Fallen Fate Online



Every resident of the Fallen Fate knew of Fate as a great entity, as well as Chaos. However, only a few knew that Fate was as capable of evil as Chaos was of random good. One of the rarest knowledge was the existence of the Shattered Moon Order. 

Erel and Solomon knew of their existence, Anet too, as an experienced Oracle, she knew many secrets that others had no idea about.

Rea was the only one who hadn't known about the existence of such an organization until now, so she was curious to hear more about it.

Erel took a deep breath and said, "Rea, the Shattered Moon Order has not taken one clear stance. They are not allied with the Fate or Chaos. They act at their own discretion, and do as they see fit."

"Hmm...? Doesn't that make them just a neutral organization?" Rea tilted her head in confusion, "Why would Order want to destroy them in that case?"

"Well... Because they are the ones who have killed many Fate Knights and even Crusaders... At some points, they do it even more often than Apostles." Erel said calmly, but his voice was shaking, he was having a hard time saying it.

Anet frowned as well as Solomon. Even though they knew the downside of Fate's, that this entity wasn't completely fair, they followed it. Since it was the best their world had to offer.

Rea's eyes went wide as a wave of goosebumps traveled through her body.

"What...? Just how powerful they are and... Why have I never heard of them before? If they have that much power, it must be a big organization, right?" Rea suggested.

Erel shook his head, "No, it's not. To be honest, even Order isn't sure he knows every member of the Shattered Moon Order. However, they are quite a few, I'd even say too few for an organization with that much influence."

"About your other question... Order makes sure that as few ordinary people as possible know about the Shattered Moon Order, so any mention of them is destroyed. Obviously, you can't tell anyone about what you just heard." Erel said sternly as he cast a hard stare at Rea.

Rea gulped, the mere sight of Erel's gaze sent a chill down her spine. She knew she shouldn't have angered a man of his position.

"Anyway. The Moon Shattered Order believe they have the right to lynch those who exceed their authority. Rea, I'm going to ask you a question and you have to give me an answer, is that clear?" Erel asked in a calm tone.

Rea nodded.

"Let's say you find yourself in the service of Order, and you must act in the name of Fate. On one of the missions you find yourself in a difficult situation, you need to destroy a Chaos Hearth, let's say First Tier, where there's probably a Terror Grade Monster. 

"However, you don't have enough forces to do this and you don't have time to wait for help, because if Chaos Hearth is not cleared, it will destroy the nearest town. The only option is to sacrifice the people from the nearest village to get strength out of them with Fate Coin. Would you do that?" Erel asked in a deadly serious voice.

Rea's face immediately paled as she realized how difficult, unethical, and immoral a choice it was.

In fact, it was a simple dilemma. Was it worth sacrificing the minority to save the majority?

"Rea, you need to answer that." Solomon said, touching her shoulder.

"Yeah, I understand that... If that's the situation, then I'll sacrifice the lives of the people from the village." Rea replied, not entirely sure.

Erel nodded, "Do you think the villagers are any worse than those living in the cities? After all, we all live in the territory of a single, shared empire."

"No!" Rea exclaimed, she thought Erel had misunderstood her, "Everyone deserves to live, but there are hundreds of people in the villages and thousands in the cities! I just can't let ten people die to save one!"

Erel was silent, he looked at the brightly shining blue moon with a deep gaze, making the anxiety inside Rea grow.

"Fine. Now I'll tell you what would have happened after your choice. Order would have rewarded you as you would have saved the world from disaster. If this is important to you, then I believe you did the right thing, I would have done the same." Erel said seriously.

Then, he continued, "Also, once rumors of what happened would have reached the Moon Shattered Order, then you would have become their target."

Rea was puzzled, "But... Why? Don't they realize that I had no choice? If it were me, anyone would have done that!"

Erel took a deep breath, "I understand how you feel, but, Moon Shattered Order wouldn't care about your words. That's the problem, they don't care about the situation, it's all excuses to them, and unfortunately on one hand their position sounds logical."

"Agh...?" Rea gave him a questioning look.

"Considering how strong each member of the Shattered Moon Order is, they would be able to accomplish this task without sacrificing anyone. However, it's impossible for everyone who acts in the name of Fate to be as strong. It's unrealistic." Erel said coldly.

He took a step to the side, approaching Rea, "I believe that they are all just pathetic hypocrites. They are against everyone and for everyone at the same time. They don't care who you are, Crusader, Apostle, or even Oracle, if you overstep your authority, no matter what the reason, they will hunt you down, find you, and kill you."

Erel shook his head, "Fuck, it's fucking ironic that they want to achieve justice, yet their actions are soaked in hypocrisy!"

There was silence for a while, then Rea clenched her fists and asked, "Mr. Erel, you said that every member of the Shattered Moon Order is as strong as a Crusader, didn't you?"

Erel nodded. He hadn't been able to defeat Karin when they had faced off or follow her in any way.

"In that case... Do you know who their leader is?" Rea asked with curious flame in her eyes. 

Erel's face changed, it became darker and more serious, then everything returned to normal and he said with a slight nod, "Yes. His name is Gaul Hauger, and in my opinion, any monster is a harmless puppy compared to him. A few years ago, he wiped out one of the bases of the Order... My brother was there at the time..."

"And he...?" Rea muttered.

Erel nodded with a complicated expression, "Yeah, unfortunately, he couldn't avoid that tragedy. My brother died that day."

"He wasn't the only one..." Anet entered the conversation in a sad voice, "I know about this incident, it happened after the Third Tier Chaos Hearth was cleared."

Anet took a deep breath, sat down by the window with her knees pressed together, and said, "It was a difficult situation, as there was a whole week of new Chaos Hearths appearing in the same region back then. The Fate Knights successfully cleared them, but they weren't ready for the appearance of the Third Tier."

Anet continued, "The three Oracles that were at that base couldn't anticipate it for some reason, so... Order had to sacrifice ordinary people... do what Erel said earlier, only in larger amounts."

"How many...?" Rea asked with a trembling voice.

"Two thousand, one hundred and thirty-one people..." Anet replied in a low tone, "That was the price for the Oracles' failure and the Fate Knights' inability to deal with this Chaos Hearth... I guess Gael Hauger decided that was enough to judge them..."

No one else said anything else. Solomon, Anet, and Erel knew in detail what had happened that day, so it was hard for them to remember. Rea on the other hand was trying to process everything she heard now, it was a real challenge for her.

"Khm." Erel coughed, "Let's not get discouraged. This happened a long time ago and is in the past, it will always be like this. We need to think about how to save Zayne, how to find out where he ended up."

Erel chose the right moment, as his words lit a fire in the others and they immediately became more energetic.

"Yeah. You're right." Solomon nodded, "I think you should report this to the nearest base of the Order. I'll head over to the Head of the Academy!"

"Wait..." Rea said, "There's one thing I don't understand. Why didn't Anet sense that Chaos was in the academy? Is such a thing possible?"

Anet shrugged, "It's all about the heart... If Karin actually did it, then she used it to hide it from my eyes. It's a nasty way to do it, but because Oracle is special, it works."

Rea nodded.

Then, they all scattered in different directions. Solomon and Erel had the main role, while Rea and Anet only had to wait.

"Hopefully we'll save your friend..." Anet said as Erel and Solomon ran out of the room, "As far as I know the Fate has already taken notice of him. I'm sure he'll be a great follower of the Fate in the future."

Rea smiled brightly, "Yeah, I think so too! Let's do our best!"

...

At the same moment, somewhere far away, a young man with black hair and blue eyes finally opened his eyes while a dark mist covered his entire body as if trying to hide him from the world's gaze.