The Butterfly Effect

It was late by the time they got back. Only a few servants were awake to greet them, not that it particularly mattered. They simply ate and went to bed, glad for the safety and warmth of the castle.

Imre couldn’t help but think about that bird, though. It could’ve all been a coincidence; maybe it was particularly familiar with people, thus completely fine with him being so close to it. Surely there was a chance that it didn’t mean to lead him to the voice and had no connection to it at all. It couldn’t. Right?

He fell asleep and had a hazy dream about the other five; a happy moment, it seemed, with them all running around Idale. It was gone by the time he woke up, however.

There was a stern knock on his door and the request that came with it assured he wouldn’t be going back to sleep.

“Prince Imre, the king and queen want to see you.”

He doubted it was anything incredibly important. They probably just wanted to hear about what happened, and possibly answer a few of his questions. Depending on how late it was, half of that had likely already been done by either Samone, Kiah, or Dimas. Still, he willed himself up and put on something a bit more respectable as quickly as possible. He knew better than to leave the king waiting.

Everyone else was already in the dining room when he came; Casper, Minne, Samone, Kiah, Lydia, Dimas, and the crudely-covered outline of another. Imre wordlessly sat down in his spot, avoiding all of their gazes.

“You look like you just rolled out of bed,” Casper remarked. He was neither trying to tease nor disapprove of, though that left his true intent uncertain.

“I did,” was the simple response. “I apologize for being late on account of it.”

“You’re perfectly on time. The others finished explaining what happened, so you just have to listen for the rest of it. Are you going to fall asleep on me?”

A grunt was the prince’s only answer.

Casper frowned, though made no further mention to it. “We figured it was about time to conduct a little… experiment. Luckily it seems you’ve already figured out most of it. Idale once housed a special kind of power; something that wasn’t quite as strong as an Ilethera or plain magic, but still enough to count as something. I can’t exactly say what it is just yet, but I can explain its relation to why you went there.

“When they were younger, Takane, ‘Ki,’ Zenas, Umber, and Minne did something similar to what you five did. Their results were the same as yours were. But it didn’t last long, given the fact that they slowly dwindled in number until only two remained. The results began to fade as soon as Zenas died; though they didn’t realize it at the time, it was actually the one way they could have known her fate.

“It’s been a long time since color graced that village. We understood that the five of you shared their characteristics. It was more or less a shot in the dark. Haris sought after them, making sure they were all able to be together when the time came. The five of you meeting and growing close, however, was merely a coincidence. You didn’t seek each other out because of your latent abilities, simply going off of what you saw and experienced in front of you. We didn’t even know if you’d be successful until you came back. If you weren’t, we probably wouldn’t have discussed this any further. But you did.”

Minne picked up for him. “There’s a special kind of bond between those chosen five and that location. It’s like a lock and its keys… Haris’s dream was to figure out what lay beyond that. Unfortunately, he was never able to figure it out for himself. All he could do was leave us the means for understanding what he was looking for…

“I can only think of one question that’s just as important as seeing that you did it. What did it feel like? I know that none of you can quite imagine the feeling of a spirit… but it’s something similar to that. A sense that you knew what you were doing. Experiencing a story that you just know the answer to without thinking about it. Feeling like you found a kindred spirit when you watched those memories.”

Imre, acknowledging the glances of the other four, nodded. It said more about his answer than anything else would’ve; he was admitting to having experienced what she was describing, even if there were no words to confirm it.

This didn’t seem to be a surprise for neither Casper nor Minne. In fact, their lack of surprise almost guaranteed that they’d expected it.

“Do you know which one?” Judging by Minne’s tone, she already knew it. Or at the very least, had a guess.

“With a childhood nickname of Callisto, Mother, it’s not that hard to piece together,” Imre pointed out. “You can’t get much more obvious than that. That little charm makes all the more sense knowing it.” To actually give them something to be impressed about, he added, “I’m assuming those feelings came from the previous owner of this position still being alive. No one else felt anything past what we saw in the memories.”

Minne nodded. “Emotional attachment tends to carry on from person to person when there’s something in common. But I know for a fact that you’re not the only one. Ki’s still alive, though there’s little humanity left in him. At least, not anymore…”

It seemed they collectively looked to Samone. She was, after all, the only one who made no mention of whose memories she found familiar. The way she sunk further into her seat proved the fact she didn’t want to admit to it.

“As our world crumbled around us, so did his sense of reality,” Minne said softly. She was more or less answering a question none of them wanted to ask out loud. “He couldn’t tell bad decisions from good ones. After I left, he turned to Darkness. She promised to give him things that no one else could offer. He became something like her servant—someone called a Messenger. I haven’t seen him in so long, but… he has to be alive somewhere.”

“I guess I’m here to prove it,” Samone mumbled. “He couldn’t be dead if I know that much about him.”

When they all fell silent again, declaring the end of the conversation, Imre brought up a point he found worth mentioning.

“You told Kiah at the very beginning that someone was going to be watching over us,” he recalled, actually sparing a glance at his mother. “I don’t suppose this someone has anything to do with a bird?”

Both Minne and Casper took a certain amount of surprise out of the comment. It was the former, though, that answered. “If you’re thinking of a certain tree swallow, then yes. I’ve always known him as Zokel. He was a bit like my guardian; I never actually met him in person, just saw him through my dreams. We never once encountered Skiá, at least, with him there. I’m certain he played a role in that.”

“So you were close to a Fos,” Kiah reiterated.

“The creatures of light that barely anyone’s heard of?” Lydia asked. “You had one of them with you?”

“That’s what we think he was, anyway,” Minne mused with a nod. “Maybe one day you’ll meet him in person and he’ll tell you for certain. I can’t think of anything else to explain it.”

“I doubt we have too much time to talk,” Casper remarked, glancing out the window. “There’s other things that need to be done. I’ll try to be quick, as I’m sure you all have your own things to attend to.

“If you figured out how to do what you did, then you should already be familiar with your new ‘titles’ of sorts; the Bear, the Fox, the Cat, the Rabbit, and the Eagle. It’ll be in your best interest for you to remember those names and what they stand for. You might find they serve more of a purpose than you first thought.

“On that note, expect another mission soon. I can’t exactly say when, though, since we need to plan out our next move from here. It’s a bit too early to let your guard down—in fact, it’s for the best that you stay as vigilant as ever. With that, you’re dismissed.”

They all slowly got up and left one by one; even if it seemed they all had more questions, none of them would bring it up now.

It felt like Casper watched them through all of this, muttering one last warning. “There’s a beast waiting for them on the other side. Hopefully they’re strong enough to overcome it.”

Minne’s voice was clear even as they were all out of the room. “What if they aren’t?”

“We’re just going to need to hope we don’t find out.”