Prologue
Luck is a big word. Luck is the result of the coincidence of particularly favorable circumstances. Many people believe that luck is on their side. Luck is the little lamp that makes hope shine. Luck is the good sister of misfortune. There are also people who believe that luck is on their side because they believe in supernatural beings whose existence has not been proven.
But what they don’t know is that luck is nothing more than a little nudge in the right direction from inconspicuous creatures that exist outside the world as we know it. These creatures are descended from what many people affectionately call “Lady Luck”. This wonderful creature spread happiness to infinite worlds a thousand years ago, but one day it became too much for her, so she created a whole race of creatures who inherited their powers from her.
Their task is to prevent a vitium.
A vitium is what happens when a world is in such a bad streak of bad luck that it fades from existence. This usually happens when the world has to go through something that affects its history. If for some reason that doesn’t happen, then the world is gone because its story hasn’t been continued.
And that is what we are here for. We have the ability to influence the world, or rather, certain people, so strongly, yet inconspicuously, that a vitium is prevented. We are all given missions that we have to carry out smoothly, and there are rules that have to be followed. We have advanced the world in this way for thousands of years, and will continue to do so, at least most of us.
“I’m going to try really hard.”
I’ve been whining to my supervisor for a good hour now so that he’ll finally give me a chance. You have to know that there are some of us, by which I mainly mean me, who fail the test several times that you have to take in order to be sent into the world.
That’s why it’s forbidden for them, me, to be involved in any way. But I want to be helpful, I want to be able to help someone. But he refuses. He shakes his head and stubbornly keeps walking. I can only stare at the back of his head as I run after him like a puppy.
“Why don’t you just let me go? I can show you that I can do it!” I continue to plead.
“You have shown me that you are so incompetent that you have failed two tests in a row.” He answers me with his ice-cold voice. These stupid tests are important to him. My supervisor always takes everything far too seriously. He has rules for everything, he doesn’t do anything outside the schedule and if something happens to affect this schedule in a negative way, he throws a tantrum and then stops working for a few hours.
“But I was created for this,” I continue. He turns abruptly and looks down at me. Those violet eyes are so cold towards me that I almost turn to leave. He has no hair because taking care of hair doesn’t fit into his schedule.
One corner of his mouth twitches and, with his little writing board, he leans toward me and says, “I don’t know why you were created in the first place. You only serve one purpose, but you’re not capable of it. So, again, I’m not sending you anywhere.”
And he’s mean.
"Just wait patiently until your time here is up, and then you can be a star and bug someone else.” I frown. What he means is that I should just wait until I die. Since we were created by Lady Luck, we were never born and therefore will never die. What happens instead is that our essence is taken out of our bodies and used to light up the night sky. So, yes, we become stars when we die.
“Now go, I have important things to do.” He says. I follow him and hear him groan in annoyance.
“I’ll follow you anywhere until you give me a chance.” I know very well how much he dislikes me, so I try to blackmail him. He keeps walking and suddenly asks me, “Can you tell me the reasons why you didn’t pass the tests?”
I ponder a little, but nothing comes to mind. He answers for me.
“Your tests found that you go against protocol and always manage to stick your nose where it doesn’t belong. Your biggest problem is that you are too committed. You are letting your emotions loose, which leads to failure.”
He then stops and looks down at me.
“Once you learn, as we all do, not to let emotions take over, then I will think about it.” Then he smiles, which is always scary, and says, “But I’m sure you’ll be a beautiful star.”
I feel terrible because I can’t be helpful, but I also feel anger because I’m seen as useless. I won’t put up with that, not from my supervisor, and not from anyone else. I’m going to show them. This anger steers me straight to a locked door. I look through the glass and wish so much that I could stand behind it. Because back here are the portals to all the worlds that this universe can hold in its broad arms, and I want to get in. How? Well, breaking and entering isn’t on my curriculum, but I’m stubborn.
The lock is a tricky one. The key is in the tender hands of my supervisor and all those currently assigned a world.
I stomp through the bright white hallway. The whole building looks like this. None of us are allowed to inject life here in any way, because that’s not part of our jobs.
I walk past an open door and my searching eyes catch sight of someone who might be able to help me.
A lady with such thick, white curls, her hair looks like a cloud. Her yellow eyes are like stars that shine, reflected by her dark skin. Her long white dress hugs her curvy body, which I think the goddess of luck has done beautifully. A small bag hangs around her hips.
She is one of the first to be created, and she has already saved thousands of worlds from a vitium. And she is one of the few who likes me.
When she sees me, she takes flight, at least that’s what she wanted, but I’m standing in the doorway, so she curses quietly. I wave happily at her. “Hello there.”
“What do you want?” As cold as ever, but that’s how she is. I cross my arms behind my back and walk towards her. I put on my prettiest smile and start talking. “I just wanted to check in and see how things are going. You know, with all the saving worlds and stuff.” She looks at me, frowning, probably trying to see through what I’m actually trying to say.
“Fine. Why do you ask?”
She sounds skeptical.
“I’m sure you’re busy, aren’t you?”
I approach slowly.
"Actually, I do.” She ponders a little. “I’ve had to avoid six Vitiums in the past three days.” She says. She sounds tired, so I ask. “When was your last vacation?” She starts to think, and the longer she ponders, the deeper the crease on her forehead gets.
This is going well.
“Isn’t it unfair that they trust you with so much? I mean, you’re the best, but that doesn’t mean you don’t even need a break.”
She nods slowly.
“Do you know what you need? You need support, a helping hand, someone to take some of the work off your hands.” As I offer her this, I lead her to a chair and have her sit down. I put my hands on her shoulders and give her a little massage.
“You’re tense because of all the work and you can’t even enjoy a minute’s rest.” She lets herself go slowly and nods slowly. “You’re right, I might need a helping hand.”
I can’t hide my stupid grin when she utters those words and say proudly. “I might have someone who can help you, who can take the weight off your shoulders.” I continue to massage her shoulders. She hums contentedly as she leans backwards.
My plan is working.
“How about you give me the key to the world room and tell me which world you’ve been assigned.” I say softly, now caressing her shoulders. With her eyes almost closed, she reaches into her pocket and actually hands me the keys. I gently take them from her hands and she mumbles.
“World M-23.”
I listen to her excitedly and can hardly wait. I keep massaging until her golden eyes close completely. I slowly let go of her shoulders and rush out of the room.
My heart is almost pounding out of my chest as I open the door to the World Room. I can’t believe my eyes as I step inside. The room is endless, with shelves so long you can barely see the end. The room is completely white, the only colors are the bead-like spheres on the shelves. Some of them glow, others seem to have gone out.
With a light step, I search for World M-23 and find it quite quickly. I hurriedly dry my sweaty hands on my dress and reach for it. My heart is pounding as I hold this beautiful sphere in my hands. There’s just one problem: I have no idea what to do next. Do I have to say something? Or press something? What happens next? I start looking around the room for instructions. But all I find is dust.
“Let me in.” I say to the sphere, but nothing happens. I tap it a little, but stop quickly because I don’t want to damage it. Then I put it on the floor and sit down in front of it. I’ve come this far and now something like this happens. I roll it around a bit on the floor and just decide to put it back in its place on the shelf. But what my eyes see amazes me. Where I should have put the ball back, I see the imprint of a hand. I slowly put mine in and then it happens.
The ball in my hand starts to glow brightly until I can barely make out anything. I close my eyes because I can’t take it anymore. I feel my surroundings change and my hand starts to tingle. When it’s over, I open my eyes and let out a loud scream.
I am standing on a green hill, hidden between some oak trees, and can see a village from a distance. I let out another loud cry of joy and race down the hill. Nothing can stop me now, it’s finally my time, I can finally show off my skills. I arrive in the village laughing.
A village, a real human village, I still couldn’t believe it. A lady comes out of a house with a basket under her arm. I want to go to her, but something tingles on my right hand and I stop. I look down and am amazed when I realize that instead of the ball, I now have a small compass carved into my hand. This is getting better and better.
With a big smile on my face, I set off to save the world, whether it wants it or not.
