All this is doubtless pre-ordained. Our destinies have been linked from the first." "Such philosophies can lead to unhealthy fatalism," said Terndrik… - Michael Moorcock

I said: “Then in reality I had little choice.”
“Let us say that your character has already determined your choice.”

As Barrington Bayley had pointed out in his book Structural Dynamism, man was not an intelligent animal. He was an animal with intelligence that he could apply to some, not all, of his activities.

There could be an end to all this, when the Lords of the Higher Worlds and all the machinery of cosmic mystery shall be no more. And perhaps that is why they fear mortals so much. The secret of their destruction, I suspect, lies in us, though we have yet to realize our own power."
"And do you have a hint of what that power may be, Eternal Champion?" said Alisaard.
I smiled. "I think it is simply the power to conceive of a multiverse which has no need of the supernatural, which, indeed, could abolish it if so desired!