Hours passed and Andromeda finally fell asleep. Unsurprisingly White had pulled her into the shared space and called her over to some kind of large, white, undulating structure that was a fair distance away.

Andromeda stared up at the twisting and contorting maelstrom of manifested white void in disbelief. “What’s this?” She asked. White shook her head and waved her hand in the general direction of the structure like it was an annoying fly.

“It’s what I have to do to keep that thing in check.” White said. She pulled Andromeda along, when they got closer to the outside of it the outside walls rippled and swayed around them. “At first I was just keeping it locked up in a cage, but that didn’t work for long. So I just started plugging up any holes it made until it got to this point.”

“What is it?” Andromeda asked.

“I have absolutely no idea, but whatever it is, it definitely doesn’t like me.” White said. Just as she did a tendril of shadow exploded out of the wall in Andromeda’s direction, but the instant it breached the wall it dissolved into white light. Andromeda didn’t even have time to react to it before it was gone.

“Speaking of that, Eli was telling me about some kind of field you made.” Andromeda said.

“I couldn’t tell you, I wasn’t doing it on purpose at least.” White said. They walked farther inside the twisting structure, several minutes in fact. The farther inside they got the more the walls rippled and shifted around them.

“Back to the shadow thing, I’ve tried talking to it and it seems like it can talk. But it doesn’t want to talk to me. I thought it might be more constructive to talk to you.” White said.

“Wouldn’t that put me in a lot of danger?” Andromeda said.

“I mean, technically it would. But if this is our shared space and it kills you. Then the whole space would probably collapse with the thing inside. If you don't get that then I’ll make it clear. Mutually assured destruction.” White said.

“You’re banking on that?” Andromeda asked.

“No, that’s Plan A, Plan B is that we get it out of here.” White said.

“You can do that?” Andromeda asked.

“I did it with Rapture that one time, I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t work here.” White said.

“Got a Plan C?” Andromeda asked.

“If it doesn’t play ball then I’ll just stand next to it until it does.” White said.

“That’s torture.”

“It's a shadow creature that invaded our mind and tried to attack you.”.

“White.”

“I’m not going to mess around with this thing.”

“White…”

“Andromeda, be reasonable.”

“White.”

“Fine.”

A few more minutes of walking later and White stopped. “We’re here.” She said. Andromeda it didn’t see anything at first, but White waved her hand and a nearby section of white void wall broke down, revealing a dark figure curled into a ball. It was similar to what she saw before White pulled her back to the real world, but it was less amorphous and seemed more humanoid in the traditional sense. It turned over in its place and what was probably its head was turned toward them.

It stared silently in their direction for a moment before it stood. It was taller than both of them by a head and its body was as thin as a rope. Its arms and legs terminated without hands or feet, instead as frayed lines of shadow that looked like string. It moved toward them, but White shot it a glare and the entity stopped in its tracks. It didn’t walk, it moved like a puppet on strings.

“So you come to torment me again, aberration.” The figure said. Its voice rippled and swayed in a way that sound should not have done.

“Not me, her.” White said, pointing at Andromeda.

“The host? The prey? You brought this one here? To me?” It said, there was a feeling of disbelief in its voice. Or as much as the fluctuating voice could emit.

“No, if I even think you are going to be a risk I’ll make you wish you never crawled out of whatever dark hole you were born in. All you are going to do is talk.” White said.

“Ah, Aberration, your torture knows no bounds. Fine, I will tolerate this one’s presence outside of my stomach for a time.”

“See that it stays that way.” White said, then she waved her hand and walked through a nearby wall that sealed itself behind her.

Andromeda and the figure stared at each other for a few moments. It was completely still, if she hadn’t known it was alive in some way then she would have assumed it wasn’t.

It broke the silence with a strange gurgle, then it spoke.

“So, mage, is this your pleasure? To capture aberrations in your mind, to make them your slaves? Is that your intention with me?”

“No, I don’t know what you are, and I don’t want you here. I’d just as soon throw you out but I want to know what you are, and what your intentions are. You could be dangerous outside as well.” Andromeda said.

“Do the leaves fall from your world’s trees with the intent to reach the ground?” The figure said.

“How does that relate to what I said?” Andromeda asked.

“You ask of my intentions, of my nature, but do you ask a leaf for the same? Why it falls, what it is?”

“I wouldn’t I suppose, are you saying that you’re the same?” Andromeda said.

“In a sense, just as the leaves fall, I capture my prey.”

“So why me?” Andromeda asked.

“Ah, you see mage, it was not you that I wanted. It was the other one, not the aberration, but the other human.”

“Eli?” Andromeda said.

“Yes… That one was so close to being captured as my prey, but the ritual was interfered with. I became trapped under a cloud of miasma, unable to surface. That Miasma was weakened and I attempted to start again. That one was too resistant to my control, so I came to you. But I had not expected an aberration to interfere as well.”

“You keep saying “Aberration”, are you talking about White? What does that mean?” Andromeda asked.

“A leaf does not fall with purpose, nor does it have a name. It simply is, and does. An aberration is not, and does not. It is a leaf that returns to the tree. They are Anathema.”

That doesn’t make sense.” Andromeda said.

“To ask one such as myself to describe one such as the aberration would be to ask the earth to explain the sky. They are simply too unalike.”

“Then what are you?” Andromeda asked. “If you have a term for what White is, then you must have one for yourself.”

“A name is a transient thing, to describe something in a form one understands. If that form were to change, so does the name. I do not have a name, nor a form. I simply am. But, if I am to satisfy your question, I must relent. Your people would call me “Xixial”. Does such a name satisfy you?”

“It’s the most forthcoming you have been.” Andromeda said. This creature, a Xixial, was intelligent, but evasive as all get out. If she wanted more direct answers she would need to be more specific.

“Say White hadn’t stopped you, what would have happened.” Andromeda asked.

“I would have rooted myself in your mind, influenced your thoughts, allowed you to dream unfettered by trouble or pain. I would have made you calm, and peaceful, and happy. Your mind would be relieved of all doubt or pain. Once fulfilled, I would enter the recesses of your soul and begin my feast. To engorge myself upon your life until there was nothing left.”

“So to you, the soul is like food? What happens once the soul is gone?” Andromeda asked.

“A body without a soul is a doomed thing. Your heart would beat, your lungs would draw air, but eventually something would find it empty and make itself home, it would fill the hole left behind. Such beings are what your people would call ghouls.”

“Does that not bother you?” Andromeda said. “You don’t even kill them, you eat their soul and leave them a husk.”

“Do you feel shame for the food you eat? Your kind slaughters other beings for sport or pleasure. You release the soul to be preyed upon by my kind, and you ask if this bothers me? I simply do as my nature tells me, your kind abhors their nature and call it “free will”. You abhor the nature of the world and call it magic.”

“Is your kind so perfect? Do they only follow their nature? Have none of them ever defied their nature and did something you would object to?” Andromeda said.

“There is no perfect or imperfect, there only is, or is not. Anything else is aberration.”

Andromeda had come to her wits end. The entity in front of her spoke in circles AND riddles at the same time. It gave her nothing to work with.

“Does my existence make you doubt yourself? Do I truly give you pause?” The figure said. Andromeda shook her head. Maybe it was better to just let this thing go…

That wasn’t an option. This thing eats people’s souls, if she let it go free then there was no guarantee it wouldn’t turn around and attack her, or Eli, again.

It would be reckless to trust it on its own terms. The entity likely had plan after backup plan in case anything went wrong. She had to neutralize it, but she didn’t want to kill it. Though it wasn’t human, and meant her harm, that by itself was enough to sign its death warrant. She couldn’t leave it alone, she couldn’t get rid of it, and she couldn’t stop it. What else could she do?

“How can I make this work for you?” Andromeda asked.

“Make what work?”

“You know, just as well as I do, that I can’t leave you here.” Andromeda said.

“Indeed, at any moment I could bury myself into your mind and begin the feast.”

“And I can’t let you go.”

“Because I intend to devour the souls of your kind.”

“And I won’t kill you.” Andromeda said.

“Because you believe that you are any different than the rest of your kind.”

Andromeda stared darkly at the entity.

“You understand what the situation is, so what do I have to do to make this work? You don’t want to be here, and I don’t want you here. But neither of us want to leave empty handed.” Andromeda said.

“My only desire is to continue on my way, and to feed my hunger. Unless you offer yourself to me, there is no moving past.”

Andromeda thought about this, in a way it was like an oath. Both parties wanted something, but neither wanted to give anything. But because this thing was fallible she had a chance to come out on top.

“Would you care for a wager?” Andromeda asked.

“A wager?”

“Yes, we make a wager on a game of chance. Perfectly even odds.” Andromeda said.

“You wish to risk your life on chance?”

“How I figure, I can’t trust you regardless of what I do otherwise. But if I do this I have a chance of making you do what I want. I’m taking my only chance here.” Andromeda said. The entity made several gasping clicks that sounded like a fish sputtering in the open air. Then on the surface of its flat face, something like glowing black teeth erupted from its mouth and formed into a smile.

“You are very interesting mage, I will take you up on your offer.”

“Before I suggest it, I want to know one more thing. Do you have a physical form, or are you just a creature that lives in the mind?” Andromeda asked.

“Such concepts as “here” and “there” matter little to me, as I am, and always will be. I reside in the space of collective unconscious, treading the trails of community as you do roads of dirt and stone.”

“So you don’t have a physical body?” Andromeda said.

“This is a suggestion I would not casually deny.”

“Good, then here is the deal.” Andromeda said. She reached into her pocket and made a play like she was grabbing for something, she imagined a coin in her palm and grabbed it. She pulled it out and showed it to the entity, flipping it several times to show it off.

“This is a coin. It has only two sides. I will flip it and we must decide on which side it lands. Heads or tails. If you guess correctly then you can have whatever I can give you. But if you guess wrong then you will do as I say. Does that sound fair?” Andromeda asked. She showed both sides of the coin while she spoke.

“This… Coin… Yes, I see. Your simple human mind will be unable to determine its rotation in the air. So you use it as a means of luck. I accept.”

“Do you want to call your guess before or after I flip it?” Andromeda asked.

“Once the luck of the matter has been decided, I will make my judgment.”

Andromeda put the coin on her finger with her thumb prepped to flip it into the air. She looked at the black, shadowy entity in front of her in what would have been its eyes had it had them.

“Last chance, no backing out once we’re done.” Andromeda said.

“It is not in my nature to second guess my decisions.”

“Good luck then.” Andromeda said.

She flipped the coin high into the air above them. It spun over and over with a ring that resonated in the air around them. They both watched intently as the flat piece of metal reached the peak of its arc and stalled midair, then it started to drop.

It fell to the white void floor below them and bounced several times, just as it bounced for the final time and started spinning on the ground Andromeda put her boot down on top of it, shielding it from both of their observations.

“Make your call. Heads or Tails?” Andromeda said.

“The coin spun a total of 873 times before it reached the ground, upon which it bounced twice, and was finally stopped with the original side presented as “Heads” laid upward. So my guess is “Heads”.”

“Is that your final guess?” Andromeda said.

“As I said, It is not in my nature to second guess my decisions.”

Andromeda moved her boot to reveal the coin to both of them. The face of the coin facing upward was polished and smooth. She picked it up and held it on her outstretched palm. The entity’s gnarled mouth of twisted black teeth turned into an even more demented smile as it looked down on her.

“It seems your gambit has failed you, do not fault yourself my prey. It was not in your nature to prevail over me.”

It tried to reach forward and grab her, but it found itself unable to move.

“What? What have you done?” It said. It emitted bloodchilling gurgles of pure rage. Andromeda picked up the coin with her other hand and turned it over on her palm. The other side was just as polished and smooth. Both sides appeared exactly the same. Then it disappeared in her hand.

“You guessed heads, but I never said which side was which. You assumed that the side I showed you matched the name I gave it. In my world a coin has a “Head” side because there is literally a head on that side. With “Tails” being the opposite side to heads, there is no heads, so there isn’t a tails either. You lose.” Andromeda said. The entity roared and writhed in place, the twisting maze of white void made manifest reacted instantly and crushed it back down to size. It tried to resist its bindings for several minutes until it finally gave up and went limp. It fell to its knees in front of her, defeated.

“I cannot resist your will. Though you have deceived me, I will never bend my knee to you of my own will. I will wait for the day I can take my revenge on you for your deception. Now speak your desire before I grow tired of waiting.”

It was good that the thing honored their deal. There was nothing strictly stopping it from lying. The only thing she had to work from was a guess.

Whenever it gave her an answer to her question it never lied, It only waxed poetic to confuse the answer. Saying something was true or false when the opposite was case would be a violation of its “nature”. It does nothing but follow its nature, and it abhors anything that does otherwise. So it can’t lie.

When it said that it agreed to her challenge moments before, it locked itself into the agreement. To say it was willing to go along with the plan and then renege would be a lie of another kind.

It guessed that the coin landed on heads, but it didn’t matter which side it landed on because neither side was heads or tails.

“Your first requirement is to attach yourself to me. If my life were to end then you will cease to exist. No matter the place or distance.” Andromeda said. The entity screamed in disapproval, but nonetheless did what it was told. Its form shifted and morphed. A shape that was vaguely familiar started to manifest, its arms and legs took on more definition, its head formed a vague approximation of a face, eyes developed where they hadn’t been before.

Black shadows erupted from its head and separated into countless strands of pitch black hair. The body took on a shade of gray, then it grew lighter, and lighter still. The color rested at a shade of a dark tan. Its body sprouted hands and feet, as well as ears, a nose, and a normal mouth. Then all the features together started to form a more coherent shape, one that Andromeda recognized all too well.

Its appearance finally stopped its change and the entity now sat in front of her in a familiar form. Andromeda’s form. It had turned into a copy of her, identical in every way besides its darker tanned skin, black hair, and black pupils.

“I’ve done as you wish. We are now connected in soul. I will never be able to escape your mind again.” It, now she, said. Her voice was like Andromeda’s as well, but its manner of speaking was the same, so it spoke with a dark, haughty tone. Like an Aristocrat.

“You know, you’d think I’d have gotten used to this with White. But seeing my own face in front of me never gets easier.” Andromeda said.

“Quit your pointless banter, do you have anything else you would force me to do? Or is my eternal confinement in your mind enough?” The black-eyed mirror of Andromeda said.

“I have a question, do you still feel the hunger you were talking about earlier?” Andromeda asked.

“Of course I do, I will suffer endless pain and hellish suffering because of you. I spit on… your…” The entity said. She put her hands to her new stomach and looked down, then she looked back up at Andromeda in shock.

“My- My hunger. It’s gone!” She said.

“You are a part of my mind now, which means that I can change and control you just as much as anything else here. I chose to make you not feel that hunger.” Andromeda said.

The Entity looked down at herself, luckily in the process of taking on Andromeda’s shape, she copied her clothes as well. Andromeda wasn’t wearing her full mage outfit when she went to sleep so she appeared here in only the lowest layer.

It barely remembered anything from before the hunger. It felt like a massive weight was lifted from its formerly figurative, now literal, shoulders. “Why? Why would you do this? I am already under your control. You gain nothing from easing my hunger. It makes no sense.” The entity said.

“You’re right, I already trapped you in this place for the rest of our lives. You already said that was torture enough. There is no point in letting you suffer from a hunger you can never fill if I can help it.” Andromeda said.

The entity couldn’t believe what it was hearing, even considering the idea that her enemy would turn around and cure her of her one and only weakness. It boggled her mind, but there was a feeling that rose in her chest. A deep and painful feeling that felt like nothing she had felt in her entire life. She felt something on her cheek and pressed her hand against it. Water was trailing from her eyes.

Andromeda bent down and wrapped her arms around the entity. Then the feeling came rushing through like a waterfall. The tears wouldn’t stop coming for what felt like eternity.

But strangest of all, it didn’t feel bad at all. In fact, it felt relieving.