“Archie!” Mag cried and ran to hug him, forgetting he was a hologram. She fell through him and landed face-first on the ground, tainting what otherwise could have been the most beautiful moment I’d ever witnessed.
Her first words to Archie were a heartfelt apology for letting him die. He said she was forgiven and that he had never blamed her. Not for a second.
Mag was visibly relieved upon hearing these words, and she and Archie were soon reminiscing about their childhood. I’m not sure exactly what they talked about, as I had given them some space. This was their moment, and I didn’t want to intrude, so I busied myself drawing pictures in the dirt with my staff (the pictures were of me injuring my dad in various ways).
Still, I couldn’t help but look up several times as they spoke. To see Mag happy like this eased some of my anguish and bitterness. Not very much of it, but the fact that I experienced even a fraction of happiness in this dark hour was a miracle. Mag even giggled as she spoke with Archie. I’d heard her laugh before, but her laughter had always been more of the chuckle or guffaw variety. This was the first time I’d ever heard her giggle, and I haven’t heard her giggle since.
As for Archie, he seemed like a most cheerful person with a playful charisma, perhaps the type of person I would be if my parents loved me.
Soon enough, Archie put an end to their reminiscing and invited me and my dad over. He had some crucial information to relay to us. “Information which no living human was meant to know,” as he put it, “but which I must bestow upon you if your world is to be saved.”
It was strange to hear such a young boy speak so formally. He explained that his physical body was at the Butterfly Guild’s headquarters in a different dimension—or realm, as he liked to call them. He was currently with several senior guild members, and they were telling him what to say.
“Before I begin,” Archie said, “I must inform you that everything I’m about to tell you is infinitely more complicated than it will sound. I will be using terminology that is nowhere near correct but which I must use if your tragically simple minds are to grasp what I am saying on the most basic level possible. Please remember that as you listen.
“As I mentioned before, I am a member of a group called the Butterfly Guild. It is our duty to watch over the humans of your world. Different guilds watch over different forms of sentience, and butterflies happen to be compatible with the humans of your Earth for various reasons that are very complicated and inconsequential to the matter at hand, so I won’t even bother trying to explain them.
“Just know that when you see a butterfly in your world, it is often a member of the Butterfly Guild; it may even possess the soul of a distant ancestor or someone you once knew. We are continually crossing over into your world to encourage you to perform virtuous acts. Since we cannot speak to you or manipulate you directly, we try to guide you through various phenomena that you refer to as gut feelings, chance encounters, luck, inspiration, miracles, and so forth.
“However, for some purpose that we cannot fathom, the entity that you call Vulgra wishes to make the people of your world perform evil acts. In this way, the Butterfly Guild has been engaged in a spiritual war with Vulgra for thousands of years. At present, we are faring very poorly in this war, primarily because, unlike butterflies, Vulgra can directly influence humans and make them act against their will. Furthermore, Vulgra is fueled by humans’ hatred, hopelessness, and sorrow, which are abundant, whereas butterflies rely on friendship, hope, and love, which are becoming increasingly scarce.
“Speaking of which, Emerson, it is clear that your love for and hope in your father are dwindling. Thus, it is a massive stroke of good luck that your father wished me here, for now I can tell you myself that he is not responsible for my death or his own.”
“What do you mean? Of course it was his fault,” I said. “He admitted it himself.”
“To anyone who saw what happened that night, it certainly would have looked like your father killed me. However, that’s only because humans whose physical bodies have not yet expired—phantom humans, we call them—have only five senses with which to perceive the world. Of course, if you were a little smarter, you’d realize that five senses are not nearly enough to know anything. Humans acquire many additional senses after their bodies perish.
“As we at the Butterfly Guild are equipped with these senses, we can plainly see that your father did not kill me. Vulgra infected him, and Vulgra killed me. About that, there is no question.”
“Bullfarts!” I said. “You can’t do something evil and then put the blame on the devil or Vulgra or whatever. He did what he did. He let Vulgra infect him. He’s responsible for his actions. So, yeah, I have lost my love for him. I hate him.”
Archie sighed. “I’m sorry to hear you say that, for that is precisely what Vulgra wants. If you refuse to forgive your father and help him collect the talismans, Vulgra will end the world.”
“Good!” I snapped. “It’s a crappy world anyway! People are selfish and mean, and the instant things get hard, they give up on the people they supposedly care about,” I said, glaring at my dad. “Vulgra can end everything for all I care.”
“Please, Emerson, will you at least allow me to explain the miraculous situation your father has created? It’s quite heart-warming.”
“Oh, yeah? So is heartburn,” I said. I don’t know what point I was trying to make.
Archie took my response as an invitation to elaborate. “From here, Vulgra can sense a hopeless soul on your Earth like a shark can smell blood in the water. When it detects such a soul, it releases a small piece of itself from that enormous mass that you see above Misery Peak. That piece of Vulgra then penetrates the boundaries between this world and yours. Upon arriving in your world, Vulgra infects the body belonging to the hopeless soul and makes that person do evil things.
“That way, when that person dies, their soul is sent to one of Vulgra’s many realms, such as the one you are currently in, instead of somewhere pleasant like the land in which the Butterfly Guild resides. In turn, Vulgra can feast on that soul, thus increasing its power. As we speak, your father’s soul is fighting to stop Vulgra from consuming him. He is in unspeakable agony, though you wouldn’t know it with your five senses.
“We have no idea how your father is still here. Before your father, the longest a human soul had lasted in one of Vulgra’s realms was six days, eight hours, nine minutes, and 1.02 seconds. But, as you know, your father’s soul has been here for nearly two years. Such endurance was thought to be impossible before now. Our observations indicate that your father’s love for you, his undying hope that he might rid himself of Vulgra and be reunited with you, has been preventing his soul from being devoured.”
Archie was right. It was heart-warming how hard my dad was fighting for me. Just not at the time. I was still mad at him, so my reply was defensive. “I don’t care. And why do you care if I forgive him or not?”
“Because we want you to destroy Vulgra and save the human race. But if you cannot find forgiveness in your heart, then you will stand no chance in your battle.”
“You want me to do what now?” I responded. “You want me, the guy who hates everything about humanity, to save it?”
“That is correct,” Archie said.
I scoffed at that. Boy, did I ever scoff at it. “Well, obviously, I’m not going to. Even if I wanted to, I’m not the kind of person who saves worlds. I’m not strong or brave or clever or handsome. I’m about as heroic as a ping-pong ball. And why is it up to me, anyway? Why doesn’t the Butterfly Guild come here and kick Vulgra’s ass?”
“Naturally, we would have done that already if we could. However, just as we cannot directly influence humans in your world, we cannot physically harm Vulgra. Moreover, for us to cross the barrier into this realm would take more power than we possess. Therefore, if Vulgra is to be defeated, it must be defeated by a phantom human, which is why we presented you with the Butterfly Box and brought you here.
Stolen novel; please report.
“Wait. The Butterfly Guild gave me the Butterfly Box? How is that even possible?”
“Once we witnessed your father’s resistance against Vulgra, we saw an opportunity. If we were lucky, we could use the power he was generating to bring you to him. All we needed was for you to simultaneously feel the same volume of hope as him.
“We protected you while we waited. Surely, you realize now that your dark thoughts were attempts made by Vulgra to infect you. It failed only because we were always watching over you, for we knew your bond with your father could be the key to stopping Vulgra for good.
“The moment we had been waiting for finally came on your fourteenth birthday when you wished to see your father. That irrational, foolish, wonderful hope of yours gave us the power we needed to deliver the Butterfly Box to you.
“The odds of similar events ever occurring again are astronomical. And, considering the rate at which Vulgra’s power is increasing, such events will certainly not occur before Vulgra ends the world.
“So, to be honest, you weren’t our first choice for savior of the world, Emerson. Not even close. If we could have picked anyone we wanted, you’d be in the bottom five percent. But, unfortunately—for you, for us, for everyone—you’re our only choice.”
“Umm, hello?? Aren’t you forgetting someone?” Mag said. “I’m here, too. I’ll fight Vulgra. I’ll beat it to a pulp!”
“I wish you could,” Archie said, “but that is not possible.”
“Why not?” Mag asked.
“Because only the legendary Butterfly Rod can destroy Vulgra, and only a white mage can wield it.”
“Well if you knew that, then why did you make Emerson the white mage?”
“Oh, we had nothing to do with the classes you received,” Archie explained. “Just like on Earth, we cannot directly influence you in this realm. This realm itself determined your class by some means that even we butterflies cannot comprehend, though perhaps it is something similar to what you call fate. In any event, you cannot destroy Vulgra, Mag. It has to be Emerson.
“However, there is a significant problem: Vulgra eventually learned of the Butterfly Rod and has hidden it. It’s as if it has vanished, though it must still be somewhere in this realm. Because Emerson’s father has been infected by Vulgra, he knows everything Vulgra knows—including the location of the Butterfly Rod—even if he’s not consciously aware of it.
“Although Vulgra’s power over your father has reduced significantly of late, he is still infected, and Vulgra will protect the secret of the Butterfly Rod’s whereabouts at all costs. Therefore, your father will be unable to tell you where to find the Butterfly Rod unless you can repel Vulgra from his soul.”
“But how can we get Vulgra out of him?” Mag asked. “We already used the Dream Ring.”
“You can eject Vulgra from Emerson’s father by collecting all three talismans: the Knowledge Bracelet, the Dream Ring, and the Hero’s Medallion. Along with the Butterfly Rod, the founding members of the Butterfly Guild deposited the three talismans in this realm.
“When the three talismans are united, not only do they unlock the Butterfly Rod’s power, but they also repel any part of Vulgra that is nearby, even if it is in someone’s soul. Therefore, if you can obtain the Hero’s Medallion, the talismans’ combined power will send the piece of Vulgra residing in Emerson’s father back to Misery Peak.
“Moreover, the Hero’s Medallion will allow you, Emerson, to fight Vulgra, as whoever wears it can face Vulgra without feeling hopelessly depressed. However, the Hero’s Medallion is also the most difficult talisman to acquire. You’ve noticed that each talisman is protected such that it requires an act of virtue to be retrieved, yes? Well, the Butterfly Guild protected the Hero’s Medallion even more carefully than the first two talismans, so beware.”
“And where is the Hero’s Medallion?” Mag asked.
“In the castle in the Kingdom of Egola.”
Mag confirmed that she could see the castle on her map. We would need to make our way north through the Great Grasslands and eventually turn northeast. “And if we collect the Hero’s Medallion, learn where the Butterfly Rod is, and use it to destroy Vulgra, our world will be saved?”
Archie laughed. “Heavens, no! As this is but one of many realms that many entities like Vulgra inhabit, other Vulgras will still have many other routes by which they can cause chaos in your world.
“There are also many other worlds that they can attack, many of which are remarkably similar to yours. They’re so similar, in fact, that if you ended up in one, you would think you were on your Earth at first. But then you’d notice differences, some big, some small. For instance, you might find that Coca-Cola is more popular than RC Cola. Or perhaps you learn that Choclair’s smash hit ‘Let’s Ride’ didn’t get the radio time it deserved, and he never became the biggest hip-hop artist of his generation.”
“I find that hard to believe,” I said. And of course I did. I mean, can you sit there and imagine a version of Earth where Choclair isn’t dominating the music industry?
“Who’s top dog, then, if not Choclair?” I asked.
“It depends. On some Earths, it’s an artist named Puff Daddy. On other Earths, it’s an artist named P. Diddy. On others, it’s an artist named Sean Combs. And, on some Earths, it’s an artist who goes by all three of those names.”
“What? How does that make any sense?” I asked.
“It doesn’t. But that only adds to his charm.”
“But wait,” I said. “If defeating Vulgra isn’t going to do any good, all Earths considered, why bother bringing me here to fight it?”
“A reasonable inquiry,” Archie said. “If you destroy Vulgra, it will show us that Vulgra can be destroyed.”
“That sounds like a pretty stupid reason,” I said. “That’s like microwaving a jawbreaker because you want to see what happens when you microwave a jawbreaker. Spoiler alert: It does not end well. And I’m not even sure what good I was thinking could have possibly come from it in the first place.”
“Perhaps our reasons seem trivial to you, but for as long as the Butterfly Guild has been fighting Vulgra, we have never reduced its size. All we have ever managed is to restrict its growth at best, and many butterflies believe that’s all we can ever hope to do. If you can destroy just one atom of Vulgra, you would prove that something we’ve believed for millennia to be impossible is actually possible. Imagine the hope that such an event would generate. It might even give the Butterfly Guild enough power to regain the upper hand in our battle.
“On the other hand, should Vulgra continue to increase its power unchecked, it won’t be long until it destroys your world by making people perform increasingly evil acts.
“So, Emerson, I must ask you: In light of the knowledge I have shared with you, will you fight Vulgra on behalf of the Butterfly Guild?”
“No,” I said. “I told you, I don’t think the world is worth saving. Life is a cruel joke, and I would be doing everyone a favor by letting Vulgra end it.”
“You don’t still believe that, do you, Emerson?” Mag asked. “How can you still think that way after hearing everything Archie said? I mean, there’s, like… miracles and shit. None of that changes your mind about the world?”
“No, it doesn’t. I know you have this weird complex where you feel like no one’s allowed to die on your watch, but I don’t know… I just don’t care if people die.”
“Wait,” Mag said, turning back to Archie. “Can the butterflies close the portal in Zolptoria? That way, Emerson would have to stay here and fight Vulgra, right?”
“Sadly, no, we cannot close the portal. The butterflies who left the talismans on this island also created the exit portal with a purpose. The presence of an escape route ensures that whoever seeks the talismans does so willingly. You can force someone to do good, but you can’t force someone to be good. And to wield the Butterfly Rod, one must be good.”
“Well, there has to be something else we can do,” Mag said. “What if we collect the talismans and bring them back to Earth? Would that keep Vulgra out?”
“I’m afraid not. The talismans are incompatible with your realm and would dissolve within a microsecond if brought there.”
“Well then what about—”
“Listen, we could stand around and look for loopholes all day. I’ve got an answer for all of them, trust me.”
“Really? All of them?” I asked. “What about the fact that there are no butterflies in the winter? Are people just screwed in the winter?”
“Oh, I could easily explain that,” Archie said, but as he spoke, the hologram became blurry and glitchy. “But I can sense this hologram is losing its power, and I—— you must——”
“No!” Mag cried. “You just got here! Please, don’t go!”
Archie said something, but I couldn’t make it out through the static.
But Mag heard him. “You better not be lying,” she said.
Archie said some more inaudible static.
“Okay, that makes me feel a little better,” Mag said, tears forming in her eyes. “And at least I get to say goodbye this time.”
Again, Archie said something too fuzzy for me to understand.
“I love you, too,” Mag said.
The image of Archie faded, and he was gone.