“Andromeda!” Alice yelled as she rushed to her side, Andromeda was laying splayed out over a chair. She watched wearily as Alice, a few staff members, and several guards burst into the room. It was hard to think or talk, but she remembered waving passively to them.

It was really hard to focus on anything while her head was spinning. She kept feeling this strange ping in the back of her head. Alice slowly explained what happened to Andromeda in small pieces so she could focus,

While Grant was in the middle of his summoning ritual Alice noticed Andromeda had disappeared from her side. She wasn’t teleported or anything similar because Alice would have noticed from the movement of the flow. She seemed to just vanish from reality.

The entire college looked everywhere they could but she was nowhere to be found. Then suddenly Alice noticed her presence in her room and they rushed to it as quickly as they could.

Alice noticed as they found her that Andromeda’s mana was fluctuating between normal and a different kind. From Alice’s perspective it seemed like two separate people were intermittently switching places multiple times a minute.

Andromeda internalized this all while her head twisted and turned, barely able to remain conscious. The medical staff and a visiting Medea all inspected her closely but they couldn’t find anything obviously wrong with her despite Alice’s insistence. Eventually it was decided that she should just rest and try to gather her strength.

There were initially concerns that Grant’s ritual had malfunctioned, but due to the boards he used for his ritual being burnt to ash there was no way to definitively prove that wasn’t the case. The only reason he wasn’t confined and interrogated was that Andromeda insisted that he wasn’t to blame, though the reason she believed this wasn’t something she was willing to talk about. By the time everything had slowed down, several hours had passed and the sun was starting to set.

Andromeda sat in her bed and tried her best to get a hold of her own mind. No matter what she did it felt wrong. It wasn’t painful, just constant. Once in a while someone would come by her room to check on her, but as night went on they came less often.

In an attempt to distract herself from what she was feeling Andromeda reflected on what got her to this point, especially recently.

She remembered saying her code name. White.

When she accepted the free pass to Cylas, Ferdinand had the condition that she would accept a title and position as well. That title being “White” and the position being “Arch Mage”.

She accepted it because it didn’t sound like a huge commitment. The way he described it was that it was a political position that High Magisters could appoint someone to. However it seemed there was more to it then he mentioned at that time.

When Andromeda said the word “White”, everything changed. She went from being clear and present of mind to everything being foggy and hard to grasp, it was like a dream that you were fully aware of being so, but you had no ability to control or wake up.

She heard herself speak, but the words were not her own. Something that had her voice was speaking to what she thought was Rapture. What they talked about or for how long she didn’t know.

There were two clear memories she had of it, the first was hearing the words “No one dies.”. Who said it, or why, she didn’t know. The second was a flare of anger the likes of which she had never felt before in her entire life. Right after this flare she found herself back in control of her mind and talking to Rapture again.

She just carried on like nothing had happened at all, but as soon as she was given a moment to breathe the pain in her head started again. Rapture seemed upset about something that she heard, whatever it was, it wasn’t something she wanted to hear. There was that and she seemed to talk about Andromeda and “White” as being two different people.

Andromeda was sure that they weren’t, it was just a codename he gave her because of her fingers. But Rapture seemed very sure that there was a difference between her and White. Enough that she threatened her to stay safe or else she would come back for White. Assuming Rapture wasn’t just insane, then she could almost respect that level of dedication to people she thought of as family.

She needed answers, but short of somehow tracking down Rapture and also somehow getting her to come clean about the situation, the only person she had to talk to about it was Ferdinand. But that wasn’t an option either. She couldn’t just go chasing around an old man and demanding answers about what he got her into. She wasn’t even sure that he was still in Salsi, he could be anywhere in King’s Grove or somewhere else entirely. She had to suffer with pain in her head until he could get some answers.

Andromeda laid in bed for the majority of the night, but the pain in her head never ceased, and the pain in her chest was getting worse. It got to be too much for her so she lit a candle and tried reading some books in her chair. That didn’t work for long as it was hard to read and take notes while her body was hurting like it was. It was sometime after midnight before she gave up and just spent some time Refutei mending.

Andromeda had gotten to a point with basic mending where she didn’t even need to think about it. Just as soon as something was broken she could repair it. She could repair something just as soon as she was aware it broke.

In fact, she had gotten so good that it was becoming a problem. Mending by itself wasn’t warding off the pain in her chest anymore. The most it was doing by this point was preventing it from getting worse than it already was, so she had to apply Refutei to reduce it now. Purification took too long to be useful at this point, but even that was getting quicker. She had gotten her time down to a few minutes instead of an hour. Once that was quick enough she would probably move onto that.

Most of the progress on that was her taking notes, she would forget something and look back to find she had it written down. It was starting to look like she would need to learn several kinds at once to keep up with the pace of her mana troubles.

Her plan for today was to look into Arcanism and the second reflex, but then Albert and Grant’s showing happened, the thing with Rapture happened, and now her head was killing her.

It was at this moment that Andromeda’s last bit of will had drained out of her. Giving way to desperation at some form of relief. It didn’t matter if it was dangerous, her head was killing her, her chest was beating like a drum, and she was exhausted.

Andromeda put her hands up to her head and rubbed her temples. She focused as well as she could and imagined the same river imagery that she had imagined a thousand times before. She thought that maybe, just maybe, that if she mended her head, everything would be alright.

As she had grown accustomed to, she expected there to be nothing but the image of a river in her mind. But sitting at the side of the river was a person with white hair. When the person turned around she blacked out.

-----

Andromeda found herself standing in a massive white void in all directions. High above her were swirling white clouds, below her feet was the same. It was bright, but not blinding, huge, but comfortable, it felt so serene looking at it.

A few paces away was another person.It was a woman who was wearing a thin veil over her body, her skin was as white as snow, and her hair reached below her shoulders. She was turned away, facing into the swirling white void. Woman turned around slowly, but she looked annoyed.

“How thick is our skull if I have to poke you for hours just to get your attention? I’ve been trying to talk to you since we got back..” The woman said. This person had lost all sense of mystery in a single sentence.

“Excuse me?” Andromeda said.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“That pounding in your head, the one that made you nearly brain yourself a moment ago? That has been me trying to get your attention for hours.

“Uhh… I’m sorry, do I know you?” Andromeda said.

Andromeda looked closer at her and was disturbed by what she saw. She was looking at an exact copy of herself with two noticeable differences. Her skin and hair were completely bleached white with the exception of her hands, and that her eyes were a piercing red. She looked similar to Rhys, just while looking like herself. The patterns on her hands matched exactly.

“I am you, I think, I’m not actually sure myself, I have your memories and stuff like that, but they don’t feel like mine. I kind of feel like someone who read the story of your life front and back.” The woman said.

“What?” Andromeda said. The woman sighed.

“Do you remember that woman from earlier? Rapture? She did something to you which caused me to exist. So I’m you, but also not you.” She said.

“That makes no sense.” Andromeda said. The woman winced at hearing that.

“I know, I’m trying to make sense of it but I’m coming up short. I’ve been stuck in this void for hours trying to find someone to talk to, but all I’ve been able to do is poke at you.” The woman said. Andromeda saw that this albino version of herself was on the verge of tears. She obviously went through something just as traumatic as herself.

“Okay, let's not focus on what we don’t know, let’s focus on what we do.” Andromeda said. The woman wiped her tears and cleared her throat.

“Right, yeah, good idea, let’s start with names. I’m Andr-, er, I’m White. I think.” White said.

“White? That’s my codename from Ferdinand. Also what do you mean you think?” Andromeda said.

“When I was thinking about it earlier, the name Andromeda didn’t seem right. White was the only other one we had. It’s not like I had a lot of options and White felt right.” White said.

“I’m not sure if I buy that, but I’ll accept it for now. What about where we are, what is all this?” Andromeda asked, gesturing broadly at the infinite white void around them.

“I have absolutely no idea. All I know is that when I got mad at Rapture earlier everything got all dark and stormy. I think it’s a shared part of our mind.” White said.

“About that, what made you so angry that I remembered it? Once I got back to reality I felt really upset about something, but I don’t know what.”” Andromeda said. When she said that, the void around them darkened in pitch, from blinding white to light gray.

“She told me that I can’t keep anyone from dying.” White said. Her mood shifted instantly, her eyes furrowed and it looked like she was just insulted.

“Why did she say that?” Andromeda said, she could tell that she had pressed a button but this was something she needed to know.

“She asked me if I had any plans, all I said was that nobody gets to die. I won’t let anyone die” White said. She didn’t seem to betray a shred of irony in how she said that. Andromeda understood what she meant, she didn’t want anybody she cared about to die either. But that wasn’t something she could control, all she could do was save people when she had the chance.

“You’re thinking that I can’t do it, aren’t you.” White said. Andromeda jumped at being called out so perfectly.

“I mean… I was thinking… Uhh…” Andromeda stuttered.

“I get it, that doesn’t make sense to you. But it’s not something I’m willing to bend on.” White said.

“But what if someone does? What about the people who already have?” Andromeda said.

“I didn’t exist before now, I won’t let it happen again. I won’t let you let it happen again. I don’t care how.” White said.

“That sounds like a threat.” Andromeda said.

“It was a threat, don’t let me down and I won’t poke a hole through our head.” White said. This was rapidly escalating and she wanted to change the subject.

“Noted, can we talk about you?” Andromeda asked.

“What about me?” White said.

“What are you? You said you’re me, but what does that mean? I’m me, but you’re obviously something separate if you’re willing to threaten me.” Andromeda asked.White looked down in thought, the gears in her head were turning and they didn’t seem to come up with anything satisfactory.

“I’m not sure. I vaguely remember everything that’s happened until now. Before we came to this world, Rhys, Argo, Eli, and everything else until now. But it feels like I was watching a movie of it rather than living it myself.

“So are you a clone or something?” Andromeda said.

“If I was a clone, why would I have your memories? Even then, we’re in our head right now. Not a real place. How would you even clone a mind?” White said.

“Could you be a figment of my mind? I was pretty stressed around Rapture, maybe you’re just a coping mechanism to talk through my issues.” Andromeda said.

“I’m gonna stop you right there, I’m definitely a real something and I don’t appreciate the idea that I only exist because you got traumatized. Besides, While I’m fairly sure I didn’t exist as I do now until Rapture did whatever she did, I definitely know I existed before that. She was also here talking to me anyway, and if I didn’t really exist she wouldn’t have any reason to do that.” White said.

“She was here?” Andromeda said. Andromeda had a faint Idea about it, but didn’t know that Rapture was literally here in the same space.

“Yeah, she tried to pull the “You can’t save everyone” card on me so I booted her ass out of here before she could get a word in edgewise.” White said.

“You could have questioned her and got all the answers we wanted if you had been a little more patient.” Andromeda said.

“Well excuse me, I don’t appreciate people telling me what is and isn’t possible. If I said that I’m not letting anyone die, that is the end of the conversation.” White ranted. Andromeda sighed at the way White was talking, it was like talking to a really self-righteous child with her face.

“Rude.” White said.

“What?” Andromeda said.

“Do you think I can’t hear your thoughts? We are literally the same person… More or less…” White said. Andromeda stopped dead in her tracks and looked at White in surprise.

“Do you have any idea how weird and uncomfortable that is?” Andromeda said.

“I HAVE ENTIRELY THE IDEA!” White yelled. They were both getting stressed and nothing was helping. It seemed like they had the same temperament if nothing else, maybe White’s was a bit-

White stared at her.

She wasn’t going to finish that thought.

“I know I’ve already done this twice, but I want to change the subject again.” Andromeda said.

“Same.” White said. Andromeda was glad they were on the same page.

“What do we do now?” Andromeda said.

“I’d like to not be stuck alone here in the void, but I can see how you might not like being body snatched in the real world. So I’m not sure.” White said. That gave Andromeda an idea.

“You think this is our shared mind right?” Andromeda said.

“Yeah, or something like that.” White said.

Andromeda tried imagining a river like she did when she was going to mend. In the void in front of them a large river formed, piercing through the infinite void and into the far distance.

They both stared at the river for a few moments.

“There is no way it’s that easy?” White said. White tried to imagine a tree next to the river and in a flash a tree sprouted. Andromeda looked over at White and White refused to meet her gaze.

“You’ve been pounding on my head for hours and you never thought to… THINK!” Andromeda yelled.

“Give me a break! I only just got this thinking thing a few hours ago. So excuse me for not being creative yet.” White said. They each took a few minutes to figure out how it all worked. Andromeda tried making several specific things and White figured out how to imagine anything at all. Eventually they found themselves in a serene forest with a river traveling through the center. Andromeda imagined some chairs and a table for them to sit down at. The only thing that would suggest that it wasn’t real was the large white void hanging over the whole forest and the lack of a sun making everything a bit flat with no shadows.

“This is an improvement.” White said.

“Is it enough to keep you from drilling a hole in my skull?” Andromeda asked.

“Our head, and maybe for a bit. I can’t talk to trees or water… Or can I? Hey tree!” White said. She yelled toward the nearest tree and it didn’t respond.

“On second thought, please don’t leave me here alone. I’m already talking to trees.” White said.

“I can’t stay here forever. I need to eat something in the real world eventually.” Andromeda said.

“Fiiiiine, just imagine me something to do occasionally so I don’t get bored.” White said.

“I’ll send some books I guess. Somehow.” Andromeda said.

“Good, good…” White said.

…

“Hey, how do I get out of here?” Andromeda asked.