The Butterfly Effect

{-Hayze-}

It wasn’t just any Messenger who could feel this attuned to magic, or use the powers given to them by their patron god so masterfully. That was something that came with centuries of practice—with no insignificant amount coming from times of dire need of such abilities—and a certain kind of luck.

For instance, Kaius—despite being similar in age—would likely never be able to reach Hayze’s level of understanding of the magic around them. He might’ve mastered the talents that Faidon had given him, but he couldn’t sense the deeper way that magic influenced every part of the world. His age may have taught him how to use magic, but not how to completely understand it, as someone who became a Messenger with little to no connection to magic at all. Not even Jacqueline, born and raised in the lands of the Fleyw Bresh, would reach that level of connection with enough time. That was a kind of skill that only those with deep roots with magic prior to becoming Messengers—the goblins and fairies of Qizar and, sometimes, Fleyw Bresh—could ever hope to reach.

That was what made Hayze’s contributions indisputable, especially in times like this where they found themselves hunting down enchanted objects. And it was something she prided herself in, knowing that none of her teammates—and all but a handful of other Messengers, for that matter—could replace her.

Hayze rather confidently—despite all of the surrounding distractions—broke the pebble that had been holding the illusion of Skiá. Getting rid of it didn’t make all of the Skiá fade, since there were a fair bit of them now that weren’t part of the illusion, but it did clear out a few. In fact, it was an almost comforting fact to acknowledge that there weren’t nearly as many real Skiá as she thought there might’ve been. Far more than what the average mortal would expect to see in a forest like this, but… still nothing to pose any kind of threat to a Messenger.

“There’s still more enchanted objects around here,” she mumbled. “I can’t tell exactly where right now, but the Skiá still aren’t the only thing here. We should keep following the river and see where it takes us.”

Kaius nodded. “Lead the way, then.”

That she did, being the first to walk along the river’s edge. This river… it couldn’t have lead into the Lake. It was going in the wrong direction, and there didn’t seem to be any others that it met up with. That alone would’ve stopped her, centuries ago, from continuing any further.

But now, she was a Messenger, with a mission to fulfill the wishes of her patron goddess and Orestis. She had far more important matters than listening to the superstitions of her now long-gone mortal self, in a society that was now practically tearing itself apart.

They didn’t have to walk too much further before they saw another projection—or a glimpse of one, at least. It was the same one they’d seen earlier; a glimpse of orange, and the unmistakable presence of wings behind them. Whoever it was, they were a fairy.

And given why they were all here, it wasn’t too hard to guess who that fairy was. The broken echoes of the projections practically proved it.

“What… you think—Dree?” It was a male voice, but Hayze couldn’t quite tell who it was supposed to belong to. She caught a brief glimpse of something other than that orange fairy; maybe that was who this man was.

“...s—so com…icated.” That was a female voice, probably the fairy’s. It was hard to tell for certain, but… Hayze had a feeling she knew who it belonged to—who this projection was supposed to show.

It just made her all the more eager to find whatever was causing it, so that they could get this done and over with for good. Lingering in these kind of forbidden memories was only going to make things worse.

“I—ain it… someone out… app–appreciate this. I… who—what they’re… here for, but this—to h… help with… something. I f—feel like this… contribution… name from—forgotten.”

“Yo—ur name… never be forgotten. As long as I—someone to… remember you.”

“Th—mean nearly… much… who lives forever.”

“...it doesn’t…”

Finally, Hayze found the rock she thought this projection was tied to, and was all too happy to crush it. The projection stopped then, the two figures mysteriously disappearing.

“So, uh… one of those was the person I think it was, right?” Tevie prompted. “There’s only so many fairies who are immortal, and just one with wings like that, as far as I’m aware…”

Kaius grimly nodded. “It wasn’t a Messenger. I believe that should be more than enough of an answer, without saying enough that we draw Orestis’s attention.”

They all knew that was simply an expression; barely anything could grab Orestis’s attention at this point, given the place he’s willingly kept himself in since the end of the Commandments. But the meaning still stood—that they were things better left unsaid, and that dredging up such pieces of the past was only going to lead to bad things.

It couldn’t stop them all from wondering, though.

“That man must’ve been Achadus,” Hayze mumbled, nearly against her better judgment. She scoffed. “No wonder Orestis wants this place gone, then. It doesn’t just have to do with her before her Fall. It deals with someone else, too—someone that, by the looks of it, must’ve been pretty close to her.”

“Do you think she realizes what she’s done?” Kaius mused. “Achadus was clearly important to her. Even gods can have trouble controlling portions of their power when emotions get in the way… that must be why there are so many Skiá here. And, in the process, she’s kept anyone else from experiencing the things that it seems Achadus put so much care into creating…”

“It would take a pretty stupid or brave mortal to try to walk through the forest with this many Skiá,” Tevie mumbled. “It would take a mortal who’s just undeniably reckless to keep trying to press on anyway. Whatever might’ve been planned for this place doesn’t matter anymore. I’d almost say we’re doing him a favor by getting rid of all of it, so then no one can even try risking getting this far.”

“Darkness corrupts everything she touches,” Hayze muttered. “If there’s one thing that was confirmed in my time as a Messenger, it’s that. It’s no wonder something like this happened—anything she gets involved in is bound to have a similar fate, no matter what the original intentions were. The only thing left to wonder is just as Kaius said: if she realizes that she’s the reason Achadus’s vision could never come to pass…”

Kaius hummed. “Regardless of whether she knows or not, this place undoubtedly meant quite a lot to her. I wouldn’t be surprised if, soon enough, the Skiá aren’t our only setbacks…”

Hayze nodded. “We don’t know how connected she is with this place—if she can sense what we’re doing—but we should prepare for it, anyway. Even if it’s three on one, neither of Eldrianna’s Messengers should be underestimated, especially if they decide to use the Skiá.”

“So, what I’m hearing is that it’s only going to get more complicated,” Tevie said with a sigh. He reached a hand up to press a little button on his charm—that was supposed to signal Sanctuary that he was talking to them. “Kiri, can you check in with Micah to try to see what we’re supposed to do if we run into another Messenger?”

All three of them could tell there was silence on the other end, which sparked another moment of silence between them. Kiri very rarely didn’t at least respond with a quick “I’m busy, I’ll get to you in a minute” unless something had happened.

But before any of them could get too deep into wondering what that something was, Kaius very reasonably pointed out, “They’re probably just busy with the other team. Neville, Jacqueline, and Verity are more likely to come across mortals, after all. Mortals certainly make missions more complicated, and they’ve probably got to have more help in making sure it goes smoothly.”

Hayze and Tevie both gave mumbles of agreement. That’s all there was to it: Kiri was helping the other team. They’d get back as soon as they were able to.

“We’ll just have to use our best judgment for now,” Hayze decided. “It’s not the worst situation we could get ourselves in, so we’ll be able to get ourselves back out of it.”