The Butterfly Effect

They stared at the annoyingly-empty piece of paper. At this rate they weren’t going to solve anything. They knew that even here there were people that knew something, but no one was going to say it. Did they even want Nadia to be rescued? Why didn’t they just tell Enebish what they knew? The sooner they had all the information, the sooner they could save her… and it sounded like the sooner the better, at least as a part of the mixed signals Leon was giving them.

Enebish decided to take a walk, hoping that might clear their mind. There was no point in staying in the office if nothing was going to get done there.

An unfamiliar voice brought them out of their pensive mood. “Zokel hadn’t been kidding about how little this place has changed… like no time has passed at all…”

They wandered over to where the voice was to find a girl. She looked a bit too young to be unsupervised with long, icy blue hair and wore what looked to be a seal’s pelt. She hadn’t noticed them until they held out their hand.

“I’m Enebish. I don’t think I’ve seen you around before, what’s your name?”

She jumped at first before cautiously looking around and shaking their hand. “Imena.” She shivered and pulled her hand back. “I hope this can be done quickly, not everyone can be as comfortable around dreamers as Iztali…”

“Are you out here alone?”

“No, I have something I need to do.”

“What’s that?”

“Find you, I believe. Enebish Oseloke, correct?”

“Yeah, that’s me. Why are you looking for me?”

“I have the same mission you do. Would you mind bringing me to your house? It’ll be much better to talk there—there’s too many ears who might hear something that they shouldn’t otherwise.”

Enebish thought to question it but, looking at her, felt a sense of peace and they decided not to. Something told them that she meant what she said, no other motive. So, they nodded and led the way.

They offered to stop at the kitchen to get something to eat or the grand hall to be introduced to Enuolare, but she denied both. So they’d just ended up taking her to their office, where they gestured for her to sit down as they did the same on the other side of the table.

Imena looked over the notes they had. “You’re looking for Nadia Mikah, aren’t you?”

They nodded, hoping their excitement wasn’t too obvious. “Her uncle wanted me to find her. But… he knows a lot more than he’s telling me and he’s not interested in sharing.”

“I can’t blame him,” she remarked, observing one of the notes more closely. “You don’t look very qualified to handle the kinds of secrets they’re hiding from you.”

“Hey! I’m perfectly responsible!” They shook their head. “That’s not the point. It sounds like you know something. Can you tell me?”

“That’s what I’m here for. I know the organization that’s ‘taking care’ of Nadia.”

“Really? What is it?”

The word came out venomous and the thought of it made her crumple the paper. “Adidell.”

“Adidell..?”

“They’re an anti-magic organization that’s taken up many forms in northern Seothia.”

“Does Nadia have magic, then?”

Imena shook her head. “Not quite. She’s part of another one of their plans; one to reinstate the old royal line. She’s… special, in the sense that there’s two things she has that no one else in her family has been able to accomplish.”

“Are you going to tell me what that is?”

“I’ll leave you to discover that part on your own. There’s still plenty you have to learn before you’re ready to find her. I suggest you start at the library—you may be surprised by the kinds of knowledge that is hidden in plain sight.”

…

Was it bad that they didn’t want to find anything? This was what Leon and Enuolare were keeping from them, after all; maybe there was a good reason for it.

Or maybe they just didn’t want to accept the fact that they kept something from them at all.

Imena stayed nearby, noticed by Leon but only needing to say a few words to quell his concern. She didn’t mention anything else about Adidell until she was looking for books with Enebish.

“They’re in here,” she declared, pushing open a door at the back of the library. The room inside looked like it hadn’t been touched in a while and it definitely was not welcoming.

“I don’t think we should be in there…” They stepped back before she tugged on their arm.

“Do you want to learn more about where Nadia is being kept?”

“Well, yeah, but…”

“Be honest with yourself. It’s about time you grow up and learn what’s just waiting for its time to start.”

They sighed and walked inside. There were countless scrolls and books, some more worn than others; they had to note with a kind of dismay the ones that seemed to be placed there recently. They waited for Imena to choose one of the books and hand it to them.

The title was simple: Records Compilation- 1134. They fought their own discomfort to obey the glare she gave them and open the book.

Almost the entire first page was a bunch of scribbles but, through them, they could guess when this was written… starting at the very beginning of last year. When they got to something more readable, it was in someone else’s handwriting but there were no names in it.

‘The homunculus may have gotten away from us, but our future has not been lost. We will get it back in a matter of time; instead of a setback, we consider it our opportunity to focus on something else for a little while.

While far from founders, they have long been involved in achieving our goals. Now they are finally able to offer something to us to prove their faith. They are giving us their daughter, the one person to possess the blood of the king and his spirit.

Our attempts to recreate our king have failed thus far. She proves to be resistant, but in time she will break like everything else to enter this place. We will not let a girl get in our way. One way or another, this generation will see the return of the true king. The rightful heir to Seothia will sit on the throne once more and remind the world of the dangers magic holds…

–Experiment Logs–’

Everything that followed only got worse. For the sake of research, though, they read on to the very end… and struggled to pretend like it didn’t bother them. They were more than happy to close the book once they’d finished the log.

“If I had to guess, she’s probably going through the same thing now,” Imena remarked. Her tone didn’t lack concern, but she also didn’t seem too worried for them. “Or possibly even worse.”

“Why would anyone..?” They kept staring at the cover of the book, no matter how much they wanted to look away.

“Mortals take desperate measures when they feel scared or threatened. They harm others because that’s what they think they need to do in order to keep themself and those they care for safe. They find a way to justify what they do, so they never see what it does to people around them.”

“Mom… knows about all this, doesn’t she?”

“That’s something that’s best to ask her yourself. Confront her and hear what she has to say.”

“I don’t want her to say she does.” Maybe, just maybe, if they never brought it up, they could pretend like it didn’t exist… like the most caring person they knew of didn’t have dark connections after all.

Imena put a hand on their shoulder. “Talk to her. The world isn’t completely black and white; there’s those that do good because they hope to harm, and those that do bad to keep from harming. She doesn’t need to be the villain.”

“But how could a hero know about something like that and not tell anyone?”

“Trust me, things here are never simple.”

Imena went to leave and Enebish took the book and followed her. They were going to get answers. There had to be a good explanation for all of this. If there wasn’t… well, they didn’t want to think of that possibility.

They made an attempt to leave the room as discreetly as possible, though it didn’t last through the rest of the estate. It was obvious they were looking for something and they had intentions of clearing it up as soon as possible.

That is, if their brother’s must-fix-sibling’s-problems instincts didn’t kick in. He showed up right in front of the grand hall, where they could hear Enuolare’s voice on the other side.

“Out of the way, Etieno, I need to talk to Mom,” Enebish said. They tried and failed to brute force their way through him.

“No can do, sib. She’s talking to officials right now,” he replied dutifully. “What’s so important that you’ve got to see her anyway?” Then he noticed the book they were holding and Imena behind them. From that moment it was clear he knew what was going on, but instead asked, “Care to introduce me to this new friend of yours?”

“She’s Imena,” they answered as they tried again to get past him. “Now can you please let me through? Or, better yet, tell me what you know!”

“Me? Know anything? The most I know is that you’re not supposed to have that book.”

“Oh yeah? And why am I not supposed to have it?”

Etieno paused before simply saying, “I can’t tell you that part.”

They took advantage of his momentary distraction to push him aside long enough to get in. After closing the door behind them, they looked right at their mother. “There’s some things you need to tell me.”