LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 23: The Edge of Fortune
The Edge of Fortune
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1. The Roulette Spins Again
Tom Peters stood at the precipice of probability, staring into the abyss where fate and luck intertwined. The Golden Roulette Wheel within his soul hummed with anticipation, its mechanisms shifting with an unseen rhythm. He had played the game long enough to understand its cruel nature—fortune was fickle, and consequences came in layers unseen.
"You're hesitating," said Orion, his cosmic guardian and occasional tormentor. The celestial being leaned against the shimmering walls of the Astral Nexus, arms folded, watching Tom with something that resembled amusement.
"No," Tom said, exhaling. "I'm calculating."
Orion smirked. "The odds were never meant to be calculated. They were meant to be defied."
Tom turned back to the roulette wheel. His next spin could change everything—or nothing at all.
The problem was, he didn't know which outcome he feared more.
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2. A Twist in the Weave
Reality flickered. The Astral Nexus warped, threads of probability stretching and twisting. Tom felt it before he saw it—a shift, a reweaving of the cosmic pattern.
"Something's interfering," Orion muttered.
Tom clenched his fists, feeling the roulette wheel respond, golden numbers flashing in rapid succession. Then, a rift split open before them—a jagged tear in space-time.
From within, Diane Peters stepped out.
Tom's heart stopped.
His mother. The woman who had erased him from existence in one timeline. The woman who had, through regret or madness, tried to stitch him back into reality.
"Hello, Tom," Diane said, her voice softer than he remembered.
He didn't know whether to run or attack.
"You should not be here," Orion warned, stepping in front of Tom.
Diane ignored him, her golden eyes—mirrors of the Roulette Wheel's power—locked onto her son. "I made a mistake."
Tom scoffed. "Which one? The part where you rewrote reality without telling me? The part where you gambled my entire existence?"
Diane flinched, but she didn't deny it. Instead, she lifted her hand, revealing a fractured Weaving Loom shard, its threads glistening with fading energy.
"The Celestial Council is moving against you," she said. "Against us."
Orion's expression darkened.
"Explain."
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3. The Council's Gambit
Diane took a steady breath, her fingers tightening around the loom shard. "The Celestial Council made a deal—with something beyond our comprehension. They plan to overwrite this timeline, erase it completely. Tom… they don't see you as an anomaly anymore. They see you as a threat."
Tom felt his pulse quicken. He had spent too much time surviving to be surprised, but this? This was different.
"What changed?" he asked.
Diane hesitated, then spoke a single name.
"Stacy."
His breath caught. His sister. The one who had inherited void sovereignty after the fabric of fate unraveled.
"They want her erased," Diane continued. "Her existence disrupts the balance. If they eliminate her, they eliminate the last anchor keeping your luck in check."
Tom's stomach twisted. He had fought cosmic entities, rewritten his own fate, but losing Stacy? That wasn't an option.
"They can try," he growled.
Orion's gaze turned calculating. "Then we need to move first."
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4. A Dangerous Proposition
"You know what you have to do," Orion said.
Tom gritted his teeth. He did. He just hated it.
"If I spin the wheel now," he murmured, "the result could be anything. We could win this war in an instant. Or… everything collapses."
Diane stepped forward. "Let me help you control it."
Tom's eyes snapped to hers. No. He wasn't about to let her manipulate his fate again.
"Not a chance," he said coldly.
Diane sighed. "Tom, you don't understand what's coming. You think the Roulette Wheel is luck? It's not. It's a key. A mechanism that rewrites probability itself. And you're not using it to its full potential."
Orion tilted his head. "What are you suggesting?"
Diane met Tom's gaze. "You're still thinking in terms of randomness. But what if you could pick the result?"
Tom froze.
That… that wasn't how the wheel worked. Was it?
"No," he said. "I spin. I take what I get. That's the rule."
"Rules are written by those who understand the game best," Diane countered. "You're playing against forces that don't follow rules. Stop handicapping yourself."
For the first time in a long time, Tom felt doubt creeping in.
"If you could control it," Orion mused, "you wouldn't be a gambler anymore. You'd be a god."
Tom clenched his fists. He didn't want to be a god. He just wanted to survive.
But survival meant evolving.
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5. A Spin Unlike Any Before
Tom exhaled and stepped up to the wheel.
His mother and Orion watched, the tension in the Astral Nexus thickening with every passing second. The roulette shimmered, golden numbers dancing between fate and chaos.
This time, when he reached for it, he didn't just spin.
He willed it.
Numbers flickered past, probability warping around him. His thoughts, his desires, his intent shaped the roll, bending the concept of luck into something more.
The wheel slowed.
Orion's eyes widened.
Diane whispered, "Impossible…"
The wheel landed on 00.
A result that should have meant nothing. A void. A reset.
But this time, it glowed.
Tom felt the universe shift around him. The rules had changed.
And he was the one rewriting them.
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6. The Dawn of a New Gambler
As the Nexus realigned, Tom clenched his fists, feeling everything settle into place. The Roulette Wheel was no longer just a tool. It was an extension of his will.
Orion exhaled, rubbing his temples. "Well… that's new."
Diane watched him, her expression unreadable. "You did it," she murmured.
Tom met her gaze. "No more gambles. No more playing by their rules."
He turned toward Orion. "We move against the Council. Now."
The roulette had spoken.
And for the first time in his existence, luck was no longer uncertain.
He was in control.
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