Let's take a dive into an alternate future...

It was an almost perfect timeline. A kind of world that was the usual staple ending to nearly all epic adventures. There, Lily Moonshade survived without injuries. She truly was an individual with great luck.

Even if she was turned into the bad guy, her survival was almost guaranteed. Granted, she had to stay away when her luck was telling her to run. It's not like people can't ruin their chances to survive.

Lucky, huh?

No, was that really the case?

'The Fool' wasn't a numbered Major Arcana. It was a card that served a special purpose by itself. You could even say it was similar to 'The Joker'... but while the latter flipped the outcome and relied on gambling, the former represented belief itself.

A wild card that 'foolishly' believed in the universe.

To believe they were important in some way.

Not a simple spec.

A 'main character' in life.

So... how did Lily fall into this equation? Could it be that she became a boring girl who went with the flow? That would be an accurate assumption to make. Leading me to take us to a certain place.

In an alternate future on Gaia; one that was discarded by an author like yourself. Either that, or this work really was written by you, and I'm still in the palm of your hands. Well.... That was fine too. I was more concerned with the execution of narration.

It's why my attention was turned to this timeline.

It was a forsaken 'time'.

One where Lily had never met Arthur Rainglow.

...And that meant she never met Alex too.

Fortunately for the lucky girl, she became a mere side character in the story despite her incredible background. Being an extra on the side meant she wouldn't go subjected to endless cruel trials. 

Or was she walking a separate Fool's Journey?

Anyway, Lily lived for nearly 2000 years after transcending to become the new 'Sun Goddess' for Gaia Humans. She became a unique 'Sun Wolf' and watched over humanity. Becoming a user of light.

Even holding power over space as well...

Rather than the beginning of her tale, this chapter was the end of it all. An epilogue that was unnamed and inconsequential. Despite that, Lily, the great goddess she was, sat in front of an unnamed grave.

"I'm sorry for not visiting you often." The luckiest girl in the world found herself feeling a bit drunk at that moment. She staggered. Lily found herself unable to bear the pain of losing someone like 'her'.

There was a line alcohol dripping down near the cheek of her beautifully symmetrical face, but Lily left it alone. Instead... she took a big gulp of alcohol while messing up her long, natural golden hair. 

Of course, the grave didn't answer to her.

Rather, the speaker to reply was an old man. He looked no different from when he did 2000 years ago. Where he sat was near this specific cemetery, so he came over after having heard a familiar voice.

"You came...?" The wizened old scholar asked the deity. There were a few creases on his handsome face. His moonlight hair and brown eyes seemed easier on the eyes. Features having became mature.

Of course, Lily nodded her head to respond:

"Don't I come every year?"

"..." Alex Stuman stayed silent. Indeed, she HAD visited this cemetery the same day every year. The girl never missed this day. The anniversary of someone neither of them knew the birthday of.

That's why they could only be here for her deathday.

It was how they became acquainted...

Despite not being a 'God' himself, the old scholar survived for so long due to his attainments in earthling martial arts. Alex had reached the highest rank an Internal Martial Artist could hope for.

It was known as the 'Sovereign Rank'...

"Don't you ever think of leaving sometimes? It must be hard..." Lily shared a cup of wine with him. One servant that followed and worshipped her as a goddess brought forth a nice table arrangement.

They sat in front of the cemetery quietly...

The two of them had a habit of sympathising with each other over the death of their loved ones. This was despite their statuses differing greatly. They were both gods, but Alex was more reserved.

On one side was a woman draped in expensive robes and carried around on a pedestal by silent yet respectful worshippers. The other only had a typical scholar next to him. Seeking like no one special.

"Not really... After all, my family all sleeps here." It was the first Alex humoured her interaction. The change had alerted that of something amiss in the air. Usually, he'd stay silent after the initial greeting and cause awkwardness by ignoring her afterwards.

It was only then did the sun goddess notice the other graves. Honestly, there weren't even many. Lily was one who considered herself observant, but the way he had kept this secret out in the open was puzzling.

Why were there other graves related to him here's

It was after counting the number did she get the gist.

Lily realised that Alex's family was buried here. 

It made her look through the graves one by one:

{Here lays Rosetta Stuman.} Since the last name of this first gravestone was rare, Lily guessed who it was. There was a high chance both the scholar next to her and the deceased came from 'Earth'.

This was just a guess anyway...

Written under it was: {Angellight Dragon of the Dragon Family and Mist Empress of the Murim.} In long and bold words. There was a sense of grace from the way the words were carved into the stone.

Though Lily didn't know what these titles all meant in his world, the name written was in the first of three graves in a complete set. Those that were placed beside the clean one she always visited.

Next to the gravestone was another that read:

{Franklin Vladimir. Blood Imperial and Vampire King of the Blood Nation. Husband of Rosetta Stuman.} Something clicked in Lily's mind. She recognised the word 'Imperial', but had never visited the man before. He was a fallen god left in the dust.

Having already been succeeded by another vampire.

It just went to show how worthless 'gods' were.

Looking closer on the previous gravestone, it didn't seem like {Wife of Franklin Vladimir} was carved out onto it. As if Franklin was placed here more out of familial relation than actual feelings of sadness.

Despite being a god, this 'Rosetta' woman became the main character after Franklin's death. There was someone who visited her grave regularly. Always remembering her forever. Kept on a pedestal.

Between the two gravestones was a smaller one before it. Lily could guess it was their child. These three gravestones weren't the only ones in the cemetery. There was another close to them. A closer look revealed magic circles hid it in Rosetta's shade.

The grave read the words: {Jack Solomon}

But she guessed that person wasn't important.

"..." Alex was deadly silent. Expecting uncaring words of consolation. Only to be met with the same sort of quiet. Seeing she couldn't respond, he sipped on the cup handed to him. It was before asking:

"So... you came for her?" 

Alex knew this woman wasn't so impolite to intrude every year for no reason. Lily looked at the only grave that wasn't 'his family' in the cemetery. The one they both felt sorrowful to simply look at. 

"Yeah..." Lily replied on autopilots

"Did you know her?" Alex's question woke her.

"She was a good friend." Lily reminisced about a certain girl who was always wearing a full black mask. Hiding her face for a long time. Never showing her real appearance despite their trust.

They gave the dead respect.

Only that mask on her grave signified her identity.

"And what about you?" Lily continued. She already guessed as much, but she wanted the man to say it himself. They talked for around an hour and shared their long life's experiences with each other openly.

Alex spoke about the second biggest calamity that hit Lancia in the past. It was what some believed to be 'Ragnarock'... A prophesy about the world ending and needing a saviour. At that exact time, that his hero's journey reached its peak with the 'Final Boss'.

They managed to defeat it, but the cost was too great... Alex lost everyone he loved that day. It was something Lily could actually relate to... Except 'luckily' for her, she'd been ostracised by her family beforehand. That's why it impacted her much less.

She was never given the chance to mend their relationship, and the disaster had been sudden back then. No one could have predicted the moon wolf and human pair would suddenly die. Their more normal human child also died along with them.

Her heart was protected by a stroke of luck...

However, was this truly a 'fortune'?

Her sibling, mother, and father... were all dead.

None of them survived.

For Lily, although not enough to hurt her heart too deeply, it was truly a bad memory... Back then, her family called her a monster. Her little brother rejected her, and she had no choice but to leave.

This was the start of her own... foolish journey.

Hiding the pain deep in her heart, Lily tried to be more optimistic when going out into the world. A happier mindset was a healthier heart. Usually, this was supposed to reinforce the positivity in the world... but she had incredibly high innate empathy.

There's no way she could avoid reality.

Lily realised after some time that it wasn't that the world rewarded the good and hopeful. Fate was being bias towards her. She was being coddled by fate and un-allowed sadness. Destiny kept twisting to make the world seem much brighter than it was...

This made her life quite absurd, yet uninteresting.

There were people that Lily had met who she'd felt deserved more love from Gaia, but still died early on anyway. Some of those were even her friends. They had become part of her 'luck'. Cannon fodder for her.

Over time, she started to feel guilt after becoming the 'unworthy survivor' of that disaster. Gaining transcendence only because she alone was 'lucky'. A survivor of the disaster that would've killed anyone.

Except her, of course.

Lily realised one thing:

"An overabundance of luck is misfortune." This was what Lily thought inwardly. These words were engraved deep into her bones. The realisation caused the first wave of true sadness she ever experienced.

However, she could do nothing about it.

Only being able to perceive, but not defy her fate.

No matter what she did, Lily couldn't even end her life. This type of immortality became a prison... No matter how hard she tried stabbing herself, the deep cut would always be healed after some time.

Even if she jumped into the darkest abyss, she'd always 'luckily' be found by a vagabond traveller or healer. Yet though it was a 'cage of fate', her luck was something enviable to many misfortune beings.

So perhaps one could call her ungrateful...

Alex would likely kill to have her great luck. He might have been able to save his family with it. Her darn 'Fool' arcana was way better than his fate-reversing 'Joker' arcana... Being a darn protagonist.

After all, wasn't having the fate to always be able to survive until the end of the journey enviable? At least it was better than endless trials that had no end in sight. Given only the choice to give up or fight.

If her 'misfortunate luck' was all, Alex wouldn't think she was scummy for rejecting her fate. However, the fact that her luck also applied to her birth made things complicated. He glared at her discreetly...

For Alex, being born in a place filled with death had affected his vitality. It was a 'misfortune' he turned around by focusing on other techniques than the martial arts of his past. Mainly his talent in magic.

However, there was a qualitative difference between the 'misfortune' of their births... Although he was unaware at first, he secretly became more angered the more he talked to her. They were so different.

That was because Lily was 'born strong'.

Sure, having a mechanical tail and ears made her seem like an outcast, but that was actually fortune in disguise. After all, the girl had been born with the powers of his only good friend from Earth he'd met long ago. A guy that had also been 'reincarnated'.

He wasn't sure what happened, but becoming a unique 'Sun Wolf' wasn't her only strangeness at present. Unlike others, Lily was born with greater amount 'Nobility'. She had four magic slots upon being born... AND had the talent necessary to comprehend them. At first, he believed she was just blessed by nature spirits. It was a coincidence.

However, he recognised her 'Inborn Spells'.

It reminded him of a gunslinger from his past...

That man had the techniques of a modern mixed martial artist, and the talents of a Dragon Family member. Reminiscing about that person made him furious... Mostly because that man also lay here.

{Simian Steelwell. Military Master of the Western Hegemony. A close and dear friend of Dragons.} If Alex had regained his strength, would this man have survived? Perhaps... but this was just an excuse.

Alex realised after some time that they, the gods of sun and moon. were incompatible with each other in body and soul. He couldn't accept her existence at all... Someone blessed by the world so much, she had never truly felt despair. How could he not hate her?

It was only thanks to you discarding this timeline that his killing intent went unnoticed. That there were no other unrealistic turn of events that overturned reality. The sunlight wolf worshipers left the two of them alone to talk things over as usual. 

Unaware of Alex's fiery thoughts.

A knife appeared in his hand under the table...

"You know... I've always felt jealous. Especially after coming here." Lily's voice awoke him from his murderous daze. Alex kept his hands hidden and watched her expression. He looked at her intently.

"Really...?" He hesitated in attacking.

"Everyone else could go through life with friends and family... but I was always left alone by myself." Lily tried to say this sadly, but she was unable to feel anything. There was a hole made in her heart. No amount of luck could fix the pain haunting her.

"That isn't your fault." Alex knew well that this was just how fate worked, but she shook her head. This wasn't the time to say sophistry. She wanted to be sincere. Her mouth moved while looking down.

"Wasn't it...?" Lily's response had surprised him.

Alex couldn't believe she didn't accept what he said to her. It was only when she continued did he feel something was different about her. That he had it all wrong. Lily spoke with a voice that mocked herself back then. A voice that tugged on his heartstrings:

"Actually... I was scared back then. My family... all looked at me like I was a monster. I just didn't want to open my heart, only to be hurt again. That's likely why I'm still alone so many years later." Lily's words enlightened him on the solitude of her existence.

They were similar people now.

"...Do you regret it all?" Alex managed to ask.

"I do... I do..." The beautiful Sun Goddess covered her face. She masked her own feelings of fatigue and melancholy. Lily wished she'd tried more in the past... Now, her status was so high that no one dared call her a friend. It was meaningless after so long.

She couldn't change the past...

Whether by choice or by fate, Alex lost his drive and motivation. He retrieved the knife in his hand. The fates had turned, and now it looked like her luck wasn't simply made by the external forces of reality.

Her personality played a role.

"Then let's consider us friends." Alex spoke to her as if giving up. This brightened her mood greatly. She hadn't had a friend since losing 'her', the person that was in the grave. The same could be said for him.

"R-really?" Lily smiled at Alex ear-to-ear. 

Her intoxicated expression vanished when she became sober. This was the first time she'd made a friend in so long. To think, there would still be a person willing to make her feel less of a monster.

 "Sure. There's no reason not to-"

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Lily jumped into Alex's arms dynamically and rubbed her face on his shoulder. The wizened scholar could only sigh after noticing the dark sky... He was too forgiving.

"It's time for you to leave now." Alex sent her sassy.

"But-"

"Leave...!" Alex had enough with her. 

Talking with this woman took a considerable amount of energy. It took a while before she finally got up to leave. A sigh escaped his lips again after she had done so. He regretted letting her go...

Upon re-examining his actions, Alex realised that he had probably been tricked by fate. It likely forced him to let her go... As he was thinking this, time and space started trembling around the World of Gaia at once. An action he did in the past finally caught up.

It was after this moment that this timeline of the world was locked in stasis. Time went eerily still. A god was no match for reality, but it looked like this was time for us to leave to rejoin the main story.

Alex still regained his consciousness at that moment, but he realised what happened afterward.

A new timeline of this story began...