I will like to revisit the murder case.
Although some things do make sense, for the most part, there are some questions and doubts about how everything conspires.
First, although a minor thing, why did William act the way he did before his death?
B34
An idea that comes to mind is that he has to choose a successor, after all, he is getting on in years. Yet I wouldn't think this would be stressful at all since we can see that Brandeis has a successor picked for like 20 years and nothing back has come to him as a result.
Maybe the fact that the other abbots are coming to his church was the reason for his stress. It would make sense since they are all wary of each other because of the files, but I would think that William would be less stressed since he has all the power in the world because of the files.
Maybe is it all in Maggie’s head, but I would like to think otherwise. Other people's statement has also collaborated with Maggie's assessment of William slowly losing his mind. Maybe it’s old age, but it feels like there is more to this than just that.
Another thing that I will like to doubt is that Brandeis was the killer of Oscar. If they found out that Oscar has the files while searching, why wouldn’t they take the files from him while searching and kill Oscar afterward? Although it would make sense to kill Oscar during the murder in the Abbey, and frame it as the Aloys doing, I would think that it would be safer to kill him after or have Oscar be under control because of the files. But because 'Brandeis' took the book with him, the book allows Alessia to find the file that ‘Brandeis’ tried to hide.
Another question arrives on how the killer enters the room.
B35
Based on Bernardo, the killer enter through the window instead of the door. Yet, it would seem that Oscar would have noticed the killer entering, so having a sneaky kill would be impossible. This would mean that Oscar allowed the killer to enter his room through the window and either wasn't aware that he was going to get killed or accepted his own death. I wouldn't rule out the possibility that he didn't know he was going to get killed, but Oscar would have been at least slightly wary if someone enter his room through the window instead of the door. (Especially if Brandeis was the one who committed the killing.) It’s also possible that Bernardo was the one who faked the evidence since both Alessia and Bitey were out of the room during the investigation, but it would go against Bernardo’s own sense of justice so I wouldn’t take it into consideration. However, I would like to bring out another possibility.
B36
It would seem that descendants are able to hide from mortals in some way. Assuming that they have the ability to turn invisible, it is possible that they can walk around freely without anyone noticing. It is possible that one of the descendants, Obli, Lucusti, or any other descendants, could have done the murder. Assuming that they have the ability to go invisible, it would be easy to kill Oscar and place the evidence inside Brandeis’ room. (Although both the Prologue and Chapter 2 make it seem that this is not the case.)
Hidden secret
There seem to be some hidden things that happened after you either leave the game alone for a week or two or have the game for a month. Although I didn’t see any changes in the Prologue, there are changes in Chapter 1 that significantly gives a lot of information about the story and characters. However, it would seem that more than one dialogue can appear, and I was able to get two of them… Well, sorta.
(Sidenote, the following dialogue doesn’t seem to always happen after creating a new Chapter 1. This makes me conclude this: there is a counter or a checker in the game that dictates if you see this dialogue based on either the date when you started up the new chapter or how many times you play/create the chapter. It might also be possible that the ‘Clear Data’ in Config can also change what hidden secret you can get, but I can’t say for sure.)
The first hidden message that I got is the hidden message I couldn’t get a screenshot of, but I was able to write it down. However, do take this quote and my deduction with a grain of salt since I do make a lot of mistakes when I wrote them down, my preconception is that I was able to go back and get a screenshot of it later to verify the quote but this hidden message stop showing up when writing this part of the post down. (I will update this part if it shows up again, but for the time being this is the only thing that I can really use for this hidden message.)
"(The unknown being goes silent. A chill goes down Alessia’s spine. Is something else about to happen?)
‘...... Hello?’ -Alessia
‘I hadn’t noticed… It seems we have an uninvited guest.
I remember you.’’
(What form the creature possess shifts. Alessia can’t tell, but she think it’s looking somewhere else now.
And she is right. It is looking at me.)
‘This is impressive. It’s been a thousand years, but I still didn’t expect you to be able to peek this deep into someone’s mind. I trust my home is treating you well?’
‘I would not describe it as hospitable. A mass of flesh lunging to try to devour me is not my idea of a proper greeting.’
'Forgive them, they are not used to foreign bodies. Out there we all kind of meld together, they just want you to join in.’
(The creature takes its time to inspect me. I cannot help but roll my eyes at its attempt at showing concern. Finally, it speaks again.)
‘Would you believe me if I told you even here it’s been a problem? Not for me, as I lack a physical form, but for Noch.’
‘Yes. In fact, I witnessed it.’
‘Oh… Don’t tell me he consumed human flesh.’
‘No. He found a way to keep those impulses under control. But I will spare you the details, as I would rather not recall them.’
‘Well, as long as he is behaving himself.’
‘...What about you? Can you say you have been behaving?’
‘I believe so.’
‘Truly? Then why don’t you leave the girl alone? I may not know the future, but I don’t need to in order to see this will end badly.’
‘This is the only path we have. You should know that well. If you don’t, then ask yourself why you got trapped out there.’
(I lower my head, carefully considering his words. I don’t like taking advice from these monsters, but they seem to know something I don’t, so perhaps I should lend their words an ear.
Deep down I know he’s right, it is undeniable a greater force has been guiding us down this path without an apparent way out.
But it is truly inescapable as it seem? The real question is if they are trying to help or deceive me.)
‘In any case, it’s good to see you doing well. Now it’s time to resume our script. I trust you’ll be watching our performance until your turn to enter the stage?’
‘Of course. It is not as if there was anything else to do here.’
(Alessia attempts to speak and wave her hands in front of the creature, and that is when she realizes the words aren’t coming out.)”
Found: In Alessia’s third dream in the second gap.
Thoughts: There are a lot of things said in this quote, so let’s break it down.
First, who were the beings having the discussion? It would be safe to say that the people having the discussion are Sofia and the Burned man from Chapter 2 but reading over the conversation I will say otherwise.
It would seem to be Sofia because their dialogue and their actions seem to perfectly fit Sofia: wanting their son back, the cause of all his suffering, calming down Alessia like Samuel, and being able to see the future in some way. However, in the dialogue that the person who ‘Sofia’ was talking to, they refer to ‘Sofia’ with male pronouns which contradicts what we know about Sofia, being the mother of Samuel. Assuming that Aeons are bound with genders, this would lead me to believe that the person Alessia was speaking to during her third dream is not Sofia. The only conclusion that I can make is that they are Aeon, male, sees themselves as a parental figure for Samuel, and feels that they are somewhat responsible for Samuel’s suffering. (It is possible that they are voidborn but we have only seen the power to calm down people from an Aeon.)
-Theory
Theory 1: Neru/Pyre. I put them all into this category since they both are males with unknown pasts. I wouldn’t think that it would be Neru since in the Prologue we can see that has emotion, but according to Noch it is possible to lose feelings after spending time in the void so I can’t really rule out the possibility.
Theory 2: The Aeon that Obli has absorbed. It is possible that the one talking to Alessia is not her shadow, but instead the Aeon that Obli has absorbed. (This assumes that they are still alive and not just a power source that Obli can use.)
It would seem to be the Burn Man talking to ‘Sofia’ since, well, he is the only person we know watching the records, but I wouldn’t be too sure about that. Just like in the Prologue, there seem to be more people watching the events happening than they appear. An example of this is Pyre who was watching the records since the Prologue and the person who made the comment in A10. It also doesn’t make sense for the Burned Man to be in the discussion since ‘Sofia’ goes over things that the Burned Man wouldn’t know or doesn’t know yet, ie how Voidborn/Aeon merge together and Noch with his insatiable hunger. There is too much evidence that goes against the idea that it is the Burned Man.
-Theory
Theory 1: There is a bit of evidence that suggested it would be Neru. ‘Sofia’ mentions three things that seem to fit Neru’s circumstance pretty well; the character must be at least a thousand years old from the moment they had the discussion, never been to either void/Pleroma, and got trapped somewhere. Neru is about a thousand years old since the time this discussion was taken place the first Aeon war is about a thousand years. (According to the timeline, from when Shax died to when this dream was taken place it would be around 790 years + 200 years when the first Aeon war started would give a number that is near to a thousand years.) He might have never been to the void/Pleroma, although there is some evidence to show that he might in the prologue, and Neru is currently stuck in the void.
Theory 2: Pyre. Similar to the previous theory about who ‘Sofia’ was, there are too many unknowns about Pyre. It does make sense for him to be the one who was talking to ‘Sofia,’ but we can’t conclusively say for sure.
Theory 3: Burned Man. I wouldn’t exclude the Burned Man since they are too many mysteries with him. He could have a separate memory that stops him from remembering, like a split personality, or he can be fooling everyone, like doublethink/doublespeak. We don’t know his identity or how he is connected to the story, so I would leave it as a possibility for him to have this discussion with ‘Sofia.’ (More evidence that suggests it isn't the Burned Man is in Chapter 2, but would save that for later.)
B37
Found: In Alessia’s third dream in the second gap. (Similar to the other hidden secret)
Thoughts: This reveals a lot about Alessia’s character. Although it’s surprising how Alessia sees the world, taking into account Pyre’s thoughts of her it makes sense. Well, a bit anyway. I never really got this from Alessia, especially since the new content of .10 really makes it seem that Alessia helped the old lady in the church just out of the kindness of her heart.
It is also interesting how they describe the world as needing a sacrifice. To get what you want, you must sacrifice something in return. To save Samuel from his fate, Alessia must ‘hurt many others.’ If this is so, what must Obli sacrifice to get Neru back? What things did Obli have already done or is going to do in the future?
How far is he willing to go for Neru?
Getting back to the quote, they do mention what the traitor’s, Nomino, intentions might be.
The hatred towards the Aeons and his love for ‘God makes it obvious what Nomino plans to do with mortals: either kill or corrode the Aeons to protect Abraxas. It is possible that the gnosis is somehow related to this, but that is yet to be seen.
Some interesting quotes that might be important.
B38
Thoughts: Although never mention again, it is strange how they say this in the first place. (I don't think it played a role in the Abbey murder case, but it is still possible for it to have.)
B39
Thoughts: Although Bitey thinks Diego is talking about nothing, somehow Diego was able to scarcely pinpoint every reason why they are getting targeted in great detail. It makes me wonder if this is somehow related to Diego turning into a monster later on. (I will discuss this later whenever I go over gnosis. This seems to be relevant to it.)
B40
Thoughts: interesting thing to think about. How were the descendants using humans? There seems to be an important reason, other than the battle taking place on Earth, for the descendants to be working on it. Maybe is to protect that one particular space since a massive portal has been opened on Earth which can make that particular part to be very weak. But there seems to be more than that based on Obli’s observation in Chapter 2 where he talks about humanity not advancing technology.
Extra: My favorite part of Chapter 1
I really love the interaction between Shax and Neru during Alessia’s second dream. (This part especially. Shax is so adorable!)
It was really hard to come to any conclusion about this chapter. I feel that there are many conclusions that aren't right, but these are the best interpretation I have with the evidence that we are currently given.
Also, I would make another post on Alessia. There is still some strangeness that I didn’t bring up about her, so I would make a post solely on her.