The scene changed, a moment ago Andromeda was standing in the middle of an open field with her class watching Grant creating a giant plume of flames. Now she was standing in the middle of a dimly lit room, there was a single candle lit sitting on a table in the center of the room. Her eyes were adjusted to the bright light of the outside so this sudden darkness made it almost impossibly dark beside the small flame.
“Hello?” She called out.
“Where am I?” She called out again. There was no response. She couldn’t see anything else in the room. It was too dark to try and make out any details. This wasn’t part of the practical, she knew that. There was no way Grant would go out of his way like this in front of so many witnesses just to get rid of her. Even if he held a grudge that hard it wouldn’t make sense to torpedo his whole career like that.
“Confused?” A voice said.
Andromeda spun around to see the silhouette of a woman sitting on the other side of the cable flame, her face was barely illuminated by the late.
“Who are you and where am I?” Andromeda demanded.
“Oh me? I guess there are a few different answers to that question. Most of them would be incorrect, but I don’t feel like lying to my family.” The woman said.
“Family?” Andromeda said.
“Yes dear, family. You might not know it but you stepped into the most interesting of families lately. Poor Uncle Ferdinand probably didn’t tell you much, but it’s quite a thing to be a part of.” The woman said. Andromeda felt her blood run cold.
“As for where you are, you aren’t that far away from the college I suppose. This is one of the spare rooms the college has stored deep underground. It was a spare servant’s quarters about 50 years ago I believe.” The woman said. As Andromeda’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw the vague outline of old beds and tables lining the walls.
“But let’s ignore that, let’s talk about us.” The woman said.
“You didn’t answer my first question.” Andromeda said, she wouldn’t let this person talk around her.
“Perceptive, I like that. I’ll give you a name, I’m sure you could have found it yourself eventually but I’ll make it easy. My designation is “Rapture”.” She said.
“What do you want with me?” Andromeda said.
“You? Nothing much at all, It’s my sister that I want to speak with, you’re just a middle point between us, a friend of the family I guess.” Rapture said.
“You’re not my friend, and we’re not family.” Andromeda said.
“You hurt me, I just want to speak to my dear little sister. Just for a bit. Is that so wrong?” Rapture said. It was clear that she wouldn’t let her go easily, she just needed to play along until she had more information to work with.
“Say it all you want, but we’re not family. But if you have something to say then say it.” Andromeda said.
“Like I said, It’s my sister I want to speak to, with. I just need a name before I can.” Rapture said.
“Fine, Andromeda, Andromeda Noelle if you want all of it.” Andromeda said.
“Oh you misunderstand me. I already know that name, I know so much about this “Andromeda” person. But it’s just a name my sister wears.” Rapture said.
“That’s my name, I don’t know what else you want from me.” Andromeda said.
“Exactly, it’s your name, but not the name of my dear sister. It’s just one she wears now.” Rapture said.
Nothing she was saying was making sense, she kept talking about her “sister”, but she wasn’t talking about Andromeda. She called Ferdinand “Uncle” as well, there is no way he was really her uncle if she was calling Andromeda her sister. She seemed to have some strange fixation on family, and if she thought of Andromeda as her sister and Ferdinand as her uncle, then she thought there was a connection between Andromeda and Ferdinand. But the only connection they had was…
“You want my code name?” Andromeda said.
“Code name? No, I want your real name. The one that Uncle Ferdinand gave you. I want to hear my dear sister’s name from her own mouth.” Rapture said. She knew, there was no way she should have known, but she did. This entire situation has become infinitely more complicated. If she called herself “Sister” then that can only mean one thing.
“White.” Andromeda said. The room flashed with blinding light, but it wasn’t just bright. Her whole perception of reality was flashed with blinding radiance.
When her perception came back to her, she was not in the room anymore. They sat in an infinite void of white all around them.
Rapture was there with her, she looked around in wonder at what she saw. There were swirling clouds of infinite white in all directions, the ground below them was gone, below was just more of the same infinite whiteness. It was blinding and empty at the same time.
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“There we are, my dear sister. Look how beautiful you are!” Rapture said.
She looked down at herself. She looked at her hands, her skin had been bleached white. Her hair fell over her and it was white as well, instead of her normal clothes she seemed to be wearing a thin white veil over her whole body. The only exception was her finger tips, which seemed to be a normal flesh color.
Her mind felt foreign to herself. She had memories of what she had done to this point, flashes of people and thoughts she had, but they felt so distant that she wasn’t sure that she was the one who experienced it.
A name kept repeating in her head, Andromeda? That name didn’t feel right, The only other word in her head that made any other sense was “White”, that one felt different, better. That must have been her name.
“You seem confused sister, is this your first time manifesting? Oh my! I feel so blessed to be here with you on this special day!” Rapture said.
“What happened to me?” White said.
“You told me your name, so I was able to establish an arch between us. Only the real versions of ourselves can speak to each other like this.” Rapture said.
“That doesn’t explain why I’m like… this…” White said. Her residual memories told her that her appearance was not normal, but imagining herself before seemed just as wrong.
“This is simply the manifestation of your inner self. Think of it like this, you have your conscious where you keep your memories and surface feelings, and your subconscious where you keep your true feelings. The Arch between us has swapped those two places, in a sense, this is the real you.” Rapture said.
So as she was right now this wasn’t Andromeda, this was “White”. It felt alien to think of “herself” in the third person, but it was the only way that made sense. For the moment, Andromeda wasn’t in the Pilot seat.
“Fine, if this is what you wanted then I can deal with it, but I want to know what you want.” White said.
“Like I said sister, I just want to talk. Arch Mage to Arch Mage. Uncle Ferdinand wouldn't name an Arch Mage without reason, so I’m curious to hear what you’re planning, maybe I can help.” Rapture said.
What she was planning? That was simple. No one dies. It was as simple as that. Something in the back of white’s mind seemed to stress at thinking that, but it was the truth. Nobody gets to die, nobody at all.
“I don’t have any deep plans, I just want no one to die.” White said.
“Just that? Don’t you know that your job will require death, blood flows like water in this country, wouldn’t it be-” Rapture started, but she was cut off by the entire world around them changing in an instant, the infinite white clouds around them turned gray and swirled around them like a fathomless storm.
“No. One. Will. Die.” White said. Rapture looked around at the swirling world around her, a moment ago she was looking at a radiant figure engulfed in pure white light. It was like the childish image of a goddess standing in the clouds, but White changed in an instant, the pure white world around her stormed. This couldn’t possibly be the root of her mind.
“You must understand that people die, that is simply a result of this world. If someone is going to die, that means they were not meant to live in the first place.” Rapture said.
The clouds around them stormed, wind swirled around them and threatened to tear them both apart.
“I don’t think you understand me, let me say it more clearly.” White said. She stepped toward Rapture slowly, every step coinciding with the world around them growing in intensity. Rapture considered leveraging her connection to force a point, but she didn’t want to hurt her sister like that. She needed to stick this out as long as she could. White was standing right in front of her. Despite the storming world around them, her face was as clear and peaceful as it was when they first came to this mental world. She didn’t want to disturb that peaceful expression.
“As long as I am alive, I will not allow anyone to die.” White said.
Her heart ached seeing her sister like this, if she carried this feeling for too long she would hurt herself in time. Rapture wouldn’t allow her wayward sister to carry such a foolish idea in her heart as long as it risked hurting her. It was the duty of the older sister to set her younger siblings straight. She brought White out, so it was her responsibility to fix her.
“This is the first time you are experiencing being truly free, so I can forgive your tone. But I must correct this childish idea in your head that you have any say in whether people live or die. You are an Arch Mage, you have a duty-” Rapture said.
She blinked, the endless white void was gone. They were back in the small dark room, the candle she had lit was on the table. In front of her was the girl from earlier. Red hair, white hood on her head, white gloves on her hands.
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Andromeda was back. She had vague and distant memories of what just happened, but it felt cold and unfamiliar. She remembered what she had felt a moment ago, but didn’t know why it upset her so much. Rapture stood in front of her, she looked concerned and depressed.
“Did… DId white somehow cut the arch?” Rapture said. Andromeda felt a ping in the back of her mind. She couldn’t explain exactly why, but she seemed pleased with herself.
“Did you get what you wanted?” Andromeda said.
“What?” Rapture said.
“I’m asking if we’re done here. I don’t know you, or anything about you, and I definitely don’t trust you. So unless you plan on killing me I’d like to get back to everyone else.” Andromeda said.
“I didn’t, but if my dear sister feels the way she does, then it's my job to keep anyone from hurting her, even herself. ” Rapture said.
“I don’t know if you’re confused, or if there is something wrong with you, but nothing about me is sisters with you.” Andromeda said. Rapture still seemed shaken, but she focused herself enough to speak clearly.
“Say whatever you want, I won’t risk anything as long as White is a part of you. I was genuinely trying to have a conversation with her but she didn’t seem to understand my intentions. All I’m going to say to you is to keep yourself safe. If my sister gets hurt because you are too foolish to understand your place, I will remove her from you myself.” Rapture said.
Andromeda felt another ping in the back of her mind, but this made her feel unbelievably angry. Just looking at Rapture made her angry.
“Send me back to the college, now.” Andromeda said. Rapture glared at her but relented. In a blink of the eye she was back at the college in her room.
Andromeda felt tired, she stumbled over to a cushioned chair nearby as her energy left her. Her eyes felt heavy and weak, her arms and legs felt like they were burning and cold at the same time. She felt pressure in her chest and fire in her stomach. Everything felt wrong, but even that feeling of it being wrong was wrong. Something was wrong with her mind. She felt something in the back of her mind. Something was forcing its way into the forefront.
Then her door got kicked in.