Eldritch Guidance

Inside the sprawling halls of the Graheel University Library, a sea of people moved about or sat hunched over at tables, immersed in their tasks. Most were students, diligently researching a wide range of topics for their studies. Some flipped through thick tomes, while others took furious notes. Their brows furrowed with concentration as they delved into their academic pursuits. The atmosphere buzzed with quiet intensity, filled with the rustling of pages and the soft murmurs of whispered discussions.

Cid sat alone in one of the private study rooms of the library, deliberately isolating himself from the bustling crowd outside. Surrounded by scattered notes and half-finished calculations, he pored over the Book of Grand Design, meticulously comparing its cryptic information to his findings.

He had posed a question to the book and attempted to calculate an answer to: “Why are my calculations sometimes wrong?” Yet, when he sought clarity on this, the book offered no meaningful response. The equations it provided suggested that his calculations were accurate, but Cid knew this was false.

There were clear instances where his predictions failed—people who were supposed to be in specific locations at certain times simply weren’t there. As the weeks went by, he uncovered more discrepancies. Each time he tested the book's power on different individuals, he found an unsettling pattern: some of his calculations were correct, while others inexplicably diverged from expectation. The more he tested, the more he realized that the book’s power wasn’t as straightforward or reliable as he had initially thought. He just couldn’t predict some people.

After countless hours of frustration and dead ends, he finally experienced a monumental breakthrough in understanding the book's power. For a long time, the book had remained stubbornly opaque, refusing to reveal the nature of its mysteries or why his calculations failed. Cid had grown convinced that the book was deliberately withholding its secrets from him. But now, he realized the truth: like his interactions with John, the problem wasn't with the book—it was with the questions he had been asking. He hadn’t been framing his inquiries in the right way.

Cid changed the way he framed his question and, at last, received an answer. This time, he asked, “Why does the outcome of my predictions differ from what I observe?” That, it seemed, was the key he had been missing.

With this new approach, the Book of Grand Design finally began to divulge its secrets. The pages seemed to pulse with new energy as they filled with intricate symbols, equations, and diagrams that had previously eluded him. Suddenly, it became clear that the problem wasn’t with his calculations themselves, but with the variables he hadn't accounted for—the unseen forces, hidden influences, and complexities that shaped reality in ways beyond his initial understanding.

Cid carefully completed the final steps of a complex calculation on a separate sheet of paper, his hand moving with almost mechanical precision. Once he was done, he compared the mathematical formula he had meticulously written down to the eldritch symbols and cryptic script etched across the pages of the Book of Grand Design. His eyes darted back and forth between his notes and the book, searching for any discrepancies or signs of alignment. After a long moment, he leaned back in his chair, exhaling a deep, weary sigh.

“So that’s it. Destiny and Fate are two natural forces that work in conjunction to determine the future. But, fate doesn't seem to exist anymore for some reason, leaving destiny as the only force controlling the future. Destiny by itself is not enough to completely control the future. This results in powerful forces being able to influence and warp living creatures' futures in a way that is difficult to impossible to predict.” Cid silently thought to himself.