Fall of the Spectrum

Chapter Five

"So why do you have to keep track of how long I've been here, anyway?" Gwen asked, struggling to keep up with Forneus's long-legged strides.

The two of them had just turned down the pyrite corridor after yet another rigorous training session, preparing to begin her academic lessons for the day, when the question had occurred to her out of the blue. Well, more or less out of the blue. Something Astral had said during her sensory training had triggered it, though she would have forgotten about it entirely had Forneus not mentioned that her next training session would be postponed due to council business.

"Truth be told, it doesn't involve a great deal of effort on my part," he answered, opening the door to her quarters. "All I really need to remember is that we met shortly after midnight on the seventh of May. As to the reason," he settled into one of the armchairs in the sitting area, Gwen doing the same in the chair opposite, "once our mission to restore the artifacts is over, we need to return you home."

Gwen stared at him for a moment, uncomprehending. Though the idea of returning home made her chest tight with longing, it also sent a pang of unease through her. After everything she'd been through, after all of the adventures she'd shared with Forneus and Phenex—the latter causing a bittersweet ache at the centre of her chest—the notion of leaving the Spectrum and those she'd grown close to frightened her.

Will I ever see you again?

She pushed the thought aside as Forneus, clearly having misinterpreted her forlorn expression for confusion, said, "In order to save them from undo stress, not only did we have to erase all memory of your existence from your parents' minds, but the minds of anyone else who knew you or whom you had frequent contact with. As such, we'll have to return their memories down to the moment they saw you last. Your father particularly, since after your disappearance, the Second Unit had to step in to keep him from contacting the local authorities."

Gwen gaped at him. "Why is this the first I'm hearing of it?" she asked, stiffening.

She had worried incessantly about her father that first night, fearing he would wind up the target of whoever had showed up outside her house moments before Forneus and Phenex had whisked her to safety. Fortunately, it had turned out that Reeves hadn't arrived with the purpose of coming after Gwen, but merely because he'd been attracted to the influx of power created by the artifacts. Still, it had come as a small comfort, and she felt her stomach knot guiltily for not having inquired about the fate of her family and friends more often over the past month.

"I assure you, my lack of divulgence wasn't intentional," said Forneus. "The truth is, with all that has happened, it simply slipped my mind. In any case, along with returning their memories, we'll have to implant false ones covering the entirety of your time spent here in the Spectrum."

At this, her guilt and irritation began to wane, giving way to curiosity. "You can do that?"

"Me, personally? To some degree. It will be members of the Second Unit, however, who will perform it. They have a stronger grasp for advanced memory modification; far greater than I, and capable of performing it on multiple targets. Now, shall we?" Forneus snapped his fingers and a large, brown book appeared out of thin air, its leather spine cracked with age.

Gwen recognized it as the same tome they had read through during her previous lesson, and as Forneus flipped it open on the coffee table between them, she said, "Hey, that looks like the same diagram on the Central Junction as before."

"That's because it is," he remarked dryly, eyes crinkling at the corners. "Today we'll be picking up where we left off on both the locations and destinations of the Central Junction's portal access points, as well as the complexity of its layout."