Remember

Episode Four: Consequences of War

Chapter One

"Where are you going, brother?"

Merlumio froze, feeling a jolt of fear shoot down his spine. Turning to his little brother, he masked his face with an innocent smile. "I need to use the restroom."

"Liar."

"Merletoph!" Merlumio's eyes widened. He hadn't expected such a harsh response.

"You've been leaving a lot lately, Lio. It's always late at night like this. And I think… I think I know what you're doing."

The eleven-year-old boy had nothing to say to his ten-year-old brother. He raised his eyebrows and cocked his head, challenging Merletoph to state his suspicions.

"Stay away from that book, Lio."

"What?! How did you—"

"You think I haven't noticed? You've been acting different! It's talking to you, isn't it? You're hearing voices in your head, aren't you!? And the way you talk to yourself in a hushed voice…"

"Stop it! You don't know what you're talking about! I'm not hearing voices, it's just… I…"

"Then where were you going, Merlumio?" Merletoph took a step towards his indignant brother. "Surely you haven't had to use the bathroom every night."

"You don't know...what you're talking about…"

"Then come back to bed, Lio. Please."

Merlumio clenched his teeth. "B-But…"
"What's wrong? Is it asking you to come see it?"

Suddenly Merlumio's countenance fell. In a panicked motion he grabbed for Merletoph's nightgown and whimpered, "It doesn't ask, Leph. It demands. I'm...afraid of what will happen if I don't do what it says!"

"What can it do? It's just a dusty old book…" Merletoph trailed off as he met Merlumio's terror-filled gaze. "Okay, let's go get Father." When Merlumio began to object, his younger brother continued, "Please, Lio. Let's go talk to him. He'll know what to do."

After a moment of hesitation, the young boy nodded. "O-okay… Let's go."

It took every ounce of strength Timpani had to keep from crying.

She was bewildered, shocked, and downright terrified. Right now, following a mysterious man down a forest trail into a portion of the woods she was unfamiliar with was the last thing she wanted to do. Not to mention the sun had already set, so they were trudging along half-blind, the only light being that from a lantern the old man was carrying. She would have fled, but he had Mimi, and there was no way she was leaving her in his clutches, especially not after her dramatic transformation earlier. So many questions filled Timpani's mind about the power the young girl possessed. She could shapeshift, yes, but only into things she could see and copy. So where had she gotten the inspiration for...that? She was half-tempted to snatch Mimi away from the stranger, and she probably would have attempted to, were it not for the trembling man she was supporting.

She should have sent Blumiere back to his castle after the night's events. But the man had insisted he tag along, and, like Mimi, Timpani didn't feel comfortable leaving Blumiere alone either.

Doing his best to walk on his own, Blumiere would send her terror-stricken glances from time to time, and would occasionally attempt to smile at her, as if he were trying to pretend that nothing had happened at all. She could see the confliction in his eyes; he was so scared he didn't know how to handle it.

"I should have stayed behind," Blumiere muttered for the umpteenth time. Timpani had stopped correcting him (it was he who had originally accredited both of them with fault), and settled for shaking her head.

"Timpani."

He was staring at her.

"It isn't your fault." She humored him with a response, the same response she'd given over and over again.

"That's not what I mean. I should have… never… Never left… My father was right…"

Timpani's stomach tightened. He regrets ever leaving his castle in the first place, she realized. Does that mean… he regrets meeting me, too?

Before she could ponder that any further, the man stopped in his tracks and muttered, "We are here."

Timpani blinked and surveyed the endless darkness of the forest, searching for a structure. "There's nothing here," she sighed, letting her irritation cover up her nervousness. She pushed away the fear that was trying to creep into her stomach and squeezed Blumiere's hand. The young man was shifting on his feet, watching the older fellow with a mixture of hesitation and intrigue.

He gently lowered Mimi to the ground and stepped away from her and towards a large tree. Placing his hand on the bark, he turned his face towards the sky and closed his eyes. Then, in a flash of light, a house fazed into view behind the tree.

While Timpani gaped, Blumiere let go of her hand with a gasp and staggered forward. "That was celestial magic! How did you…?"

The old man returned to pick Mimi up again and then approached the house. "Perhaps you know me, dark magician. My name is Merletoph."

Another gasp escaped Blumiere's lips. "No! You can't be!"
"Why not? Because I'm supposed to be dead? So you thought… so the whole Tribe of Darkness thought…" Merletoph trailed off and entered the house, leaving a bewildered Blumiere and a baffled Timpani behind.

"But… But Merlumio killed you!" Blumiere scrambled after him.

"Obviously not. For here I stand." Mimi was placed on a wooden table next to various odd devices.

"So...after all this time…"

Timpani burst into the house, cutting Blumiere off. "Alright, what is going on here? I demand an explanation!"

The blue-faced man blinked at her, and then sighed. "Oh. Right."

"Oh right, what? I have a right to know what you're talking about! And don't begin to tell me I wouldn't understand!" she continued, stopping Blumiere from saying anything else.

"Lady Timpani, I assure you…"

Said lady glared at Blumiere.

"...that an explanation would not be out of the question…"

"Right you are," Merletoph nodded, breaking up the spat. He motioned to a couch nearby, offering his guests a place to sit. Blumiere took a seat, however, Timpani remained standing.

"Merletoph, was it?" She addressed the elderly man with an authoritative confidence. "I would like an explanation for all of this. What happened to Mimi? What did you do to her? How do you even know Mimi? For that matter, how do you know Blumiere? How does he know you? And who is Merlumio?" She raised an eyebrow, unwavering.

"In order to answer that many questions, perhaps it is best we just start at the beginning. Sit down, milady, it will be a while."

Instead, the woman stalked over to the table on which Mimi lay. "I don't know that I can trust you. Not after what you did to Mimi."

"I did not harm her, I promise you. I only had to shut her down in order to repair her."

Timpani and Blumiere exchanged a glance. "Shut her down…," she murmured, "What do you mean by that?"

Merletoph joined Timpani next to the table and turned Mimi over so she was laying on her stomach. Now curious, Blumiere approached and peered over Timpani's shoulder. With a steady hand, Merletoph brushed the green hair away from Mimi's neck and nudged the skin that was hiding beneath it. A thin, metal square only about a centimeter long emerged from a tiny slot; the old man removed it and presented it to the couple, who were gaping in a mixture of awe and horror.

"What...is that? What…?"
"What is Mimi?" Timpani finished Blumiere's sentence for him.

"Magic-Inspired Mechanical Intelligence." When he was met with blank stares, Merletoph continued, "Mimi is not made up of flesh and blood. She is comprised of both mechanical parts, and magic. This component I've removed from her contains her memories or, at least, the ones she's made since she ran away."

"Why would she run away from you?" Timpani narrowed her eyes. "What do you do to her to make her afraid of you?!"

Merletoph glared at Timpani and exhaled through his nose. "I have done nothing to her. She needed to be repaired, and after I was finished, I returned her memories, but I put in an empty drive by mistake, instead of the full one, so when she returned to life she did not recognize me, and ran away."

Timpani sighed. She had no choice but to believe that. "So, if that's true… Her memories of Blumiere and I are only on this square, and her memories of you are on some other square? Will she forget about us when she wakes up?"
"And Ronan," Blumiere whispered. "He would be devastated if Mimi forgot about him."

"I can merge them." Merletoph stepped over to a counter behind the table and began tinkering with something. "It will take a while. In the meantime, perhaps I can answer more of your questions, milady."

"You said earlier it would be easiest if you started from the beginning."
"Right you are. Ahem… I am a member of the former Tribe of Ancients. The last member alive, possibly… The tribe formed in order to sustain a balance between light and darkness throughout the worlds, and their main goal was to protect the Dark Prognosticus, a book that contained a soul that wished to bring darkness upon all worlds and dimensions. The only way the book could do so, however, was through a host…"

"What troubles you, Merloo?"

"It is my son…Merlumio. He… Well, I know we have observed the signs for some time now, but I never thought it would get to this point…"

"No… The Prognosticus…"

"It is speaking to him, yes. I fear for him, Merlumina. What am I to do?"

"Merloo, perhaps it is time we and the rest of the Prognostic Order learned more about this book. Perhaps we should delve deeper into the prophecies it foretells."

"And what good would that do us?"

"We could use our own magic to contradict the prophecies…"
Merloo shook his head. "Impossible—"

"Father!" A frantic Merletoph stumbled into the room, wide-eyed and out of breath.

Anticipation brought Merloo to his feet, and at once he was running for the door.

Merlumio met them in the hallway. "I told you not to get father!" he shouted, jabbing a finger towards Merletoph.

"I was scared, Lio…"

"Shut up! I hate you!"

"Merlumio!" Merloo boomed, stepping in between the two boys. "Be kind to your brother. Now, what is the meaning of this?"

"He tried to kill me…" Merletoph whimpered.

"Liar!" Merlumio's words came out in a hoarse screech, and he lunged for his little brother. Merloo scooped the child up before he could get very far. The boy thrashed for a few seconds before going limp in his father's arms. Then his body began to shudder. "Father, help m-me," he sobbed. "I don't want to be like this… I-I didn't mean to hurt h-him…"

"After that, I rarely saw my brother. My father would keep close watch over him at all times, and the only time we were allowed to be together was when my father was present. Our meetings grew fewer and fewer, until it felt as though I no longer had a brother at all. And then one day…"

The whole castle was shaking. Merletoph pulled his knees to his chest and curled up in the corner of his room, his heart pounding. He hadn't seen his father in almost an hour, and no one else had come to retrieve him. The only door to his bedroom was blocked by a layer of the ceiling that had collapsed in the hallway, and he was unable to sense his father's soul signature, so he had nowhere to teleport to.

In fact, as hard as he tried, he couldn't seem to pick up his father's signature. There was always an inkling in the back of his mind that his father was nearby, and now that it was absent he felt immeasurably frightened.

Suddenly another presence filled his mind, and in front of him the world warped and swirled, revealing Merlumio.

"Brother." he spoke but it was not his voice. Merletoph flinched.

Merlumio was hovering about a foot off the ground. His appearance had completely changed; his white hair and green robes had turned black, his yellow eyes had turned red, and his pale skin had been stained a dark blue. In his hand was the tome he had sworn his life to protect: the Dark Prognosticus.

"I cannot remember what happened after that. I woke up about a day later amidst a ruined city. My brother was the cause of the destruction, and for several hours more he set fire to houses and murdered the natives… I did not try to escape, for I did not know where to go, or even where I was. Finally the natives, the humans, retreated and the bloodshed stopped. Merlumio, following the instructions of the Prognosticus, built a castle on top of the ruins. We lived there for many years, during which I rarely saw my brother. I would hide from him, but he would always find me, and ask me to do strange things. He wanted me to help him build his kingdom, but again and again I refused…"

"The Voice speaks, Merletoph. Come, the ritual won't take long. Just a bit of your blood…"

"Cease this madness, Merlumio! I will not commit to your ways!"

"But how else am I to expand the Tribe?"

"Perhaps it would be better if it did not!"

Merlumio cried out in anger and struck his brother with a bit of dark magic. It sent a fiery sensation through Merletoph's body, causing him to fall to his knees.

"Lio…"

"Enough! You are useless, brother! If you will not commit, then I will find someone else!" He left his brother on the floor, writhing in pain.

"That same night, Merlumio came back with a woman from the village. He treated her more horribly than he could ever treat me, for she had no magic to defend herself with… I could not bear to watch him abuse her, so I ran away to the village. However, they would not let me stay, for fear of my magic and my relation to my brother. So I was cast out into the woods, and I stayed here in my magically-cloaked hut for years. It was during that time that I worked on practicing and expanding my magical abilities. I grew highly skilled in dimensional travel, just as my father was. My eyes were opened to millions of worlds and dimensions; finally I was able to return home…."

The castle he'd grown up in was a shambles. Merlumio had gotten here first, it seemed. Merletoph reached out, searching desperately for the soul signatures of the ones he knew. He only sensed three, the remaining members of the Prognostic Order: Merlumina, Merlight and Merlimbis. After a bit of searching, he found them amidst the rubble, huddled together.

"Merletoph?" Merlumina croaked.

"What happened?" the sage knew the answer.

"Merlumio came, a-and…" Merlight was struggling to breathe. "But no matter… We have done our duty… We have taken the steps necessary in order to save the worlds from destruction."

Merlumina struggled to her feet. "Your brother is long gone," she took Merletoph's hand, "and soon, so will be the fate of the Ancients…"

"But—"

"Worry not, Merletoph. Someday, that book will be stopped…"

"I will stop it. I will save my brother!"

The light in Merlumina's eyes faded. "Leph, you mustn't get yourself hurt. Go back and wait for the right time. You will know when it has arrived."

"After my trip I returned here and continued to study magic. I found new ways to use it, and eventually Mimi was born. Then, about twenty years ago, I dared to show my face to the humans again. I thought perhaps no one would recognize me, since, in my old age, I looked like one of them. I met a middle-aged widow named Celia who was willing to talk to me, and as time went on we grew to trust each other. I told her everything that had happened and in turn, she bore me a single child, a daughter who we named Sha'i."

Blumiere shot up from his seat on the couch. He had only been half-listening to the dragging tale, but as soon as he heard his aunt's name he was jolted out of his neutral state. "Sha'i? Your daughter is named Sha'i? Where is she?"

Timpani grabbed Blumiere's arm. "You know her, too? How do you know people in this town that I don't know?"

"Well, Sha'i no longer resides here," Merletoph cut in. "And might I add, I'm just as curious as you are, Lady Timpani. How do you know my daughter, Blumiere?"

The young man clasped his hands together. "Yes, that… I-I've never actually seen her… But I know her husband. He's my uncle, a-actually."

Merletoph narrowed his eyes. "Their marriage was a foolish one. To unite a member of the Ancients and a Mage of Darkness… It is a good thing they did not bear children, for such a child would be endlessly tortured by the forces of light and dark, forever susceptible to corruption from either side."

Blumiere felt his heart skip a beat. "Y-yes, yes, that would be terribly unfortunate…"

"So Sha'i had the power of a full-blooded Ancient? Even though her mother was a human?" Timpani's question helped to cover up the excessive stammering coming from Blumiere.

"Correct. Now, if it had been a human and a Mage, the dark powers would not be present at all in the child. It would be fully human."

"So… where is Sha'i now?"

Merletoph had finished working on Mimi's memory chip. He walked over to the table she was on, chip in hand. "I can sense her soul wandering through dimensions as we speak. I am certain she has found this world's Dimensional Gateway."

"What is that?" Timpani added another question to her seemingly endless interrogation.

"Every world and dimension has one Dimensional Gateway, which is usually well hidden. They all lead to The Gateway, a massive, maze like dimension that contains the Gateway to every world and dimension. The doors are ever changing, and most who enter never return to the world they started at."

"So Sha'i's not coming back," Blumiere muttered. "Unless she uses teleportation."

"And I doubt she will," Merletoph sighed. "She sought after that door for a reason. She knows she has a place to come back to, but I do not think that is her plan."

Merletoph inserted the memory chip into the back of Mimi's neck, and immediately the girl came back to life. After cracking her neck a few times, she blinked and stared in turn at each person in the room.

"What...just happened…?" she whispered. "I feel...weird."

Timpani hopped up and made her way towards the green girl. "Mimi!" she laughed, "You're alright!"

"And so are you… and Blue… and Papa…" Mimi's brow was furrowed. "I'm confused… why did I live outside for so long? And where's O'Chunks…?"

"Perhaps it would be best if I explained that to you later, my dear," Merletoph helped her down from the table. "Now, why don't you go get ready for bed. Perhaps you can get an hour or two of sleep in before the sun rises."

Timpani and Blumiere exchanged a glance. The mention of the sun rising sent shivers down the man's spine. "I should go home…"

"You do need to rest," Merletoph agreed. "Especially after what happened tonight."

Blumiere shuddered at the recollection of what he had been through. Timpani placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Go get some rest, Blumiere."

He took a few tiny steps in her direction and gave her an exhausted hug, which she returned eagerly.

"I'll see you soon, right?"

"Yes. See you soon."

Their eyes met for a moment longer and then he evaporated, teleporting back to his castle.

Now alone with Merletoph, Timpani felt fear creeping back into her stomach. So she pushed it away and filled the silence with another question. "So, I was wondering about Mimi's abilities… what exactly can she do…?"

"Besides shapeshifting into the creatures she sees, she can create matter. Little rocks she likes to call Rubees."
Timpani nodded slowly. She didn't really see how that would be useful, except to use as a weapon or a projectile. "And as for her shapeshifting, she cannot copy someone who is dead, correct?"

Merletoph's expression darkened. "You know of Melody, then?"

"Yes."

"I apologize."

"Pardon?"

"Mimi did not lose her ability to shapeshift into Melody because Melody died."

Timpani raised an eyebrow.

"Melody died because Mimi used her ability on Melody for too long."

"…what?" The caramel-haired woman stood with her mouth agape. "So Mimi…"

"Everytime she uses her ability, she steals a bit of energy from the person she copies. Because she continued to copy Melody over and over again, Melody became very ill. Mimi drove that illness further until she succumbed to it, and died."

"D-does she…?"

"Mimi does not know. I do not know how to tell her without upsetting her. I tried to warn her, but she would not listen to me because she did not recognize me. My only hope is to correct that now."

"And what of…" Timpani couldn't describe the monster she'd witnessed Mimi turn into. "Well, when she saved Blumiere…"

Merletoph nodded. "I did not program her to do that. It seems the magic she's infused with has a mind of its own."

Timpani's eyes widened. "Is it dangerous for her to… do that?"

"I have no evidence—"

Merletoph was cut off by a thunderous explosion. Timpani jumped and stumbled backwards. The loud noise had come from the distant town.

"What was that?!"

Merletoph shook his head.

"Be prepared, Lady Timpani. War is coming."