What Lurks Behind It All

Toyo sat in pure silence as the carriage worked its way towards the Central Region. All that was left was she, Sina, Zida, and a wealth of questions and hurt. The aftermath of what occurred in the Southern Region weighed heavy on them, and with what lie ahead engulfed in more mystery, they feared that the pain that plagued them would only grow stronger.

With the photograph of Kanmu-mori held within her hand, Toyo was lost in thought, wondering how far the threads of the world truly stretched.

“Zida, the Sovereign acting to execute Toyo against the ruling of the Council of Silens should be brought before the Arbitrator,” Sina had argued back then following the attack, her blaming Zida’s father for being behind it all.

“Me blaming my father wouldn’t go far,” Zida replied, “I’ve never been one to speak in favor of his rule.” Taking a deep breath, he wallowed, “I knew when I saw her spending more time than usual at the manor I should’ve said something,” he then maligned, referring to Daku’s betrayal.

Toyo suddenly perked up, her eyes wandering around in her head. “Didn’t she bring me back together with you?”

Zida reacted indifferently, “Why do you say that?” he probed with an inquisitive stare.

“I remember seeing her. I have a faint memory but it’s there. When I first woke up in Plastos, I saw her looking at me… but then I passed out again.”

Sina and Zida traded stares, with Zida then filing through his thoughts, outlining his father’s potential game plan.

“The order to investigate a reported incident came directly from the Sovereign’s Chamber rather than the council. She must’ve identified a survivor and then my father issued the order. He already knew she was there.”

Zida relaxed his shoulders, tempering his expectations to come to a meaningful conclusion. “How would he have known to send Daku there if the reports had yet to reach the council…?”

“I guess we would have to ask one of them,” Toyo suggested.

Soon after Zida reached into his bag and handed Toyo the photograph from Kanmu-mori. She snatched it away from him in a fit of rage, “Why do you have this?!”

He grabbed at her wrist, but she held on even tighter. Sina, exhausted by the constant bickering that plagued their group since the day they departed the manor, softly placed her hands over both of theirs, “I’ll explain,” she pleaded before turning to Toyo, “There’s something important we need to show you.”

Staring back at the photograph as the carriage trudged onwards, Toyo couldn’t pull her eyes away from what it was that Sina had pointed out to her back then. “That there is an old Mu clan insignia. It’s out of use now, but impossible to miss once you notice it.”

The marking was faint and out of focus, yet impossible to deny. Something had been etched deliberately into the tree, and Toyo couldn’t think of any other explanation. But what unsettled her the most was the weight of Sina’s words. If true, then the world she stood in now had somehow intertwined with her own long ago.

Zida went on to explain more about the Mu clan and how Dake and Nertu were hardly acquainted with the rest of their clan members. “The Mu clan, however, has been serving Adikos ever since it rose to power following the period of war that toppled the previous empire.”

“It’s more like a quid pro quo,” Daim’s voice echoed as he entered the room, “Empires rise and fall all the time, the ones who maneuver in the shadows are the only ones that stay eternal.”

Zida turned to the liege, pleased to have the opportunity to pick his brain.

“So, you don’t think of them to be the kind to usurp power?”

Daim shook his head, “Certainly not on behalf of another nation. A shift in loyalty like that would be too premature. I know Daku and Nertu aren’t that well aligned with Mu doctrine, but they would be ordered for execution by doing something so brazen. Daku could never survive against the High Executioner.”

A thought soon flickered behind Zida’s eyes as he asked the liege, “Daim, you spoke about having plans before we showed up, what was it?”

“The commissioner of the Aulden Federation was scheduled to meet with me within the demilitarized zone just outside of the Southern Region. Apparently he had reason to believe the Adikos Empire was being manipulated.”

Zida’s eyes lowered, and his tone deepened. “You meeting with the commissioner without the council’s permission could be seen as treason!”

“Yes, it could. But would you, Your Highness, have done any different?” His words struck like ice against bare skin. Zida and Daim were alike in that their loyalty was steadfast, never driven by the need to please others or appear virtuous. Instead, it was rooted in doing whatever was necessary for the empire to survive. Even if it risked making them an enemy of that very same empire.

As that quiet agreement passed between them, Daim continued, “Before I could depart, I received word that you were on your way, and our meeting would be postponed as a result. With everything that’s taken place, I wouldn’t be surprised if the timing was by design.”

Daim then chimed in his further suspicions. “There’s also the question of how he would have known you were heading this way. You said it yourself, Your Highness. You made the decision last minute.”

Zida mulled over the situation. “A Scytale could be behind it, but there’s no way it could bypass Daku unnoticed,” he reasoned, “The other option I can think of is that Daku and Nertu were the ones leaking information to the commissioner.”

Opting to question the commissioner directly, Zida asked the liege about his whereabouts.

“That’s not possible,” Daim disappointingly rejected, “His corpse was located in the underground chapel. Completely split into two. The aura I felt there was clear. The Mu siblings were behind it. It could have been to cover their tracks, but after the ruckus they caused at the urumar garden, what would be the point?”

The revelation was alarming, throwing everything that Zida had considered back into flux. He began to wonder if perhaps Toyo was right after all, and that Daim’s suspicions about the empire being infiltrated were warranted.

“I suggest you go back to the manor,” Daim offered, “You have the power to get straight to the source.”

They then departed for the Royal Manor soon after, forced to travel during nightfall to by them as much time as possible. “So long as we avoid using scripts then we’ll be fine,” Zida assured, “the Guide won’t be necessary since all royal carriages are trained to head directly back to the Central Region when left without direction.

Despite his assurances, Toyo failed to understand the depth of what loomed in the dark of night, as most of the mysteries of the world still puzzled her. Peering out through the carriage coverings while Sina and Zida slept, she gazed up at the moon. Its glow ever so bright against the trail of stars that flowed behind it.

“Can’t you tell it was you all along?”

Toyo glanced around, sweeping her eyes across the mountain top where her family shrine stood against the backdrop of the setting sun. Not a single thought passed though her mind, only the chilling sensation of unseen eyes lurking behind her. Yet she never turned around… she couldn’t. Something was holding her back, grasping her by the ankles.

Is it fear?

“Toyo!”

In a blink she found herself standing outside of the carriage in the middle of a dark path. The night sky still hanging above and the photograph still clasped firmly within her hand.

“I told you to stay in the carriage,” Zida howled.

“I was home…” Toyo murmured confusingly.

Zida and Sina were at a loss. Toyo was incapable of using scripts and neither of them used any of their own, yet she was clearly suffering from the effects of the night. Only deepening the questions that lingered behind who exactly Toyo was.