Andromeda woke up to silence.
She sat up from the bed she found herself in. She blinked her eyes several times to adjust to the light and looked around the room. There wasn’t much to look at.
The bed she was laying on was pushed into the corner with a small table beside it and a wooden chair pushed up under the table. At the far corner of the room there was an empty bookshelf and another table sitting beside it. At the end of her bed by a few feet was the only door in the room. The only other thing of note was the window next to the empty bookshelf that was this room's only source of light. From the way it looked and how she felt right now, it was probably morning. Early morning.
Her body was sore, from her feet to her head, it felt like every small thing that could be aching was doing so with each beat of her heart. It wasn’t agonizing or anything, but it was far from comfortable. It felt like she fell down a flight of stairs, then hopped in bed for the night.
She didn’t recognize this room either. But then again, that wasn’t uncommon for her.
She stretched as best she could without hurting any of her sore muscles and threw the thin blanket laying atop of her to the side. She did a few more stretches and walked over to the window, intending to get a better picture of where she might be. Only to be shocked.
Fields of green stretching in every direction. At the very edge of the horizon was a thin lip of blue that suggested it was the sea. The sky was clear and blue, not a cloud for miles. She was having a hard time internalizing what she was seeing. So much so that she wasn’t sure if she wasn’t dreaming.
She opened the window and was hit with a gust of refreshing air that it almost made her emotional. The smell of rain just barely peaked on the wind. The cool breeze seemed to wash the tiredness away from her and make her forget everything.
Andromeda didn’t know where she was. But it was a nice place. She turned toward the door and reached for the door handle. There was a faint tingle that went up her arm when she touched it, like a small static shock, but it passed in an instant, and she opened the door.
Outside, she saw that the hallways were nothing like the sparsely decorated room she just left. Every inch of the hall that could be filled with clutter was filled to capacity. The musty smell of old paper and dust that was so familiar to her filled her nose and made her choke. She could tell that this wasn’t a library though, even ignoring the lack of shelves in the wall, the wallpaper seemed fancier than those kinds of places would go for. This felt like a mess gone wild.
She did her best to avoid the piles of loose paper books she passed by, but still managed to knock some of them down. After picking up the first one and almost immediately knocking another one down, just silently promised to herself that she would apologize to the first person she saw for the mess. Assuming she found anyone, that is.
The halls twisted and turned for what felt like miles. She used the “always turn right” method of maze solving and after a few minutes she finally made it to some kind of exit through a set of double doors.
Through them was the sight of a large hall, the kind you only saw in fairy tales. Giant windows as tall as the walls themselves, lavish tapestries and banners depicting impressionist versions of events that might have happened, and pristine columns of white marble from floor to ceiling that were as wide around as tree trunks.
Most of the floor was polished to a mirror sheen, and the roof itself was covered with intricately detailed paintings she almost missed if not for the giant glass chandelier in the center of the room. It looked like the kind of place you would see a grand event being held. Thoughts of storybook coronations and fantastical banquets filled her mind.
In stark contrast to the rest of the room was a man with a wooden cart behind him, he really did look incredibly out of place here, being dressed in overalls and a white shirt. He looked more like a farmer than anything else.
He was pulling large white sheets of stone a meter wide and setting them down in neat stacks. Andromeda must have stood out just as much as he was because the man turned to her after a glance.
“Oi! Who are you?” He asked. She jumped at the sudden call echoing through the hall.
“Me?” Andromeda asked.
“Yeah, you, the only other person in the room. You a mage?” He asked.
“Mage?!” Andromeda called out, confused. She was fairly sure she just heard the word mage. Mage? Did he mean magic? Like the ones that did spells?
The man sighed loudly and started walking toward her. When he put the white slab of stone down she could hear a weighty thump as it fell flush with the other tiles, they felt heavy even from this distance.
“Damn this room, you can hear a pin drop but can’t make out a word to save your life.” He grumbled as he got closer. He stopped just short of Andromeda and looked her up and down.
“You don’t look much like a mage.” He said.
“I’m… not?” She said quietly. She didn’t know what a mage was supposed to look like, but apparently her outfit was not doing it. A thin red over-shirt, a faded teal shirt, a pair of jeans, and some tennis shoes.
The man’s face was washed with relief, and he laughed.
“Oh good, I’ve been dealing with these stuffy freaks for a few years now, and I really didn’t want to deal with any of their crap this morning. I didn’t get much sleep last night.” The man said.
“Heh, yeah…” She said, completely lost as to what he was talking about. He didn’t seem to have a high opinion of someone, based on context he might mean mages.
“At least they aren’t like that prissy walk about of a woman they have as Royal Medea. I can’t say I’ve seen that woman do anything but sneer and flick her hair at everyone. At least the mage folk keep to themselves.” He continued.
“So, what’re you doing here? I thought this place was off limits to the public? I’ve heard some pretty scary stories about what the king does to people who come in here without permission.” He asked.
“I, uh, I don’t know. I’m a bit lost.” Andromeda said. That wasn’t a lie, she didn’t know where she was, and considering that this man just said “King”, that means she is even more lost than she thought.
“Oh, I get ya, this whole place is like a damn maze. I don’t know where you were heading. This place is off limits to most folk. I come in here for supply runs, but they pay me for the work. I’d recommend staying far away from that clatter of marble they have on the floor. Let me tell you, I stepped on it once, and they damn near threw me in the dungeon.” The man rambled. Andromeda looked down to see that there were dozens of the same marble plates on the ground, but there was some kind of enormous circle carving in them.
“I don’t… I mean…” Andromeda mumbled. She was completely lost, and this man kept saying things that made it worse. She started to feel a lump in her chest.
“Don’t even get me started on what they’ve been doing lately. I heard they caused that flash of light last night. Woke up the whole city. I had half a mind to come a’knocking when I saw one of them was on my doorstep asking for more marble snappy like. If I was a meaner man, I’d probably have made them see some lights myself.” He continued.
The lump in her chest was getting worse. It was starting to make her body throb with each heartbeat. But she didn’t want to interrupt the man’s ramblings. Not strictly out of politeness, but because he might go off on another tangent.
“Ah, I give ‘em grief, but they aren’t that bad. They’ve been paying me a pretty penny for this marble I’ve been sourcing. That Medea, too, crushed my hand once moving these slabs, and she had me up and moving in moments. Anyway-” The man continued to ramble. His words started getting fuzzier.
The pain in Andromeda’s chest started getting worse. The soreness she was feeling earlier was getting worse, and she was having a hard time staying on her feet. Her head was starting to hurt as well, and it was getting hard to think.
“I’m starting to wonder where she is at the moment, she’s taken to hovering around me since the hand… thing…” He said, fading. He realized something was happening when he looked down at Andromeda again. She was pale and sweating, her legs were shaking. But more than anything he saw that her blue eyes were starting to faintly glow even against the morning light.
“Ay lass, you alright?” He asked.
“I-I’m-m… f-fiin-ne. G-g-go onn…” She stuttered out. As Andromeda finished speaking, her legs almost gave out from underneath her.
“Piss me, you look ill.” He said.
Then she collapsed in front of him. He rushed to her side to see what had happened. She started sweating more, and her breathing was getting shallow and more ragged. He looked on as he saw her eyes start shaking in her head, as if threatening to roll into the back of her head.
The man’s heart started thundering in his chest. Old memories that he thought buried deep in his heart flared, and he felt an instinctual sense of panic the likes of which he prayed he would never feel again.
The man took her up into his arms, her hand touched his arm, and she felt cold to the touch. She tried to grab onto his arm with a fleeting strength that evaporated instantly.
“Oh god… Oh god, no, not again.” He said. Panic struck him deep to his core, and every circuit in his mind fired at once. That frigid Medea was nowhere to be found and from the pain wracked sobs Andromeda was making he knew he had no time to search the dozens of rooms the King’s manor had. He could yell for help, but there was no telling what the king would do if a peasant started screaming in his halls.
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The only other option he had was the Medea clinic down in town. Even in a dead sprint, it would take a few minutes to get there.
A pang of anger struck him…
He would not let indecision hurt him again. It didn’t matter who this girl was, he wasn’t letting anything bad happen to her.
He started running as fast as his aging legs could carry him, he bolted through the twisting halls and past the few servants and guards that were awake at this hour. He practically kicked the front doors down and sprinted down the long cobbled path toward the city. The guards at the gates recognized him and saw he was carrying an injured girl. They called for the outer gatekeeper to open the gate, and they made it through just in time, so he didn’t have to wait.
He looked down and saw Andromeda was starting to look the faintest bit better. Still breathing hard and sweating, but her eyes cleared up enough for him to know she was still conscious.
“Don’t worry, you’re safe with me. I just need to find the clinic.” He said. Andromeda didn’t know what that was either. But she was glad she was getting some help. She was so completely lost. Then she faded again.
It was quite the sight to see a large man carrying a sick woman in his arms sprinting down the street, but the crowds let him pass. After some frantic direction asking, he got the address to the local Medean Clinic and sprinted all the way there. He entered to see the very surprised Medean man sitting behind a desk.
“Please, this girl is sick. Can you help her?” The man said. The Medea nodded and gestured quickly for them to follow him. They walked through the back doors to a room with spare beds and were prompted for the man to set her down.
“I need a name.” The Medea asked.
“She pass out before I got a chance to ask.” The man said.
“How about you, name? What happened to cause this?” The Medea asked.
“Uh, Lander, Argo Lander, and she just walked through some doors, and we got to talking. Then she just lost it and collapsed.” Argo said.
“Practicing Medea, Rhys… Just Rhys” Rhys said. He lifted his hand to the girl’s head and felt it for a moment. She was hot to the touch.
“She’s overheating. Head over to that shelf and grab the blue bottle’.” Rhys said. Argo did as he was asked and started looking.
Rhys looked at Andromeda and pressed his hand to her forehead again. This time, a wave of green light radiated from behind his hand. It was a minor technique he used to reduce fever symptoms, it wouldn’t make the problem worse, but she might not feel it as bad.
Argo came back with the bottle Rhys needed; he uncapped it. He dipped his finger in the clear liquid and traced her hairline with his finger. The liquid quickly changed from clear to yellow. That meant this was related to mana in some form.
“Argo, I require your help. Pick her up carefully and follow me.” Rhys said. Argo nodded and followed Rhys through the door they came in and into another room.
The room was dark and lit by a faint blue crystal that was reminiscent of the moon. There was a single bed in the room and various implements of all kinds on the walls.
“Place her on the bed.” Rhys directed. When she was down, he reached for two gold rods on the wall. He pressed them against her forehead and left arm. The crystal moon in the room started glowing very brightly. As it got brighter, the color changed from dull blue to blinding white.
As it did, Andromeda’s breathing started to even out slightly and her eyes shot wide.
“As I thought.” Rhys said.
“What? What’s wrong with her?” Argo asked.
“She is highly over-saturated with Mana. She was going into shock. I’m siphoning it off and using it to power a very wasteful light. However, I’ve never seen it get that bright in all the years I’ve used it. Either she has far above a lethal dose or…” Rhys said.
“Ehhhh…” Andromeda sounded. But her voice failed her. Rhys practically jumped out of his own skin when he heard her speak.
“How in the world…?” Rhys whispered to himself.
“Excuse me?” Argo said.
“Her body is saturated with entirely too much mana. She shouldn’t be conscious yet. This is like walking around while being on fire.” Rhys said.
“Is it that bad?! Argo said. He didn’t understand what was going on precisely, but the comparison scared him.
“A-am I g-going to be o-okay?” Andromeda asked. The mere fact that she was awake right now was nothing short of impossible, but he wasn’t sure if that was a good thing. He turned to Andromeda and put on a brave face, so she didn’t worry.
“Yes, I believe you will be. Can you tell me your name?” He asked. Changing the subject to distract her might help everyone’s nerves.
“Andromeda.” She said. Her voice was clearing up, and she was starting to calm her breath. All the while, the light in the room was getting brighter. It was bright enough that Rhys could see light through his closed eyes.
“Grab the shade on the wall and put it over the light.” Rhys asked. Argo grabbed a nearby shade and folded it over the light.
Rhys grabbed two pairs of leather binds from the shelf next to him and bound one rod to her arm.
“Can you lift your head?” Rhys asked. Andromeda lifted her head slightly and let him wrap the other belt around it to attach the rod. Even being able to move like that right now was impressive. Though he realized that he shouldn’t be impressed at this point, something was not normal here.
“Andromeda, can you tell me how many fingers I’m holding up?” Rhys asked. Then he held up three.
“Three.” She said.
“Good, can you count backwards from ten?” He asked.
He put her through several mind testing questions to make sure she was sound of mind, she seemed to be excelling.
“Good, impressive even, I’m surprised you’re that present of mind.” He said.
“Is that strange?” Argo asked. He was barely following along.
“Very, usually when somebody has these levels of mana saturation they are delirious and mentally unsound, their short term memory is usually shot as well. But she seemed fine when the mana was siphoned off of her. It’s starting to make me wonder if saturation is the problem.” Rhys said.
“Mana?” Andromeda said. Caught off guard by yet another word, she didn’t know.
“Yes, Mana, yours is acting strangely.” Rhys said. He gave Andromeda a strange look, what kind of question was that?
“What’s mana?” She asked. The two men stood in stunned silence for a moment.
“What do you mean?” Rhys said, suddenly worried that she wasn’t alright after all.
“I don’t know where I am, I don’t know who either of you are, or even what’s wrong with me, Now you’re saying gibberish words. Why are YOU asking ME questions?” She said, finally reaching the end of her patience for not knowing things. The light in the center of the room started to glow bright yellow and vibrate violently until it suddenly cracked and shattered into thousands of pieces all over the room.
Everyone yelped in surprise, then Rhys rushed to the window and opened the blinds to let the light in. It wasn’t even a minute until Andromeda’s condition started deteriorating and sent her into a panic. Argo was standing over her trying to get her to calm down, not knowing what else to do.
Rhys stood there for a moment trying to figure out what to do, then he had an idea he might regret. He ran out of the room and ruffled through his front desk. He fished out a necklace with a red gem in the center. Back inside the room, he could see that Andromeda’s eyes were glowing in the low light of the room. He reached around her neck and clasped the necklace.
The glow ceased instantly. She caught her breath and was gasping for air. Her body stopped aching instantly, and the pain faded away.
-----
After an hour of observation passed, the three of them walked out into the lobby. They sat down at the coffee table in the sitting area and all sat quietly for a moment. Very confused at what had happened. Andromeda carefully touched the necklace around her neck, which made Rhys tense.
“You need to be very careful with that.” Rhys said.
“Why? What is it?” Andromeda asked.
“It's a catalystic void.” He said.
“Pardon?” She said.
“It’s a necklace that eats mana. As long as you wear it, you won’t make a drop of mana. I wasn’t sure it would help, but something about your body is very strange.” Rhys said.
“Strange how?” Andromeda asked.
“I can’t say for certain. Your body seems to be reacting violently to the mana it produces, but it's also creating a lot of it. I’ve been doing this job for a long time now, but I’ve never seen that happen. Is there any way I can convince you to come back here at some point, so we can do some tests?” Rhys asked.
“I don’t know where I am right now, let alone have anywhere to stay.” She said quietly.
The panic had made the two men forget, but they had an entirely separate issue on their hands. This girl was lost and didn’t know basic facts about the world. Not even she knew what her circumstances were. She couldn’t even remember what she had been doing that day before she woke up in the office.
“You could stay with me and my family for a time?” Argo suggested. Andromeda and Rhys looked at him blankly for a moment.
“Yeah, yeah, I know, it's a bit creepy hearing a grown man offer a girl a place to stay. But I’m being honest here.” He continued.
Andromeda didn’t have any alternatives. From what she understood, he seemed to sprint across the entire length of the town to get her here. It was a risk, but one she might need to take.
“I’m not sure whether I’m comfortable allowing my patient to be taken home by a stranger, no matter the conditions.” Rhys asked.
“Ugh… Okay, look here.” Argo said. He pulled a piece of paper and wrote something down on it. Handing it to Rhys.
“That’s my address, I’m a bit outside of town on a small farm. We’re right in the open and have neighbors. You can come see my wife and son. If that’s still not enough to trust me. Then I’m sorry.” Argo said. He was trying really hard to make this work.
When she looked up at this man sitting across from her. A bearish looking man with a beard twinged with gray hairs. He seemed intimidating at first glance. But the closer she looked, she saw something. His eyes were ablaze.
There was a life in them that she remembered deeply. It was a calming and assuring fire that made her trust him.
“If that’s all, I need to go get my wagon and finish my job. My offer is always open if you need it. I promise you that.” He said. He nodded to both of them and walked out the door of the clinic
Not long after, Rhys stood up as well and walked back over to his desk. He reached around where Andromeda couldn’t see and picked up a coat and a backpack.
“I’ll be heading out for a bit. I should only be gone for a few minutes. You’re free to do what you want, but I recommend you sit tight and wait until I’m back. Any random mistake with the necklace and you could go critical again.” Rhys said. Well warned, Andromeda nodded and Rhys.
She sat quietly for a few minutes.
Sitting in an alternate universe doctor’s office with no idea where she was, what anything around her was, what happened to get her here, and what she should do next. By all means, she should be having a mental breakdown.
From nearly dying an hour ago, being told that magic was a thing, and it might kill her at any moment, and that she might literally be in an entirely different reality from the one she was used to, with its own laws and rules that she had no idea about.
She had to admit. It was an improvement.