Neesha continually learned new things that left her tired to the bone. She would then write down the day's events, including the attacks and plans she knew of.
I heard from someone during supper that they're preparing for Thandisry to foil their plans by using magic, she wrote down. For a strange and unnerving reason, everyone kept their memories of events that should have proceeded as planned even if records and electronic data say that they failed. I don't really understand it myself—something about Thandisry rewriting history. But they said that nothing unusual has happened for the past five years. Suddenly a few weeks ago, their operation fell apart after they escaped with the enemy's blueprints. They were captured so close to success.
She continued writing until her hand hurt. Who would have known that so much worth mentioning could happen in a day? She shook her head in amazement. There were times when she was so exhausted that she wasn't able to write at all; she would simply fall on the bed and not move until the next day.
The civil war was getting nowhere. Thandisry would attack and then Erik's reform would defend. Then things would go drastically wrong. An engine would fail, when it was checked and triple-checked, which led to reinforcements arriving too late. It was a constant tug o' war.
Two weeks after Neesha joining Erik’s revolution, Doram met her and Ida in the training room after one of their sparring sessions. Neesha looked from one face to another. It was Doram who spoke. "We need to talk."
"About what?" she asked.
"We want to make sense of something," Ida said. She pulled off her gear and heaved out a sigh. "Doram believes that you might have something to do with the progress of the war."
Neesha took a step back and looked at Doram. He had the blank look he always wore. "Me?" she said.
"Don't be alarmed," Ida said. "We don't even know if it's just you, or just some major coincidence." She sat down on the floor and gestured for them to join her. "All this talk of magic is giving me a headache."
Neesha let out a hesitant laugh. "You always seemed to be sceptical about magic."
Ida scowled. "There have been stories of magic throughout the ages. I didn't expect to find any in this age. Everything here…magic just doesn't seem to exist in such futuristic surroundings, where everything is programmed."
"I still write on paper," Neesha pointed out. Ida snapped her fingers to make a point.
"Exactly. And what do you write on that precious paper?"
"I...write about what goes on in my life?" Was that a trick question?
"Thandisry writes what he wants to change, and it is changed the way he wants. We also know that he doesn't write about the future," Doram said.
Neesha was about to how he knew that but cowered from his stare.
"The spy tells us that Thandisry "rewrites" the past," Ida said.
"Yeah, you told me that."
"Perhaps you do that as well," Ida said carefully.
There was a pause before Neesha's lips twitched into a smile. "That's a funny joke. How on Earth can I do that? It's…" she was about to say that is was impossible but stopped herself. Ida nodded.
"It's just an assumption. Could you tell me the recent days that you haven't written about?"
Neesha scratched her head. She wrote almost every day, so it was easy to count some on her fingers. Ida and Doram made eye contact on a few of the dates she named.
"The days that you have not written in your book are days that our key operations have gone hay-wire in the most ridiculous ways.”
"It must be a coincidence. It’s too big of a leap to assume that I can do what you suggest," Neesha said. "I heard about the missions though. I'm sorry for it." It was hard to miss it, since the soldiers around her were always getting news of missions even when they were in progress.
Ida shrugged. "It was just an idea. Kind of far-fetched?"
"Definitely," Neesha said. "His ideas of the past and what I write will just confuse the world until it begs us all to stop writing if what you say is true."
Doram opened his mouth to speak but Ida kicked his shin before a syllable could escape his mouth.
"That's it for today, Neesha. Oh, and we're finished with fencing. What do you think of target practice?"
Neesha had to pull her mind away from magical beings and back to the present. "Target? Like shooting nonhazardous lasers at stuff?"
Ida tilted her head. "I was leaning more towards paint balling." Neesha winced.
"We're in the fourth millennium and you want to go paint balling? It's painful! And old school! Who goes paint balling?"
After minutes of debating with Ida, Neesha was able to convince her to cross off paint balling.
"We can't train in the morning since the room I want is reserved. We will meet there after the rest hour. Off you go."
Neesha left the room. Ida turned to scowl at Doram for almost suggesting something. "You don't have the authority to make decisions like that."
"If you believe that it's nonsense, then there's nothing to worry about if we tell her to stop writing for a few days, or even weeks." Doram stayed on the ground as she rose to pace the room.
"I do believe that it's nonsense, but if there's the slightest chance that it's possible, I'd rather you not risk it. Who knows what Thandisry has in mind, or what he will do if he ever crushes us?"
"If we are a hundred percent sure that she can do what Thandisry does, then we can finally fight on even ground," Doram insisted.
Ida pursed her lips. She was slowly shaking her head as Doram continued speaking. "It won’t happen."
"…Fine." Doram said and stood to leave. Ida's hands flew up in exasperation.
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Doram found Neesha polishing off her lunch. Her mouth stopped when she saw him walking up to her.
"I need you to stop writing for a few days."
She swallowed carefully and said, "Does…this have to do with the coincidence we talked about?"
He nodded with a shrug. "Don't tell Ida I asked you to do this. She'll just tell you to ignore it and do what you want. And it's just a few days. She herself will probably wear you out so much that you won't be able to write anything for a while."
She groaned as the truth of that hit her. She wouldn't put it past Ida to get carried away and somehow make it so that her hands and arms would feel dead by the end of the day. She still wasn't free of the sores that she received from their so-called stick practices. Neesha shook her head sadly, resigned to whatever training she was to have that afternoon.
She returned her tray and waved to her lunch mates before heading out. The door squeaked as she pushed through it to go down a flight of stairs just to her right. By now, she knew her way around the base as well as any other person.
She played with the idea of being able to have the same abilities as he did. I would hate that, she realised. To have the powers to change the past? You'd start to wonder what to change, what not to change, when to change it, and what to change it to. It's unfair and I don't think I will appreciate the present as much if I was able to change the past on a whim.
The door slid open to reveal a dark and spacious room. Placed in seemingly random spots were crates that were meant to act as places to take cover behind. Ida was leaning against the wall with a pair of night vision goggles strapped to her forehead. She was twirling another set on her finger. Beside her was a table with a pair of lasers. Neesha relaxed. They were the same ones she used to play with when she was younger. There should be no harm in this training.
"Here, catch."
"Are we playing in pitch dark?" Neesha caught the goggles and put them on. There was a green hue on everything she saw through them, from the little candy wrapper on the floor to the wall on the other end of the room. She adjusted them and she was able to measure distances and temperatures. She turned back to Ida, who now glowed slightly red in the heat sensor's sight.
"Yes, we are. I was waiting for you to come before turning off the last light switch. We'll be running around, so make sure you actually use those goggles."
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Two days later, Doram went to check the storage for the weapons he, Ida, Derek, and Neesha confiscated from the Imperial Force's storage. He was welcomed by two empty shelves. He did a quick count and found out that two of the boxes of weapons were missing. He nodded slowly to himself and backed out of the room. He prodded the guard on duty by the desk.
"Did anyone remove two boxes of weapons from the raid two days ago?"
The guard shook his head but checked with his tablet anyways. He frowned. "No one came in or out of there in two days…it doesn't even say that the weapons were logged."
Doram nodded and spun around to go up to the garage. There, he saw the revolting sports car Ida drove into the base two days ago. Next to it was the grey van that was returned from the other garage, still in its half destroyed state. It puzzled him throughout the entire day. If Thandisry was up to his tricks again, why was their second car in the main garage and why did the van show signs of attack…also, it made no sense that only two boxes of weapons were missing. Unless…?
He would have to ask Neesha about it when he saw her.
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Neesha spotted him first. She waited for him to join her and Ida before saying hesitantly, "I kind of…might’ve accidentally…conducted my own experiment about the magic."
Ida slammed her fork down on the table. "You did what?"
Neesha shrank back as the two adults stared at her. She pushed her fries around her plate as she said, "I wrote down everything that I could remember about the first raid I participated in. I knew that Thandisry would most likely want his weapons back since that was his biggest lost. He could have rewritten something, saying that he didn't place any weapons there…at the time, I counted the boxes and wrote down exactly how many I saw. Are the weapons still here?"
He nodded. "We are short two boxes and I checked the logs. None of the weapons were recorded. It's as if they never existed. That could possibly because those two boxes were not included in what you wrote down which is why he was able to retrieve them when he wrote down ‘weapons’ or something similar to it."
"So I was off by two," Neesha murmured.
"Oh, this cheeses me! Now I have to go and tell Erik that we have some kind of double edged sword we could use!" Ida said and threw her fork at Doram, who caught it before it could cause bodily harm. She grunted and leaned back on her chair with her arms crossed.
"You are not seeing the whole picture," Doram said and gave back her fork. "I don't think Neesha's powers are the same as Thandisry. They seem to have a more subtle ring to it. More like, she can have history set in stone by writing it down. He cannot change what she writes down, as she has made it permanent history. She does not rewrite the history, only records it as how it is."
Ida stared at him for a good three seconds. "Did I hear you right?"
"We'll have to go through her book to know for sure."
"H-Hey, hey, hey!" Neesha said, her face flush. "That's my writing you're talking about! You can't just read it! It's my privacy!"
"It's for the world's safety. If it makes you feel better, I will only read the parts that I think are important," Ida said and jumped to her feet.
Neesha was ready to hide in a pit from embarrassment as she raced after them.
There was really never a dull moment in her life anymore.
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