Love Knows No Bounds

Olive stood in front of a set of dark oak double doors. She looked around herself. All of her previous surroundings had faded to black and she stood suspended in a void, save for the doors. She was no longer sitting on the floor of that foul witch’s house but she could still smell the faint wisp of smoke from the witch’s fire.

“My gods, it worked,” she whispered to herself.

Olive pushed open the doors and walked through them. She stood in the foyer of a massive library. Bookshelves lined the walls and stood in lines stretching as far she could see in all directions. Little lanterns hung from the shelves at the end of each aisle, casting warm light across the room. Off in the distance, she could hear the soft scratching of a quill against parchment.

She took another step into the library and heard a click behind her. She turned to see that the door behind her had disappeared and been replaced by a wall of bookshelves. The scratching of the quill stopped. Olive drew her sword as she looked around the library.

“Hello?” she called out. “If someone is there, show yourself.”

Her voice echoed in the empty library. There was no response.

“I am Olive, first knight of the kingdom of Alcor. I demand you show yourself.”

A breeze tickled her face, and she glanced around the library. There was still no response. She walked out of the foyer into the main library, her sword still held in front of her.

She looked at the nearest bookshelf. Every shelf was filled with books that all looked the same. Each book was rather plain, with a dusty gray hardcover. On the spine was a number, printed in gold lettering, that counted up as she looked down the row of books. She reached out to grab one.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Olive jumped back and raised her sword, looking up to where she heard the voice. A young man sat perched on the top of the bookshelf, his legs crossed and a book open in his hand. He was dressed formally, with black pants and a white button up. He stared down at Olive with a small smile, and she narrowed her eyes at him.

“Who are you?” she asked.

The man shut the book with a sharp snap and both him and the book disappeared in the blink of an eye. Olive glanced around the library. He reappeared a few feet away between the bookshelves. He extended his hand.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Olive. I am Fate,” he said.

Olive scoffed. “You expect me to believe that?”

Fate took his hand back and pushed back his hair that had fallen in his face. “Is that really that hard to believe? You were trying to find me, after all.”

Fate picked up a book off the shelf and flipped through it. It looked identical to all the others on the shelves, only this one was significantly shorter than most of them.

“This is about Leah, isn’t it?”

Olive’s grip tightened on her sword. She watched as Fate closed the book and put it back on the shelf. He sighed.

“I’m sorry for your loss but there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“If you really are fate, why can’t you just bring her back? You choose to kill her.”

Fate winced. “It wasn’t my choice and even if it was, her story is over now. I can’t change the past.”

“What the hell do you mean it wasn’t your choice? You write all of our lives, sitting here in your stupid library, you could have let her be happy!” Olive shouted at him.

“I’m sorry, I really am but that’s not how that works.”

“Bring her back, you coward,” Olive said and swung her sword at him. His eyes went wide, and he disappeared before her sword even came close to him. Her swing went wide and hit the line of books on the shelf. The second her sword made contact with the books, bright lights flashed in her eyes. All at once, Olive could see fragments of people’s lives. She watched as two young boys shared a kiss in a backyard under the moonlight. She saw a little boy stand before a grave and wave goodbye to his mom. A teenage girl screaming at her mom and running back to her room. A boy and a girl with their arms around each other’s shoulders, staring out at the sea.

Olive screamed in pain and dropped her sword. She fell to her knees and squeezed her eyes shut. The pain slowly subsided and the bright lights and memories faded from her vision. She opened her eyes to see Fate sitting near her, leaning against a bookshelf with his legs hugged to his chest.

“I didn’t want to see Leah’s story end, nor do I want to see any of the pain I’ve caused. I don’t want to hurt any of you. I want to watch all of you grow up but it’s just not possible.”

Fate wiped at his cheeks where tears had begun to fall.

“I wish I could make it easier for them, for you,” he whispered.

“I don’t understand why you’re here then. Why do you do this?”

Fate gave a small smile. “Because it’s written in my book. No one can escape fate, not even Fate himself.”

Olive looked down at her hands. “I’m sorry,” she said, tears welling up in her eyes. “I know she’s gone but I just don’t know what to do without her.”

“It’s not easy,” Fate said. He reached over and placed his hand over hers. “But I know you’ll be okay in the end. Your story isn’t done yet.”

Olive nodded. Fate pulled his hand back as Olive stood up. She grabbed her sword and sheathed it. At the end of the row of bookshelves, the doors she had entered through reappeared. She walked towards the doors, lifted her hand to open them, and then paused.

“Hey Fate, do you know what happens after someone’s story ends?”

“No, I’m afraid not.”

Olive took a deep breath and pushed open the doors.

Behind her, Fate cleared his throat. “But I will say, when people are meant to be together, they always find their way back to each other, no matter what.”

Olive smiled and looked back. Fate had disappeared from his spot on the ground. The library itself was beginning to get blurry and Olive turned back to the doors. She stepped through the doors and fell back into the life that was waiting for her on the other side.