Butterfly Effect II : Masquerade

**Butterfly Effect II : Masquerade**is a Story Arc of the the Exteria Multiverse. It takes place in Interra and follows the perspective of young artist Melissa Powell. It is a sequel to Butterfly Effect. It is followed by Butterfly Effect III : Loyalty and Butterfly Effect V : Memories.

## Main Arc

### To The Masquerade

After the events of Butterfly Effect, Melissa Powell has returned to a relatively normal life, learning art alongside her now-boyfriend, the Avatar Mark Danaus. While at school one day, she receives several messages from a strange number. The messages' author identifies himself as "God" and invites Melissa to a game. A curious Melissa accepts the invitation.

When at night, she finds herself transported in a strange Mindscape known as the Masked Realm. In this world, inaccessible by Mark's magic, made of black silhouettes wearing masks, she finds three other individuals : the brooding Yohann Astler, the joyful but mysterious Maribel Octava and the seemingly carefree David Noachia. The four have been trapped in a mysterious **God of Masks**'s game and must complete tasks each night or face erasure.

### Mind of Chaos

The four protagonists, as the God dubs them, must fight a mysterious antagonist chosen by the God. They are made to investigate strange "murders" in the Masked Realm. When they return to the real world, they learn that the individuals "killed" in the Masked Realm have become insane. God explains through text messages that once an individual's mask, his "persona", is shattered, the person loses its sense of identity in the real world, a fate worse than death.

To avoid that fate, the four must complete tasks and confront the Realm's antagonist, who turns out to be Jonathan Wesson, an anarchist with a past of destruction and sabotage. However, Jonathan overpowers the four protagonists, and before they die, God saves them, telling them "protagonists must endure at least one humiliating defeat in each narrative.

### Facing Fate

The protagonists start to rebel against God's orders. Melissa meets a dark projection of Joshua Skye, who seemingly helps her by increasing her alter ego Viridi Powell's powers. Meanwhile, David finds out that Yohann has ties to past enemy Gene Weisner's **Heartbeat Inc**. Each individual grows more suspicious of the others...

Another game comes, and this time, Viridi manages to fight Jonathan one-on-one, the pair slowly falling in love as they fight and wound eachother. During that time, Maribel uncovers a strange mask with great powers, able to eliminate any enemy, but unable to function unless its owner gives up their own life. However, no one dares use it, and the mission ends with a tie, Viridi and Jonathan both wounded and weakened.

### End of the Game

Mark attempts to find a solution to help the four escape, but the God's power over his own territory is absolute, and even as a god himself, Mark is unable to prevent him from acting. Melissa suspects that God is even among them, engineering everything.

For the last game, the team is given an ultimatum: eliminate Jonathan or be erased. Melissa asks to take the mask, but Maribel, having grown fond of her, runs away with the mask and confronts Jonathan. As she is about to use it, David rushes, takes the mask, and uses it, destroying his existence as well as Jonathan's. The game has ended with the team victorious.

### Rage Against Divinity

However, Viridi's hatred for the God of Masks makes her refuse that outcome. She keeps investigating, finding out Jonathan was just a pawn in the God's game, forced to act as an antagonist according to the God's whims. A furious Viridi takes control of Melissa's body and makes a pact with Joshua, who swears to bring back Jonathan if she attempts to kill the masked God. Viridi goes back in the Realm, reaching its core with a final attempt to face her enemy.

He appears, clad in white with a mask covering his face, and confronts her calmly, showing no remorse about his choices and actions. He defeats Viridi, but a resurrected Jonathan, merged with Shadows due to Joshua's magic, assists her and the pair manages to break his mask. Now exposed, the one who identified himself as David Noachia smiles bitterly.

### The Fallen Mask

David, Avatar of Masks and Lies, tells them Joshua attempted to manipulate her and Jonathan into killing him, and that if he dies, the world will surely end. Melissa helps Viridi regain her calm and spare their opponents. A surprised David tells them he had grown tired with mankind and had designed this game in order to test whether mankind was good enough to survive. His experiment now done, David is about to leave, but a still bitter Melissa remarks that he should try and atone for his actions.

David, unable to understand the concept of sincere atonement, accepts nevertheless as a way to acknowledge the team's victory. As a reward, he splits Melissa into two individuals, her and Viridi, using his godlike powers. Now exhausted, the avatar, still resented and unable to truly redeem himself, regains the real world where Melissa allows Maribel, Yohann and David himself, as well as the resurrected Jonathan, to live in her mansion-like house.

## Characters

* Melissa Powell
* Viridi Powell
* Joshua Skye
* Alice Rosch
* Mark Danaus
* David Noachia
* Maribel Octava
* Jonathan Wesson
* Yohann Astler

## Trivia

* Butterfly Effect II's theme song, as chosen by its author, is **Welcome to the Masquerade** by Thousand Foot Krutch.