Monday, 23 June 1986
01:00 am
Kai sprang to the bathroom, closed the door, and took out the journal, slumping down on the floor with his back against a wall.
As he waited for Spawn and Meg to contact him, Kai opened the journal to the blank page, and wrote, taking a deep breath —
…
Experimental Log - #2
Date: 17 June 1986 to 23 June 1986
…
For the entire time, as he scribbled down his thoughts, comparing Kai Stormborn and Darcie Malfoy, he felt as if someone was poking red, hot iron into his brain. His teeth were grinding, and sweat had drenched his back long ago.
When he was done some half an hour later, Kai threw the journal and the pen back into his MRB (-first putting them into a box-), and let out a relaxing sigh.
Suddenly, his brows furrowed.
What's taking them so long? He asked himself. Has something happened?
With their meeting already planned, Kai doubted the girls would indulge themselves in something else. For them to not contact them meant two things. Either they were dead, or they were incapable of reciting Kai's minor-epithets.
Kai's frown deepened as he thought so. He tapped his fingers on the floor, wondering if they were already dead, then who might serve him as his next Items.
He could perceive there presence through the Soul Drops in his forehead, but he understood the concept behind this Slave Oath no better than he understood the Yellow Sign. For all he cared, this perception of their presence was just a lingering aftereffect of their deaths.
Good thing I didn't invest too many resources into them, I guess, Kai reasoned, shaking his head. Spawn's Blessing and Meg's experience are worthy of being missed, though.
After mourning these two things for another 5 minutes, Kai thought there was only one sure way to confirm their death — Hastur's epithets.
Kai hastily set up the ritual, took his sweet time to draw the Yellow Sign, before forgetting about it, and then penned down two letters asking for the reason for the delay.
…
-The Dweller in the Depths-
-The Bringer of Madness and Doom-
-The King in Yellow-
…
The entire bathroom felt like drowning in the hisses as Kai chanted HIS epithets. The candle's flame burgeoned and devoured both letters simultaneously, sending them to their respective recipients.
Not even one minute had passed that Kai felt his Inventory stirring. Kai focused his mind and saw the door at the other end of the tunnel in his Inventory opening by little.
Through the parted door, Kai saw a terrified Meg chanting his epithets repeatedly. In front of her knees, there was a letter along with a mass-produced dagger serving as the sacrifice. As the two things lifted by themselves and neared the door, Kai reached and grabbed them.
The same happened again with Spawn, who seemed to be in a dark place so Kai only saw her two eyes glowing green.
Now utterly confused, Kai opened Meg's letter and read its contents.
What the fuck?! His eyes widened.
With no thought, his hand went to the Spawn' letter and read it with a single wide gaze.
Kai suddenly threw himself up to his feet.
He took out the Tales of Beedle the Bard, and let the Primordial Theater bring out two Characters at once.
Both Petyr Baelish and Rintaro Okabe came out, parting the smoky veil. One was wearing a black doublet, the other a white lab coat, and both had a little stubble on their chin.
Kai threw the letters to Okabe, and asked, "How is this possible?!"
The insane scientist went through both letters, raising his eyebrow. Petyr looked at them too, over his shoulder.
"Both letters mention, other than the obvious words of concern, that you have never contacted them before now, Mr. Storm," Okabe commented, squinting his eyes. "Quite interesting."
Petyr smiled slyly as if there was some knowledge only he was privy to. "If the letters say that you have not contacted them earlier," he chimed in, "then your contacting them after reincarnating here can be considered… erased from the timeline, yes?"
Kai had to nod.
But no matter how much he thought, he couldn't figure out what must have happened for it to be so. What was the reason? And if time had diverged, then by how much?
Diverged…
Diverged…
Kai repeated the same word twice, before blurting out, "Is this because of D-Mail?"
Okabe's head snapped towards him. For the first time, he looked dead serious. "It… is possible," he answered. "D-Mail causes divergence in a timeline, Mr. Storm. And if it has caused a divergence, then it is crucial to find which timeline."
"You mean…" Kai whispered, now sensing the problem.
"Yes." Okabe nodded. "From the properties of Time Nodes," he said, folding the letters, "I can tell you were teleported out of this timeline to a central nod, like a web server. And if the location of that web server was the Primordial Tower, then…"
Kai couldn't comprehend the scale of the divergence.
First, he must confirm through Meg and Spawn if the time difference between their timelines and this Harry Potter World were still the same.
Under the gazes of the two Characters, Kai set up the ritual again and penned down elaborate details of his circumstances. Keeping the future in mind, Kai also asked Meg about her Stage 1 results and rewards.
It didn't take long for him to get the answers this time, either.
With the letters on the floor and their heads almost touching each other, Kai calculated the difference in pin drop silence.
"It's still the same," Kai said after some time. "They just didn't contact me as per my orders."
"And what does the Main Mission Time Limit say, my lord?" Petyr asked.
Kai had already checked. "It's still 12 years," he told them.
Petyr looked as baffled as Kai before he had figured out the matter of divergence. "I think… we got lucky," he said, smiling.
Kai's mouth twitched.
It was Okabe who voiced Kai's thoughts, shaking his head. "It's not a matter of luck," he said, now looking more worried. "The thing to ask ourselves is, what else has diverged along with these minor points?"
"We will find it soon enough," Kai said. "Spawn will be done with her mission in a month or so. Meg has cleared the 1st Stage of ToW as well, getting 7 Attribute Points and 3 Title Status Points, but no further rewards. She must have barely survived, I guess."
"Now that you mentioned it, my lord," Petyr added, sneering ear to ear. "I think that Arlen Silvas played you for a fool. He didn't have any good intentions when he told you about the Tournament, knowing that you have no organization backing you up.
"He must have considered you dead already. My lady, Meg, has the Ability and Skills refined and battle-tested for survival. Otherwise, any other lone Contestants in her place would have died several times from what I have seen of that place and those creatures."
With an expressionless face, Kai regarded Petyr's words and saw the truth in them. His eyes narrowed, bringing with them a profound hazel hue of slaughter and bloodlust.
"Arlen Silvas is dead," Kai proclaimed casually, hammering down the nail on Arlen's fate.
***************
AN: Now you can access 15 Chapters of Chaos and Order ahead of Webnovel on Patre0n (including up to 60 montly chapters). If you would like to access the exclusive content, while simultaneously supporting the fanfic, then do consider becoming a Patron
Bonus Chapter Deal - 70 Power Stones per day: +1 Bonus Chapter