Alina seems to be doing fine.
Amy can see flashes of Alina's life of what she wishes to share with her. She sees it in her dreams when she sleeps and whenever she is daydreaming.
Right now, she sees golden sunlight shining through the leaves of the nearby trees then a mountainous view by a cliff and a field full of white clovers.
Her thoughts and feelings are currently happy. There have been some harsh times but she can feel her emotions melting into hers.
"Ah," she sighed with contentment. This feeling is so pure that it makes her envious. She shares her thoughts and memories as well. Meeting her friends, going to school and the fruits of her training. It is not the same but at least she gets the message across.
Viola, tired from dancing, sat next to Amy while looking up the glass ceiling that reflects the rays of sunlight that illuminate the room.
"No wonder you like to come here a lot. It is quiet and spacious. It's the perfect place to be alone from everything happening outside." She says while drinking from a canister.
Amy looked at her sister with a straight face then gave her a thin smile.
"I could just sleep here. Can I?" Viola asked and got a nod in response.
Amy could feel Viola relax as she placed her head on her lap.
She then looked up the ceiling and visualized Ramiro who is still up in the skies when a sudden sight shocked her.
What the?
There are groups of people gathering around one spot but dare not get any closer for some reason. Luckily Ramiro's eyes are sharp and is able to see what the cause of commotion was.
Piles of dead rats are scattered in a walkway to the eastern corridor.
Upon closer inspection, she could see that all the rats have no external wounds and even Ramiro, despite seemingly hungry, opportunistic and a scavenger, is reluctant to try to eat it.
This is definitely Alabaster's doing though she had no idea what he is planning or what he did in that manner.
She stroked Viola's hair while she is seeing this all occur.
There is a reason why that voice warned me.
In the movie, the villain character is extremely clever than smart as he managed to find loopholes and solutions to problems in a conventional or unexpected way. He converted his magic into energy to power the device despite the incredible risk and is brought here. He evaded the security and yet he's still yet to be found despite the tacky knife being in her possession.
Speaking of which...
Amy looked to the blade and disassemble it carefully as to not wake Viola up.
She held up the item in her hand. It is a bronze cryptex with ivory donut rings with many carved runes. It took a lot of work to disassemble the ugly hilt but she did it. After figuring it out, something snapped in her brain.
This time machine is extremely complex that she is incapable of creating this. The cogs, rings and parts are far too intricate and anachronistic to understand it individually.
When she is shown the vision of the retelling of the movie, the inventor of this machine is unknown. Alabaster was unable to find them but had the machine and figured out himself what the power source is and went to Karnei where Leon had them research the Creeping crystal. Of course he failed. It is clear why.
He wishes to find its maker.
Me
It makes sense after all. This machine was not a part of the story until she made her arrival. There are not many inventors who are capable of making something like this either. She probably figured out as she grew older on how to make it. Since she is unaware of it, she probably made it as a contingency plan in case something went wrong.
As the inventor of this device, it would also make sense for him to seek her out but accidentally broke into the wrong room. However, she has already established he is a foe so she cannot expect to see the time traveler with good intentions. Either he wishes to kill her or get a power source for the time machine by coming back to the past.
Leon and Rufus did confront him before his escape and send the boys to the labyrinth.
He did send Leon and Rufus to die. He probably got scared when seeing Rufus.
He might try to get the power source first before getting back the device knowing that nothing is gonna happen to it.
It is quite the theory if she tries to think it further but decides against it. It is already mind blowing as it is.
Amy looked back on the movie. In a flashback, it is revealed that Alabaster has encountered Rufus before and his meeting with him went poorly. His cruelty is quite infamous as he believed that Alabaster is useless. In fact, that man saw fear when he met his son; Aron.
Amy looked at her sister who is fast asleep on her lap. Without another word, she activated Hecate and teleported themselves to Viola's room, on top of her bed where she tucked her in.
She then quickly left the building after dropping off her things but left with the device in her possession. She heads to the site where the dead rats are but was immediately blocked by a small barrier which obscure the scene. She grabbed the brittle knife and sliced her way open.
She decided to grab one with a handkerchief and quickly left the scene before anyone notices her.
*
"Did you hear the rumors?"
"About the rats? Yeah!"
Selim looked away to avoid the rumors and flinched when he saw Amy looking at an extremely detailed drawing of an anatomical autopsy of a rat.
"What the heck is that?"
"A rat. I'm not a doctor or a veterinarian so I can't exactly tell what the cause of death is."
"Oh! Are you curious about that rumor?"
"Yeah, I am not quite sure what to make of this though."
"Can I see that?"
Amy gave the drawing to him and watched as he studied it and asked her a few questions.
Amy used her deconstruction ability to deconstruct the rat's body and organs to examine but there is no puncture wounds, signs of poisoning or even signs of magic used on them. Because of her inexperience, she cannot assert the cause of death. Despite thinking of another variable if she got another sample, unfortunately all the rats are wiped clean from the walkway and no one said any news of this yet.
"From what you told me, I think it had died from a stroke."
Amy is confused.
"That's impossible. I'm pretty sure that there would be outward signs of a stroke in rats similar to a human. Besides, wouldn't they not be able to move at all?"
"That's a misconception although you have a point because even though it is a rat, it was found on the walkway without anyone else noticing before it died. It isn't just one but a horde of them. This is not normal."
"How do you know it is a stroke then?"
"Bed sores, atrophy, dry fur and skin. It is dehydrated, its muscles are weak and it must be lying around a lot. But a horde has died on a walkway in plain sight without any notice. Someone might be responsible for this. It is most likely magic."
"There's just one problem. Magic didn't cause this."