Midmorning, Summer of the year 3XXX.

"Mysty, what kind of flavour should we pick this year?" Enigma who was sitting on Mystery's lap was excitedly browsing through a cake catalogue of a nearby bakery.

"Hm~ I'm fine with anything~" Mystery hummed as she played with his soft and silky black hair.

Today was the day before his birthday, and he was looking forward to celebrating it. 

"How about this one? Or this one? This one looks tasty, too." Enigma pointed at the different cakes that was shown in the catalogue.

"How about we get all of them?" 

"No~ I can't finish all of them myself~"

"Then hurry and choose, Eni~"

"A~h! This one! I want this one!" Finally, after much deliberation, Enigma finally chose a cake.

Mystery immediately booked an order for the cake, "it's final, okay? No take-backs, okay?" 

"Geez~ I'm not a kid anymore! I'll be eight tomorrow! Only little kids change their minds quickly." Enigma puffed his cheeks.

"Sure, sure~" 

"Ah! Mysty, you placed the wrong order!" Enigma noticed her actions and immediately stopped her hand.

"What? This is the right cake, though?"

"No~ you chose 'pick-up' instead of 'delivery'~ that's wrong~"

Hearing his words, Mystery smiled mysteriously. "That's right, though~"

Mystery gently pushed away his little palms and tapped on the ''confirm order' button.

"Your order has been placed. Your cake will be ready in two hours. Please come to the selected branch store to pick up your order. Thank you for choosing Flavours Bakery. Please come again!" A mechanical female voice chimed.

"Are we going to go get it ourselves?" Enigma asked sullenly. He had already planned to play games the whole day and this had greatly affected his schedule.

"I'm not." Mystery smiled slyly. "You are~"

"Huh?"

"Enigma, since you're all grown up, it's time for me to send you on your first errand." Mystery pushed Enigma off her lap and placed her hands on his shoulders firmly, a serious look on her face.

"An... errand?" Enigma's face twisted. In this day and age, which kid would need to actually go to the store directly for an errand? At most, the 'errand' for a modern kid like him was basically just keying in the grocery list into some store's website, and the store's delivery service would send the groceries directly to their doorsteps.

"This is child abuse," Enigma said, still pouting.

"Go get dressed~" Mystery laughed, ignoring his protests.

"Fine." Enigma grumbled, but still obediently changed into more suitable clothing. With an unsatisfied face, he grudgingly entered their private aerocar. Mystery inputted his destination, and with a kiss on the forehead, she sent him off.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Come back soon~" She waved at the boy who was still frowning inside the aerocar. 

"..." 

After watching the boy fly away, Mystery re-entered their house.

She went straight to their bedroom which contained the wall-sized monitor that she had installed for convenience.

There was not much time to spare. The bakery was just in the neighbouring building; Enigma would be home as soon as the cake was finished.

She activated the computer and pulled out its attached keyboard. She took off her bracelet and connected it to the computer.

Mystery generated a tiny bit of her divine sense and fueled it into the keyboard. In mere seconds, as if it had a life on its own, windows upon windows were opened. Walls of texts flashed by in each tab. 

Mystery swiped her hand over the keyboard, making sure that the software program would run as it was intended. 

Once the first part was done, all that was left was for her to record the 'legacy video', as she dubbed it.

Mystery waved her hand, and the bracelet disconnected from the computer on its own. She made it levitate in front of her, with the camera function opened. 

"Ah, ah~ ah~ ah!" Before she started the recording, she cleared her throat, testing different tones of voices. As if finally finding the correct one, she nodded in satisfaction.

Mystery rubbed her face roughly and pinched herself until her eyes almost watered. Staring at the front camera and seeing her somewhat melancholic face, Mystery muttered, "perfect."

"Start recording." Mystery's aura changed, as if she was an actor in front of the camera who was getting into her role.

“Hello, Enigma.” Mystery started. She vaguely imagined how Enigma would look like by the time he discovered the video. “Eni, how are you? Are you well? Are you happy?” Mystery’s gaze softened.

“By now, I assume that I’ve already left your side. Am I right?” She smiled up to the camera. Ah, keep up the sad eyes! Sad eyes! 

“Eni… listen. Do you remember what I’ve always told you?” Mystery says, making her face look stern for added effect. It was important to use foreshadowing, especially since she was about to leave him with a sketchy video about his background. 

“Eni. You’re a very special boy, you know that?” It's a hint! Catch it! 

“Since you’re probably an adult now, then there’s no need for me to hide anything. Eni, do you remember that story I told you? The story about the special boy with the gift of sharing.” Mystery smiled, remembering the nosy boy who kept butting in while she was telling him the story the day before. That silly child; he didn't even know that the story was just the first phase~

“That story, it was about you.” Mystery paused, picturing an orchestra playing a dramatic tune in the background in her mind. “Although I simplified and sugar-coated it quite a lot, it will one day come true.”

“Eni, remember the story.” Mystery stared straight into the camera, voice firm. “Hurry, before it’s too late. They’re already moving. Soon, they’ll find me.” Dun, dun duuuun, the orchestra sounded.

“If… if I’m not with you, Eni… that means… Pandora has already found me.” Mystery scratched her thigh until she drew blood. Trembling from the pain, she bit her lips. She lowered her head, hiding her face that was already dripping with cold sweat. The cut she made had been too deep! What a mistake.

“Save me, Eni.” Her voice was impossibly sorrowful and pained. Tears filled her eyes as she mutedly tried to stop the blood from her thigh.

Mystery wiped away the tears that fell from her eyes, “Happy Eight...teenth birthday, Eni. I love you. Always.”

"Stop recording." Finally, she released the breath she had been holding. 

"Ah, #^%&*^! That %&^(*& hurts!" Mystery blurted out some curses. She eyed her bleeding thigh with an annoyed glance. She gritted her teeth, taking out a porcelain bottle from out of nowhere. 

She uncapped the bottle and tipped it into her palm. A small pill rolled out from the bottle, emitting a medicinal scent. 

She immediately swallowed it, then sat in a meditative pose. In the blink of an eye, the pill's effect kicked in and the self-inflicted wound on her thigh healed.

"Tsk. The things I do to create plotlines." Mystery muttered under her breath. 

Mystery immediately cleaned up the bloody mess she had made and erased all evidence of her activities. Soon, the room appeared as normal as it had always been.

"Ah, I almost forgot." Mystery took out a piece of paper from within her wide sleeves. 

It was the script which she had used for the video.

Mystery scanned the paper, frowning. "Ah, I missed saying that part." Mystery shrugged, "oh, well."

She casually tossed the paper into the air, and snapped her wrist. A fire was suddenly lit under the paper, and in mere seconds, it burned into ashes.

All of these took less than an hour.

When Enigma returned with the cake, Mystery congratulated him with a smile, looking as if she had not just planted his 'sad backstory' flag.