“You blacked out?” Gram asked.

“I think, though going by what White and Whisper said, I did a lot more than just black out. They tell me that usually, even when I’m unconscious and not in our shared space, they’re are still aware inside the space, but when this happened even they were knocked out.” Andromeda said.

“So, you got stabbed by your friend and blacked out so incredibly hard that not even your magical mind friends remember what happened? How are you here and not dead? From the sounds of it, they were planning on killing you.” Gram asked.

Magical- Really?

>I am definitely not magical<

That’s… Not really the point…

“I don’t know. My first memory was after that was a couple of days ago.” She said.

-----

Andromeda raised her head, every muscle in her body was sore and her head was aching so badly that even opening her eyes was painful. Though that had nothing on the incredible pain she felt from the sand that had gotten into her mouth and nose. She looked around to see that she was laying face down on a beach, she was soaked to the bone. Due to the enchantments they had, that meant she was completely underwater for some time.

“White…” Andromeda whispered, as she painfully pulled herself up to her knees.

Wha- What happened…

She was just as out of it, though she wasn’t radiating any feelings of distress. So she wasn’t in pain too.

“I don’t know. Is Whisper okay?” She asked.

>I’m fine, mostly, just confused. I haven’t felt like this since White had me locked up.<

Andromeda spit out the sand in her mouth and blew out the salt and sand from her nose. With all the layers of her robes soaked through it was barely possible for her weakened body to stand up, let alone move. She stumbled toward the edge of the beach until she reached some grass to lie down in.

She tried to remember what happened.

She woke up, Eli was there, they argued, they met someone, but she couldn’t remember exactly who. There was a fight, she did something… Her mind was too frazzled to remember clearly. Waves of desperation washed through her as White tried to recollect through her collection, but the best she could do was deliver a play-by-play until the moment they got stabbed. After that, she wasn’t recording for whatever reason.

That is when she remembered that she was, in fact, stabbed. Her heart raced in an instant, but when she touched the spot on her back where she vividly remembered being stabbed, there was no evidence of it. Not even her clothes were damaged. That eased her mind for the moment until she remembered she had things in her pockets. She patted herself down to make sure everything was still on her, the mask was in her pocket, the faded hood was still on her thankfully, and the necklace was still around her neck, but everything else was gone. This marked the second time she lost her things in two weeks.

“Whisper, can you tell me if anyone is around?” Andromeda asked. There was a moment of silence, then she responded.

>No one for as long as I can sense, why?<

Andromeda screamed. A long, angry, very overdue scream. She continued until her lungs couldn’t push more air, and her throat was burning. She pounded the sand and grass beside her, flailing madly and without control, she swore and cried, then laughed, then cried again. Finally, she just sat back on the grass, her body ached further from the explosive meltdown. She just faded in and out of awareness, time seemed to pass by in an instant and not at all. She was so, completely, totally exhausted that her mind couldn’t even process the pain. She just sat there.

I was going to stop you, but I figured she probably needed this.

“Guys, I’m so tired, when does it stop? When do I finally get some rest?” Andromeda asked. Neither had an answer. White could think of nothing to justify an argument because she saw Andromeda’s thoughts and couldn’t find an argument. While Whisper sat quietly, knowing that she was part of the problem as well.

“Why am I even here?! Why?! What brought me to this damn world and made me deal with all this? Is this hell? Am I just being forced to suffer over and over again? WHY?!” She said. Each word was delivered between bouts of crying.

She wanted to crawl into a hole and wait for it all to end, she was so tired that even through her unwillingness to die, she craved release from the stress. But she couldn’t, that wasn’t her decision anymore. She was carrying three flags beside her own, Whisper, White, and Reine’s.

Andromeda, do you want one of us to, er, drive? Just to give you some rest?

“No, I just needed to get that out of my system. Let’s get me fixed up and we’ll go.” She said. They shifted over to White for a bit so the mending aura would fix the fatigue and light injuries, then they paused for a bit, then Andromeda took over so she could purify everything. Once she was in more or less stable condition and not actively uncomfortable, she rested until the sun rose over the horizon.

Andromeda’s most pressing issue at that very moment was not knowing where she was. For all she knew, she was on a deserted island somewhere in the sea. Her last memories were on a boat with no land in sight.

Whisper was on a constant search for anyone or anything that might signify civilization. Andromeda helped this by sticking along the beach where she could and only moving up in the brush when the beach was cut off by the tide for whatever reason. Andromeda walked for miles, and for the longest time Whisper sensed nothing at all, then as they got along more she would sense a few wild animals, birds and squirrels, and things like that. Things got more interesting when Whisper sensed a housecat in the bushes near her.

Not a wild cat like they originally thought. Where there were cats, there were usually people not far away. It was when she saw another shipping boat in the distance that she realized she wasn’t marooned. It came closer to the shore out in the distance.

-----

“It took me a few more hours before I got into town. I had no money to get a bed anywhere, and I wasn’t sure who or what was safe to approach. That led to me wandering around town and maintaining myself through White’s Aura. You were the first person to speak to me since I landed on the beach.” Andromeda said. Hearing that last statement jogged pressed a thought that Gram had forgotten to consider until that moment.

“No one? Like, nobody approached you at all?” Gram asked.

“Nope, I could sit pretty much anywhere and just idle around, and nobody paid any mind to me. Why?” Andromeda said.

“Does that not strike you as strange?” Gram asked.

“Why would it? I was drifting around town not speaking to anyone.” Andromeda said.

“I don’t think you quite understand the gravity of what you’re saying. Aeroae is a hellhole of pickpockets and scammers, and you’re dressed up like you’re the most important person in a room at any given time. There would be people begging to get your attention.” Gram said. This caught Andromeda off guard, she was so focused on her situation that she didn’t even consider that angle.

“I hadn’t thought about it,” Andromeda said.

“Another thing that surprised me was at the courthouse. Everyone but that Magister just ignored your presence. I know some of those people and they wouldn’t have done that normally.” Gram said.

“Do you think something is happening?” Andromeda asked.

“I can’t be sure, though if something is happening, the only lead we have is that Magister who DID notice you. He told me that he had only received orders that morning. I also didn’t recognize him, so he could be from out of town.” Gram said.

“I could probably find him if we went looking for him. I know his name, where he lives, and a few other things.” Andromeda said casually.

“Wait, wait, hold on. I was distracted by your traumatic backstory. Can you please explain to me what is going on with this “Whisper” person? I can only guess that’s how would know that.” Gram said.

>It’s your call, he might not trust us if you’re completely honest.<

Not being completely honest is what got us into this situation.

>Well, maybe lying will get us out too…<

Yeah no, Andromeda, let him know.

“Whisper is, put simply, a mind-invading, soul-devouring, mental creature that I made a deal with. I relieve her of her eternal hunger for souls, and she works with me as best she can. We don’t use her to eat souls, rather she is really good at reaching into the minds of others and pulling out information. It’s not exactly telepathy, but it’s still pretty convenient.”

Gram stared at her with a concerningly neutral expression.

>Is this good, or bad?<

I have no idea, what’s he thinking?

>I am not opening that door without permission White. It never ends well.<

Once the uncomfortable moment passed, Gram gripped his brow.

“Oh dear lord, you’re being 100% serious…” He said.

Ah…

“Yeah, when I put it how I did, I can understand the reaction,” Andromeda said.

“When you mentioned it earlier, I thought it was something you dealt with more rationally, but I guess I was wrong about that. Has anyone ever told you that you act like a psychopath under pressure?” Gram asked.

“Plenty, more than not actually,” Andromeda said.

“Give me strength- Alright. I think I have a picture of the situation now. I have to admit, you were right about me not wanting to know, but here we are. Now, what do we do?” Gram asked.

“I’ve been working on that, now that I have a good map of the area, I need to get to the upper row and meet with Entai Algoer. If and when I’ve done that, I can get the hell out of town.” Andromeda said.

“Yeah, you said that you swore an OATH over that. All for nothing in return.” Gram said.

Yeah Andromeda, over THAT. All for NOTHING.

“Shut up, both of you.” Andromeda said, she pointed to her head when Gram was confused over the “both” part.

“Look, honestly, if I could go back I’d probably not have let him go so easily, but wishing I shoved my boot up his ass doesn’t make it any less real.” Andromeda said.

“I’d need to know the exact details of the arrangement, but depending on how strict the definition of meet is, you might not have to put yourself at risk.” Gram said.

“See, the problem with that is I’m not even totally sure of the exact requirements. Technically I only agreed to come to Skysea Adalay, but that was predicated on coming to meet this guy. I might just be able to leave now, but I don’t want to risk breaking the oath if I do.” Andromeda said.

“I can’t promise anything right now, but I think I can make something work here. I’ll need a few days to set it in motion. Just know that you owe me one if this works.” Gram said.

“I don’t like how vague you’re being about this.” Andromeda said.

“I don’t like how much of an accomplice I am making myself to you.” Gram said, Andromeda was going to respond, then didn’t. “How I am seeing this, we have three major problems. First, you’re stuck here until you definitively execute your oath. Second, something is causing people to not notice you, as for why I could, I don’t know. Third, you are paranoid about who to trust, which if I’m understanding correctly is part of the reason you’re even in this mess. Do I have that right?” Gram said.

“Y-Yes…” Andromeda said.

“Alright, so all you need to do for the next 24 hours is not get yourself killed, and I can at most solve the first issue. As for the second and third, that’s going to be something you need to figure out. I might be able to put plans in motion, but I can’t make gears turn.” Gram said.

With that, their conversation quickly came to a close. Andromeda returned to the loft and Gram left to finish his work for the day.

-----

Albert sat behind a desk in Aeroae in a small office on the upside of the business district. The last few days has been stressful as all but one of the cargo ships had made their return, most concerningly it was the “special” ship. Suddenly, a man burst into Albert’s office in a panic.

“Mr. Blue! It’s here!” The man said, they both ran.

When they got to the docks there was a small crowd gathered around the port, even over the heads of the crowd he could see something was gravely wrong. The large majority of the ship was covered in rust, as though it had been left out to sea for many years, while other parts of the ship seemed to be shorn and torn apart.

There were several men coming down the ramp and onto the dock, but not all of them were what he expected.

There were men that he expected, able-bodied, tired, but alert. While there were less reasonable ones as well. Old men that were much too old to handle the difficulties of cargo travel, while some were barely more than children even compared to himself, one looked so young that his clothes were slack on his shoulders, worse yet, one man appeared to be holding a baby. Despite all this, the thing that bothered him the most about what he was seeing wasn’t who he was seeing, it was who he wasn’t.

“Report.” Albert said.

“About two hours ago, the dock head spotted a ship on the horizon, but it was listing and moving irregularly, they sent a few guard ships out to investigate along with a magister. The men came back with grim expressions and called for an emergency docking procedure. They just got in and it’s like this.” The man standing beside Albert said.

“Where is Aixen Vannse?” Alber asked.

“We haven’t found him on the ship, and none of the men so far have told us where he might have gone.” The man said.

“What about the… Guest?” Albert said quietly

“There was no sign of them despite being on the ship’s manifest.” The man said.

“Keep an eye on the crew, try and figure out what’s wrong with them and get back to me.” Albert said.

“Yes sir!” The man said, then he ran off toward the docks.

There are guests now, is there? How interesting!

Albert flinched at hearing the voice.

There was all that talk about centers and fulcrums, I thought you just had a thing for levers and pulleys at first, but now that I’m hearing about guests I’m really excited.

“What are you doing?! You swore that you would only do your demon shit when I was on the clock!” Albert thought.

I do as I please little puppet, just be happy I don’t babysit you all the time. Though considering this whole situation constitutes a break of our agreement. I think I’ll just play nice and ignore your impudence.

Albert shook his head, he had lost the last little bit of control he had left of the situation. He had to have faith that it would work out.