Book 1 / Act I.
Prison Escape
Saif and Lynx wander day and night in the dense forests, hiding from other guards that are after them ― though they seem to have fallen behind a lot. If they were discovered they'd need to protect themselves, but Saif is reluctant to give a weapon to Lynx, he is still a criminal after all. After much consideration, he ends up getting him a pair of blades that he's supposedly used before his capture, but at night he always confiscates them for safety and sleeps in an orb of protective spell around him. All in all, Lynx doesn't seem like someone who wants to cause any trouble; in fact, he seems pretty frightened and doesn't remember most things from his life before the spell ― not even the fact that he was a criminal, nor why he would be one ―, he even feels pretty bad about the fact that he has ever caused any trouble.
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Saif tells him about the people they should avoid, mainly Prince Cecil, the royal military captain who's the greatest witch in the whole of Serin, and is the one that formulated the 'Fate Reweaver'. He is the only one who's able to use this spell, so he was the person that cast it upon Lynx and all the other sinners as well.. Saif also tells him about their plan to re-trace Lynx' route, revisiting the places he has caused destruction at and try stopping them from happening; since now that he is awakened, these events will happen again in the reversed order. All the while, they should head to Thar Nua, where Serena had died.
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They head off on their journey, but it is soon cut short ― it only takes a couple of days for Captain Cecil to find them. He came alone and seems rather detached, but expresses his disapproval towards Saif's betrayal as a guard. Just as Saif and Lynx are about to enter the impossible fight against him, a masked fighter, Jinhai shows up. Despite his hidden identity, he carries quite an ethereal aura with him. According to Saif's knowledge, he is the infamous rebel that constantly terrorizes the royal military of which Cecil is the captain; but he has never seen him in person before. Cecil states that he's never met him in person before either. Jinhai is now here to enter the fight against the Captain on Saif and Lynx' side.
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Although the fight is much more balanced with the exceptionally strong ally on their side, the great witch still seems to have the upper hand. At one point Jinhai's mask gets knocked off, and everyone notes to themselves that he has a surprisingly kind and gentle face. His human ears transform into aquatic ones, and now with his face markings also being visible, that together with his hair is very telling that he's a naiad. It is very rare to see male naiads, but it somewhat explains his strength and exceptional fighting skills. With his identity revealed, he starts using more water related powers. As his feather hair-accessories become visible, Saif asks how he got them, because they look like Saif's feathers. Lynx suspects that they had fought before, but Jinhai tells them that he's not the type to collect rewards from defeated enemies, even if they had fought. As they continue the battle, Saif uses light magic that not only knocks Cecil back for a moment, but also blinds Jinhai. They soon continue the fight, and although Jinhai evades all of Cecil's physical hits navigating with echolocation, he seems very frightened ― not from the attacks, but from the realization that he's gone blind. As soon as the Captain realizes that he stops his attacks, he never intended to kill Jinhai after all. Jinhai, scared, to protect himself he lets out a high frequency scream ― naiads are known to be capable of ― , paralyzing Cecil for the moment. Saif and Lynx, being a little further away from the sound, recover quicker and escape the scene. The witch, upon realizing that his targets ran away, takes a final look at Jinhai who clearly seems to be panicking, sitting on the ground with a vacant stare. Cecil leaves him behind and goes after the two.
Book 1 / Act II.
Captain Cecil and the Rebel
Criminals who had caused troubles at too big of a scale are put under a spell that erases their existence, rewriting history and preverting destruction. A druid named Saif, is one of the guards at the dungeon in the depths of the Laeves Forests where these criminals are kept 'asleep'.
For many years while watching over them, Saif's eyes always wander back to the nameplate "Lynx Valnian". Reading the name fills his heart with an unusual sorrow. He wonders if he knew this person while he wasn't put under the spell. This person's strong build certainly looks like a criminal's, and his face looks troubled even asleep.
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One day Saif chats with the young Bookkeeper Wise, who had just recently inherited the role of maintaining the log of every version of events that have happened in the world. His library has a book dedicated to every timeline that has been rewritten since then, respective of each sinner. Of course, all end with destruction and the culprit's capture. As they chat, Saif mentions his lover Serena, who died in a fire, and how much he misses her. Wise, to ease Saif's mind, mentions that in one version Saif's lover survived and probably lived a happy life.​
Saif, determined to see Serena again, decides to wake up a criminal. Listening to his intuition, he concludes that if anyone's, it must have been Lynx's version of history where his sweetheart is alive. At night, Saif wakes Lynx from the spell and they escape from the scene together.
Book 1 / Act III.
Bonding
After Saif and Lynx escape, Saif uses some spells to disguise themselves and avoid being further followed. Just as they plan, Cecil gets lost in the forest for a little while, confusing even simple directions. Once he realizes that the area is under the influence of a spell he flies above and gives up the search for the time being.
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As the two continue their journey, they spend a lot of time in the mountains and forests of Laeves. They acquire clothes to hide their identities, food from either small villages or the wild. One time while trying to light fire in a damp weather, Lynx arranges leaves in a unique way, he can easily light the fire with. Saif is taken aback, because it is a method that he himself came up with as a child, so he wonders how Lynx would know about it. He asks him, but he still doesn't remember most of the things from before when he was put under the spell.
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Time goes by, and one night Lynx starts crying and tightly hugs Saif, admitting that he's starting to remember the time he experienced while he was 'asleep'. It was very unpleasant. He tells Saif that all the people enclosed there are in a never ending white space that goes on in a time loop, never moving forward. For all the time he was asleep he was going around in it, searching for a person named Saif. He encountered all kinds of people, the other criminals under the spell, who all seemed to be in their little world, reliving the experience that led them to destruction. Some were reliving a traumatic moment that turned them into the villains they've become, but he states that not all of them were bad people, recounting the example of the doctor who tried to find a cure for a horrible illness, but accidentally ended up inventing a virus that spread around the world. He was reliving the moment of naive joy, the moment when he thought he found the cure, then realizing what he had done. Lynx walked around for all these years in a panicked state, searching for Saif, because he really needed to tell him something. He asked around from all these people, but none knew who he was. He went around in circles always coming back to each one of them, seeing all relive their own moment again and again, but he himself could not break free from the cycle either, because he always seemed to forget that he's already asked. He had the feeling that he might have already been there, but he was never sure, so he's gone back hundreds and hundreds of times. He started crying just now because he finally found Saif, but he doesn't remember what he wanted to tell him, nor who he is to him. Saif feels sad, because even though he also has a slight feeling that Lynx is someone important to him, but he doesn't remember either ― and is still trying to keep some distance since he's a criminal so dangerous that the Captain needed to intervene.
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Continuing their journey, they reach a town where Lynx remembers he might have been before. They arrive to a horrible scene, with all houses burnt down, people burnt to death too, or killed otherwise. They not only can not do anything now, but Lynx has a terrible panic, looking at what he has supposedly done. Breathing heavily, he falls on the ground and throws up, and Saif has to drag him away from the scene in fear that the Captain might have asked for Lynx's route from the Bookkeeper and would make an appearance too.
Book 1 / Act IV.
Grabbing the String
Cecil, now knowing that the rebel is a naiad, goes to Tír Ríoga to search for Jinhai, in case he knows where the two might be hiding or be the one hiding them himself. After arriving and walking for a while he sees a room-sized pink bubble by the shore, with a light pink haired naiad inside. He goes around it to find an opening, looking at the girl who he secretly finds quite endearing, but quickly shakes the feeling because he's here to ask about the rebel's whereabouts. The girl, Seely is so in her own world passionately writing something in a notebook, that she doesn't even notice him. When Cecil tries to knock he accidentally pops the bubble, frightening the girl. He quickly apoligizes and asks if she knows anyone with a light blue jellyfish-like hair. The girl tells him he must be looking for Jinhai and admits her surprise since Jinhai doesn't have friends that would want to visit him. Cecil tells her that they are not friends, to which she warily asks if they are enemies. Since Cecil suspects that the girl will not tell about Jinhai's whereabouts if he says yes, he states that he's only here to talk.
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After receiving directions from Seely, he quickly finds Jinhai sitting beside a stone on the shores in his naiad form, crying and constantly trying to wipe his tears, ineffectively. Hearing that someone is coming, he tries even harder; but as soon as he recognizes the sound of Cecil's boots, fright comes upon him thinking that the Captain's here to kill him, and tries to back off into the water. Suddenly he forcefully gets dragged underwater by long vines, pulling him to the depths of the lakes. He is helpless not only because he is blind, got caught off guard and thinks it's the great witch's doing, but these alive, unusually strong vines have never been present in Tír Ríoga's peaceful lakes before ― so much so, that it is certain that it's someone's magic moving them. Cecil jumps in and drags him out to the shore.When he lets go of Jinhai, the naiad seems both frightened and​ confused looking at Cecil's approximate direction, and quickly swims away.​
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Cecil doesn't want to bother him anymore in this state and guesses that he doesn't know about the runaways' whereabouts anyway. He wants to leave, but Vree's voice appears inside his head, telling him to stay for a while. Vree, Cecil's double who remembers past versions of the world, has finally discovered a pattern. According to him, it seems like all past versions somehow managed to avert Cecil and Jinhai meeting with each other, which sometimes seemed a coincidence, but other times ― this time the most obvious ― something or someone seemed to actively prevent the two from talking. Cecil is told to sit and wait patiently until Jinhai comes back, even if it takes several days, because Vree is sure that if the two meeting should be their fate in every story, he will come back. After a while, Jinhai really does come back, first hiding in the water or behind stones, letting out soundwaves to check if Cecil is still here. He comes closer and closer as he realizes that the Captain's not here to hurt him. With this intervention, Vree caught the first string of change for a better future.
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Even though they are supposed to be enemies, as the two begin talking they find themselves getting along surprisingly well. They even share their reasons for doing what they do, trying to convince the other of their own views. Jinhai, even if not remembering what or who he might have lost in the constant rewriting of history, feels it is not right to have innocent people disappear as a side effect of the spell; and Cecil explains that even if Jinhai is right about that, he is saving more lives by wiping out the causes of a mass destructions. While they certainly don't approve of the other's methods, they do realize that they share the same goal of achieving a better future. Cecil is curious if Jinhai is okay with him changing the past now when he'll catch Lynx, since he would also get his sight back. But Jinhai ― a little hesitantly ― says that he would still not want it to happen. Cecil states that it will happen regardless, so at least he should not cry anymore for losing his sight. Jinhai suddenly gets emotional again now that they mentioned him not being in the best mental state. He gets overwhelmed by the fact that he doesn't know how to call the other and feels ashamed talking to him without knowing how to address him. Cecil starts recounting the various names and titles others call him by, getting frustrated at himself by the fact that people mistake his last name "Prince" as a title, when he is in fact not a prince. After Cecil listing all the various options, Jinhai tears up because he still doesn't know how to address him. The Captain sighs and tells him it is fine if he just calls him Cecil.
Book 1 / Act V.
A Healing Haven
Cecil, on his way back to Eaveton, the Capital, visits a graveyard outside the city. As he silently watches a gravestone, two of his subordinates walk up to him. They ask who rests there, and Cecil tells them that like most of the graves he has set up in this garden, it has no name, since he couldn't remember it anymore by the time he got here. It was one of his subordinates that got erased as he rewrote history, and in fact it was a friend of the other two, because he remembers that they were always hanging around as a group of three. Hearing this, the two subordinates decide to stay for a while after Cecil leaves.
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When he arrives at Almerry Palace, His Majesty, King Yahui immediately welcomes him. He has a friendly banter with Cecil about wanting him to be his successor, which Cecil once again refuses like he always does. Cecil asks how Vree is doing, just as Vree arrives. Vree is Cecil's creation and his double who serves as the holder of most of his memories. Since Cecil is the one casting the Fate Reweaver, his memories of the old world don't get erased, which is why he figured out a way to transport them into a double so that he could continue his job without breaking down mentally or emotionally.
Vree, mostly due to his horrible state, always stays at the Castle under King Yahui's care. Yahui sees both of them as his sons ― partly to make up for the emptiness after losing his wife and child to the Fate Reweaver's side effect; and he's the one that makes sure Vree is okay.
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Cecil warns them that if it takes too long for him to find the runaways, ordinary people might start reappearing who got lost when he erased Lynx. And if that happens, when he catches him and people disappear again, relatives might break into the castle until their memories of their loved ones once again disappear. Because this has happened multiple times before, he, also being the King's bodyguard will hurry back to protect them. Vree tells him that it would still be the best if Cecil caught Lynx early, so he will also go on his own separate way to have a better chance at finding him. This of course doesn't mean that he can leave the castle, instead he will use a white owl as his eyes to search through great distances and watch out for anything.
Book 1 / Act VI.
Lilanaserine
As Saif and Lynx continue their journey northwards they get closer and closer together. They both find it surprising that the two of them could ever get along so quickly. Saif starts to lower his guard around him more and doesn't confiscate his weapons at night either. One time they get to a cliff where Lynx gets closer to the edge to look for the next village, and Saif thinks that he might jump off because he might not be able to cope with the things he's done, judging from his reaction from back in the previous village. But Lynx tells him that even if he jumped off, Saif would surely catch him. Saif is surprised that he knows about his other druid form, a white eagle that would in fact be able to catch the other.
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The two hurry to the next settlement. This time they're not late, it still seems perfectly fine. However as they walk around, houses and people gradually start vanishing, their whole surroundings becoming a tragic scene. This makes them realize that even if they are in time, they cannot do anything to stop the destruction rehappening.
Eager to still get something back after all they've done, Saif starts rushing straight to Lilanaserine to meet Serena. Lynx follows him, and after running day and night, they finally get to her homeland.
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As they arrive at their destination Saif immediately goes to check Serena's house, but there seems to be no one at home. When they enter the living room, Saif starts to feel dizzy out of the blue when he looks at the large closet located there. He doesn't understand why he'd feel so horrible about a piece of furniture, so they look inside but there's nothing particular that'd evoke such a reaction.
They leave and end up on the nearby clearing, not finding Serena. Suddenly a horrible storm appears causing a mass forest fire, and Saif realizes that it's the same one that trapped Serena in her house. Someone shouts Saif's name and he sees his lover, who's coughing and her clothes are a little burnt, but she is alive. They rush towards each other and hug tightly. Lynx is watches them with a smile, but after a few moments he slowly starts having the rest of his memories back, and his smile fades.​
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As he's hugging Serena, Saif starts slowly vanishing as well. Lynx shouts and has a breakdown. Saif doesn't understand what's happening, and breathes heavily as panic starts taking over him.
When he's almost completely vanished Cecil appears jumping towards them, and hits Lynx with his magic before anyone could react. After the bright purple light of the spell dies out, Saif looks around and sees Lynx put back under the spell next to the Captain, who's watching them, panting a little. Saif turns to Serena who's starting to disappear before him, while he's starting to regain his form.
As he realizes that it's either him or the other two that has to go, he stares blankly but is visibly moments before he'll start crying. Cecil turns around with Lynx on his shoulder and heads back to Laeves, so that Vree wouldn't have to remember another heartbreaking scene watching through the witch's eyes..
Book 1 / Act VII.
I chose you
The memories Lynx regained before he was once again captured was of the times when he and Saif were best friends. There was a storm one night that caused the fire in Serena's village, trapping her inside her house. Lynx noticed the fire from afar and rushed to tell Saif, because he would get there much faster flying than him on foot. Saif got to Serena just in time before the house would start to collapse and threw her outside, but the heavy closet inside the room fell and crushed him. Lynx, who couldn't imagine losing Saif would only blame himself for warning him about the fire. He went on a violent rampage, knowing that if he killed enough people the Captain would put him under his spell ― rewriting the past to where he never told Saif about the fire because he never existed, and so Saif would continue to live.
Epilogue
Cecil, after bringing Lynx's body back to The Forgotten Delves, returns to Almerry Palace. Vree welcomes him, to his surprise, neither broken nor with his usual forced smile: this time he seems determined, with a committed light in his eyes, and gives Cecil a particular set of memories back connected to Jinhai. He tells Cecil that if there's one person that they need by their side to change how things are, it is the rebel.
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Cecil, now accompanied by Vree, goes to Tír Ríoga to put a spell on Jinhai that partially reveals his hidden memories of the pasts, including the memories of their newfound friendship.
