Twisted Wonderland

Strange Advances

Idia walks into the control room. A ringing noise comes from the microphone. Idia presses a button.

"Idia Shroud speaking."

"Acting Director, I have a status report on the River Lethe for Case LOD-627. It's eighty eight percent charged and should be ready tonight at 2000 hours to use on Subjects A through E, all of Sage's Island, and other related parties. The Mnemosyne info-scrubbing team is handling the information that was disseminated online."

Idia nods. "Okay, good to know. Schedule the flood for 0000 hours."

"Copy that. We'll dispatch Hexa Team to Sage's Island to deal with matters there."

"Got it. Oh yeah, Malleus Draconia, Briar Valley's heir apparent, is a student at Night Raven College." Idia informs. "Lethe works differently on fae. Make sure you adjust accordingly. You wouldn't wanna erase info that someone with his long life span would be expected to know."

"Rodger." The microphone clicks off.

Ortho tilts his head. "They're all going to forget about Styx once we use Lethe, aren't they?"

Idia folds his arms. "Yup. Not even Styx tech can turn back time. So we use Lethe to rewrite a few discreet memories that won't cause any inconsistencies. Subjects A through E will think they got a special request from a university hospital in the Kingdom of Heroes and that they agreed to help them with a study on blot. People say that mages don't come back from the Island of Woe. And of course they don't. In their minds, they were never there to begin with."

Ortho looks to the floor. "Will they forget that we played video games together?"

"Absolutely. They won't remember me being the acting director here, either. I'll just be the same ol' gloomy, nerdy shut-in to them." Idia chuckles to himself. "Then again, that's what they'd think even if they did remember this."

Ortho doesn't respond, he just goes quiet.

Idia turns around, tilting his head. "Ortho?"

Ortho shakes out of his stupor. "What?"

"You seem a bit off. Are you feeling okay?" Idia asks. "Maybe your technomantic circuits are out of whack, or something's up with your reactor. Want me to run maintenance, just in case?"

Ortho shakes his head. "No, that's okay! Nothing's wrong with my body. Your work is as flawless as ever. Maybe I'm just still processing the memories from all these unusual experiences."

Idia doesn't look all that convinced. "Are you sure? Well, I guess if you say so..."

"I'm going to go check on Rook's group at the training facility. I'll let them know we gave Vil the cosmetics."

"Oh, sure. Knock yourself out."

Idia watches as Ortho walks to the door, disappearing into the hallway. Idia hums to himself, worry written across his face.

Ortho walks down one of the long hallways. He thinks out loud to himself. "What can I do to make sure zero doesn't stay zero...?"

"Would you like me to tell you?"

Ortho looks around wildly. "Huh? Who's there?"

"Come here. This way."

Ortho narrows down where the voice is coming from. He gazes down the hallway. "It sounds like it's coming from Tartarus... Are you a Phantom?"

"You want to know what you can do, right?"

Ortho hesitates before answering. "Yes. I want to change the future so badly."

"Then come closer. Come down here."

Ortho follows the voice. Going deeper into Tartarus.

"That's right... Keep moving... Down... Down... Into the deep, dark, frigid underground..."

Ortho eventually reaches the very bottom. It's dark, barely able to see anything but the glowing blue light that escapes the cracks in the floor.

Ortho looks around. "Hello?"

Giggle can be heard all around.

"Are you there?"

"Yes. I've been here since long before you were born. But I was never lonely. After all, I have so many friends down here."

Ortho tilts his head. "Friends?"

"I want you, well, really... I want everyone in the world to be our friend. Then... We won't need this cage anymore. Idy will be free!"

"Idy?" Ortho's eyes widen. "Wait, is it you?"

"...Ortho?"