A wise fool's ranting - Chapter 2

Second chapter of my "A wise fool's ranting" serie, a mix of philosophy brought with fantasy with an intresting hermit called Sagesse.

After your recent encounter with Sagesse, you couldn’t stop thinking about what happened, was it all just a dream? No matter how hard you tried, you still couldn’t open the next pages of the book. As your frustration was rising, the urge to confirm whether what you experienced was nothing but an illusion or reality was gnawing at your insides. Exactly one week after you read the first chapter, just as you were about to throw the book away, you made one last desperate try to open it. And much to your surprise, you could finally turn the pages, in an instant, you ran to your desk, your blood boiling with anticipation. You hastily sat down and began to read the new pages.

And once again, as you did, you find yourself transported in Sagesse’s library, the same smell of old books and herbal tea that never left your mind since last week filling your lungs. After letting out a relaxed sigh at the idea that what you experienced was not a dream, that you had not gone crazy, you looked around, trying to find Sagesse. Only to be greeted by the silence of the dimly lit library, only interrupted by one of the seemingly infinite bookshelf creaking under the weight of thousands of books once in a while.

Your vain search was interrupted by Sagesse’s voice, coming from above. “So you came back in the end. And judging by your look you would have liked to come back earlier”. You looked up, only to be faced with Sagesse, looking at you with a warm smile, understanding your circumstances. What bothered you however, was the fact that he was floating mid-air, head upside down with a book in his hand. The cup of tea floating by his side defying gravity as the liquid it contained showed no signs of falling despite the cup being reversed too. Both the book and cup disappeared as Sagesse flew toward the ground with an ease unexpected for his old age, his light steps barely making any sound as he landed on the ground.

This time, however, instead of summoning a table, he began to walk inside the labyrinth of bookshelves his library was. As the aged wooden floor gently creaked under his weight, with a gesture of his hand he invited you to walk at his side. As you followed him, he began to speak again, his tone gentle as always. “It looks like we were fated to meet again”. Without waiting for your answer that would never come since the rules applied on you were still unchanged since last time, he added. “Fate… quite a mystery don’t you agree? Shall we discuss that concept today ?”.

As he finished talking, the path you followed widened and you arrived at a crossroad between the paths formed by the bookshelves, creating a large space, in the middle of which was standing a table along with two cups of tea ready, as if Sagesse had been expecting you all this time. He sat down as he spoke. “Some believe in it, others do not, and all those who believe have their own opinion on it. You might not agree with mine, afterall I am just an old fool holed up in my library”. He let out a light laugh before taking a sip of his tea. He then looked into the distance with a pensive gaze, as if he was trying to comprehend some secret insights hidden among the endless rows of books.

He let out a small sigh as snapped back to reality and set his cup on the table before speaking. “Now, let’s talk about fate shall we? Where to begin…”. He pondered for a moment while caressing his long and well-groomed ashen beard before his voice finally broke the silence. “To explain my vision of fate, I must first explain my vision of the world, to me, the world is a vast place full of endless possibilities”. With a movement of his hand, a long translucent light blue string appeared, spreading from one extremity of the open space to the other. In the meantime he continued to speak. “That string you see here is our current timeline, our “world” keeps moving inside of it”. As he spoke, a small sphere of light appeared inside of the string, slowly moving just like the world in the flow of time. Soon, multiple strings began to branch out from right in front of the ball of light as Sagesse added. “Those other strings you see, are the possible timelines, that crossroad where a single timeline splits into many is a moment which you may call a determining event”. As you drank Sagesse’s words, you noticed that instead of taking a single path, the light ball split into as many paths as there were and took all of them at once. With a smile, Sagesse replied before you could even shape your curiosity into a question. “Indeed, all the timelines exist at once, which is why the possibilities are endless, each timeline will then split over and over again, creating an infinite amount of different futures, which means that there are many other worlds just like ours that simply took a different path”. 

After taking another sip of his tea, Sagesse waved his hand, and as he did, the display he created above “zoomed” on the crossroad, the entire space above them now filled with a mess of entangled strings, shining a gentle blue light on them mixed with the warm golden light of the sphere of light. After giving you a few seconds to enjoy the scenery, Sagesse began to explain again. “Now, let me explain what those determining events are to me”. As Sagesse gave you a smile eager to see how you would react, a dice appeared in front of the light ball. “The timeline in which we go depends on the result of a random event, which by itself determines the path we take. To explain it with different words, every action is already predetermined, other than the determining events, which will decide what path our world takes”.

After letting out a sigh, he added. “Well, it does mean that everything is already written in the web of fate, which is why foresight is an arduous and imprecise task, instead of seeing the future, in fact, all you do is try to determine the path we are taking. Fate is predetermined and yet ever changing, isn’t it quite an interesting paradox?”. He asked with a wide smile while looking straight into your eyes. He then added. “Indeed, if you can determine the direction we take, then you know roughly what the world will look like, since all the paths at a crossroad are pretty similar. And the more crossroads you can “predict” the more accurate you will be”. As he saw that you were looking at him as if he had gone crazy, he let out a light laugh as he said. “Pardon me, it seems I have forgotten that from where you could from foresight is not a thing, but among the endless amount of worlds, some have developed in a way that allows for such an art, fascinating right? To think that despite sharing the same origin, there could be so many differences between two worlds”.

With an amused smile, he cleared the display above your heads with a thought as he said. “Well, now you know what is fate to me, whether you share my opinion or not is now up to you, shape your own thoughts and beliefs with the knowledge I gave you”. He stood up and walked up to you as he added. “Once again, it is time for us to go our way, we will meet again if fate allows, but this time do not despair for if our future meeting exists it is already written in the intricate web of fate”. As he touched your shoulder, everything went dark and you found yourself back at your desk, out of breath and lost, but Sagesse's words were still resonating sharply inside of your head. Whether you meet again or not was already decided, so you had no reasons to feel frustration for being once again unable to turn the pages of your book. With a sigh of acceptance and a peaceful mind, you put the book back to its place in your bookshelf.