Memory

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Memory>

Wait!
*Breaks into a coughing fit*
By the sands, I won't be a problem for you. Just leave them all alone!

@Techspert

Old man: What could be more worthless than a covenant of sands? Begone!
*A riptide sweeps through the river and carries your boat away*

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Memory>

*Coughs and chokes out a ragged word*
Wait—
*Flips my scythe upside down and pushes off of it against the boat to a standing position*
The river has spared me... your own ways don't allow you to reject that judgement.

@Techspert

Young woman: No, but you still lost the battle. And the blessing of the river does not touch those you care about.

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Legend>

*Doesn't respond, instead gasping and shaking, trying to regain my composure*

@Techspert

Old woman: By the ways of water, you may leave. We don't expect to see you again.
Old man: Yet your troublesome motivations remain. We will address those in due course. You may prefer your fate had you perished in this river.

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Legend>

*The thread dissolution stops when it reaches me, hanging by one arm on the scythe, frozen with the tip of my foot barely grazing the river’s surface*
...
*Scenes, moments, memories, and worlds flash across my pupils and irises all at once*

@Techspert

Young man: Brave.
Old man: Foolish.

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Legend>

*Cranes my neck to look at my boat behind me and in a split second decision, bursts into a backwards leap, embedding the point of my scythe into the dull wood of the vessel with a thud, locking it in place and dangling from the handle above the river's water*

@Techspert

<Snipped quote by Techspert>

*Snips the thread in two, adopting a scarlet hue before dissolving in either direction*
This was fun.

@Legend

*Several of us observe, silently*

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Memory>

*Glares with renewed fire*
By the river. And. Its tributaries... Vipers.

@Techspert

Old Woman: *Chuckles*
By the river and its tributaries.
Adult Man: It appears you've signed your own death warrant, regardless.
*Nods toward the young girl*
Brenna.

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Memory>

Don't take me for a fool. I'm familiar with the ways—to choose that wager, even in victory, I've signed my death warrant. No, once I've won, none of you will be entitled to harm me.
*Flips my scythe and plants the base of the handle into the ground*
By the river and its tributaries.

@Techspert

Young Man: You alone? Not your loved ones?

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Memory>

Combat. Pick any of your own. Whoever wounds the other is declared the victor.

@Techspert

Young Man: You've deliberately chosen injury?

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Memory>

The ancient ways aren't very favorable to my choices. But I had beyond enough time to decide on a wager on the trip here.

@Techspert

Old Woman: What terms?

Myriad Reality

<Snipped quote by Memory>

...

@Techspert

Young Girl: Not so snappy now?
Old Man: We've made our decision. I assume you've made yours as well, as prescripted in the ancient ways.