Discordant Note: Crescendo | TBATE

Chapter 184: To Fulfill His Wishes

Toren Daen

I trudged slowly up the stone staircase, a slight ache radiating from my core. I'd expended a decent bit of mana fighting Aya Grephin, and each painful step told me exactly what my body thought of what I'd put it through.

But each step I took was absent, devoid of conscious intent as my body acted on its own. Even as I left the scene of battle behind, my mind was elsewhere, thoughts awhirl on the possible ramifications of my actions.

Of saving Olfred Warend from execution.

"This is the second true divergence you have enacted upon this world, is it not?" Aurora questioned lightly, buoying my thoughts along. The Unseen World blanketed my senses as the phoenix shade strode by my side. Except where Aya's mist had been suffocating and claustrophobic, each swirl and eddy seeming to box me into an inescapable pit, the mists of the Unseen World were a cool blanket across my mind.

Aside from barring Circe Milview from the war, it is my first direct change, I internally acknowledged. But I hadn't expected something like this. It's entirely outside of my realm of prediction.

I'd vowed to change this world's future for the better, and I certainly had plans in place to do so soon. But I hadn't deeply considered how else I would change this world, either.

Would Olfred's survival make the future brighter? Darker?

I didn't know.

But this makes your predictions truly uncertain, Aurora said, her shade shifting to look at me with sun-crested eyes. Does this not... make your plans difficult? Make our course uncertain?

I hadn't told Aurora the exact specifics of my future plans, only vague outlines as I cemented them further in my head.

I walked around a bend as I ascended further. There was a darkness to this cavern that no light could truly banish. Probably because of all the corpses Aya left behind of Alacryan soldiers, I thought bitterly.

I'm no puppet master like Agrona, I told my bond as I focused on the path ahead. I never deluded myself into thinking I was some sort of master architect who could set events up exactly as I needed. But...

It was simply a fact of life that my knowledge of the future would very quickly become null and void once too many 'changes' piled up. My direct expectations for events could only take me so far.

I had my own plans, of course: plans to hopefully shift this war to something that benefitted everyone but Agrona. I found my mind drifting towards the Beast Glades. I'd have to find an excuse to visit there sometime soon.

But I only need to alter a few choice things, I thought, resolve surging through my body. And my knowledge of people's motivations, desires, and wishes is what will truly aid me once the future becomes too derailed from what I used to know.

Like Seris' desire for rebellion.

I wondered why I was so ready to act on the Scythe's orders to save Olfred. By doing so, I'd certainly caused ripples in time that I would never be able to account for. I could probably have allowed Aya to execute her 'traitorous' former comrade, then claim I was too late to rescue the dwarf.

But it was unlike me to let one in need simply perish. Furthermore, I wasn't some god who could dictate what events I wanted and didn't want to play out. That path led to madness, each moment spent meticulously questioning the butterfly effects of my actions. I would never sleep soundly, constantly second-guessing even the inflection in my voice.

But beyond that... Beyond that, I trusted Seris.

That realization actually made me halt in my step for a moment. I realized I trusted her to make decisions that would improve this world, regardless of what I immediately thought. Maybe I couldn't predict what good–or bad–Olfred's survival would bring Dicathen and Alacrya. But I had faith in Seris' vision.