The second nerve strand brought a colder symbol:
She saw an ancient tree, with countless chains hanging from it.
At the end of each chain hung a vague humanoid.
Those figures swayed gently in the breeze, like hanged prisoners.
But more terrifyingly, she saw one chain was empty, waiting for her arrival.
Countless eyes were staring at her, filled with anticipation and greed.
They were waiting for her to willingly walk towards that empty chain, to become part of this collection.
This image revealed another kind of fate:
She would be collected by some powerful being, becoming part of their private divination tools.
When the third nerve strand was touched, her consciousness fell into a grayish void:
No shapes, no sounds, not even darkness.
For darkness, at least, is "something." Here, it was pure void, the opposite of existence.
In this void, she felt herself dissolving bit by bit.
Not the death of the body, but a deeper disappearance.
Memories, emotions, consciousness, even the fact of "having existed" itself were dissipating.
Occasionally, silvery fragments flashed in the void, remnants of her soul.
But these fragments were quickly disappearing too, leaving no trace.
This fate was more terrifying than death: not just an end, but never having begun.
The next nerve strand brought the breath of the Abyss:
She saw her outline constantly changing, like clay molded by an invisible hand.
Sometimes she sprouted tentacles, sometimes her eyes turned into compound eyes, sometimes her skin split into countless small mouths.
Every transformation was accompanied by intense pain.
But more frighteningly, she found herself gradually adapting to the pain, even starting to enjoy the process of distortion.
Her values were changing, her sense of aesthetics twisting, her understanding of "normal" being redefined.
Eventually, she gained immense power, but lost the reason to use it.
Countless dances of death...
One by one, Chloe touched every nerve strand on the loom of destiny.
She saw herself turning into a speaking blood mist, prophesizing to the empty depths;
She saw herself trapped in a mirror, able to observe but never influence the outside world;
She saw herself split into countless versions, each repeating the same mistakes in different timelines;
She saw herself becoming a living book, locked by some Collector in the depths of a library, only opened when the future needed unraveling...
Countless possibilities, countless endings.
Every future speaking the same cruel truth:
In this twisted universe, having such prophetic gifts is like a Curse.
The stronger she was, the more vulnerable she became; the more useful, the more dangerous.
Chloe’s fingers, already cut by the nerve strands, leaked countless tiny wounds, with blood sizzling with corrosion as it dripped on the loom.
Her Life Energy rapidly depleting, her consciousness beginning to blur.
But she couldn’t stop; she had to find that one hope.
Just as despair nearly devoured her reason, her fingertips touched a special nerve strand at the very depths of the loom.
Inspiration struck!
The thousand and first possibility—Great Refuge
This nerve strand was entirely different from all the other threads.
The moment she touched it, the entire symbolic world changed drastically.
The hungry vortex became a spiral of wisdom, the binding chains transformed into protective ribbons, the void filled with infinite possibilities.
She saw herself standing at the center of the stars, no longer a fragile Prophet, but a being of higher existence.
On the periphery of the vast sea of stars, she sensed another existence’s aura.
That was...
An indescribable Guardian
When she tried to "clearly see" that existence, her consciousness almost ripped apart completely.
It wasn’t anything she could comprehend in shape or concept.
Sometimes it appeared as a nebula, sometimes as a collection of innumerable eyes, sometimes as pure geometric will.
Its very existence was a contradiction—both ancient and young, both immense and minute, both benevolent and terrifying.
She could only sense it through some abstract features:
It was the convergence of numerous threads of time;
It was the bridge between reality and illusion;
It was the perfect balance between order and Chaos;
It was... some consciousness evolving towards an unimaginable direction.
Under the protection of this existence, her destiny underwent a fundamental transformation.
She was no longer the passive victim, but an active participant.
Her divination ability was no longer a curse, but a tool to explore the mysteries of the universe.
More importantly, she felt a kind of unprecedented... sense of belonging.
Like an orphan finally finding a home, like a missing puzzle piece finding a complete picture.
Yet when she tried to further explore the essence of this existence, a voice echoed deep within her consciousness.
It was a warning acting directly upon her soul:
"One who gazes into the abyss, shall also be gazed by the abyss."
"One who peeks into the stars, must bear the weight of the stars."
"One who seeks the truth, must bear the burden of truth."
"Do not look... do not ask... do not try to understand... at least, not yet."
This warning thundered in her Spiritual World, instantly pulling her consciousness back to reality.
Chloe abruptly returned to the real world, gasping as if flung ashore from drowning.
The nerve strands of the loom of destiny stopped pulsating, their bizarre glows gradually dissipating.
This divination exhausted the Life Energy she had long accumulated but obtained the most crucial answer:
Among countless possible futures, only one path led to hope.
And the key to that path was in the hands of that young Wizard.
She didn’t know what he truly was.
But she knew that if she wanted to escape the Prophet’s curse, if she wanted to gain real power and freedom, she must seize this one opportunity.
"My fate... I leave it to you..."
Chloe gently caressed the "Celestial Sphere" Crystal on her chest, the legacy item from Astraea.
Under the eerie glow of the Soul Lamp, the nebula within the Crystal slowly rotated, seemingly responding to her determination.
No matter what secrets that existence hid, no matter the challenges following it might entail, she was ready.
Because in this universe full of malice, even benevolence from within the Abyss was far better than sheer despair.