Re: Chapter Nine - The Enigma

Spoilers! This is the first chapter whose discussion will involve completely spoiling certain parts of the plot. If you want to see all the twists and turns fresh, do not read this post!

But for the rest of you, welcome back! This chapter begins with a miniature heist as the crystal ball ceremony takes place. As evidenced by the monster motif, I decided that Aechyr would have a strong superstitious/supernatural undercurrent to its culture. Hence, the crystal ball being named so, not just to have a pun, but because of some actual fortune-telling. It also gave me a ceremony to have occurring as the heist went on. By centering both the ceremony and the heist around the steeple, I could give a sense of time passing and a bit of geography too. So by the time you get to the end of the battle with the enigma, you have a concrete object (the shattered crystal ball) to indicate that Kennedy and Blake are back below the steeple.

It was also important to have a moment, however brief, where the infiltration goes wrong or catches a snag. This is a staple in heist/spy stories, and for a good reason. Mine, specifically, is to indicate that no plan, no matter how good, is foolproof. Adaptation is an essential skill. It also adds to the tension to make this a common occurrence. You can’t relax just because the heroes have a plan. So there’s a guard who is distracted by the ceremony. This not only gives that sense of timing and space I mentioned, but also gives David a chance to show off one of his tricks. Not just creating a distraction, but playing on the guard’s guilt by precisely timing his shot. The fact the crash covered up the sound of the ball hitting the door to those down below doesn’t hurt either. From my perspective, again, this primes us to see the shattered crystal ball later.

Which of course brings us to the bigger snag in the heist. The reveal of Quincy’s true status. Revealing her to be a member of the Royal Guard did several things for the story, some of which I can’t discuss just yet. Yeah, we’re doing spoilers, but chapter-by-chapter spoilers. Have patience! Right now I can say that it just made sense to have someone in the Royal Guard keeping a close eye on Sophia in her undercover role. Aechyr isn’t just going to rely on a disguise to keep her safe. And, well, with the gang sniffing around campus… they might have drawn some attention despite their best efforts. Particularly considering that all their records would have been faked. Time Peace is good, but not flawless. Having Quincy keep an eye on these strange new students seems like something the Royal Guard would be very interested in. And it paid off too. They really were up to something.

Unfortunately, the presence of an enigma really screwed that up for her. I just love the image of the Enigma, part metal, part monster. Its function too, is rather disturbing. It’s a sort of reverse-timeless creator. Just as becoming timeless erases you from the timeline, so too does an Enigma. It just doesn’t re-create you as a time traveler. Though it can’t pull the same trick on a timeless, Blake gets the worse end of the stick in this fight. But he also gets the “final” blow on the thing. I thought it was important to give him that win, especially considering the numerous blows that he received in this chapter – physically and mentally.

Also, we have the rare moment of Randy not being a complete jerk. Hey, he sometimes knows when to shut up.

One other note from the writing perspective: this chapter’s structure was re-arranged several times. At one point, the chapter cutoff was right when Quincy said “put your hands in the air,” leaving the dramatic cliffhanger there. It still feels like I could put it there rather naturally. But as I re-arranged the chapters, it got moved to the middle. No big deal, but I wondered if anyone else had the same feeling when reading it for the first time?

That’s it for this week! Next time, big spoilers for who really is… the Lost Princess of Aechyr! Dun, dun, dun!

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