Andromeda stood in the hall just outside Entai’s office. The Arbiter was nowhere to be seen, Aixen seemed to be gone as well. The only people around were the servants who were elbows deep in whatever was on the floor. It didn’t even occur to Andromeda to say anything as she walked up behind them. Her mind was in a strange state of serenity that she couldn’t put into words. She just felt calm. Not knowing what the plan was, she wanted to get their attention without disturbing them, so she reached down and touched the closest one’s shoulder.
The woman practically jumped out of her skin after a simple touch. She seemed confused and lost, and as she looked around, the more concerned she got. “Where am I?” The woman asked. Andromeda didn’t know what to do with this, she was working just a moment before, and now she seemed to barely know where she was. It occurred to her that the whole staff were likely also under The Arbiter’s control as well, because why else would they even be here? Its not like its been peaceful with the windows blowing out and the screaming. Despite her confusion, Andromeda had a small idea of what could have just just happened. Andromeda put her hand on the woman’s shoulder and gave her a warm smile. Just doing that caused the fear in her eyes to fade.
“Go downstairs and speak with the older man in the lounge. Tell him Andromeda sent you, and he'll make sure you're safe. Go.” Andromeda said. The woman did as she was asked and ran downstairs without delay.
As Andromeda watched her leave, a thought popped into her mind. “Hey, you guys have been quiet. You alright?” Andromeda thought. There was a delay before a wave of emotion passed through her.
“Are… Are you alright?” White said, which surprised Andromeda to hear.
“Yeah, fine. Why do you ask?” Andromeda said.
“You’re just speaking strangely. Your thoughts are kind of just not there.” Whisper chipped in.
“I don’t know, I feel fine. Maybe better than fine. I’m not sure.” Andromeda said. But this only seemed to make them more uneasy. “Hey, I have an idea. Whisper, can you go into the minds of everyone I’m about to tap and send them downstairs?” She thought.
“Yeah? Wouldn't be hard, but what are you doing to them? That last one seemed to snap out of a daze.” Whisper asked.
“I don't know, but I think it's a good thing. Do you trust me?” Andromeda thought. Whisper didn't even need to answer. Andromeda could feel the wave of affirmation overwhelm her.
Andromeda tapped each of the servants on the shoulder, she looked closely and saw a small red and white light appear at the tip of her fingers when she made contact. Following each one, Whisper spoke in their mind and repeated exactly what she said to the first one. There were four in total, counting the first one, and now she was alone, standing over the black burn mark on the floor.
“Something about this feels wrong. Do you guys feel it?” Andromeda said, to which she got an affirmative feeling from both of them. “I’m going to try something. I don’t know if it will work, but just work with me.”
When she bent down and put her hand on the black smear, she felt the same cold sensation she had felt before she walked into Entai’s room. But the overwhelming peace she felt extinguished it in an instant. The entire black smear was enveloped in red and white light. It was so bright that she almost wanted to cover her eyes, but the longer she kept her hand there, the more the black smear changed from just ash on the carpet to something else entirely. A small orb of white light appeared in the air just above it, and the orb started pulsing with the same white and red light that was on the floor.
A thundering crash of sound and light erupted through the building. Nothing was damaged, but the shock wave could be felt throughout. Suddenly, In front of Andromeda was another servant. She had a look of terror on her face as she lay back on the floor.
Her eyes locked with Andromeda’s, and the soft blue glow calmed the panicking woman in an instant. She started stuttering out words, both in confusion and to explain herself, but Andromeda just put a hand on her shoulder to calm her. “You’re safe now. Go downstairs and talk to the man in the lounge. He’ll keep you safe.” Just like the others, the woman got up and ran through the hall toward the stairs. It was at this moment that she heard a door open at the end of the hall. Out of it came The Arbiter and Aixen. Both looked deeply upset, and the moment The Arbiter locked eyes with Andromeda, her mood worsened even more.
“What… was that?” Whisper asked.
“I don’t know, but it felt warm somehow.” Andromeda said.
A door slammed down the hallway "You. What are you doing out here?" she asked, but Aixen stopped her and pointed at her. The Arbiter looked closer, and her already pale face drained. She stumbled forward several steps in a daze before falling to her hands and knees. Andromeda instinctively reached forward to help her up, but her hand was slapped away. "STAY AWAY FROM ME!" The Arbiter said. She threw her hand forward while light curved around it like the surface of a black hole. Andromeda was thrown back with enough force that she flew into the wall at the end of the hall, breaking the wood paneling. Just as her back hit the wall, a wave of an unexplainable feeling radiated over her being, and her vision was plunged into darkness.
The Arbiter looked at her own hand in confusion and surprise, and Aixen was questioning why she even did that. Andromeda crumpled to the ground after falling from the wall, her lungs burned as her diaphragm struggled to pull air into her lungs. While pulling herself up from the ground, she heard the sounds of wood breaking all around her. The walls, floor, and ceiling all shook violently as everything seemed to be pulled down with great force. The Arbiter and Aixen dropped to their hands and knees, holding themselves up off the ground. The groaning floor gave way and collapsed into the room below, dropping them to the floor below.
Andromeda scrambled over with the little energy she had left by that point and looked over the massive hole in the floor. Below were Alice, Ferdinand, and Rapture. Ferdinand was holding Alice back, but that wasn't doing much to stop her, as The Arbiter and Aixen were now flattened against the crushed coffee table.
"HOW DARE YOU!" Alice screamed at the top of her lungs. Andromeda had never seen Alice so viserally angry before, her normally reserved and faint expression was painted with unbridled fury, and it scared her enough to force her to move.
The force only became greater, causing the remains of the floor/roof above to collapse. Andromeda prepared herself and swung her feet over the side of the hole Alice made, dropping down. The moment she passed the threshold of the hole, she felt a massive force pull her down hard enough that when her feet hit the ground it felt like she just dropped twenty feet flat on her arch. After taking a moment too let her knee’s stop aching she spoke up.
"Alice, what are you doing?" Andromeda said, more confused then upset. Alice froze, and she started babbling under her breath. Andromeda realized something was wrong immediately from how quickly her mood changed. She moved in for a hug and felt Alice break down even more, she was confused and surprised by her own actions.
Andromeda moved in to embrace Alice as she came down from the adrenaline of the situation. Behind her, The Arbiter, first, and then Aixen, pulled themselves up to their feet.
"G-Given the circumstances, and my own actions, this is something I am willing to overlook," The Arbiter said, only for Andromeda to turn to her with a deadly look. She was suddenly overwhelmed with unimaginable distress, fear, and horror all at once. Aixen was about to say something, but The Arbiter grabbed his already aching shoulder hard enough that there was a crackle between her fingers. "We're going," The Arbiter said quietly. After a silent argument they held turned away, they both left shortly after.
Once she was sure they were gone, Andromeda turned back to Alice and pulled away. "Alice, I know you're worried about me, but that was dangerous." Andromeda said.
Alice waved her hands frantically and shook her head, "I-I didn't mean to, I swear! When I heard the crash upstairs and knew you were hurt, everything just went dark. I couldn't stop myself. I felt like I was going to explode," Alice said. Andromeda's mind was cast back to moments before, when she hit the wall, and her vision went dark. Something was amiss here, and she knew it wasn’t her fault.
"Don’t worry, I believe you, but I need you to control yourself now. I don't know how we can make this situation better, but we can absolutely make it worse," Andromeda said. Alice whimpered in acknowledgement and pulled herself out of Andromeda's arms.
"Ferdinand, I don't know what's happening to me, but something definitely changed. I was speaking with Entai, and while we talked… I don't know, it felt like something clicked. Then strange things started happening. I touched one of the staff that I sent down here, and it seemed like they snapped out of a trance," Andromeda said.
"Right, I had Rapture move them somewhere else the Magistrs are taking care of them. Alice gave us somewhat of the play-by-play. I don't know what you've done, or how, but I have reason to believe that you somehow cleared the malady that is affecting them."
"That's not all. After that, I did something, but I'm not sure. I think I brought someone back to life," Andromeda said.
"Pardon?" Ferdinand asked. Genuinely thinking he misheard her speak.
Alice stepped in, "She did something, but I don't know about bringing them back to live. I sensed that last servant who came this way faded out of reality a few minutes ago. But whatever Andromeda did just now made her come back," Alice confirmed.
Ferdinand’s attention turned else where as he thought, "When will the surprises cease I wonder?“ He started before turning his attention back. “I suppose this is our last chance to try and come up with some ideas."
"About that, I might, maybe, have a way out of this. But you all need to trust me," Andromeda said.
"Trust is all I have left. What is it?" Ferdinand said. Alice and Rapture gave similar reactions.
Andromeda took a deep breath and forced herself to speak. "I need you all to leave," she said. The room turned deadly silent. Each one of them processed the words at their own pace, and each came to the same conclusion.
"Are you sure?" Ferdinand said, sounding more like he meant to say “Insane”, but holding himself back.
"I know how it sounds, but my idea only works if The Arbiter is as relaxed as possible. Alice just put the fear of god in her, and you two are an Arch Mage and a High Magister. If she thinks she’s safe and has the advantage, I might have a chance. But she could twitch and set everything off at once if she’s not calm. Please, just trust me."
"You must understand… What you’re asking me—us, what you’re asking us to do is to hope on a dream that this ends well. If your plan fails, we’ll have no means of knowing until it's too late," Ferdinand said. Andromeda turned away for a moment, looking as though she was hearing someone speak. She was quiet for a few moments and then sighed in relief.
"I get it, I do. I also know that this sounds like me throwing myself into the fire again, but please. I genuinely think that if I do this, it’ll all turn out alright," Andromeda said.
"Can you at least tell us what your plan is?" Alice asked, holding onto Andromeda’s sleeve like a lost child.
“Its really the only idea I have left. The Arbiter seems really superficial for some reason, paying attention to pointless things like my clothes and my hair. She seems really vain. If I can push her buttons in the right way, she might crack and do something stupid.” Andromeda reasoned.
“But that could just as easily get you killed.” Ferdinand retorted.
“Do you have a better idea that doesn’t involve an island sized riot?” Andromeda shot back.
None of them could offer a better solution, and lacking that, turned away to leave. Though Alice took some extra convincing because she didn’t want to let go. While they left, Andromeda got Rapture’s attention.
"Wait, Rapture, can we talk for a sec?" Andromeda asked. She looked to Ferdinand for consent and he nodded. When she came back, Andromeda had a complicated expression, halfway between apprehension and guilt.
"Rapture… I don’t know how to start saying this. My feelings about you are complicated. You kidnapped me, you messed with my mind, and possibly helped put all this into motion. None of that is good, but there are some small things I’m happy about, even if it's in a backward way," Andromeda said.
Andromeda lifted her hand, and the skin on her arm all the way up to her elbow turned stark white aside from the fingertips, just like when White was in control.
“Somehow, in some way, you are part of the reason I have White. I know when you first met me you called me just a cover, or something like that, but you seemed to care about White at least a little bit. I want you to know that for all the chaos and trouble you caused, and through all the pain I’ve endured because of it, I don’t regret any of it for a single moment. Because if anything else had been different, I might not have had the gift of knowing my sister. I love her with all my heart and what’s left of my soul, and I have you to thank for that,” Andromeda said. She held a hand out, the same White hand she had just changed.
“I have a feeling that after this, things are going to change. We might not see each other for a long time, and I want you to know that there is no bad blood between us. We’re both Arch Mages, like it or not. Even if we aren’t sisters, I want the chance to call you my friend,” Andromeda said. Rapture looked at her hand quietly, almost vacantly. But the longer she looked, the more it seemed like she was getting ready to say something. Finally, she spoke.
“Every friend I’ve ever known is dead,” Rapture said.
“You have me, and I promise you. I am going to live, even if it kills me,” Andromeda said. Hearing this, Andromeda watched as for the first time, Rapture’s eyes lit up with a light and fire she had never seen. Quick as a blur, Rapture hugged Andromeda.
“You promise?” She asked quietly.
“I do,” Andromeda said.
----------------------------------------
Andromeda was now alone, Alice gave the all clear and told her that no one else was in the building aside from Andromeda herself, The Arbiter, Aixen, and Entai. She sent them on their way shortly after and called on what little strength she had left.
“Are you totally sure you want to do this?” White asked. Though she already knew the answer, she couldn’t help but repeat herself.
“I can’t be 100% certain, but I can at least hope.” Andromeda said.
“Hope won’t keep us alive in a pinch.” Whisper added.
“Have some faith. I know what’s at stake this time,” Andromeda said.
“Where are you even getting this confidence from?” White asked.
“You probably know as well as I do. I don’t know if it's confidence, really. I’m scared it might fail, but that just isn’t making me rethink it. Maybe I just went crazy,” Andromeda said.
“I wouldn't blame you if you did, but you aren’t. I feel the same way; It’s just the nerves that are getting to me.” White said.
Andromeda looked at her hand and realized that it was still White. She relaxed herself and watched the skin turn back to normal, except for the tips of her fingers, which she expected. She could feel something changing inside her, but what that was or why it wasn't clear. But she did feel a strange peace falling over her.
What was it? That was the thought that kept running through her mind. When Entai told her, "All should live," she felt something inside her change. Like a second heart she didn’t know she had started beating for the first time. As she walked through the hall, she passed by a mirror.
She almost didn't recognize who she saw: the hood over her shoulders and the hair that nearly fell to her back. Intricately patterned robes that looked more valuable than her entire life’s worth, blemish-less skin that she didn’t have a few months ago, and a blue glow in her eyes. It didn't seem like her; it looked like someone so much more capable, experienced, and strong. If she had someone that looked like this in her life, she would be sure everything would be alright. So much had changed in her life that it didn't surprise her that she changed, but seeing it so plainly was surreal.
Andromeda reached the top of the stairs and locked her eyes on The Arbiter, who still looked incredibly shaken while she leaned against the walls outside Entai’s office. “Is it time?” Andromeda asked. The Arbiter seemed startled by her voice despite looking right at her.
"One moment, Entai’s fixing the floor," she said, just as Entai walked around the corner, clapping dust from his hands.
“I am becoming increasingly tired of needing to mend my own home due to this commotion. Get your business over with so I may live the rest of my days in peace,” Entai said while walking by The Arbiter.
“Don’t threaten me,” The Arbiter said in a surprising moment of bravado, only to catch Andromeda's gaze again and lose her gumption.
“Regardless, I was already working on it before you came back up. It’s fixed now, avoid doing so again,” Entai said, returning to his office with the air of a disappointed teacher.
“I have lost all sense of respect from these people,” The Arbiter muttered bitterly under her breath.
Andromeda was led down the hall to a room closest to the end. The closer she got, the more uneasy she felt. Not because she was walking into what might be her final resting place, but because it felt off. The air felt wrong, and there was some kind of funk that pervaded her mind. This feeling only escalated when The Arbiter opened the door, and it was like being blasted by a terrible stench, only without the smell. Her nostrils burned despite smelling nothing but clean air, her eyes watered despite there being no dust, and she labored to breathe even though the room was plainly comfortable on appearance alone.
“Come in, and sit here,” The Arbiter said, gesturing to a wooden chair. Andromeda sat and watched as the Arbiter walked to a nearby closet. When she opened the door, the feeling in the room became a thousand times worse. Andromeda nearly passed out, and her stomach was moments away from doing a flip. Her eyes were watering, and she felt sick.
The Arbiter pulled out something very large and very long. She had to coerce it from the small closet doorway, and when it was revealed, it was a large and long bag of black fabric. The Arbiter untied a knot at the end of the bag and pulled it down, revealing what looked to be a spear. The entire thing was inky black, it absorbed all light, and just looking at it caused Andromeda a headache. It was like the physical manifestation of discomfort.
“What’s that?” Andromeda choked out, barely able to form words in the toxic atmosphere.
“This was a gift to me from one of my creators many years ago,” The Arbiter said. She held the shaft of the spear dearly, like one might hold a stuffed toy. She smiled warmly and kindly, obvious joy in her eyes.
“Your creators must have hated you if they gave you a burnt spear,” Andromeda asked. The Arbiter clicked her tongue in response.
“Oh no, they hated me for entirely unrelated reasons, and mind you, this is not just a spear. This is an Artifact named “The Nail of Hatred.” I do not know its exact origins, but records claim it to have existed for several thousand years. I do, however, know very well its effects.” The Arbiter said.
“If it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck... What makes this special?” Andromeda insisted. She wanted some information, and from the way The Arbiter was smiling, she might be willing to share now. Even though her twisted expression made Andromeda’s already uneasy stomach more restless.
“It’s quite simple. Any being killed with this spear not only succumbs to total and complete death, their mind and soul are—” The Arbiter started, but she caught herself and gave Andromeda a knowing smile. “I see what’s happening, but no, I will give you no further details. You’re trying to piece together my plan. Well, to be fair, I think you can guess what I plan on doing, but not its purpose,” The Arbiter said.
She snapped her fingers, and through a door that Andromeda assumed was another closet came something that shook her. Gram walked out, his eyes were glazed over, and there were terrible scars all over his body. He was wearing the torn remains of a white shirt that was a size too large for even his large frame. He seemed completely absent of mind.
"There is a complication with the nail that I have yet to address, even after so long. The use of this weapon has a rather disastrous effect on its user. When another is killed with it, the wielder suffers greatly, both in mind and spirit. The first time I used it, I was left in agony for weeks. In that time, the one I used it on had rotted away, and I needed to find another. But well, you live and you learn," The Arbiter said.
“What… Did you do to him?” Andromeda asked, not even listening to The Arbiter’s words at that point, even while standing behind her and not seeing her face at all. The Arbiter shivered involuntarily, but she quickly recovered and played it off as nothing.
“Nothing terribly awful, at least, beyond what you see. In a sense, I think the blame lies with you,” The Arbiter said.
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“How could you possibly blame me?” Andromeda said. The Arbiter put her hands up in defense.
“I suppose that is unfair. It was High Magister Ferdinand who trashed the building and took my people, but lacking much alternative, I breached the jail this one was being held in. At first, I didn’t know what to do with him, but after some time, I realized he would make the perfect executioner for this. After all, he seemed to recognize my form, and he also knows you. Two birds, one stone.”
“Your-” Andromeda said. The realization crashed into her like a meteor.
The Arbiter’s smile grew wider as she saw Andromeda’s face. “Yes, my current form,” she said. The Arbiter walked over to Grab and handed him the massive spear with a smile. Andromeda knew. The rush of thoughts and feelings rushed to her at once as all the pieces fell into place. It was why they didn’t just kill her, why they captured and controlled people she cared about, why they came to the college to entrap her. This wasn’t an assassination attempt.
“You’re going to steal my body,” Andromeda said, barely believing it even as it was the only explanation. It would explain her obsession with Andromeda’s appearance or what she does with her free time. So she could better steal her life.
“Oh my, I’m surprised you managed to get there in the end, its why I plan on destroying your mind and soul, less messy that way.” The Arbiter said, then with a theatrical flourish she turned around and sighed. “I guess the cat’s out of the bag. So I might as well explain some things. It might make what’s about to happen to you a little easier to understand,” The She said.
The Arbiter pulled up another wooden chair just across from Andromeda and sat down. She pulled down her sleeve and showed off her arm. The skin was grey, and in some places purple. It looked like dying flesh.
“The story is much too long to give you a full rundown, so I’ll just explain simply. I was created, by whom and for what purpose I don’t know. But whatever they wanted me to be wasn’t what they got, so they tried to kill me,” The Arbiter said.
"If you’re looking for sympathy, you’re not getting it,” Andromeda said. The Arbiter waved her off.
“Not at all, just speaking the truth. Well, whatever I am, whatever they made me. It wasn’t so easily killed. My first memory was the screaming pain, and then darkness, but as time went on, I realized I wasn’t dead. So I forced myself to the top of the darkness I found myself in. Just like that, I was in control of one of my creator's bodies. It didn’t take long for them to realize what happened. I was killed again, and again, and again. Until there were none left but the last.”
“You were hopping between bodies at the moment of death,” Andromeda said.
“Something like that. You see, when I do this 'hop' thing like you say, it's not as though I carry myself through just the same. It’s more like I see the memories I had before as the pages in a book. I can see the meaning and know the context, but they aren’t my memories. It’s like I’m seeing someone else’s memories for myself, reflected in a mirror that I can only see through.”
“What?” White said internally. Even if the words weren’t the same, the faint similarity made her shiver internally.
“Anyway, once it came down to the last of us, just me in someone else’s body, and the last one of my creators. He tried to convince me not to kill him by promising me many things. Secrets, power, weapons of all sorts, out of all of them, this spear is what finally caught my eye.” She said. The Arbiter leaned back and took the spear away from Gram, turned back around, and held it in front of Andromeda. “I don’t know what about it called to me, but when I saw it, I knew I had to have it. My creator gave it to me and went to leave, but just as he turned away from me, I drove him through with it.”
“Why?” Andromeda asked.
“Why not? Who was going to stop me? Everyone else was dead, I couldn’t die. He was just a loose end,” The Arbiter said.
“You’re a monster.“ Andromeda said. The Arbiter leaned forward and gently brushed a loose hair out of Andromeda’s face.
“Oh, don’t get huffy over that. You don’t know what I know; I have their memories. I know what they did there, I know the things they did, the people they hurt in an attempt to create me. It takes a monster to create a monster, and if I’m a monster, just imagine what they were like,” The Arbiter said.
“That doesn’t explain your arm or all of the games you’ve been playing to get here. If you just wanted my body, it wouldn’t have been this hard,” Andromeda asked.
“You’re right, however, I learned quickly that my hosts did not last long while I was in control. Only a few years at most. The longer I stayed, the more my body broke down. I have a distinct memory of one time when my body was so decayed and gone that when they found me, they thought I was already long dead and buried me. If it wasn’t for some idiot digging up my fresh grave, I might have stayed there,” The Arbiter said.
“What does that have to do with the theatrics?” Andromeda asked.
"That is a good question. Ask yourself, you have all the time in the world, and you can’t really die. What do you do?” The Arbiter asked.
Andromeda thought about it because she honestly didn’t have any good ideas, “I don’t know, I’d get bored really quickly,” she said. The Arbiter clapped her hands together.
“Exactly!” She said, “I’ve been alive for so long that I don’t even remember how many bodies I’ve taken. Hundreds easily, but those are the only ones I care to remember. In between each major body, there usually are at least a few that I try out before getting tired of.”
“Hold on, hold on, you’re still dodging the question. Why so much now?” Andromeda asked. The Arbiter sighed and looked over at Gram as if he would give her a knowing reaction.
“Oh, you’re no fun. I don’t have anyone to talk to about this. People usually start crying or screaming or trying to kill me by now.”
“Just answer the damn question, my god.” Andromeda said; this soured the Arbiter’s mood and she sighed again.
“Fine, basically, you’d think the whole “I’ll melt into a pile of sludge and be forgotten forever” thing would keep the hunt for a new body interesting, but no, it's not. At a certain point, I got bored of stabbing someone in the ribs in a dark alley and taking their body. I started making a game of it. I’d go out and look for harder targets, mastering my skills, and abusing the stolen memories of my victims. Eventually, I got good enough at this that people started to notice.“ The Arbiter said.
“So it really is all just a game to you? Killing hundreds because you’re bored, do you have any idea how many lives you’ve ruined?” Andromeda said. In the depths of her mind, she felt something start to boil. A wave of anger filled her, and she knew where it was coming from. Whisper was fuming.
“Does it matter? They’re dead and gone. Most of them are mindless puddles of sludge in the dirt somewhere. Hell, a few of them probably didn’t even suffer that much before they were gone.” The Arbiter said. Andromeda felt her eye twitch. Whisper was practically a broiling mass of magma in her mind.
“I suggest you stop talking; otherwise, this could get out of hand,” Andromeda said. This made the Arbiter laugh.
“Oh yeah? Your little friends downstairs took off. The girl gave me some grief, and I’m sure that can be dealt with in time, and the quiet one was a twig. I'm sure she is no trouble at all. As for the High Magister, once I’m wearing your face, I’ll make up some story about breaking free and go on my way. He has so much on his plate that I’m sure one random girl escaping won’t make him think twice. Mage though you may be, I don’t see you outdoing my years of experience. I have forgotten more than you ever could have hoped to learn.” The Arbiter said.
This time, it was Andromeda who was upset, or that was probably putting it lightly considering the situation. Even through the serenity she was experiencing, she nearly jumped out of her seat and strangled The Arbiter right there. But with Gram’s hulking frame, she was sure that wasn’t safe, not to mention the island's worth of people at risk.
“You have no idea what kind of hell you’re getting yourself into,” Andromeda said.
“Oh, I do. You seem to forget that I’ve done this so much that the thrill from the risk of dying has gotten boring. I have hurled Medea into the atmosphere, I’ve made fools of even the most wizened Mages, I’ve even crossed an Arch Mage in the past. There is nothing you could do to threaten me. All of this “Insurance” is just part of the game I play,” The Arbiter said.
Andromeda immediately snapped out of her anger and was thrown straight into shock. “An Arch Mage? You’ve fought one?” She asked.
“I have, and trust me when I say, you have nothing on even the greenest of Arch Mages. That new Arch Mage, White, has only had the job for a month and I’m sure you couldn’t dream to be as impressive as them,” The Arbiter said.
Despite how absurdly furious she was, Andromeda had to suppress a smile at hearing that. It meant that her plan still had a chance, even if The Arbiter’s plan wasn’t just to kill her. “So, you say you’re bored right? Before you try to take my body, how about we make a wager?” Andromeda asked. This got The Arbiter’s attention.
“A wager? All you have left to bet is your life, and I’ll have that too in time,” The Arbiter said.
“Scared?” Andromeda mocked, which instantly upset The Arbiter.
“You’ll tell me what you plan on wagering, and I’ll consider it. But you get no guarantees,” The Arbiter said, acting more like an affronted child than an intending murderer.
“I’m willing to bet my life on the fact that I know you’ll regret it if you try to kill me. Specifically, Arch Mage White will stop you,” Andromeda said.
“That’s cute. This room has been magically concealed. To anyone who tries to sense what happens in here, it will seem as though you walked out alone. There is no chance any Arch Mage would sense what happened. Let alone think to stop me,” The Arbiter said with a laugh. She was all too sure that this was just the last desperate convincing of a surprisingly confident coward. Saying anything they can to try to edge out a chance of survival.
“Then put your money where your mouth is. Release everyone under your control, and I’ll sit there and let you stab me with the spear,” Andromeda said.
"That is idiotic, and the fact that you’re asking for it means you plan on taking advantage of it,” The Arbiter said.
“Yep, that’s about the long and short of it. So, let everyone go, and we can get started,” Andromeda said.
“I ju-” The Arbiter started to say, but Andromeda gave her a glance and that stopped her.
“You didn’t say no, so either do it or don’t, but personally, I think the fact that you need hostages at all makes me think less of you. Talk about being this scary monster if you want, but if you need leverage to get things done, then you’re not starting on top,” Andromeda said.
In one swift motion, The Arbiter stood and kicked the chair she was sitting in away. Now standing and with the spear pointed right in front of Andromeda. “I don’t need them, I want them because it’s fun. They are mine to play with.”
Andromeda leaned forward slightly, so that the fat of her cheek pressed slightly against the tip of the spear, “Playtime is over, so stop acting like a child and get it over with. You told Carrion that you didn’t want to hurt anyone else. So unless you’re a coward and a liar, let them go.”
The Arbiter’s face was a theater of emotions, most of them being unyielding fury and wrath. But she pulled the spear back and handed it to Gram. “Fine, you want it so damn badly. I’ll give you what you want,” The Arbiter said. She walked over to a nearby wall, and with a flick of her wrist, the wall of the room blew out into the surrounding yard.
She raised her hands into the air, and a cloud of black vapor erupted from her hands and into the surrounding air, only for it to turn white and evaporate into nothing.
“There, are you happy?” The Arbiter said.
“Can you prove it?” Andromeda said. The Arbiter bit her tongue and turned to Gram.
“Touch your forehead,” The Arbiter said. Gram did not move, only remained standing there in a daze. “See?”
“Alright, seems good,” Andromeda said. She stood from her seat and started stretching.
The Arbiter turned back around to the city, and heard as people in the streets started making noise, being released from her control. They would all come back to reality slowly. The commotion would spread as the people were released from her control, but as long as she was quick about this, It—
Suddenly, The Arbiter was tackled from behind and went flying out of the hole in the room. As she swung around in the air, she saw Andromeda desperately reaching for the spear. Just as she grabbed it, the Arbiter corrected her path through the air and tightened her grip. Andromeda’s weight along with her momentum made the spear act like a gym bar. The force peeled the spear from The Arbiter’s hands and Andromeda was thrown to the other side of the property, landing roughly.
She she Finally came to a stop in a bush, she looked up to see The Arbiter in the air above her. “You…” The Arbiter said. She raised her hand toward the spear, and Andromeda felt a force pull the spear, but she dug herself in and pulled against it.
“You abused my patience and my goodwill. I warned you, I warned all of you. All you had to do was go peacefully, and no one would be hurt. You’ve forced my hand, and I promise, when I am done with you, I will track down each and every person you know and love, and I will slaughter them with your own hands,” she said. Andromeda felt a burning rage fill her heart like coals. The Arbiter tore at the spear. Andromeda held on tight as her body was thrown wildly into the air with the spear.
The Arbiter snatched the spear out of Andromeda’s hands while Andromeda herself kept flying in the other direction. Once again coming to a stop back near the manor. She picked herself up, only to feel a twitch and on instinct she leapt to the side. Just as her body moved out of the way, the spear buried the ground right where her torso was. Andromeda grabbed it and was violently torn back into the air with it as it launched back at The Arbiter.
“LET GO OF IT!” The Arbiter screamed, the force on the spear released, but the momentum carried Andromeda forward anyway. A mass of flaming light formed in the Arbiter’s hand and erupted as Andromeda flew past, exploding Andromeda and breaking her grip. Her body went flying through the air and landed with a horrifying crunch. The Arbiter descended to the ground and walked up toward Andromeda. Her clothes were badly burnt, but not as much as The Arbiter expected they should be.
“I’m tired of this, and every moment you spent breaking your own body is another I have to spend repairing it. Stay down and make this easy on yourself,” The Arbiter growled.
Andromeda rolled on the ground in pain for several moments, trying and failing to pull herself up.
“Are you okay?!” White said in her mind.
“I think my ribs are broken, and I can’t feel my legs,” Andromeda said. A wave of feeling recoiled in Andromeda’s mind. She couldn’t place it at first. But she knew that it was coming from White.
“I have to admit, I’m impressed that you aren’t dead already. Your body is made of some tough stuff. It’ll serve me well,” The Arbiter said. Upon hearing that, Andromeda felt something inside her snap, but it wasn’t her. It was White. Just as The Arbiter raised the spear to drive it down into the ground, Andromeda’s body was enveloped in a white aura. The Arbiter didn’t wait and drove the spear down. before it made contact, a hand shot out and grabbed the head of the spear a hair’s breadth away. She pushed down with all her strength to stab the spear down, but Andromeda’s now white hand didn’t budge an inch.
Another hand grabbed The Arbiter’s leg and gripped with enough strength that she lost feeling in her foot. The Arbiter’s leg was ripped out from beneath her with monstrous strength and she sent to the ground. She saw that the figure before her had changed. Instead of red hair, she had the purest white hair The Arbiter had ever seen. Her skin had turned snow white, and her eyes were blood red. Only the single back-shocked hair over her eye suggested anything less than the pure manifestation of the color “White.”
White was now in control.
“What the-” The Arbiter said, but she stopped short when she remembered what Andromeda had said before.
Arch Mage White will stop you.
Her blood ran cold as the hateful blood-red eyes of White above her stared her down. “I’m not going to lie, I’m going to enjoy this,” White said. Then faster than The Arbiter could react, her leg was gripped again, and she was lifted heel over head and thrown violently across the length of the property.
“White?” Andromeda said.
“Just let me help you right now,” White said.
White reached over and picked up the spear The Arbiter was trying so hard to get a hold of. She watched as The Arbiter’s body skipped over the lawn like a stone over water until it came to a rest at the far end of the grass and crashed into the wall that separated the estate from the street outside.
“Whisper, see if you can’t find Ferdinand and the others. They couldn’t have gotten far. I’ll keep this one busy,” White said. Without another word, the tell-tale feeling of Whisper leaving their mind could be felt. White leaned back, stuck her thumb up, and placed it just to the right of The Arbiter’s head, then threw the spear with all her might. There was a rippling crack as she felt the bones in her arm shatter, but it didn’t stop the spear from flying like a missile down the length of the estate.
Stone debris exploded out of the wall beside The Arbiter as the spear embedded itself inside. Before she could even collect her thoughts, she saw White rushing towards her at a speed that shouldn’t be humanly possible. She turned quickly and tried to rip the spear out of the wall, only to fail as it was buried nearly to its end.
When The Arbiter turned back, White was already upon her and crashed into the wall where she was just a moment before, jumping out of the way just in time to not be liquefied.
The Arbiter stepped back in shock as White pulled herself out of the rubble. Her robes were glowing with a faint white and red light. She knew that should have killed White, and the fact that she was not only fine, but unphased, disturbed her.
White reached around and grabbed the shaft of the spear, pulling it out and tearing the wall apart in the process. She turned and looked at The Arbiter, who was bleeding from the nose and short of breath.
“I know I shouldn’t, but I feel compelled to give you a chance to walk away from this,” White said.
The Arbiter smiled, “Why would I walk away? I’m starting to have fun,” The Arbiter said with a twisted smile, wiping away the trail of blood.
“Well, I tried,” White said. She grabbed the spear with both hands like a club and swung it downward with all her might. A ward appeared in the air just in front of The Arbiter’s face, and a deafening crack echoed throughout the area. White recoiled as her arm broke once again. Bent at an awkward angle, she staggered back as The Arbiter pulled herself up. The effects of White’s aura had repaired the damage she had done, both to the wall and The Arbiter.
“I know what you, or should I say Andromeda, meant. Which name would you prefer? I wouldn’t want to be rude.”
White popped her arm back into place and waited while the feeling returned to it before continuing, “You can ask her when she feels ready to step back up.” White said.
“Oh, is that the case? Did she get too tired? Had to call out her bodyguard to fight her fights because she couldn’t handle it?” The Arbiter mocked, and White rolled her eyes.
“You love hearing yourself talk, don’t you?” White said, only to wiggle her arm a bit to get the sensation to come back. She gripped the spear again and swung once more down on The Arbiter. Another spine-chilling crunch echoed out, but this time the glow surrounding White grew brighter.
“I can see why they made you an Arch Mage. The Medea are already powerful, and you are among the stronger I’ve seen,” The Arbiter said. She pulled herself up against the wall and brushed herself off. White shook her arm again, this time much quicker than the last, and geared up for another swing.
The strike came down with enough force that The Arbiter’s arm shook when blocking with the ward, and the glow around White grew even brighter. “I’m not a Medea, I’m just me.” She said.
“Really? But you look just like one aside from the black floof” The Arbiter said, only for the spear to come down again, this time she actually flinched as she took the brunt of the strike.
She was going to speak again, but the spear was swung again, and then a second time. With each strike the white glow around White grew brighter and brighter. By this point The Arbiter wasn’t even injured anymore. This is when she understood that White’s aura was healing her.
“I’m just me, and I’m not the one you should be worried about.” White said, smashing the spear again and again against the ward The Arbiter was producing, with each stroke The Arbiter grew more and more unsure that she could hold up against each strike.
“Is that so? Because If I remember correctly, before you came out, I was flinging her around like ragdoll. Why should I care?” The Arbiter said, another strike, this one notably stronger then the others.
“Because, unlike her. I’m not angry. I hate you, but I’m not angry.” White starts, swinging again, the force enough that The Arbiter’s smile dropped.
“I just want to live my life and be happy.” White continued, yet another earth shattering strike against the ward. The Arbiter’s arms now shaking.
“But when it comes to you, you wont get a choice. That’s the hell you walked in to.” White finished, The Arbiter’s eyes go wide, and she dodged out of the way instead of blocking the spear. Which missed and struck the ground.