Aarav stopped intervening.
Not suddenly. Not completely. But deliberately.
That was new.
He stood on one of Crossfall's quieter terraces, watching a distant world flicker inside a suspended window. Storms spiraled across its surface, tearing through continents like careless hands. People were evacuating. Cities were breaking.
Mira stood beside him, arms crossed.
"You're not going to fix it," she said.
Aarav shook his head. "I'm going to ask."
She sighed. "That's worse."
He smiled faintly. "I know."
They stepped through.
The air hit them like heat from an open furnace. The sky was bleeding red. Buildings cracked under gravity waves. People ran.
Aarav raised his handsnot to stop anything, but to reach.
A voice answered.
Not one.
Many.
Fear.
Anger.
Pride.
Desperation.
And beneath it allchoice.
A group of survivors gathered in a shattered plaza. Their leader, a woman with burn marks across her face, stared at Aarav.
"You're the one who breaks gods," she said.
"That's… not inaccurate," he replied.
She gestured at the collapsing skyline.
"Then save us."
Aarav swallowed.
"I can," he said. "But I won't unless you tell me what saving means to you."
She frowned. "What does that matter?"
"Because I won't define your ending for you anymore."
Silence.
Then murmurs.
Confusion.
Hope.
The woman stepped forward.
"What are our options?" she asked.
Aarav exhaled slowly.
"I can stabilize this world," he said. "It will survive. But it will be different. Some of your technologies will fail. Some of your cities won't exist anymore. You'll have to rebuild."
Murmurs.
"I can evacuate you," he continued. "Take you to other realities. You'll livebut your world will die."
Gasps.
"Or," he said quietly, "I can walk away."
The woman stared.
"You'd let us die?"
Aarav met her eyes.
"I'd let you choose."
Anger flared.
"Who are you to decide that?"
"I'm not," he said. "That's the point."
She turned to her people.
They argued.
They cried.
They screamed.
They voted.
For the first time, no prophecy guided them. No god whispered. No destiny pushed.
Just choice.
After a long time, she turned back.
"We want to stay," she said. "But not the same way."
Aarav nodded.
"Then I'll help you change."
He stabilized the planetbut not perfectly.
Storms became seasons.
Rifts became mountains.
Chaos became geography.
People lost cities.
But they kept their world.
When it was done, Aarav collapsed.
Not from power.
From restraint.
Mira caught him.
"You could have made it perfect," she whispered.
Aarav shook his head.
"Perfect is just control pretending to be kindness."
He looked at the people rebuilding.
Laughing.
Mourning.
Living.
"I'm not a savior anymore," he said.
Mira studied him.
"What are you?"
He smiled faintly.
"A listener."
And somewhere
In worlds still ruled by prophecy
Something dangerous began to spread.
Not rebellion.
Not chaos.
But a question:
What do we want?