set to arrive today.
I followed it.
The Hero.
He wasn't supposed to show up this early. In the novel, he only meets Lucien at the capital's summit—long after Lucien is already dead. But now… timelines were collapsing into each other. Thread after thread overlapping like blades.
And fate was beginning to panic.
The hero's arrival was quiet. No fanfare. Just a white-cloaked figure on horseback, flanked by two Knights of the Dawn.
I recognized him instantly.
Golden hair. Blue eyes. Chiseled like he was carved from the idea of hope itself. Crownless, but no one ever needed to see it to know he'd wear one.
Elias the Just.
Hero of Light.
The man destined to end Kael. And in the original story… to never know Lucien existed.
He glanced at me as he passed. Just a flick of the eyes. Barely a second.
But that was enough.
[WARNING: Heroic Thread Entanglement Detected]
New Route: You have become a Variable in the Hero's Fate
Effect: Shadow Presence unlocked — Hero cannot perceive you as a threat until Divergence exceeds 10%
Interesting.
To him, I'm still harmless. Forgettable. Just the villain's quiet little brother. That's good. Let him believe that.
Let him leave his back open.
Later, in the Great Hall, the tension thickened.
Elias and Kael sat opposite each other, discussing territory lines, border disputes, and hollow promises of peace. I stood near the window, silent, unseen.
Watching.
Waiting.
Then Elias turned to me.
"And you are?"
Kael replied before I could speak. "Lucien. My younger brother. He rarely leaves the estate."
Elias smiled politely, but there was a flicker of something else behind his eyes. Curiosity. Recognition?
No. Not recognition. Not yet.
"Strange," Elias murmured. "You don't look like you belong here."
I held his gaze. "I don't."
He tilted his head. "Then where do you belong?"
The System flickered again.
Choice Triggered: Response Will Shift Thread Alignment
"At my brother's side, of course." → Maintain low threat profile "Anywhere but under his shadow." → Begin power arc "I belong where kings bow." → Aggressive divergence [Say Nothing] → Unlock new passive trait
I smirked internally.
Option 4.
I said nothing.
Elias waited, then gave a short, thoughtful nod. "Quiet power. I respect that."
But I wasn't being quiet.
I was calculating.
That night, I returned to the training pit. The blood had dried. The message was gone.
But something else waited there.
A figure in black.
Kael.
"You killed Varric," he said.
It wasn't a question.
I didn't deny it.
"I thought he was loyal," he continued. "But you've made me doubt. That's dangerous, Lucien."
"You should doubt more people," I replied.
He stepped closer, expression hard. "Including you?"
"Especially me."
For a moment, we stared at each other like two chess pieces finally recognizing they weren't the same color.
Then he smiled.
Not warmly. But with respect.
"You're not afraid of me anymore."
"No," I said. "I'm not afraid of being forgotten."
[Divergence Rate: 5.7%]
You are no longer a footnote.
You are a ripple. Soon, a wave.
I turned away from Kael and walked back into the shadows of the keep, the System humming louder now, the threads around me pulling tighter.
Varric was the first.
But not the last.
Fate has always feared men like me — not because we're loud, but because we're wrong. Wrong for the story. Wrong for the world.
And what's wrong with the world…
Is exactly what rewrites it.