"I am Minako, your teacher for this year. I'm pleased to meet you."
She smiled gently, then added:
"Your presence here means you have officially become students. I look forward to our days together... So, shall we begin with a simple explanation?"
She grasped a long rod—I don't know where it appeared from—and tapped the board three times with it. It lit up like a display screen, and before we realized it, cups of tea were placed before each of us.
She began her explanation, stating the basic premises we all already know.
"There are two states for myths. The first is that if you travel to a recorded myth, you can experience its events and interact with them as you wish. Ultimately, this won't alter its details. The second is if you travel to a myth not yet discovered by explorers; it will be automatically logged in the archives. Of course, you can interact with it a little, but what gets recorded will be what happens in the original timeline, not the one you breached."
"Teacher, could you explain this point? How is it that we won't affect the present timeline?"
The screen changed again to display a network diagram, then the teacher continued her explanation.
"This point represents the present moment and time. This line extending from it represents the flow of time. When traveling into myths and legends, this line branches into two: the first represents the original timeline, and the second represents the breached timeline. This is what's known as parallel worlds. What gets documented in the records is the original timeline, not the parallel one."
"But how is the myth recorded in the original world? I assume we'll be the ones documenting it."
The teacher smiled gently at my question.
"What you said isn't wrong. At the end of every journey, you'll be asked to submit a report on what you experienced. This report will be evaluated to determine if it's fit for publication. If it passes the evaluation, it's transferred to the Journey Archives."
She pulled out a red card with bronze lines from her pocket.
"How is the original myth documented? Who documents it? It's the cards."
The cards? I find this illogical. How can an inanimate object, devoid of soul or consciousness, keep records?
"I shouldn't have phrased it that way... The moment you travel into a myth—and here I'm referring to the second type—on the other side, special cards are dispatched to record the events and transmit them to the archivists... Perhaps I forgot to mention that the cards come in different types. Well, let that be our next topic, and for now, let's continue with the basics."
I shifted in my seat and let my gaze wander for a moment, aimlessly observing my group. Zayn and Yuta were engrossed in the explanation, while Anna sipped her tea, toying with her card. Leo, paying no attention to the lecture, simply leaned all his weight back in his chair, reclining with unmistakable boredom.
I turned my attention back to the teacher, who continued her explanation unfazed.
"Travel through spacetime has limits and jurisdictions. Nothing possesses absolute capability, and every permitted act has its conditions.
First: You may travel to planet Earth in any time and place, provided you do not tell anyone of their unknown future. But if you do happen to tell them, they will remember nothing.
Second: You might find yourselves transported to another dimension or a different galaxy, as some myths circulate among Earthlings but actually occurred in another dimension.
Third: Traveling through time and space within Mimesis is permitted yet forbidden. Do not do so unless absolutely necessary."
The laws were logical, if not entirely clear. Her tone shifted to greater seriousness.
"And our world has its prohibitions. Engrave them in your minds as names are carved in stone.
Bringing inanimate objects from Earth is permitted, but bringing living beings is strictly forbidden. Every soul has its weight and place, and interfering with it disrupts the balance.
Furthermore, no past can be changed, and no future can be grasped. If you visit your past, that version of yourself will not know what is absent. If you confront them with all that has happened, a rift between dimensions will erase it all after the parting. And if you try to save one whose body the earth has covered, that is a calamity whose burdens fall upon the guardians.
And because of that calamity, our Prince Liam now sleeps in slumber, and only the Creator knows when he will awaken from his dream."
And no rule is without its tales and secrets. That is a story unknown to us, yet on the verge of being told.
"The cards are divided into Traveler and Archival types. The Traveler cards are what you carry; with them, you roam worlds and eras. The Archival card, however, acts as your companion on journeys, transmitting everything that happens in the original timeline to the records. For your knowledge, this was not the original design of the cards. They now contain features that did not exist a generation ago, thanks to the efforts of our current Crown Prince and Regent. This concludes our overview, my dears. For the rest, experience speaks louder than words."
"Won't you tell us what happened to Prince Liam?"
"Every story has its time, and I will tell it to you someday."
The lesson ended after those words, and play and leisure began.
We headed toward the lake and settled on the ground and grass, exchanging conversations and questions.
"Leo, do you know the story of Prince Liam?"
"Yes, even the halves know it. I'm one of them, and so is Anna."
"Then tell it, and save us the waiting."
"Ask your friend, for I am no storyteller to narrate it."
"Who said I'm well-versed in it? Besides, I'm not skilled at telling stories."
"And do you see me having any skill in it, Anna?"
My hope that he would tell it for me evaporated like water vapor. I turned to gaze at the lake before me—breathtaking, to say the least. Its water was so clear you could see the sky's reflection, even the fish within its depths. I drifted in my thoughts with this beauty, ignoring the noise around me as if it had never existed. I didn't regain awareness of myself until Leo shoved my head forward with force, nearly making my face touch the grass. I felt a gust of wind strike my body like a winter storm. I lifted my head, and he greeted me with a sharp shout.
"Where is your mind, you fool? Can't you hear the obvious noise around you? Or is your head, which nearly drifted away from your shoulders, of no importance?"
I instantly realized what was casting shadows over me. I looked up to find a griffin flying low above me. I then understood that his irritation stemmed only from worry for me, for when I drift into thought, I lose all sense of danger.