As Ethan looked deeper, the few lines on his chest became a mere fraction of a terrifying reality. Thousands—millions—of ethereal threads erupted from his core, stretching outward in every direction. They pierced through the walls of the HQ, spanning across the city and vanishing into the horizon. It was a chaotic, shimmering tangle of connections that made his head spin with instant vertigo.

[What you are witnessing are the Threads of Terrestrial Fate, ]] Crul explained. [These allow you to perceive the human connections of every living soul on this planet.]

The threads were a kaleidoscope of meaning. Most were a dull, pulsing red; others were a jagged, oily black. But as Ethan scanned the horizon, his eyes caught a single, blindingly brilliant Golden Thread. It didn’t just vibrate; it hummed with the power of an ancient sun.

Curiosity piqued, Ethan began to focus his intent on that golden line, trying to trace its origin.

[NO!!] Crul’s voice erupted in a desperate, digital shriek. [Do not look at it! The Golden Thread is forbidden!]

Ethan snapped his gaze away just as a cold, sharp sensation sliced across his throat. It felt as if an invisible, mountain-sized scythe had been millimeters away from decapitating him. He gasped, clutching his neck, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird.

Crul exhaled a simulated sigh of relief. [That is your own thread, Master. But in your case, it is not a Terrestrial Thread. It is a Celestial Fate Line.]

"What’s the difference?" Ethan wheezed, the phantom sting of the blade still lingering. "Why did I feel like I was a second away from death?"

[It is easier to show you than to explain. Look here.]

A single thread near Ethan began to flicker. [Focus your gaze on this one.]

Ethan narrowed his eyes, zeroing in on a thread connected to a Russian woman named Ivannova. As he focused, the world around him blurred, and he saw a single, thin connection between himself and her. From her, however, thousands of other threads branched out like a web.

[Think of this as a node] Crul said. [The thread between you represents your interaction.]

Images flashed through Ethan’s mind. He saw the scene at the Kremlin from a different perspective—Ivannova’s perspective. He saw himself floating in the air, a terrifyingly beautiful god, while she held her phone with trembling hands, recording him.

"That was our only interaction," Ethan muttered. "So there’s only one string."

[Correct. But the true power lies in her connections to others.] 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Several of her branching threads began to glow. Scenes erupted in Ethan’s vision: Ivannova as a child playing in the snow with her parents, a tearful goodbye at a train station, a first kiss. The threads stretched across the globe to people Ethan had never met, yet he could see them all. However, as he tried to follow a thread to a distant relative in another country, a wave of exhaustion hit him like a physical blow.

[Using this ability directly consumes your Spiritual Power and Mental Energy] Crul warned. [You can burn Amethyst Crystals to force your sight across vast distances, but the cost is a multiplier. The closer someone is to you—or the stronger the bond you share—the cheaper it is to see. To see a stranger across the world? That will drain you dry in seconds.]

Ethan shifted his focus, noticing a jagged Black Thread connected to Ivannova. He leaned in, and two dark memories materialized. A party, the smell of cheap vodka, and a man leading her into a hotel room against her will. The memory was stained with a suffocating sense of helplessness and rage.

[That is a Life-and-Death Dispute] Crul whispered. [A black thread signifies a soul-marking event. A grudge so deep it has altered the trajectory of her fate. It is a debt of blood that, until settled, will never change color.]

Ethan pulled back, the weight of a billion lives suddenly pressing down on his shoulders. He wasn’t just seeing people anymore; he was seeing the raw, bleeding blueprint of their existence.

"With this," Ethan said, a slow, dark smile spreading across his face, "I don’t need to interrogate anyone. I just need to find the right thread."

[Exactly] Crul confirmed, [Your ability is called Fate-Spying. However, you must understand the hierarchy of the cosmos. The heavens may tolerate you peering into the tangled mess of human interactions and terrestrial bonds, but if you dare to touch a person’s Celestial Destiny, you will die instantly.]

Ethan wiped a bead of cold sweat from his temple. "You said I almost looked at my own. Why was that so dangerous? And what exactly is a Celestial Destiny?"

[Your eyes are far too weak to see the Celestial Destiny of others yet] Crul explained, her voice dropping to a somber, warning tone. [But because your soul is yours, you can catch a glimpse of your own path. The cost of that glimpse, however, is your life. You were a millisecond away from having your soul extinguished by the laws of the universe.]

Ethan felt a chill that no amount of Void energy could warm. "Will I ever be able to see it? For myself or others?"

[One day, perhaps. When you are strong enough to withstand the weight of the stars. You see, Master, Terrestrial Fate is the Present and the Past. You can see who a person is right now, the depths of their soul, and the memories that shaped them. The past is immutable; it cannot be changed, so the heavens do not guard it as fiercely. But the Celestial Destiny... that is the Future. To spy on the future is to challenge the decrees of Heaven itself.]

Crul paused, her processors retrieving a dark Chapter of history from the Amethyst archives.

"In the time of Lord Amethyst, there was a clan dedicated to spying on the decrees of the Heavens. To appease the karma they incurred, they had to mutilate themselves beyond recognition. They gouged out their own eyes, cut off their tongues, ripped out their vocal cords, crippled their limbs, and punctured their eardrums. They did this so that no matter what cosmic secrets they saw, they could never communicate them to the world and thus never interfere with the flow of Heaven."

Ethan’s breath hitched. "That’s... insane."

[It was a desperate bargain] Crul continued. [And even then, it wasn’t enough. They experimented too much, grew too arrogant. In a single night, the Karma they tried to dodge fell upon them and exterminated every man, woman, and child in the clan. It served as a lesson to the entire universe: Karma and Celestial Destiny are the two forces you do not play with. Defy them, and you will face a fury that even an Amethyst Lord cannot survive.]

Ethan looked back at the mess of threads, suddenly seeing them not just as a tool, but as a minefield. He retracted his spiritual energy, and the world returned to its normal, physical state. The sun was fully up now, shining over his city, but Ethan felt like he was standing in the shadow of something much, much larger than himself.

"I understand," Ethan whispered. "We stick to the red and black threads for now. Let’s find those labs."