THE FORCE OF FATE

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Fate forced its path through a fissure from the inner circle of the earth to the underbelly of a volcano.

Appalled at the lateness of the hour, the petulant volcano blew its stack.

Expelled from the volcano's throat, fate rose up from the earth couched on the crest of a cloud like a recalcitrant buddha.

There fate waited while in its tempestuous afterglow ships as fragile as their bottled counterparts were crushed against its flanks by the tides. Till the last moment fate afforded them, the sailors struggled to steer clear of the vortex; but in the end fate had the upper hand in its unequivocal ability to sit completely still.