There was once a time when ‘ruin’ might have been avoided. Now, that is no longer the case.

Possibility is the magic of the universe. What may happen, what might occur, is the fascination by which ‘ruin’ is kept at bay. If God in his heaven is more amused by the events that transpire during the life of his creation than the magnificence that occurs at its End, then creation persists. It lives, it continues, for yet another day. But the allure of the End is a tantalizing thing. The moment that His enthusiasm drifts from the symphony to the finale, then Doom becomes the destination of all. His ear turns from the pleasure of the present to the anticipation of the End.

It is then that ‘ruin’ becomes unavoidable.

Once He who Creates envisions what might occur at his creation’s end, once his thoughts drift to ways he might conclude what he has fostered, then the flow of time becomes immutable. No matter what possibility or potential the universe holds, no matter what fascinating, entrancing, enchanting lives experience life, no matter the struggles of individuals, or their fights and perils, it matters not; once the ending is imagined, the universe hurls swiftly towards it. The lives that transpire, the choices that occur, mean little. The End has been imagined, even if not yet written; the Final Moment of All Things becomes assured.

‘Ruin’ cannot be stopped. In the ways that God imagines it, ‘ruin’ will come. As death closes the chapter on the lives of men, so too will it one day claim the world and all who dwell upon it, and all of creation. Not pen nor sword nor spell may halt it. ‘Ruin’ becomes inevitable.

Two hopeful magics appear from this truth.

The first is ‘Prophecy’. Once an Ending is conceptualized, then Creation becomes self-contained: bounded, finite. It exists along a single continuum of beginning, middle, and end. Because of this there are those on occasion who are able to foresee its path—from where it has traveled to where it will end. One cannot predict a future if that future does not exist—and yet after it is imagined, a Man might gaze upon the hundreds of paths now hurdling towards the End. Using this knowledge they may, by themselves or through urging others, make choices—choices that steer the world more swiftly towards ‘ruin’, or choices that steer the world away. Though the ending cannot be escaped, it may with effort be delayed: slowed perhaps even to a crawl. In this way Mankind may postpone its inevitable ‘ruin’. Yet the cost to delay the End grows increasingly more taxing. To take the road away from ‘ruin’ is to divert the natural flow of a stream. Canals must be dug into the very continuum of time, and this, it can be imagined, is a monumental feat. The effort required never lessens, yet such is the price some men are willing to pay to steer themselves, and their world, away from annihilation.

A truly benevolent act. An act which may, in its futility, command the attention of the Creator.

Yes, to call the attention of the Creator himself. Thus the second magic is ‘Glamour’: the power to draw the eyes of God.

The act of ‘Glamour’ is not magic by its nature, but rather a result of the Creation of the End. Any life which draws God’s attention from his careful crafting of the Final End can be said to play a part in its delaying; for if the Pen of God toils not on the last chapter, then that which exists between the pages of Beginning and the End has time to live. In this way can a single life bring the rush towards ‘ruin’ to a limitless standstill. So long as God is enthralled with the penning of even a single life, the march towards ‘ruin’ might be delayed; so long as He is enraptured more with the glamour of the world than by the beauty of its destruction, the World will continue to persist.

Thus the demise of mankind might be paused.

So the conundrum is posed: with the writing of the End comes the power to delay it; the power of Prophecy and Glamour.

So then might a group of men hold the End of All at bay, inevitable, yet detainable; as though jailing a great and terrible foe. Such is the curse of those who possess such magic.

Yet a warning to those who might seek to hinder that which cannot be stopped: the power you seek is a double edged sword. Through Prophecy one may see the actors on which to shine Glamour—the Hero on which to aim the spotlight. Shine it well, and the Ruin of All may be halted as the Eyes of God loom dotingly upon idle lives. But if the spotlight should shine upon an actor whose being itself hastens ‘ruin’, whose life is one crucial to the End’s coming, then the Creator’s enthusiasm towards resolution may be doubled, and his pen may move with twice speed towards destruction.

Take care, you who wield such magic: its existence alone marks a terrible truth:

‘Ruin’ comes, in the end. Though it may be delayed, it may never, ever, be stopped.