Writing Fickle Things was an absolute joy, from start to finish, and I wanted to give a final thank you to anyone who read all the way to the end. Unfortunately, in preparation for the rewrite coming along- and the story losing all fanfiction elements so as to be publishable- I must bring this specific iteration to an end.

The original version, in its entirety, has been saved to a word document in my possession, and will be used as an outline for the creation of the new series of the same name.

The first book of which is currently being workshopped and published for free on Litnet. This will not be true of the others, and once that is finished (and edited) it will be removed from Litnet as well. A list has been compiled for people getting a free finalized copy- those who wanted one and who read my authors note on the last two chapters- and will be otherwise left to the market.

A permanent sample will be provided here and on Litnet, however, and I'll give you chapter 1 following this authors note.

I implore any of you who enjoyed the original or who like the sample to go to Litnet, where the work in progress will be published until such a time as it is completed.

Once again, for those of you who stuck around, thank you so much and have a great day.

Draco Murdock, signing out for the final time.

Ciao.

Fickle Things Outset - Prologue - A Real Life

Ow...

No, that's not quite painful enough.

OW!

Much better.

Draga regarded the floor as he normally did- with disdain. His face, and most notably his nose, had become increasingly acquainted with the gym floor. It was an unfortunate consequence of Kirase being cooped up as they awaited news from Jak.

"Up for round three?" Kirase asked, offering him a hand. Oh, right... The fight... Draga reached an arm up to clasp the black skinned paw of the Demon king. One quick tug and Draga was on his feet, taking a new stance. "Take your time."

Draga rolled his eyes, but did take him up on the offer. A quick straightening of his plain white t-shirt and beige cargo shorts, an equally swift hand through his hair, and he took his stance opposite Kirase.

Sparring was the man's main method of blowing off steam, which was honestly great. It kept him and Draga fit- not like Kirase really needed it, when the bastard could shapeshift at will- and also helped train Draga to defend himself. Not too useful a skill for everyday life, but only because he fought so infrequently. Back when he didn't have Kirase or one of the other Demons at his side? Ho boy, those were the days.

Even if he had been taking it easy, he still fought enough to react when Kirase suddenly lunged forward.

The initial punch was sidestepped easily enough, and the second was caught in the palm of one hand. Kirase ignored the occupied limbs in favor of whipping one leg around, forcing Draga to immediately disengage.

At least, that had been Kirase's intent, but he'd done that exact trick before. Instead of backing up, Draga raised one knee up to take the hit, grimacing from the impact of the much stronger person's leg. Draga forced himself to continue, using his free hand to grab his opponents heel and lift.

Kirase responded well, turning away to prevent Draga from knocking him over and then diving forward.

Draga had to let him go to stay standing, but kept up by taking a few tentative steps forward. A smart move, as Kirase predicted the approach and did a spin to kick out his legs, only to find him just barely out of range.

Perfect.

Draga dove forward and a look of realization came over Kirase in that moment... but was quickly replaced by a cheeky grin.

Never-****ing-mind...

What should have been a perfectly executed tackle, and subsequent victory, was ruined while he was in midair. Kirase's entire body flickered for a brief moment- the effect well known for his shapeshifting- but for an entirely different purpose. By reforming his body, but with exactly the same parts, he could change his position.

Long story short, Draga missed, and was forced to duck into a roll to dodge one of Kirase's boots stomping on his head.

Kirase showed enough mercy to let him stand up before engaging again, but he was pulling out all the stops this time. Er... He wasn't, since he wasn't using any actual magic yet, but he was blatantly cheating with his shapeshifting powers. He didn't move forward so much as he just existed in range of his attacks.

Draga expertly blocked the first blow with his cheek before slamming his chin down onto Kirase's knee. Using the momentum from that second strike, he flew backwards, but was aware enough of his opponent to ensnare his fist with his gut.

The final attack sent him crashing to the ground- thankfully on his back, for once- where he laid down for a moment. By choice, obviously.

"Masterfully done, Draga," a deep, booming voice said with equal sarcasm to the clapping that accompanied it. "And you, Kirase; I know this is rich coming from me, but your powers are bull****."

Kirase rolled his eyes, letting the slight go without mention. "Hey, Alvadeer. Long time no see- I take it Jak's back?"

Alvadeer nodded, and thankfully voiced the thought too for Draga's sake. "He arrived a few minutes ago and asked for me to collect the both of you. All of us are meeting for the final push. Come on."

Draga groaned in a vague approximation of agreement while the other two made their way out. It took a moment for him to get up, though not because he was tired. The fights never really lasted long enough to leave him exhausted... They just hurt. A lot.

Fortunately, he already knew where he was going, and had no trouble finding his way through the maze of corridors to the conference room. Kirase and Alvadeer were already inside, along with fourteen others.

Exceed- the group destined to defeat God and attain their greatest wish. Literal wishes, in this case, as Tetral had stated himself that the victor would get whatever they wanted.

Based off the smile on Jak's face as he stood at the head of the long table, it was time.

Draga quickly made his way to the only available seat so he could listen to the speech he just knew Jak was dying to give.

"Brothers, sisters, whatever you four count as," he greeted, the last one aimed at the resident shapeshifters. "We are gathered here today to celebrate the holy union between this-" He lifted a 'sword' made of the glued together pieces of a chess board. "- and Tetral's face."

The sword was enough to earn a few laughs on its own- the casual disregard for the sixteen artifacts capable of taking over the world being just too fitting for someone like Jak- but his words garnered a different response. Cheers erupted throughout the room, Draga joining as well with a whistle.

"When do we start?" Draga asked when the noise had finally dimmed out.

"How about right now?"

The whole room was silenced in an instant, to the point where a breath would have been deafening, as the group collectively turned to the door.

"Figured you were listening in, Tet," Jak remarked as the only one with a functioning jaw. "So, who's gonna be the unfortunate soul who has to beat you?"

Tet smiled, looking at them individually while humming to himself. Strangely, it sounded almost like eeny, meeny, miny- "You."

Draga blinked a few times, tracing out where Tet was gazing, only to find his eyes on him. "Me?" he asked, pointing a finger at himself. "I am the least qualified to play a game of chess against you."

"I know," Tet said, his lips curling up in a smug grin.

Oh... Sore loser, right...

A quick glance around the room revealed no objections, along with a few small signs of support. Jak gave him a nod, an action mirrored by Kirase a moment later, while Artosh gave him the tiniest of smiles. From the grumpy ocean god, that was the most emotion he'd ever seen outside anger.

"I'll do it," Draga proclaimed with a nod. "You're going down."

[~]

"I honestly thought it would be harder than that..."

Tetral glared at him, the childishness of his expression- and his chosen form, for that matter- doing a lot to undermine the threat he posed. Being all powerful was... Pretty ridiculous, honestly, but Tet had always been a man of his word.

As the chess game resolved, with Draga taking an easy victory, the relic of legend pulled itself from the Aether beside Tet. The Chikami, or the source of Tetral's infinite power, and the only thing capable of creating a God- a true one, as opposed to the Avatars that Artosh and his brethren were.

Draga took a step forward, prepared to take his prize, only to stop- for two reasons. The first would be easy to resolve... He just needed to ask a question.

"Everyone else- the members of Exceed..." he began, gesturing vaguely in their direction. "Could they get a wish, too?"

Tet nodded. "We can work something out. Now what do you want?"

And that's the other thing...

What would he do with omnipotence? Tet had spent his entire existence, except for the first few minutes before he got the damn thing, trying to entertain himself. With infinite power, that was obviously pretty damn hard, hence why he built a system of universal laws that restricted his own influence and made the inhabitants of the world act differently. Did he... Did he really want to do the same? Just create a giant game to observe?

No. That was a pretty easy answer to come to, and it wouldn't help if he just avoided using the Chikami. The thought that any real problem could be solved instantly would always weigh on him.

But if he didn't want to watch a game from afar, what about participating in another? His adventures with Exceed were by far the most interesting part of his life here, and he'd been raised in the capital city of the Demons, Pandemonium, as a human.

"I know what I want, Tet," Draga announced, steeling his nerves. "I want to play the best game there is for the rest of my life."

There. No eternity, with which he would definitely grow apathetic and bored, and he would be put into the objectively best game- which definitionarily had to be great.

Except... Tet smirked, which instantly put him on edge.

What did I do wrong... Dammit, this is why Jak tried drilled it into my head not to rush in!

He scoured over the words, trying to find any major loopholes, and... Well, he found one which Tet was definitely gonna use, if not others as well; he'd never specified whose idea of 'best game' the wish was using.

Draga groaned, already knowing he wouldn't be allowed to reword it. Tet wasn't enough of a monster to make it a game he wouldn't enjoy at all, but the experience as a whole was gonna be a whole lot less consistent than planned.

"Have fun, Draga," Tet said, still smiling coyly.

The redhead in question rolled his eyes, but still paid enough attention to notice when the Chikami started to spin slowly. The spindly little staff started to glow as it moved, growing in speed and brightness over time until it eventually flashed.

Some might say he was... Gone in a flash.