Unity II / For What We Believe

“Everett? I was not expecting you. Is something the matter?”

I stumbled into the office, panting. As the door slammed shut behind me, I stared the professor straight in the eyes, unsure of what to say.

“Everett?” He repeated my name, his tone growing concerned as he rose from his seat. “Did something hap—”

“Did you do it?” I whimpered, the anxiety in my inflection palpable. My brain felt like it was on fire, my overtaxed body serving as the kindling for my doubts to set alight.

Professor Seris blinked in confusion. “What do you—”

“The illusion!” I screamed, unable to stifle the flames as they came pouring out. “It… was you, wasn’t it?”

Now yell at me. Chastise me for speaking so rudely to a professor, and put me in my place.

Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me I’m insane.

Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. Please.

The professor held his stare for a number of seconds before he finally drew another breath.

“That is correct.” His response was simple and to the point.

“W-wha…” I took an unsteady step backward and tripped, collapsing against the door behind me.

Is this a joke?

I wheezed, my lungs desperate for oxygen.

This has to be a dream, right?

I dug a fingernail into my forearm until the skin broke, but as I streaked the blood down my wrist, I did not awaken from the nightmare.

“Everett, please stand and calm yourself. We have much to discuss.” Though his voice was as tranquil as ever, his once welcoming presence now felt isolating and repressive.

My body obeyed his command while my mind remained trapped.

“That is correct.” “That is correct.” “That is correct.”

The words echoed in my head, each repetition feeling like a hammer strike driving a nail deeper into my skull. I held my face in my hands to withstand the pain, steadying my breathing as I combed my racing thoughts.

“Foremost, I would like to apologize for my methods,” he said, breaking the silence as the inferno in my brain cooled. “I determined that interfering with your relationship would be the most effective means of diverting her attention, but it did pain me to see the suffering it caused. Though it may not have been to my favor, I was gladdened when you made amends.”

What the hell is he saying? Even as my grasp on reality solidified, I still didn’t understand. Why… is he acting so normal!?

Professor Seris watched me without another word, offering an implicit invitation to speak my mind. A million questions buzzed about my consciousness, but amongst the chaos, one screamed louder than the rest. I lowered my hands and stared into his eyes.

“Why are you telling me this…?” I muttered, my voice weak. Betrayal was one thing, but his honesty was perhaps even harder to comprehend.

Unbothered by my query, he answered in his ordinary intonation. “From the moment you entered this room in the state you did, I knew there was no excuse I could offer that would quell your suspicions entirely. I have been your professor long enough to know how clever and driven you and the others are; one way or another, you would have found a hole in my lies. Therefore, I intend to come clean now, in the hopes I can still salvage some of the trust between us.”

“Salvage… the trust…?” His explanation was composed and logical, but it didn’t compute. His behavior was so contrary to my expectations that I could barely follow along. “What did you mean earlier? What did you mean by ‘diverting her attention’?”

“You know what I meant, Everett. You are not a fool.” A part of me still desperately wanted to find him innocent of my worst fears, but he had no interest in entertaining such a delusion.

“I… don’t get it. If you knew she was looking into the sigil and wanted her to stop, why didn’t you confront her directly? We would’ve listened to you!”

“The answer is simple: I wished to keep my intentions secret.” Once again, his naked truthfulness stung more than a lie ever could. “My plan was to swap out her existing data for a forged set, quietly preventing any further progress. The illusion, then, was meant to keep the pair of you distracted while I cracked the magical encoding she’d enchanted her research with. To my dismay, her spell was quite impressive, and I failed to decrypt it before the two of you made up.”

Calm. Rational. Intelligent. He’s always been like this, and I never minded his personality, but… what kind of sociopathic bullshit is this! Why is he talking about screwing with our lives and lying to us like it’s nothing!

Before even Shina, Professor Seris was the first person I’d grown to trust in this world. He looked out for me when I was alone, taught me when I was lost and confused, and guided me through the trials of my new life. I wouldn’t be where I was today without him.

Which makes this all the more unforgivable!

“What’s your game here!?” I roared. “Secret intentions? Sabotaging us? Who the hell are you!?”

Professor Seris paused for a moment, considering his words. “Everett, how familiar are you with the legacies left behind by past Inheritors?”

“What? What does that have to do with anything?” Even more than indignation, his disconnected question left me with confusion.

Seeming to ignore my outcry, Professor Seris continued on his tangent. “With few exceptions, Inheritors become sculptors of history, their influence transcending far beyond their battles with the Anomaly Beasts. You may still be learning to master your powers, but an Inheritor at the end of their journey is practically a god amongst men, whom no mortal could ever hope to challenge. Kingmaking, conquering, usurpation, the destruction of civilizations; nothing is beyond them, and there is no force capable of keeping them in check. In a cruel twist of fate, the greatest threats to Aeresi are the very people charged with enacting its will. Now tell me, Everett, does that seem fair? Just? Is it right that a small group of individuals have the divine authority to pen history as they please? To take whatever they desire, destroy whatever they disdain, and use violence to subjugate the innocent? I believe you would agree with me when I say it is not.”

I’d heard scraps of this story from Shina and Kerne, but at the time, we were only considering how to stop others from taking advantage of us. Abusing these powers for ourselves hadn’t even crossed my mind.

“So are you saying Inheritors cause more trouble than they’re worth? It kinda sounds like you want us dead.” Unsure of what I could trust anymore, I spat out a serious accusation.

“You misunderstand, Everett,” he responded. “It is not you I distrust; it is your blessing. That contemptible power is a cruel, corrupting force. As I have said before, it is not your fault you were chosen. But it is an evil affliction nonetheless, and one that must be erased from this world before it is too late.”

My face scrunched in despair, the worst of my fears finally confirmed. “Erased? So… you’re one of them, then! If you’ve been an Iccasian this whole time, why haven’t you just killed us!? Wouldn’t that have accomplished your goal?”

“My goal is to prevent the blessings of Aeresi from ravaging society, to put an end to that cyclical calamity.” His expression remained unchanged, no matter how many sins he confessed to. “Please understand, Everett. I wish to develop a means of safely extracting those curses once the final Anomaly Beast is felled, before they can be misused. I have always maintained that I desire your freedom, and that was never a lie.”

No matter how badly my heart wanted to believe what he was saying, I knew it would be an act of folly. Realizing I was in danger, I shifted to a battle stance, ready to conjure my sword at any moment.

“Even if that’s true, it doesn’t explain why you wanted to stop Shina from deciphering the sigil! You have been working with the Iccasius Army, and you’re trying to keep their secrets under wraps. There’s no other explanation!”

Professor Seris sighed, growing frustrated. “Everett, you are not listening to me. I have never been your enemy. My involvement with the Iccasius Army has only been to further my own ideal. However, while I may not align with their creed, the knowledge they possess after centuries of entanglements with Inheritors and Anomaly Beasts is invaluable. I need access to those secrets for my research into curing your condition. For the sake of you and the rest of the world.”

“That doesn’t change anything…” My body was quaking from the indescribable concoction of emotions coursing through my veins. “Even if you’re using them as much as they’re using you, that doesn’t change the fact that you’re working together!”

“You are only alive today because of that collaboration! Manipulating information, tampering with sigils, learning the identities of their undercover spies; I have done everything in my power to ensure your survival. But you must understand that I have to play the role. If I allow Shina to decipher that sigil under my watch, they will never trust me again. If I prevented every one of their planned attacks, they would have caught on. I have only done what was necessary to feign loyalty.”

“Planned… attacks?”

You… chose not to prevent them?

I had accused Professor Seris of many things by now, and I suspected him of even more. But knowing for certain that he turned a blind eye to the attacks that could’ve killed me or my friends was enough to push me over the edge.

“Rarghhhh!” I screamed as I shot forward, the air in my grip morphing into steel. I knew I wouldn’t have the guts to slice into him, but I could at least swing my pommel as a blunt weapon.

“Osnestal!”

Suddenly, an invisible force shot me backward, and I slammed so hard into the stone wall that it cracked. “Ungh,” I groaned as I slumped to the floor.

“Everett, we are allies! I wish to cure you of your affliction and free you. I have been revealing my secrets because I want you to join my cause, not oppose it!”

Join… you?

My thoughts were swirling in a confused, disorganized mess. I wasn’t sure what was real and what was a lie, and I couldn’t process whether his ideal was noble, evil, or just misguided. But there was one thing I knew for certain, more than anything else in the world.

“Anyone who tries to hurt them is my enemy!” I stumbled to my feet and concentrated on his face to stabilize my unsteady vision.

No. I was being irrational. It would be stupid to fight him. I need to run away and tell the others.

“Gosondel!”

As if reading my mind, Professor Seris chanted a spell, and a gigantic, bulky bookshelf slid in front of the door, sealing my one exit.

“What happened to being my ally? What, are you just gonna kill me now?” I spat venom, my festering fury eager to explode.

“Please, Everett, I want you—”

“I’ll never join you! I’ll make you pay for the things you’ve done!”

Professor Seris looked pained, as if he were on the verge of tears. “I thought of all people, you would understand me. I believed our bond was a meaningful one, and I only lied to protect you. You must see that my ideal is for the good of humanity. You must realize—”

“Shut up!” I shouted. “You can’t just do whatever the hell you want and expect people to understand because you meant well! Screwing with our thoughts and feelings, hurting us for the sake of some grand ambition… you had no right to do any of that!”

Even though I was pointing my sharpened blade at him, even though I felt an insatiable wrath toward his actions, I couldn’t bring myself to hate him.

So if you don’t get why that’s wrong…

“I’ll make you understand!”

In response to my unwavering resolve, he conjured a wand and pointed it toward me.

“I truly wished for your happiness and freedom more than anything,” he muttered one final sentence as the Professor Seris I once knew. “But if you refuse to aid my cause, then I have no other choice. One person is not worth more than the security of the entire world. Even if someone I care for must fall for my ideal, I will make that sacrifice!”