I want to ship people for a living. Wait… What does that have to do with Aftershock III? Why does everything I write here have nothing to do with the story? What's the point of my author notes? Why do I spend half a day on my Instagram astrology account? Why did I write that? Why am I still writing these pointless questions?

Anyways, happy first birthday to Immortal Guardians/Fall of the Beasts.

There is no such thing as magic.

Entry 513: Magic is the impossible. Should something become possible, it does not define as magical no more. Should people who believed in magic, they shall not have to believe in magic no more. What becomes reality is not defined as faith.

It was maddening.

Yet some people do not believe in reality. Majority of people do, as it is our nature.

It was wrong.

But the people who do not, do we label them as sick, wrong, or do we just assume they are wrong? But what if we were the ones who were mistaken? What if we were living in a dream, a mistake?

It broke the rules.

I am starting to question this reality we are supposedly living in. Who made this? What caused our lives to go this way? Why-

Abeke put the book down. It was maddening her, it was wrong to her, and it broke the mental rules for her. There is no such thing as magic, she reminded herself. There was never such thing as magic and there will never be such thing as magic.

Were there rules to magic? Were there any limits, any way too far beyond the boundaries? If there were, who made them? And what did the person who wrote the journal have anything to do with magic? Who was this person, anyways? And why was this journal in her drawer?

Abeke wanted to stop asking pointless questions.

It wasn't exactly possible.

She stuffed the journal under her mattress, hoping that no one would find it. If she ever managed to escaped, she had to take the journal with her. She knew she had to. There was something so important in the journal, even though she had not known what it was. She knew that she would find out when she escaped the prison others called a luxury.

Perspective.

She couldn't escape.

In Abeke's head, the voices had been playing with her all day long. In Abeke's head, escape had been threatening her all night long. In Abeke's head, magic had filled any possible thought for anything else. It was good, though, that she didn't have to think about anything else.

Perspective.

X~x~X

Meilin's perspective towards magic had four simple rules.

One: it had no beginning.

Two: it had no middle.

Three: it had no end.

Four: it broke the rules.

X~x~X

Entry 514: One person in this world holds the magic. No one else knows where it is. That person is forced to keep a secret. But of course, secrets aren't secrets until they spread. My secret is exactly this; my sister holds the magic.

I have found out today, and I am writing this in my journal to keep note of it, and so that the person who will read this may know this, and do what's best with the information.

I have said enough, even if it may seem that I have said too little.

This was so short. I'm so sorry, but I have really bad eyes and it's a really bad time, so, uh, HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY FOTB AND IMMORTAL GUARDIANS!
Also, The Burning Tide is out in exactly a month from now, so, uh, that's great.

~Alice