Chapter 4 - Answers and Questions
"Then ask away," Kronii offered, shrugging her shoulders, "We owe you that much." Amelia took some deep breaths to calm herself down. She seemed to have escaped death this time, so now she could start to worry about what was actually going on here.
"Why did she really attack us because I don't buy that Elder crap one bit!" Amelia pointed an angry finger in IRyS' direction. Baelz looked ready to bite IRyS' head off again.
"She isn't wrong, just severely misguided," Baelz answered, giving IRyS a brutal look. The Nephilim looked down at her hands, avoiding any eye contact.
"What?! So something like that is coming here to kill us all?!" Kronii nodded and sighed.
"The error in her judgment was assuming the magic she sensed originated from Ina. She is wrong. It came from outside of the timeline and landed here," she explained. IRyS looked up at the Warden in shock.
"Why would they send something here first?! They have no reason to come here!" she exclaimed. Baelz shifted her footing, making IRyS calm back down.
"I have no idea, but I am sure that Ina did not contact them in any way," Kronii said, supporting Ina's innocence.
"So why are we here then?" Amelia gestured to herself and Ina, "Why are we being wrapped up into this?" No one besides Amelia noticed Kronii hesitate ever so slightly.
"Well for starters, IRyS tried to kill you over it," IRyS continued to stare at the very interesting roof she was sitting on. "Secondly, you're going to get wrapped up in this sooner or later. Wouldn't you rather be prepared for it?" Amelia and Ina both nodded rapidly.
"Then you'll all be needin' some serious trainin' if ya want to stand up to them!" Sana said far too happily. Ina gave her friend an awkward laugh.
"Well my weakness is obvious," Amelia stated, "I am far too inexperienced with magic." Normally, she would rather hide her disadvantages and work on them in the background. However, this was entirely new to her. She knew that help was required, so she swallowed any pride she had surrounding the topic and asked flat out.
"Don't ya worry! We can get something fixed up for you all in no time!" Amelia was feeling a lot better having the backing of several god-like beings. It really helped her anxiety about the whole impending destruction of her timeline.
"That includes you, ya know?" Baelz said, kicking the moping IRyS in the shin. The other girl jumped slightly before looking around at everyone else. Amelia and Ina stared at Baelz with wide eyes.
"WHAT?!" Amelia screamed at her, "She tried to kill us! No way is she gonna get anywhere near me!"
"I-I never wanted to hurt you," IRyS tried to defend herself, furiously waving her hands in front of her "I only did that because I thought it would stop the Elder Ones!" Amelia rolled her eyes, not having a single ounce of IRyS' shit. She walked over, going straight past Kronii and Baelz, and standing directly above IRyS. The Nephilim glanced up at her before looking back at the ground.
"Why should I listen to you when you wouldn't listen to us?" she said cold as stone. IRyS looked back up, her eyes becoming misty from developing tears.
"Of course you would say it wasn't you! Why should I lis-" Amelia suddenly crouched down to IRyS' level, causing her to stop talking.
"You didn't even try to think of any other possible answer. You just wanted to kill and found an excuse to do so. You make me sick." Amelia punched IRyS' straight in the jaw before quickly standing back up and walking away. IRyS' crying didn't even get into her ears.
"Even with what she's done… That was a bit harsh Amelia, don't you think?" Ina asked her when Amelia had walked back over and stood next to her. Amelia shook her head and tapped her foot on the ground.
"Not a chance. She had it coming." Ina and Kronii both sighed, seeing just how cruel Amelia could be if she wanted to.
"Anything else you want to know about?" Kronii asked, ready to finish this up. Amelia nodded and walked over to Kronii. She motioned for the Warden to follow her to the far side of the roof, away from any of the other girls. "What is it?"
"Why did you give me the abil-" Amelia began asking in a hushed voice, but she never finished. The world faded to a grayscale and time froze.
A dark, humanoid figure stood just behind Kronii, appearing to be looking over the two of them. Kronii was somehow frozen, too, despite being the Warden of Time. The figure walked around until they stood right next to Amelia and Kronii.
They were feminine in form and were only slightly shorter than Kronii. In each hand they carried a blade that looked a lot like Kronii's, but with slight differences that Amelia only now noticed. The circular grip was more of a hand guard than a grip. The actual grip was located inside the circle. The blade part also seemed to be slightly longer, but less intricate. This was a weapon made for killing, not some show piece like Kronii's.
The figure raised both blades before softly planting them into both Kronii and Amelia's necks. It hurt like hell, but neither could move. With a quick slash upwards, their faces were torn clean off their heads.
Amelia quickly collapsed to the ground, coughing from the pain. She grabbed at her face, feeling only tears running down her cheeks. When she stood back up, she winced from the pain of her stomach wound. She lifted her shirt and saw that she had reopened it slightly.
"Oh goodness…" Fauna said, sounding incredibly worried. She quickly walked over to Amelia and placed a hand on her wound again. It quickly healed back up. "Try to not make any sudden movements, alright?" Amelia nodded weakly, trying her best to smile and show appreciation. Fauna walked back away from them, humming a quiet tune to herself.
"Y-You saw that, right?" Kronii asked, looking incredibly rattled from what had just occurred. Amelia fully stood up and let both of their wide eyes meet.
"You did, too?" she asked back. Kronii nodded.
"Let's go somewhere even more private." With once graceful movement of her arm, she brought out one of her blades and cut a rift in time itself. "We'll be back shortly!" she called out to the rest of the girls. Sana and Mumei waved at her.
Amelia hesitantly followed Kronii into the rift. Inside, it was the exact 'office' she had been in when she'd died the last time.
"Talk about it again," Kronii requested immediately. Amelia hesitated for a while, mentally preparing herself to be assaulted again by those blades.
"I go back in time when I die!" she yelled. The entire sentence escaped her mouth with no shadowy being trying to cut her down. She sighed in relief and put her hands on her knees. "Oh thank god…" she mumbled to herself.
"I think I know where that Dark magic went…" Kronii said slowly. Amelia stood back upright.
"You think it went to me?" Amelia asked. Kronii nodded.
"I sensed it, the same magic as before…" Kronii sounded incredibly worried.
"I honestly thought you gave me this ability," Amelia said. Kronii walked over to her desk and sat down in the large chair behind it. She waved a hand and another appeared for Amelia to sit in front of the desk. They both sat on opposite sides of the desk for a couple minutes in silence.
"The Elder Ones gave you the ability to go back in time when you die," Kronii broke the silence. Even though it probably didn't need to be said, she still wanted to say it. It just sounded so wrong that she could never accept it as fact unless she said it out loud.
"But why…?" Amelia asked an impossible to answer question. Kronii leaned her chin on her hands, trying to think of any possible solution.
"That thing we saw, it must be like Ina," Kronii theorized.
"You mean a Priestess for the Elder Ones?" Kronii nodded.
"They obviously aren't sane like Ina. The Elder Ones have their claws buried in their mind and soul, controlling them."
"What are these, Ones, you guys keep referring to? Is it just a naming convention or are they actually connected?" Amelia asked.
"The Ancient Ones were born in the Spatial Void, a sort of in between area of space. The Elder Ones came from the Temporal Void. If you were to take a step outside of my office, you would end up there." Amelia looked down at the white ground, feeling slightly anxious about where she was standing. "You won't fall through, don't worry. It takes a lot of force to get through the walls here," Kronii reassured her.
"So they are like constants that exist in their respective domains?"
"Space and Time are both infinite. It is inevitable that beings as strong as them would develop inside of each. They then coagulate into the 'Ones' and roam around the multiverse. There are likely dozens of versions of them out there, with the strongest 'Ones' absorbing the weaker."
"Like super massive blackholes…" Amelia mumbled to herself.
"The Ancient Ones have calmed down, as you heard from IRyS. They no longer pose any threat and are content with creating cults and general mischief on a much smaller scale."
"But the Elder Ones haven't mellowed out just yet," Amelia assumed.
"Technically I don't even know if they exist. They are a phantom that kills anyone who sees it in the flesh." Amelia swallowed hard, trying to keep her stomach from jumping up her throat.
"So we're already dead…"
"Maybe… but I've never heard of them giving their enemy the power to go back in time when they die," Kronii tried to put the tiniest bit of hope in Amelia's mind.
"If that wasn't you who gave me this power, then it was the Elder Ones who spoke to me," Amelia remembered the voice she had heard the morning of the first loop. Kronii leaned in, wanting to hear what Amelia was going to say next. "They said, 'Try your best, Amelia'..." Both girls' minds ran at a million miles per hour to try to figure out what that statement could mean.
"They want to keep you alive for some reason," Kronii came to a conclusion. Amelia nodded, agreeing with her.
"Yeah, but why? What purpose does keeping me alive serve them?" Kronii put her hands up and sighed.
"I have no idea. They don't want you talking about it with anyone, so it is supposed to be a secret."
"And yet here we are just talking about it in the open," Amelia said, lightening the mood slightly.
"I wish I could drag the others in here and tell them, but that would risk damaging their sense of time. The only reason you can be here is because you have already experienced an abnormal flow of time and are used to it."
"I mean, I did pass out last time," Amelia said, noticing that she was starting to feel light headed again.
"You had just died and it was your first time here. You'll get better at it the more I pull you here," Kronii explained. "But yeah, we should go back now. I have a plan that I want to explain to the rest of them." Kronii stood from her desk and cut another rift in time. Her and Amelia passed back through it and emerged out on the roof again. Amelia shivered from the change in temperature.
They were still on the far side of the roof compared to the other girls, who were all crowding around IRyS. The Nephilim appeared to be speaking, but Amelia couldn't understand what she was saying. The two girls walked over and joined the rest. The conversation stopped abruptly and IRyS looked quickly at the ground.
"There is something I need you three to help me with," Kronii said, pointing at Amelia, IRyS, and Ina. Amelia immediately interjected.
"I already told you, I refuse to have anything to do with her," Amelia said sternly. Kronii groaned in frustration.
"Whether you like it or not, she is wrapped up in this, too. We need everyone we can to beat what's coming." Amelia wasn't convinced.
"We can't be the only magic users in the entire world," she said, talking about herself and Ina, "Just take IRyS and move her somewhere else!" Kronii grabbed her shoulder and pulled her close.
"Look at her," she whispered into Amelia's ear. Amelia quickly glanced down at IRyS who was sitting, still looking at the ground. "She is a notorious problem maker and she usually gets away with it because of her strength. You two are the only people that have beaten her in a long time. She is scared of you right now, but I think we can turn that into respect over time. Just give her a chance, Amelia…" Kronii pulled back and waited for Amelia's answer.
She looked down at IRyS again and tried to analyze the girl. It was normally easy for her to figure someone out, but not IRyS. Her actions right now were in stark contrast to her actions earlier. Amelia sighed and crouched down next to IRyS again. The Nephilim flinched at the movement, backing away from Amelia.
"Stand," she commanded. IRyS looked up at her before shakily getting to her feet. She looked around at the rest of the girls, hoping they would stop Amelia if she tried anything extreme.
Amelia grabbed IRyS by the arm and pulled her along with her. IRyS followed with little resistance most of the way, but when she realized where she was going she started to pull back. They were moving towards the edge of the roof.
"H-hey, w-we don't need t-to go over there…" she said, shaking from the fear in her body. Amelia didn't care, only pulling harder. She stopped only a few feet away and reached over to grab IRyS' other arm. She then practically threw IRyS in front of her.
"I want you to tell me exactly what gives you the right to kill Ina," Amelia asked coldly. She slowly advanced towards IRyS, forcing the other girl to slowly back up towards the ledge.
"I-I didn't want to, I was only-"
"I already heard that bullshit!" Amelia screamed at her, taking a much larger, more aggressive step towards IRyS. IRyS felt her leg bump up against the short concrete wall at the edge of the roof. She was out of room to back up now.
"I-I thought it was the only way to stop what is coming…" she said quietly. Amelia grabbed IRyS by the cuff of her outfit and dragged her down to her eye level.
"Do you still want to kill her?"
"Why would I? Now that I know it wasn't her, I have no reason to-"
"Why listen now, huh? What is so different about it being explained to you now versus before?!" IRyS opened her mouth to answer, but Amelia interrupted her quickly. "And don't say that Ina would defend herself!" IRyS closed her mouth again, teeth chattering from the fear. Tears sprang into her eyes.
"I-I fucked up…" IRyS answered quietly. She fought back the sobs and tried to keep talking, "I didn't listen because I didn't want to… I wanted an easy solution to my problem… and went after it without thinking… I hid myself from the Council so they wouldn't interfere… I knew Ina and Sana were connected… so I couldn't let them find out…" Amelia glared at IRyS, finally starting to understand what made this girl tick. "I'm sorry…"
Amelia suddenly shoved IRyS away, nearly forcing her over the edge. Ina laid a hand on Amelia's shoulder, stopping her from pushing IRyS any further.
"Leave her alone, Amelia," she asked. Amelia turned to face Ina, as IRyS scurried away from the ledge.
"Why do you care about what I do to her?"
"Can't you see that she regrets what she did? She wants to make amends-"
"I can see that she regrets it and wants to make it up to us. I just wanted to hear her admit that to me," Amelia explained, dusting off her palms and walking back towards the Council. IRyS had gone straight back into the middle of them. Ina carefully followed.
Amelia crouched back down next to IRyS, who completely refused to make eye contact.
"Please don't…" she pleaded. Amelia sighed lightly.
"I hate you. I really, really do. But I think we might have to work together going forwards. Just don't try to kill me or Ina again and I don't think we'll have a problem," Amelia said. IRyS risked a quick glance at Amelia, but held it for longer than she had anticipated. Amelia's eyes weren't angry, but instead looked almost kind. She even had a slight smile on the edges of her mouth.
"A-Alright…" she replied hesitatingly. Amelia extended out a hand to pull IRyS up, which she accepted. Ina stood next to the two of them, as Kronii restarted her previous speech.
"Now that you all can stand each other, I have a job for you. The Elder Ones have invaded this timeline and I need to know where and when. There is a place known as the Corridors that has a record of the entire timeline until now. You three will go into that place and find the point of intrusion and report back to me." Amelia tilted her head at the Warden.
"Why can't you do this?" she asked innocently.
"Inside the Corridors there aren't many exits. The nearest one I know is there would be a few days into the future. I can't risk being gone for that long since the Elder Ones might decide to invade at any moment. It is safer if I ask you three to take care of it for me."
"How are we supposed to find that exit?" Ina asked, concerned about her job.
"I have a device that can help you guys navigate in there. It shouldn't be too difficult, but I'll try my best to explain everything."
"B-But why me?" IRyS asked suddenly, still not understanding why she had to work with the people she had just tried to kill.
"You are very strong IRyS. However, you always want to do things your way and only your way. This way of thinking nearly got two innocent women killed today." IRyS wanted to shrink into nothing and disappear. "We, the Council, want you to work with them and learn that your actions impact others. We want you to understand how to help and be helped, IRyS." IRyS looked over at Baelz and saw the shorter girl nod at her. She took a deep breath before looking back at Kronii.
"I'll try," she replied. Kronii smiled slightly.
"Let's get this all planned out then."
The plan was fairly simple. The group of three would be thrown into the Corridors of Time by Kronii. While there, they had the simple objective of inspecting the integrity of the area surrounding the where the Dark magic spell had entered. If there was any damage, they would report it to Kronii when they got out and she would figure out what needed to be done next. After the inspection was completed, they would find an exit that should drop them a few days into the future.
In order to keep Ina and IRyS' minds safe, they had to move in a very specific way through the Corridors. Technically speaking, they had to be constantly moving into the future, never into the past. They could still move backwards since Kronii can just drop them farther back in time. It would screw with their heads slightly, but they were strong enough to regain their bearings.
Amelia and Ina knew they weren't going to have to come into work for a while thanks to the damage IRyS had done to the office. This meant that they had time to spare in the Corridors and could really get their detective minds sunk into it.
Both Ina and IRyS asked why they had to be the ones to do it, much like Amelia had earlier. Kronii gave them the same reasoning as well, she couldn't be absent for the amount of time it would take. Amelia could deduce that there were other reasons, too.
First, Kronii and the rest of the Council wanted Amelia, Ina, and especially IRyS to start to get along. They thought that sending the three of them on a mission together would help them bond and right their wrongs. Amelia knew that Ina would be quick to forgive IRyS, if she hadn't already, so it was up to her to make sure IRyS knew her place.
Second, Kronii knew that Amelia would want to inspect the intrusion herself. She had apparently been the target of the spell, so if she could see it with her own eyes, maybe she could figure something out about it that no one else could. It was a bit of a long shot, but so was the Warden of Time herself being frozen when time was stopped.
The fear Amelia had seen in Kronii's eyes when that had happened was something else. She doubted that the Warden had ever felt that powerless in her entire existence. It was definitely a driving factor of her wanting to stay in the timeline.
The group was also given an object, a small, golden pocket watch. Kronii said that it would help keep them oriented properly and could even direct them to the nearest exit in case something went wrong. Apparently there might be some other uses that Amelia could tap into, but Kronii was pretty vague about it.
"So, any questions?" Kronii finished her speech. Ina and IRyS just stared at her blankly. Amelia was the one that needed to speak up for them.
"Run through just the trip one more time, for them." She nodded towards the other two. Kronii pinched the bridge of her nose.
"After you get into the Corridors, look at the watch and make sure it is always going forwards. If it starts to go backwards, stop and go a different direction. When it gets to yesterday, inspect every inch of the area around you. Take note of any possible damage or intrusion. Let the watch guide you back out an exit a few days in the future. Simple as that."
Ina and IRyS nodded slowly, starting to understand the entire plan.
"Umm, how will the watch know when to point us at an exit?" IRyS asked hesitantly.
"The watch will always be looking for an exit. You'll probably find a couple on your way to the point of intrusion. It will blink and beep very quickly when you are close to one," Kronii answered. IRyS nodded and looked away quickly.
"There is still the problem of trust." Amelia didn't ask a question, but instead brought up the most important issue she had with the plan. "You want me and Ina to go into an enclosed space with little to no exits and a predictable path with IRyS? She just tried to kill us and even though I technically just forgave her, it still might not be the best idea." Ina heard what Amelia was saying and turned to look at IRyS.
"Are you gonna try and kill us again?" she asked her. IRyS shook her head, making fleeting eye contact. Ina turned back and looked at Amelia.
"See? She doesn't want to hurt us anymore," she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Amelia might even categorize the tone of her voice as condescending. That was not going to fly with her, no matter who had said it.
"You are far too trusting, Ina. I say we strip her of her weapons and find a way to limit her power," she offered a solution to her problem. Baelz stepped forward and showed the group the light and dark daggers.
"I already took 'em away and if ya want to limit her power, just take a couple of those crystals floating over there behind her," she pointed at the wing-like structure of crystals that floated just above IRyS' back. IRyS looked like she wanted to fold herself into the farthest away corner again. Amelia stepped around Ina and grabbed one of the darker colored crystals.
"N-Not that one, please. It still hasn't healed properly…" IRyS pleaded with her. Amelia turned it over in her hand, noticing the thin cracks that ran up and around the otherwise perfect exterior of the crystal. It was clearly the one she had hit with the light dagger earlier. She put it back, allowing it to get sucked out of her hand back into the place it had floated previously.
"What do these even do?" she asked IRyS before grabbing a different dark crystal.
"They amplify my power. The light ones give me stronger Light magic and the dark ones increase my Dark magic," IRyS explained to her. Amelia nodded, looking over the new one she had grabbed. She looked over at Ina before tossing the crystal to her.
When Ina caught it, the crystal began to glow. Ina's whole body twitched and she looked like she had just gotten a decent headache. She blinked a few times and took a couple deep breaths, righting herself again.
"Looks like it does that for us, too. Amelia, grab one of the light ones," she said, still taking in the feeling of new power in her.
Amelia reached over and grabbed a light crystal. What she assumed was the same sensation Ina had just felt hit her, too. It was like her veins had grown hotter in her body. But these veins didn't follow the ones carrying blood around her body. Instead, they were concentrated in a line stretching from her stomach to her brain. From there, they branched out across her body and into her limbs. After a few moments, she felt the burning subside as she got used to the feeling.
"Looks like I am special…" she mumbled to herself. IRyS heard, but didn't say anything back.
"Each crystal increases her strength by two times," Baelz said, "so ya just cut her strength in half." She made a small shadow boxing movement to accentuate her point.
"That also means that she was fighting with half her normal Dark magic…" Amelia again mumbled to herself, remembering the multiple times IRyS' dark dagger had cut through her body.
"You can take more if you want…" IRyS said hesitantly. Amelia looked over at Ina, who shook her head in response.
"I don't think I could carry another one. Four times my normal power might be a bit too much, haha," she laughed nervously. Amelia unfortunately had to agree with her.
"Yeah, you'll get off easy this time," she half teased, half threatened IRyS. The Nephilim breathed out a breath she hadn't notice she had been holding since offering more of her crystals. "I want those daggers, too." Amelia pointed at the daggers that Baelz still had with her.
"Why? Wouldn't ya wanna to avoid puttin' IRyS and the daggers anywhere near each other?" Baelz asked. Amelia smirked and shoved the light crystal she had in one of her pockets.
"As much as I don't want her to have them, I know she doesn't want me to have them just as much. I can't defend myself on my own without something to channel my magic through, so that light dagger will have to do for now." Baelz hesitated for a moment before giving both daggers to Amelia. Amelia turned around and immediately offered the dark dagger to Ina.
"Oh, thanks," she said, mimicking Amelia and putting her dark crystal in one of her pockets. They weren't nearly as roomy as the detective's, so she just wouldn't sit down any time soon.
"I'll take that you're satisfied with your ability to defend yourself now?" Kronii asked, purposely making the question long to air her frustration. Amelia didn't piss her off, but she could tell the detective had an ego bigger than the building they were standing on.
"Sure. You really want to send us on our way, huh?" she teased the Warden. Kronii sighed and cut open a rift next to her.
"Absolutely, so without further ado…" she motioned for the three girls to enter. Ina looked over at Amelia who shrugged at her. Amelia then looked behind her at IRyS.
"Ladies first," she said, giving a mock bow to IRyS. The Nephilim took a few hesitant steps around Amelia before actually beginning to walk towards the portal. Amelia secretly smiled to herself, noting how broken IRyS looked at this point.
IRyS passed through the rift as Amelia walked up next to Ina. They both stared into the dark blue tear in time.
"I don't think she'll try to hurt us in there, but if she does," Ina tightened her grip on the dark dagger, showing that she had Amelia's back.
"I've got yours, too," Amelia reciprocated the gesture. It was too easy to manipulate what the Priestess thought, but unlike with IRyS, she didn't really get any joy out of messing with Ina. Guess that's what being friends with someone does.
They both took simultaneous steps into the rift, feeling their sense of time begin to rapidly speed up.
Author's Note: I originally wanted to include the beginning of the trip into the Corridors here, but I decided that there was enough information here already. The chapter was slightly heavy handed when it came to exposition, but the next few will let Amelia and the others learn on their own.
The Elder Ones are even more powerful than previously thought. Enough so that they can freeze Kronii in time. And then they seemingly work against themselves by giving Amelia the ability to reset when she dies. Could it have been an accident or was it part of a plan they have yet to uncover?
Amelia might have been a little agrressive with a depressed, beaten down IRyS, but that is also totally her style. She's the best and wants you to know it. Give her any reason to put you below her and she absolutely will. Heck, she's even trying to stand up to Kronii.
I also noticed that I have yet to give Mumei any meaningful dialogue yet. She's shy and all, but I'll make sure to rectify that in a future chapter.
Next Chapter: Into the Corridors
Any feedback/criticism is appreciated!