"The question would be... what did we do in that actual first tiline?"
A long, quiet stretch filled the private ward where the Bennet siblings, Zoren, and Finn were seated.
What Finn laid out was a hypothetical situation, riding on Zoren’s first instinct and Atlas’s interest in it. Now, he had thrown a gigantic "what-if" at all of them.
And sohow, worded like that, it made sense.
What if the previous life they understood wasn’t the first tiline, but actually the second to soone else?
"Looking at it from that lens, then maybe... what happened to the Bennet family and the Pierson family isn’t as big a mystery?" Finn shrugged. "And the more I talk about it from this perspective, I’m starting to believe it carries more weight."
"Let’s put it this way," he continued. "Jonathan woke up in this lifeti and rembered what happened in the previous life. In his story, Zoren is the big, manipulative villain."
At this point, he didn’t bla Jonathan for that. Zoren could be a villain. Actually, he was a villain — only tad because his wife was crazier.
"If Jonathan was the only one who rembered the past, I am certain he would’ve gotten what he wanted," Finn nodded at them. "But we have to take into account that Jonathan didn’t only change his probability of success. He also diverted things, such as what happened to Penny in the previous life. He admitted in this life that he didn’t want that to happen to Penny."
Maybe it was conscience, but they all knew that wasn’t Jonathan’s real reason for letting the Bennet family slip out of his plans.
"For Jonathan, going after my family or might’ve set off Zoren’s craze," Penny remarked. "That one, I am sure."
They all nodded in agreent.
In their previous life, Zoren didn’t know Penny, yet he was compelled to pick up her case and poke his nose into a stranger’s life. In the end, Zoren got too deep into it as he uncovered the Pierson family’s — particularly Jonathan’s — involvent in Penny’s case.
Still, the story ended in tragedy.
"I am looking at the sa perspective, but it’s a ss," Zoren finally humd, earning everyone’s attention. "In our previous life, everyone fell... including myself. That ans whoever this person was succeeded."
"Maybe not... entirely," Atlas remarked. "Maybe whoever this was succeeded in dealing with us for whatever we had done in that hypothetical first life before the one you rember."
"Let’s not forget we’re looking at the Church, right?" Slater raised his hands. "If this is true — which I don’t fully believe — a lot of it still doesn’t make sense. I an, are we what? Cursed in a loop? Because that is crazy."
"Bellemonte."
Suddenly, Hugo blurted the na under his breath. Even so, it caught everyone’s attention. He arched his brows at them and shrugged.
"What?" he asked. "I just thought about the sche we uncovered in Ravah and that signature — Henrik, the governor, and Nathalie."
"What if... in our previous life, whoever tied us all in that misery succeeded, but forgot one thing?" Atlas muttered, building off Hugo’s thought. "That is..."
"The Bellemonte family," Zoren rocked his head. "I know them."
In their previous life, Zoren was the one who had taken control of the Order for a short ti. However, he didn’t have much ti left, and he barely used the power he could’ve wielded from them. Even so, he knew about the founding families — just not the full extent of them.
"The Bellemonte family has a lot of potential, considering they were the wealthiest among the founding families," Atlas explained. "But sohow, their military strength was diminishing over the years. That’s how he got the idea to send his n to Ravah — to train them and to hide his son."
Henrik denied his desperation to strengthen his military power, blaming it solely on hiding his son. However, Atlas knew Henrik wanted to strengthen his forces as well. The deal sounded like hitting two birds with one stone.
"Are you saying that... the reason soone is trying to make the Bellemonte and the Zorken families declare war against each other is because the Bellemonte family took advantage of the situation in our first — I an, the previous tiline?" Penny asked, almost astounded at the thought.
"The things we rember are the mories we carry until our deaths," Finn jumped in again. "Like — I only rember everything up until I died. Then Penny and Slater. Zoren rembers everything until the end, especially what happened after we died."
"What happened after Zoren died?" Slater inquired. "Is that what you’re saying?"
Finn nodded. "Of course, the world moved on. But before it did — what happened? In the world? Or just within the Secret Society?"
"Zoren barely rembers what the other families were like, but it’s possible that whoever was pulling the strings was too focused on ruining the Zorken family, the Piersons, and the Bennets that they didn’t see another force they should’ve been watching out for," Atlas guessed. "Penny, Finn — I’ll be asking you, because unlike Zoren and Slater, you rembered everything since you were born."
They nodded, listening intently.
"What held you back from changing more than you did?" Atlas asked.
Penny thought for a second before answering. "Because I can’t change too much. One ti, I played fortune-teller, and although it did good for so, it didn’t for others. Every decision can permanently change things, and not all changes are good. So... change for the worse."
"That’s how I learned I can’t be too reckless," she uttered. "So things are ant to happen for a reason."
"It’s the sa with ," Finn added. "Not that I was enthusiastic about changing a lot of things. Just... so things, like with Cassandra."
But Finn’s decision had led a good friend of his toward near destruction.
"I’m asking because this could’ve happened in our previous life," Atlas remarked. "So things are just ant to happen. Perhaps whoever did all of this in our previous life overlooked that their actions affected those around them. And with the Order’s collapse... the balance in the Secret Society would beco unstable."
"It’s possible that the other families fought over the Order’s lost resources," Zoren remarked. "And eventually, that led to a much bigger problem than anyone anticipated."
Silence fell over the room once more. The more they considered it, the more it made sense. There were still areas they didn’t have answers to, but this could be a start.
"I’m having a headache," Hugo muttered, glancing at the door connected to their father’s room. "But what concerns more is that they’re getting bolder. How could they just attack Dad like that?"
Everyone glanced at the door, exhaling deeply, until Penny furrowed her brows.
"First Brother?" she called. "Where is First Sister and the twins?"
"Back ho," he said flatly. "She said soone has to stay behind..."
Atlas trailed off as his eyes slowly dilated and his chest tightened abruptly.
"Why... Dad?" he whispered, and sohow the answer forming in his head sent a chill down his spine.
To draw Atlas away from the Order.
And only sothing involving his parents would be enough to pull him out.
"Lola," he breathed, shooting up from his seat and rushing out. "My wife... my children are in danger."
Reviews
All reviews (0)