"We need to tell Bishop Sirrus," Fymner said with a serious demeanor as he closed the door.

"No-- wait, don't," I said, and meant, but I lost the words to back it up.

"Yes. I know why you don't want to, but the Remi you loved is gone," Fymner said bluntly, which made my heart stop, "He's not your Remi. He's a different Remi. And this one? This Remi is terrifying," Fymner said, with a bitter taste in his words.

"But he's the same Remi that fell out of the sky, right?" I countered, "Just because what happened after was different..."

"Okay, imagine that he did, but also imagine everything that's happened since then. I know it's only been a little over a week, but think about how many changes a week would do to someone who wasn't born here," he said, and I couldn't find a way to counter him, "Look, I'm sorry, but the responsible choice is to inform the church. The Archmagus is now capable of erasing objects and people from the world-- no, from history. The Church needs to know. What happens to Locria's system of checks and balances if the Archmagus can erase the Cardinals and Archbishops from history?"

"Do you even know what the Church would do to Remi?" I asked aggressively.

"No I don't, Chloe. That's not for me to speculate, that's for the Church to decide. Prose has never been as important as right now, maybe in the entire history of Locria, and even the greater Aeolia."

"Fine, then I'll tell you. He'll be restrained and examined and tested for their records, in the name of their neverending Holy Conquest for knowledge and power," I asserted.

"You're starting to sound uncharacteristically sacreligious and you're concerning me," he responded, "How could they possibly restrain him when he can reset his 'checkpoint' and erase people and objects from the world?" he asked sincerely.

"What makes you think they would let him die?"

...

I walked living room on the way to Remi's and looked at the two chairs we sat in last night, how we drank and laughed and admired the view and inched closer to one another and kissed and touched, and it's still hard for me to swallow that the Remi I shared that memory with is gone, or even that the Remi I shared all of our memories with is gone. The Remi we have now-- it's still Remi, right? We can rebuild what we had together-- or, well, maybe not the same thing, but we could build something different, still loving, still... I stopped myself from getting distracted, knowing Fymner could hear everything I'm thinking about, too kind and considerate to acknowledge it, so I left the room to see Remi without letting my mind linger.

I knocked on his door quietly a couple of times until he responded, "Come in." I opened the door slowly, a bit afraid of talking to a Remi I barely knew, and I saw him sitting at his desk with a notebook and an old fashioned pen.

"Hey. What have you been up to?" I asked.

"I'm taking notes. I never had the chance before since I would just die and respawn without it. But now that I know I can bring my notes back with me, I'll never forget anything ever again. Human memory is garbage. That's why we invented writing to begin with," he said, thinking out loud and creating solutions like he always does, like the Remi I always knew.

"Jeez, and I thought your Paper Magic was bad. Are you sure past Remi can even read that?" I teased and finally got a laugh out of him.

"Well if you really couldn't read my paper earlier, maybe you should just teach me," he said with a smile, a sad smile like his mind was still distracted, but for a moment it felt like nothing had really changed between us.

"Yeah, alright, but you actually need to listen to me this time," I replied with a stupid giddy grin, and I pulled up a chair to sit besides him.

"Anyways, how have you been? Emotionally. Since you got here, with us," I asked, unsure how to approach the topic.

"I'm doing better now that I know there's a possibility I can bring her back. I don't know how yet but it's gotta be related to the 4th and 5th Rules. I just need to figure it out, it must be possible, I'm sure of it," he said quickly, returning his eyes to the notebook and jotting down more notes.

"What is she like?" I asked, being careful to use present tense, and he put his pen down again

"You're right, I should write about her too. I can't-- I won't let myself forget anything about her," and he looked at me, "why do you ask?"

"I just," I almost stuttered for a moment, but I kept going, "want to know what your, what was it again?-- your branch was like. I want to learn more about her and what she meant to you."

Remi gave off a long, sad sigh and replied, "In a lot of ways, she was like a child still learning how to be a person. She killed me when we first met," he said, which made me flinch because of they way he's been flippant about his own deaths, "and we had our arguments, mostly because of me, but she really cared. About me, and about you-- our Chloe, and I think she would have grown to care about every living thing, if she had been allowed the time. But the world just... cut her short," and with that his face turned down and I could almost see water in his eyes, not quite crying.

"You have a lot of great things to say about her. She sounds really sweet. One day, I'd really like to meet her. Again, as myself this time," I said sincerely, "What about your Chloe?" I asked, although for a moment, I hesitated to.

"She's just like you, really. Intelligent, inquisitive, thorough, never letting a thread go untied. She even did that dumb speculation-prose thing you and Fymner do all the time," he said, which in some way relieved me, "I had a really hard time talking to her at first. It was just always awkward between us, even when we got to this suite, and especially after we fought. Somehow, you're a lot easier to talk to," which made my heart flutter a little bit. Maybe it really is possible.

"Then, what was she to you?" I leaked out a little too quickly, and I immediately felt embarrassed, and tried not to let it show.

"Tavi, or Chloe? Well, the same I guess. New, well, friends I guess. I was still getting to know the both of you."

"I see," I said, feeling both relieved that they weren't dating and deflated that we weren't either. "Did you ever, uh, stay over at my place?" I asked.

"No, like I said earlier, I stayed with her at Cali's house," he replied, which made my heart skip a beat, "and when the Church offered me an apartment, she stayed with me there too," which made it skip ten times more.

"Just as friends, right?" I shot in for some reason, which really isn't like me, and I started blushing as I suddenly remembered Fymner could hear the whole conversation.

"Yeah, why?" he asked with a tilted head, genuinely confused, as oblivious as ever.

"Ah, just, uh, comparing branches," I said, "Sorry. Sorry, I got distracted. There was something else I wanted to talk to you about."

"Yeah?" he said.

"How was your relationship with the Church?" I asked, getting to the point of the whole conversation.

"Severely adversarial," he responded, "and I guarantee that's true for your Remi, too. Sirrus kept me trapped in a death loop until you, Fymner, and some others subjugated some dungeon. Every time they need something accomplished, someone controls my checkpoint and kills me with a gun-- well, I guess you would call it an arma, but it looked like a weapon from Earth."

"Wait, what? Are you serious? They've killed you?" I asked, astonished, and I couldn't tell what kind of face I was making.

"Yes. Many, many times," he replied, "trapped in the same room with no way to escape, until the mission was accomplished. I can say with certainty that I've spent more time trapped by the Church than not. If I've been here in Aeolia for what seems like a week, I've likely spent more than a month or two trapped in a death cycle. I've thought about the other Archmagi too. They're also all from Earth, according to Sirrus. And I'm sure they all went through the same torturous cycle as I did, controlling when they respawn, not allowing them to leave until they finish whatever the Church wants them to do. I doubt the last one even wanted to fight the Eastern war," and he said, quieter, in more hushed tones, "I don't really want to either."

"That's so hard to believe. Bishop Sirrus really did that to you?" I said in complete disbelief.

"Yes. They killed me many, many times. Hundreds. Maybe thousands? I don't know, it's not really that important, I die all the time, it's not a big deal, really. I kill myself, too, so it's not like they're doing anything all that different, it's just the 'being trapped' part that really bothers me. For the most part, I don't even feel it anymore," and before he could say more, I gave him a long, awkward side hug.

"I'm sorry," I said, "I'm sorry they did all of that to you. You deserve better than this." He wasn't sure where to put his hands, as awkward as ever, but I stroked his hair like I always do. After I let go, I thanked him for updating me and left the room, walking back to Fymner's to confront him.

"Well, there you go. Are you happy? My speculation is now your prose," I said with a bite, a little pissed off at the Church and at him, as we Unlinked through his page.

"It just, that can't be true," Fymner said, looking a little solemn and I almost felt bad for being upset with him.

"And why not? Think about it Fymner. The Archmagi can't see the future and choose the best outcome because that framing gives the Archmagi agency equivalent to their power. But no. The Archmagi only have power, and the Church controls their agency."

"I just, there's no way. Locria's mission--" he started but I interrupted.

"That's your system of checks and balances, by the way, completely inverted to what you thought," I said, and I knew I was being hurtful, but I couldn't stop myself, I was too emotional, "If anything, by your logic, Remi's control of the 4th Rule restores balance to the system, since the Church controls the 5th Rule."

"But Remi's on his way to figuring out the 5th Rule, and if he explores it, he will. He said earlier that he expected to spawn next to the couch and spawned between us in the couch instead, and there's no one from the Church that could have changed it," he denied.

"Speculation. You and I are both here, a Cabinet member and a Priest, and Goddess Elkae is always with us. Always with Remi, too, for that matter," I said, still aggressively, but actively calming myself down.

"Okay, but remember his prose. He can rewrite history. I know I'm speculating, I know, but don't you think it's possible he could rewrite the entire history of the Church? If erasing Tavi changed the entire course of the last week, what happens if he erases Sirrus or an Archbishop? The entire history of Aeolia could be rewritten!"

"The way things are going," I said softly, "maybe that's what Aeolia needs."

"Chloe--"

"Did you hear the speech that Sirrus gave Remi? Those aren't his words. That's the Church," I said, thinking about the displaced people at the East Gate bar and all of the minority species on the outskirts, "and I think the people of Aeolia deserve better than this. It's awful. I can't believe that the Goddesses condone this future."

"Chloe, that's sacrelige! You're planning to, what, help Remi undermine the Church? Are you insane?"

"No, Fymner I'm not insane and this isn't sacrilige. I'm a Cabinet member of the executive branch of the Church and I will carry out the will of the Goddesses. It's the Church acting sacreligiously."

"I, I just," Fymner hesitated.

"Think about what side of history you want to be rewritten in."

"I just, I need some time to think," he said.

"No," I replied, "not until you give me your Mind Link paper. I'm not letting you contact Sirrus."

He paused for a moment with a downturned face and reluctantly said, "Okay Chloe. Take it."

1st Rule: Body Restoration
body restore original state

2nd Rule: World Restoration
world restore original state

3rd Rule: Memory Persistence
memory persists on respawn; fallible, decays, human

4th Rule Object Erasure Historical Retcon
ppl/obj removed/added from world record

  1. binding: mana-work bind ownr→obj
  2. unbinding: remv mana obj→ownr
  3. removal: die/reset→gone/added

open ?s

i am the sole record of anything erased (★)

5th Rule: Checkpoint Shifting
checkpoints move based on (?)

  1. sky
    • de: hit ground
    • em: fear
    • kn: learn new world, first view
  2. tavi
    • de: artry tavi [A1]
    • em: fear of pain
    • kn: tavi killer, coin flip
  3. carriage pt. 1
    • de: artry tavi [A2]
    • em: excitement (?)
    • kn: tavi soulshift, suicde reset, brnch test
  4. carriage pt2.
    • de: soul sevr chloe
    • em: fear
    • kn: tavi learn respawn
  5. sirrus
    • de: gun [B1]
    • em: shock, fear
    • kn: church knw respawn (clairvoyence), rpg paper
  6. speech
    • de: gun [B2]
    • em: fear, shock
    • kn: archmagi from earth (!!)
  7. archbishop (!!)≠respawn (C1)
    • de: gun [B3]
    • em: anger
    • kn: fixed hour (C2) ≠ NEW KNW
    • note: did not respawn where ab wanted? spawned in new branch
  8. couch, tavi gone
    • de: artry chloe [A3]
    • em: shock, worry, grief, sadness, disbelief
    • kn: LEARN 4TH RULE UPDATE (!!!),

Removal Archive
v1.0.1

v1.0.2

v2.0.0

About Tavi
The first time we met, she killed me tens of times. I couldn't figure out how to talk to her such that I wouldn't die. I tricked her by "guessing" 10 coin flips, and she somehow developed an interest in me, but I never really learned why. That wasn't necessarily one sided, but at first, I was terrified of her. Things changed after we entered Locria. She took care of me after I left the Church, and fed me, and we had an argument. She gave me the silent treatment. And yet, she was excited to see me again. She hugged me in the courtyard, crying. From then on, we got really close. At times, it felt like I couldn't shake her off of me, but I didn't even mind that. She would lean her body against mine or tug on my sleeves or link my arms and she wouldn't really acknowledge it and I wouldn't either. At times she was incredibly childish and at others she was an intellectual peer. She forced me to see the same issue from another angle and that was invaluable. Our conversations about ethics seemed to really have an impact on her, and I'm not sure they were for the best. I've never seen as heartbroken as when she cried into Chloe's arms. She apologized for everything and then disappeared without a word. I didn't even get to say goodbye. I miss her. I will find her.

Meta-Branch Two: Day One
I'm in a new branch, one where Tavi no longer exists, and the entire history of Locria since I came here has changed. That raises the question if any rewritten history only changes up until the moment I arrived in Locria, like a limit to the "wings of a butterfly". If history were rewritten before I arrived, then erasing Tavi should changed the entire world since she stole so many peoples bodies. I'm not sure yet but I'll continue observing. Also, Chloe has seemed very... close? v1.0.0 Chloe never touched me a single time but it seems that v2.0.0 Chloe has been touching me fairly liberally. I'm not sure why. Maybe the Remi of Branch Two was more comfortable with it. Not that I'm not, I mean, it's okay. Maybe it's nice. I really grew accustomed to Tavi's physical closeness and having that affection supplemented is nice. That makes me wonder what Chloe and Remi were like here. Could it really have been that different? I guess Tavi and I got close staying in the same apartment, and in this branch, Remi stayed with Chloe instead. I wonder what happened.