—Snow Palace, Ivory Realm—
The Great Aide stared at the hexagonal device on the table as he sat tensed on his diwan. He, for some reasons never enjoyed his conversation with Dragneel Bloom. Somehow, he could never justify his dislike. Dragneel was a tough nut to crack for all he knew.
He was contacting her for the sake of his duty while keeping all his personal problems aside. He pressed the button on the hexagonal box, and a virtual screen appeared in front of his face. A dark silhouette appeared in front of him. Little by little, his bluish-green eyes met the striking midnight blue eyes. Her scarlet hair was a contrast against her peach skin tone. She held her nose high, as always. Not a single detail changed about her appearance, just like before the exile. It made Ryuoketusai wonder whether he was in reality or merrymaking with the past.
“The undisputed Dragneel Bloom here.”
The Great Aide felt surprised because, though her words were narcissistic, her tone was polite. It made him nervous. Her respectful attitude scared him more than wars themselves. What was happening? Were they landing in some deep trouble?
“Great Aide here, ready to start.”
“Which year is it, Ryuoketusai?”
“One thousand and five post doomsday.” The Great Aide glanced at the papers. “Igneous’ sacrifice wasn’t in vain.”
“Is Moon alive?”
“Very.”
“Iian… What about your beloved daughter?”
“Iian is healthy.”
Bloom paused for a second. “Has it really been a thousand years?”
“Yes.” The Great Aide closed his eyes in agreement. “Has it been for long for you?”
“Fifty four thousands; a thousand years each period.” Dragneel twirled on her turntable chair with a pen in hand and threw it on a mark on the wall, nailing it. Looks like I’m in the correct timeline. Dragonix really survived a thousand years post doomsday.”
“Congratulations.” The Great Aide sipped on his hot beverage and looked at the screen. “Did you find any alternatives to Dragonix’s future?”
“None in the parallel timelines.” Dragneel glanced at him and folded her wrists. “I thought hard about what would happen if in some other future Dragonix survived? It would have washed over every reason Igneous sacrificed his life… Emperor Igneous, to be exact.”
“Did you find what you wanted?”
“Ryuoketusai, I can let you have a slice of the pie.” The midnight blue irises shimmered as the conversation fell silent for a moment. “King Rael Ozmer, the leader of Rebellion Frontier, isn’t the antagonist in every timeline. I doubt if he’s the ultimate boss here.”
Ryuoketusai’s eyes went wide in disbelief and his hands clamped shut in response. “What do you mean?”
“King Rael of Nyctoph isn’t the villain in each story. You see, in every future of the fifty-four hundred futures, there’s an instigator, but not conditionally Rael. Wherever Rael’s the villain, the past of that timeline resembles ours. Yes, of course, unlike ours, Dragonix didn’t survive the doomsday in the others.”
“You mean Dragonix is getting annihilated in every timeline because of a different cause?” Ryuoketusai’s body trembled but in hiding.
“It’s more like being trapped in an experiment until it reaches perfection. It is like, whatever you try, the end is the same.” Dragneel walked away from her chair and came back with a notepad.
Bloom drew five parallel lines on the sheet and emboldened the middle line. “You see, in no other timeline you, Throne or anyone remote, dare go against reality. Because you never had the means. But Dragonix has me in this timeline, who can disrupt and create timelines. I don't exist in other timelines.”
Ryuoketusai studied the five parallel lines and concentrated on the emboldened middle. “So, this middle timeline refers to Dragonix having you. That is this timeline?”
“Yes.” Dragneel painted the adjacent lines blue. “And these two lines are the closest to our timeline. The events occurring in these two would almost be identical to that in ours. And the farthest lines on both sides have the least resemblance to our timeline. So, villain King Rael exists in our timeline and the blue ones. This means he became a villain in the recent timelines.”
“Then…”
“Yes,” Dragneel cut him off in between. “King Rael’s origins are messy, and I will tell you why when we meet. Even the timelines are a mess.”
“Is it like someone else might be behind it?”
“Maybe.” Dragneel looked away. “But one thing is for sure, Dragonix would face another doomsday, a new Emperor contested or not. So, the plan’s not changing. These thousand years were the prep period. It’s time to move. We have set the stage and now we will shine.”
A silence prevailed again. Their situation was precarious to say the least. Now someone was actively destroying Dragonix in multiple timelines. They survived only because Dragneel changed the flow of their timeline. But Dragonix yet remained unsaved.
“But even if we save Dragonix in this timeline, how do we propagate it as the truth?” The Great Aide drew many lines on a page and darkened the middle one and held it in front of the screen. “If I understand your rules of overwriting reality, Dragonix’s destruction is the truth. Its survival is false. Amongst the ninety-nine truths, a lie doesn’t make a difference. Dragonix will perish, not now, but in the future.”
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Dragneel locked eyes with Ryuoketusai. A sly smirk crept up her eyes, her lips, and he saw what was that day’s most Dragneel-like reaction. “Ah, Ryuo~ I’m not an amateur. I’ll create a lie irrefutable. A lie potent enough to oppress your ninety-nine truths, that too, without lying.”
Ryuoketusai had no words to speak. What would he even say in front of such confidence?
“It might sound ridiculous, but I have been doing this my entire life. Every second of my existence is a lie.” Her silhouette shook as if she heard a joke. Dragneel let out a snicker past her lips, a scornful laugh with all her pearly whites on display. “I might be an immortal, but I can still die a social death. So, I need to make lies compelling enough to invade people’s memories. So, manipulating the truth is survival for me.”
She put her hand on her mouth to stop laughing. “Anyway, since I was away doing this work, do people remember Unrecorded or not? Or am I dead in society?”
Ryuoketusai got a chuckle out of Dragneel’s question in a delicious tone and clasped his palms. It was the best moment to get back at her. “I can assure you, Dragneel, no one suspects that the ‘Tests of Unrecorded’ is not fiction. We hid you and made you famous at the same time.”
“Yeah…” Dragneel’s tone was a disapproving one. “At least you could have spared my gender and the over-exaggeration of my feats.”
A smile rested on his lips as a residue of his chuckling. “I thought it wouldn’t bother you, though. At least no one knows the truth and stories with exaggeration always work out.”
Dragneel now stood up and stretched her arms. “And how am I going to enter Dragonix again? I’m not Unrecorded anymore but Dragneel Bloom.”
“And I thought you knew the future.”
Dragneel refuted back. “Only fated futures. Not the ones I’m creating.”
The Great Aide was now pleased. His bluish-green eyes shone as he said, “We have selected nine candidates from the Nine Realms. I invite you, Dragneel Bloom, to become the Tenth Candidate for the Throne of Dragonix.”
Dragneel averted her eyes for a second. Whatever she chose would change her life. “I accept the candidacy.” She turned her back towards the screen, and her scarlet hair fluttered behind her and rested on her back. “There’s this one last thing I wanted to ask. What about Ignia? You said nothing about him.”
As if it changed Ryuoketusai’s entire demeanour. With a cross on his eyebrows, he folded his hands tight. Thus, the amount of colourful splendour that left his mouth could even put goons to shame.
“That rascal of a demon! He should be grateful that he’s the so-called friend of Iian. I could have gotten him assassinated long before! Puny little kid! He is an aggressive, audacious puppy with his baby teeth intact.” Ryuoketusai slapped the table in disgust. “He doesn’t deserve to stand in a mile radius from my daughter!”
He stopped short and let his calm catch him. He looked at Dragneel and said, "There's one thing that bothers me and I don't have any idea how to wrap up my head around it because I haven't seen it. Iian stated a dramatic change in that boy. As if sometimes, it's a different person altogether."
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–Menage house of The Trailblazer Realm–
While the Great Aide was dissing Ignia, Ignia was busy planning to destroy the Trailblazer Dragons, who supported his mother. The Trailblazer Dragons were in a civil war where King Rael of Nyctoph Realm was his active supporter, representing the Rebellion Frontier.
“Strange, isn't it? My mother's adamant about getting my candidacy revoked, whereas Throne Frontier is sitting quiet. I thought they would have supported her without a doubt. Now, I don't think so.” Ignia looked up at his loyal generals.
“Y-Yes sir!” He sweated and tried to assert his agreement with his lord.
“Well, they abandoned her. So soon? They know now the fact. An Ivory Dragon has no voice amongst the Trailblazers.”
The general nodded in agreement.
Ignia’s golden eyes went up and down the general’s getup. The headgear and breastplate were sturdy, so we're the gauntlets but the boots were a mess. He averted his eyes at the sore sight of his muddy shoes.
“Hey you! Look at my attire.” Ignia pointed at himself. He had his spiky hair slicked back, gold adorned on his tanned bare skin, and a purple tunic with yellow embroidery hugged his lower half. “Next time, you should be this clean before stepping here!”
The general touched his chest in an honest gesture. “U-Understood sir!”
“Not sir! Your Highness!”
“Yes, Your Highness!” He repeated his words after Ignia.
“I want them to surrender before me by tomorrow evening.” Ignia glared at the general as he passed a written order wrapped with a string.
“I understand, Your Highness. But, it poses challenges for the troops…”
Ignia's golden pair of irises glared again, sharp. He would never take uncertain answers.
“I want an answer! Don’t answer me in ‘buts’.”
The general stopped short. He considered the consequences of his words. “Yes, Your Highness!” He punched his fist on his chest, bowed, and left.
Ignia watched him leave; he turned to the window to confirm the general was gone. When the general was out of his mansion, he relaxed on his sofa and closed his eyes for a bit. Little by little, he opened his golden eyes and peered at the greyish walls and frosty white blinds. He rubbed his forehead and with his other arm reached for something on the table. Ignoring the importance of the letter, he opened it and retrieved a card.
“Tomorrow, by five.” Ignia read the words written on the black card. And suddenly, it was all so important.
His eyes went to the envelope briefly. It had the same seal as the card—the one with no unique insignia. He remembered the first order Nyctoph gave—Tomorrow, by five.
A few were meaningless. But Ignia knew what those words signified. He requested the impossible from his general, but that wasn’t the intention. The aim of the entire plan was laid in the card, a secret best kept away from his own faction.
Ignia took the black card and lit a soft flame on his palm. He turned the card in the flame and dusted the lead powder. In a moment, the card grew up in dimensions as its surface opened with a chink. Ignia was astonished at that careful technique King Rael used. As he slowly decimated the card, he found a palm-sized paper on it. He smoothened its lines and observed it with great attention.
‘GARRISON DEATH’ scribbled in capitals in a corner.
Ignia's cheeks lifted off his cheekbones as he couldn't contain his smirk. He banged his hand on the table hard as his eyes filled with sadistic satisfaction. The Nyctoph King helped him, after all. It was the map of all the hidden routes to the enemies and their garrisons.
“Oh, my King! Ah hahaha!”
He had everything under his control then except for those three people he either needed to eradicate or flip to his side. Iian, his mother, and the Great Aide.
He could never think of hurting Iian lest killing her. His mom was still an important asset. He needed her alive for future purposes. But… But that Great Aide—How he wished for him to disappear! King Rael Ozmer would have thought of something to kick mud on his reputation. That was enough to humiliate him.
“There is none who assures me like you.” He imagined Iian in front of him. Her black eyes staring at him, and her silver hair shining under the sunlight.
“A lovely, dedicated and passionate lady… What are you even lacking?” He thought of his precious moments with her with a dark smile on his face. He was just too obsessed with her.
“Only vision, I guess. But that's fine.” His voice came low, muffled under his laugh."You are standing on the wrong side, darling. But no worries, I will bring you here by my side. Even if it means snatching you away from the Great Aide. Even if it means painting your hands red with blood."