The Butterfly Effect

He later introduced himself as Aredes. That was the last thing he said to all of them, though, before asking to just talk to the leader. He and Lucas went to a quiet spot at the edge of the camp to talk about everything else.

“It… might be a bit of a risk,” Aredes mumbled. It felt more like he was talking to himself than to Lucas. “I don’t know if it will accept something like you, but I think… it can tell you have good intentions. It will know that you’re only there to help us, despite what every bit of your blood should suggest.”

“It?” Lucas repeated.

He nodded. “The Minotaur. It’s what guards the children of Fleyw Bresh from any Seothian soldier who might try to find them down there. Its misfortune while it was a fairy made it more willing to help those who were like it… those who lost their twin to a fate that no mortal could control.”

“I hope you understand I have no idea about anything you’re talking about,” Lucas remarked. “I’m not a mythology kind of person.”

“Oh, it’s not myth,” Aredes commented with a smile, “every little thing the Fleyw Bresh believe in is real.”

Now that sounded troubling, sparking his next question, “So, uh, what’s the Minotaur, exactly..?”

“It used to be a large man-bull, taller than any human. But it was killed by Theseus hundreds of years ago. Now, all that’s left of it is its spirit, though that doesn’t make it any less dangerous. It can still do everything it could do before thanks to enchantment and the magical power of the one it holds so dear, Delphine.”

“Just to make sure, these children of Fleyw Bresh are going to be able to understand me, right?”

“Yes. Most of them actually know very little of the Old Tongue aside from magical purposes. I believe Delphine is the only one who uses it regularly, since she needs it in order to communicate to the Minotaur.”

“Generally speaking, how willing do you think they’re going to be to trust me? Do you think we can get this all done in a couple hours or so?”

“They’ll trust you… as long as it doesn’t kill you first.”

That was in no way reassuring and Aredes seemed to realize it.

“Spirits are good at seeing the true intention behind a person’s word. As long as you mean what you say about wanting to kill the king, then you have nothing to fear.” He gestured out to the field in front of them. “Well, are you ready to get going now? It sounds like you’re willing to get this done as soon as possible.”

Lucas nodded and wordlessly followed Aredes through the fields and into a more wooded area. Finally, after an hour or so of walking, they got to a cave. Aredes mumbled a few things before entering.

Lucas immediately felt like he was being watched. There was something in here that wanted him out, that much he knew to be true. He stayed close to Aredes in the chance that maybe, just maybe, whatever it was would also realize that he was a friend. There should be nothing for him to worry about, right? He really did want to kill the king and bring about a new age in Seothia. But… it wasn’t exactly all in the best interest of the Fleyw Bresh. He did what he needed to for his own nation, not someone else’s. Most of the good stuff that would happen to them because of it was just a happy coincidence; they’d reap the rewards with the king dead and someone on the throne who wouldn’t oppress them. Would whatever it was care if it wasn’t solely for the gain of the Fleyw Bresh? Was he actually putting himself at risk by agreeing to go down here?

Eventually they started to see signs of civilization. Candles were scattered around, now, and after a while they were even joined with decorations of moss and whatever else could grow without natural sunlight. Voices were beginning to echo through the tunnels; sounds like any other village, as if they had nothing to fear at all or were no different from anywhere up on the surface.

Aredes, when they got into view of the children of Fleyw Bresh, quickly assured them with something Lucas couldn’t understand. Slowly, a girl walked up with a shadowy, hazy figure like what Aredes had described as the Minotaur. As she inspected Lucas, mumbling incomprehensible things, Aredes explained, “This is Delphine. She’s asking the Minotaur if you’re a threat to them or not.”

Lucas stood there for what felt like forever before Delphine finally stepped back and declared, “The Minotaur trusts him.” She gave him a kind of glare, though, that said that she did not share its judgment.

Aredes took over from there, since he still had all of their attention. “This man has said that he aims to kill the Seothian king. He and his rebellion force is stationed above ground, and they are looking for children of Fleyw Bresh to help them in their endeavor. I took the risk to bring him here, and it seems that the Minotaur at least respects my decision.”

An older man—one of the oldest there, it seemed—stepped out. “You’re suggesting we risk everything and rush above ground?”

“I know you have absolutely no reason to trust me,” Lucas began, taking this as his opportunity. “I know that, to you, I must be a complete and random stranger asking seemingly impossible things from you. But I assure you that I’m what I say I am. You’ve been under the fear of the king for so long that you’ve resorted to this kind of lifestyle because you think it’s what makes you the safest from him. How many of you have seen what it was like outside? How many of you have never even seen sunlight before, let alone know what it feels like to run in the grass or climb a tree? For those of you that have, don’t you want to go back to that? I promise that, one way or another, the king is going down. In a few weeks, we’re going to be reunited with the other half of our forces and we’re storming the capital. We’re not leaving until we do what we said we’re going to, and no one’s going to get left behind. But we don’t have enough of an impact as we stand now. We need you. So are you ready to join us, fight for your freedom and your right to feel the sun? Or will you remain here, cowering over something that you could help put an end to?”

There was a lot of mumbling. These people must have been down here for a much longer time than he would’ve thought; looking at them now, it seemed that no one that looked younger than thirty held some kind of remorse for the points he made. Had they really been here for so long that so little knew the world that he had come from?

Aredes walked into the crowd to offer a few pieces of assurance of his own. Lucas couldn’t hear any of them, though all the while Delphine just stared at him.

“I don’t like you,” she eventually decided, tilting her head. “I usually like what the Minotaur does. But you’re trying to get us to go on the surface. You’re telling me to leave.”

“I’m not going to force you to do anything,” Lucas pointed out as gently as he could. “If I forced all of you to join me, then I’d be just as bad as the king I’m trying to get rid of. It’s up to you whether you join me or not.”

“What makes you think you have the right to come in here?”

“I didn’t find this place on my own and barged in without any warning. One of your own brought me here as a guest. I haven’t done anything except ask if these people are finally willing to stand up against the person that brought them down here to begin with.”

“We can think for ourselves, you know. We don’t need someone else to tell us what we should do and when we should do it. We’re perfectly fine here. We haven’t had to worry about who might find us or what they would try to do when they do. Until you showed up.”

“I’m not going to tell anyone that you’re here.”

“A person very much like you said the same thing to Great-Dragon Ruvier. She had hidden away in the darkest corner of the world to protect herself, one of the last of her kind… then a mortal found her. She should have killed him, knowing his blood and his heart; but she let him leave when he promised that he’d keep her location a secret. Weeks later a group came and killed the last Great Dragon.”

Lucas felt like showing any kind of emotion during this interaction would leave him helpless. So, he remained a calm semblance and a level voice and said, “I have no intention of hurting any of you. No one will know where you came from, whether you help me or not.”

“Why don’t I believe you?”

“You don’t have to. Whether you have the Minotaur following you around or not, it doesn’t look like you’re the one that makes all of the decisions.” He gestured to the older people talking. “This is a free decision for each and every one of you. You don’t have to leave if you don’t want to.”

“The Fleyw Bresh way of doing things is that no one gets left behind.” Delphine began circling around him. “But that’s already happened to me, more than once. Really, I don’t have a choice about whether or not I go up there. I’m useful down here because I’m like the Minotaur. Up there I’ll be blamed for everything that happens when Darkness can finally look at me again.”

“If you really don’t have a choice like you say you do, then why are you so caught up in this?”

“The intention behind the words mean a lot. You’re implying that all of us should just leave everything we’ve grown accustomed to—the only thing that some of us know—to, let’s be honest, die for your worthless cause. We might have magic but the Fleyw Bresh are not as much of fighters as you may think we are. We don’t seek trouble, even though it always seems to find us.”

She backed away when Aredes and several of the elders came up to Lucas.

“Good news,” Aredes began, “they’ve decided they’re going to help you. There are a few that have lost others in the past that won’t be coming, though they will be willing to return to the surface when it’s all said and done. The elders say that as long as you can assure them that they’ll all have a place to go, you will have the strength of everyone here to help you.”

“Yes! I can definitely do that,” Lucas agreed, loud enough that everyone could hear it from him directly. “You’ll all have a place to go when this is all said and done. If you want to go to live on the surface again, then you’re going to be given somewhere to stay. I’m going to do whatever I can to make sure you can all return home and back to the places you belong.”

A cheer erupted from the group and they all busily started to prepare their things. Everything was finally coming together, and Lucas was sure that he could see the end of it now. Soon everyone would get what they’ve been longing for; a world without the tyrant king, where they could live how they wanted without worrying about what he did to prevent it…