CHAPTER 12 — BREAKING THE THREAD

  The train was supposed to kill two hundred and sixteen people.

  Paris had less than forty minutes to prove fate could be wrong.

  The station buzzed with the quiet routine of early morning commuters.

  Coffee cups.

  Headphones.

  Muted conversations.

  No one here knew the future had already been written for them.

  Paris stood near the platform edge, staring at the long metal body of the commuter train.

  The iron serpent.

  Cold steel stretched down the tracks, lights glowing faintly along the cars.

  Passengers boarded calmly.

  Laughing.

  Yawning.

  Checking the time.

  None of them knew they were already dead in someone else’s timeline.

  Paris checked his phone.

  The chat was still active.

  [Goddess of Fate]: The thread remains stable.

  [Blood Saint]: No deviation detected.

  [Abyssal Observer]: The event approaches.

  Paris swallowed.

  “So it’s really going to happen.”

  He checked the time again.

  5:47 AM.

  Twenty-three minutes.

  He paced along the platform, trying to think.

  Stopping the train directly would cause panic.

  Calling in a bomb threat would get him arrested.

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  He needed something smaller.

  Something believable.

  Something that would delay the train.

  His phone buzzed again.

  [Thunder Sovereign]: Sunrise approaches.

  [Goddess of Fate]: Causality remains intact.

  Paris stared at the words.

  Causality remains intact.

  Meaning the derailment was still inevitable.

  Unless—

  He interfered.

  He looked down the platform.

  Near the front of the train stood a small maintenance gate.

  Locked.

  Beyond it sat a track switch control box.

  Paris’s mind clicked.

  A delay.

  Even a small one.

  If the train left late—

  Maybe the accident wouldn’t happen.

  He moved quickly toward the gate.

  Passengers barely noticed him.

  Most were too busy staring at their phones.

  Paris reached the maintenance barrier and glanced around.

  No workers nearby.

  He slipped through the partially open gate.

  “Okay,” he muttered.

  “Don’t get arrested.”

  The control box sat beside the rails.

  A heavy metal latch secured the cover.

  Paris hesitated.

  “Please tell me this works.”

  He yanked the latch open.

  Inside were switches and wiring he barely understood.

  His phone buzzed violently.

  [Abyssal Observer]: Deviation detected.

  Paris froze.

  “You can see me?”

  [Goddess of Fate]: The thread destabilizes.

  [Blood Saint]: External interference.

  [Thunder Sovereign]: Identify the anomaly.

  Paris slammed the control panel shut again and stepped away quickly.

  Behind him, the train conductor stepped out of the first car.

  “What the hell—?”

  A loud alarm suddenly blared from the train.

  Passengers jumped.

  The conductor cursed.

  “Signal error!”

  Paris blinked.

  “I didn’t even do anything.”

  The conductor grabbed a radio.

  “Dispatch, we’ve got a signal fault on Track 4. I’m not moving until we get clearance.”

  Passengers groaned across the platform.

  One woman checked her watch angrily.

  A man muttered about being late for work.

  Paris stared at the train.

  Not moving.

  Delayed.

  His phone buzzed again.

  [Goddess of Fate]: Thread deviation confirmed.

  The golden interface shifted.

  A branching probability tree appeared.

  The original path glowed red.

  Derailment.

  Casualties.

  Fatalities.

  But now—

  A new branch flickered faintly beside it.

  White.

  Uncertain.

  Possible.

  Paris whispered softly.

  “…It worked.”

  The chat erupted.

  [Blood Saint]: Probability divergence increasing.

  [Abyssal Observer]: The anomaly interferes again.

  [Thunder Sovereign]: Fate has been altered.

  Paris leaned against a nearby pillar, trying not to look suspicious.

  The train remained still.

  Workers began inspecting the track signal.

  Passengers grew impatient.

  But they were alive.

  Every single one of them.

  His phone buzzed once more.

  [Goddess of Fate]: The thread fractures.

  The red branch faded slowly.

  The white branch brightened.

  Then—

  The red line vanished entirely.

  The derailment timeline collapsed.

  Two hundred and sixteen deaths erased from existence.

  Paris exhaled shakily.

  “Okay.”

  “That’s one.”

  But high above the mortal world—

  The divine chat had gone silent.

  For several seconds.

  Then a new message appeared.

  [Abyssal Observer]: The anomaly has changed fate twice.

  Another followed.

  [Blood Saint]: Mortals do not possess this capability.

  And finally—

  [Thunder Sovereign]: Then the anomaly must be located.

  The messages stopped.

  But one last notification appeared at the top of the chat.

  A system alert.

  From someone who had not spoken since the lightning strike.

  [The Architect]: Variable activity confirmed.

  Paris stared at the screen.

  The delay had saved hundreds of lives.

  But now—

  Something far more powerful had begun paying attention.

  What do you think the gods will do next?

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  - Variable God Paris