Renaldo's Choice

Renaldo spent eternity calming the Weaver. Every time Apocalyptica or another horror upset him, he would begin to unravel creation. Renaldo would soothe him, rebuild what had been undone, and start again.

It was exhausting. Endless. Like keeping up with a two-year-old who could destroy universes.

He grew tired of redoing his work.

More importantly, he grew tired of being His pawn. The Weaver used him. Apocalyptica ignored him. The horrors saw him as maintenance—necessary but unremarkable.

So Renaldo asked the Weaver how to ascend. How to become a Keeper. How to escape this cycle of servitude disguised as purpose.

The Weaver took him to an agent of the Keepers, who told him the requirement:

"You must create a dimension and run it as if you care nothing for its inhabitants."

This was the test. Could Renaldo detach himself from empathy? Could he watch beings suffer, thrive, love, and die without intervening? Could he observe without attachment?

The Keepers had learned this lesson eons ago: caring too much about mortals makes you weak. Caring too much makes you interfere. Interference creates dependency. Dependency destroys potential.

So Renaldo set out to prove he could be indifferent.

He "seduced" the Ventari Queen—not with romance, but with philosophy. He convinced her that free choice and independent thought had merit. That beings should be allowed to make mistakes. That chaos, in small doses, strengthened order.

The Ventari Queen, intrigued by this radical idea, created a dimension for Renaldo to "play" in.

But a dimension without sentient life is just empty space. So Renaldo went to the source of the first human life and asked for ONE entity. Just one.

He brought it back to his new dimension, gave it magic powers beyond mortal comprehension, and said: "Have fun."

Then he stepped back. Observed. Took notes. Remained detached.

He watched the First Guardian create the Guardians. He watched perfection war with perfection. He watched the Perfectly Evil Guardians become immortal Daemons. He watched the Guardian King steal an Eldritch magic book and doom his soul. He watched the Guardian Queen create the Staff of Order to trap the Daemons.

He watched it all without intervening.

Because that was the test.

But here is what the Keepers never told Renaldo:

Indifference is not the same as detachment. Detachment requires wisdom. Indifference is just cruelty with patience.

And Renaldo? He was learning which one he actually possessed.