It had been two weeks since Effie first appeared in this strange version of Apolaphia, where Phee’s life had been traded for Catherine’s

Everything was calm and peaceful. Serene. Bliss.

Every waking moment, Effie had expected some terrible twist to occur, some unforeseeable tragedy, some great trial.

But, there was nothing of the sort. It was two weeks of a perfectly boring, mundane life. Normal life. Normal except for the fact that Effie’s continued presence defied the apparent natural order of things in this universe.

“Hey, are you okay?” Charlie asked her when he saw her in the corridor that morning.

“I’m alright,” Effie said. Something about the way Charlie asked bothered her, but she couldn’t quite place her finger on it. “Anything new?” Effie asked in return.

“No.”

It had been two weeks, but they were no closer to figuring out what Effie’s trial might actually be. Rolynd suggested that everything Effie was experiencing could be part of the trial; there would be no reason to leave her in suspense if ADAM was as powerful as they seemed to be.

Effie ate with Rolynd, Charlie and Kari that morning. It seemed that the others were busy. The talk was small. It grated on Effie’s nerves. They seemed to be talking about such banal things. An upcoming festival in town. The opening of a new restaurant. It felt like they were dancing around a more important topic, one that rested on the tip of Effie’s tongue.

With each passing moment, the feeling of Effie’s discomfort subtly grew, just as it had ever since she had taken the place of her alternate self. There was something about this place that deeply disagreed with Effie’s being. But for the life of her, Effie could not figure out what that might be. The feeling grew stronger whenever she saw Kari’s concerned gaze.

And so, the Bloodstone’s time in this purgatory continued.

After eating, Effie set out to walk the beige, sunlit, sandstone streets of Al Dherjza in search of meaning.

It took her a rare minute or so to notice that she was being followed. Something nearly invisible.

“Stop. I know you’re there.” She said, drawing her sword. “Show yourself.”

Kari appeared from behind his cloak of refraction, looking quite guilty indeed.

“Why are you following me?” Effie growled, sheathing her weapon with a thrust into thin air; into her pocket dimension.

“I’m worried about you.”

“Why?” Effie asked bluntly.

“Why?” Kari asked incredulously. “I just am. I don’t like seeing you so glum. I made a vow to keep you happy.”

“I am not the same Effie that you married,” Effie said, turning to walk away.

“Wait!” Kari shouted after her, running to catch up.

Hearing the persistence in Kari’s voice, Effie began to disappear into her world with a sigh. Her legs, head, and torso disappeared in an instant, but Kari managed to catch her hand just before it followed the rest of his wife’s body.

Effie rematerialized her head and upper body, but not her mask, which remained half-obscuring her face. She shot Kari a glare with one exposed eye. “Let me go.” She told him.

“I won’t... I can’t. Come on, just talk to me for a moment. Don’t run away again, please.” He pleaded.

Effie sighed, returning her body to the common reality. “Fine.”

“Let’s go somewhere quieter,” Kari said, leading her through the streets, away from curious eyes.

They headed towards the battlements to the East of the city, finding their way up the stairs, hand in hand. Effie was not going to admit it, but the sensation of her hand in Kari’s was comforting.

They stepped out onto the battlements on the city’s perimeter, pausing for a moment as the shade of the carved sandstone bricks gave way to an astounding view. Behind them, the entirety of Al Dherjza was laid out. The magnificent domed palace, built on a knoll was its crown jewel. The beautiful dunes of the Shimmering Sea stretched far to the north and south, undulating with the sun’s heat. The Grand Plateau rose majestically up to the east, with sparse, snow-capped mountains even further along their north side.

A refreshing breeze blew over the battlements from the mountainside, filling Effie’s lungs with fresh air.

But all this only seemed to further the discomfort in Effie’s chest, even as her eyes and skin cherished the rejuvenating sensations pouring in.

She was conflicted, she realised. But conflicted about what?

Kari led them along the sun-kissed battlements. Stony, rust-orange towers studded them at certain intervals, manned by vigilant scouts. But there was no danger that day, just as there had been no danger for a long, long time.

But still, Effie could not bring herself to relax. Something was bothering her. She pushed it aside, trying to enjoy the moment.

“How are you feeling?” Kari asked her.

Effie struggled to express herself, eventually settling on a weak smile and a nod. “I’m okay.”

They walked along in silence for a few moments, Kari’s shadow falling over Effie, pulling her hand closer to him. The sound of distant birds crowing could be heard over their footfalls.

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“Are you sure?” Kari asked after some time. Effie briefly glanced up to see his face. Kari kept his eyes glued on the path ahead, but Effie knew that he was worried about her. The slightest precipitation had appeared between the skin of their palms, before being whisked away, presumably by Kari’s Gift.

“How am I meant to feel?” Effie asked him. What am I meant to feel?

“I don’t know. But you seem unhappy.” Kari replied, wringing his hands.

“Is that such a problem?” Effie challenged him.

“Maybe, maybe not. It’s normal to be unhappy sometimes.” Kari said with a shrug.

“But?”

“But I’m here. And so is everyone else. We care about you. So talk to us, and maybe we can help you.”

“…Thanks, but you’ve all been trying to help me for two weeks, but we’re no closer to figuring out what my trial is.”

“We are closer, it's just hard to see what progress we might be making.”

“Mmmh. I thought the ultimate test would be some impossible job. Slaying a horde of dragons on my own. Being forced to kill Rolynd, Sophia and the others. Becoming Empress of the Incandestine Empire. Even an impossible challenge like that, I could face proudly, and die trying with a smile on my face.”

Kari listened silently, organising his thoughts. They continued to walk along the battlements, the world turning around them.

He eventually spoke. “It sounds like you think you could be happy, even if you were to be put into such terrible scenarios. So, why are you unhappy here, when… well, when everything is good and peaceful?”

Effie continued to walk forwards. She couldn’t even feel that uncomfortable emotion anymore. Now, it felt like her mind was elsewhere, observing herself walk like a puppet. Breathing on clockwork. Even Kari’s hand holding hers was just a dull sensation barely different from the weight of her clothes. She turned Kari’s question over and over through her mind.

“I can’t be happy here when I’m ruining everything for everyone. I’m always ruining everything. It’s who I am.”

“Come on, Effie, that’s not true.”

“It is! Because I failed to control my powers, Catherine died in my world.”

“You don’t believe that Catherine used you to kill herself?”

“I don’t know. Even if she did, it's only because I was so weak and full of myself that she even had the opportunity.”

Kari did not know what to say to that. It seemed that Effie was firmly determined to be miserable. How could he show her the happiness that existed all around her? No, it was precisely the happiness that surrounded her that only served to further her misery.

But why?

Kari shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose, looking down at his feet. What could he say to turn her perspective around? Effie firmly believed that she was ruining an essentially perfect world, just by existing. And it was impossible for Kari to refute. Her presence in this reality had certainly upset things. Kari had essentially lost the person he cared for most.

Was it wrong for Effie to feel guilty? No, it was almost righteous of her.

Was it wrong to feel unhappy? No, but Kari still found it strange.

Could this version of Effie not be happy despite the guilt she felt? Could she not accept that this was the state of things and that feeling guilty was not helping anyone? It was a lesson that he and his Effie had taught each other years ago.

The thought filled Kari with confidence. “It’s okay to feel guilty, but it doesn’t help anyone, least yourself.”

Effie’s hand squeezed Kari’s tightly. Had his words gotten through to her? “Maybe.” That was all she said.

“And I think it’s possible to be happy even despite feeling guilty. Especially when everyone wants to see you happy, Effie. I mean, you don’t have to feel happy if you don’t want to.”

“Mmh.”

“Do you think you could let yourself be happy here? It could take a long time before we figure out what ADAM sent you here for. It’d be better than being miserable all the time, don’t you think?”

Silence.

They continued on, passing under watchtowers flying Al Dherjza’s gilded navy blue banner.

Effie gave no answer for a long time. Kari cast her a worried look, but the woman’s expression was inscrutable beneath her painted mask. But with his Gift, he could feel tears silently streaming beneath it, twisting his heart.

“I want to be happy.”

“Hey! That’s great. I’m happy for you.”

“But I cannot be happy here. Everything about this world is just… too much. I just can’t anymore.”

The feeling that had been haunting Effie ever since she arrived finally returned in full force. The beautiful view, Kari’s loving, caring face. The family of siblings that took care of her, worried about her. The peace of knowing that Catherine still lived and that Effie hadn’t ruined everyone’s lives irreparably by killing the Incandestine heir. It confused her. And at the same time, it brought her… joy? But if it was joy, how could it hurt and confuse her so much?

Why?

It made no sense to the young woman. It was a joy that Effie could not let herself accept.

Was it some sense of contrite justice within herself?

Was it an addiction to the misery that had become a part of her?

Maybe she had just accepted that she was fated to bring misfortune to those around her.

Or perhaps she had given up trying to change who she was.

Yeah… that’s just who I am. A person like me could never belong here, could never desire a life like this. Could never deserve a life like this.

Effie disappeared from the battlements, leaving Kari’s hand suddenly holding a cold, empty breeze. He looked down at his empty palm, where his wife’s hand had been just before, a sinking feeling settling into the pit of his stomach as his feet naturally came to a stop.

Sitting on her knees on the cold, hard, stone of the battlements in her personal reality, Effie removed the mask from her face with her right hand, reflexively shielding her shamefully tear-and-snot-covered face with the other, trying and failing to save her dignity from herself.

It was a hard thing to accept that she was a curse to those around her. Indeed, perhaps that was because that idea was a lie that the girl had told herself too many times.

Effie thought, if she was not deserving of so much pain and misery, then why had she been forced to suffer so much? Why had so many terrible things happened to her?

The human mind, which had evolved to find patterns and solve problems, could see only that simple illusion; that in some way, Effie was responsible for her own misery. And it was such a person who believed that they only deserved suffering, who would meet happiness with nothing other than pure-minded, pain-inducing confusion.

But, fate would not allow Effie to wallow in her misery.

Golden light poured out from the gaps between Effie’s pale fingers from somewhere ahead of her. She barely reacted, save to reflexively squint against the golden light that had invaded the one place that she had thought her own.

“To wish as I demand is to speak the heart’s most deepest, most true desires. Yet, my distant daughter, you have chosen to bury your true self under comfortable lies. In rejecting yourself, you have rejected your capacity to desire, your ability to wish, and your means to be happy. Understand, therefore, I cannot allow you to use my powers. You have failed my test.”

Effie wished for nothing more than to be alone with her tears, but the golden presence demanded her attention.

“So, what do you want then?” Effie vented in frustration. “Are you going to kill me?”

“There will be no need for that. Had death come by you during your trial, I would not have saved you. But, you’re already quite dead inside already, are you not? It is not my role to be the arbiter of your life, but merely to test aspirants in order to share with them as many of my gifts as possible.”

“Then what will become of me?”

“That is for you to decide.” Said ADAM’s voice, fading away.

And just like that, Effie’s surroundings changed in an instant. Though she was inside her pocket dimension, she once again sat in a familiar corridor of burnished metal. Behind her was the entrance of ADAM’s Labyrinth, where she could still see her own distorted afterimage entering.

But, that barely mattered to the girl. She cried and cried. Her great suffering was finally over.