Andromeda woke in a pool of cold sweat, it was late in the night and she was sleeping in the restored guard’s cabin.

Earlier that night, she and Eli had a conversation about what to do if she couldn’t get a hold on the entity. She told Eli to sleep a fair distance away in case things went wrong. He was worried about what might happen if he left her alone but did as he was told anyway.

After stepping outside and smelling the scent of rain, she called out for Eli. He didn’t respond, which meant he was either too far away, too deep in sleep, or something was stopping from responding.

“ELI!” Andromeda screamed, only afterward remembering the code name thing they had going. Her scream was loud enough to shake the birds from the trees around her and make several animals scatter in the brush. She heard movement in the bushes across the way from the cabin, as well as muffled voices.

“Eli?” Andromeda said, she walked closer but then the bush shook violently and there was a loud grunt. Eli jumped out looking worse for wear.

“RUN!” He screamed, then two men jumped out of the bush after him and grabbed him by the arms. Before she could react, she was grabbed from behind as well. Something was placed on both of her wrists that made her suddenly feel faint.

“Well lass, I have to say that I’ve achieved a certain level of respect for you. You kicked dust faster than anyone I’ve chased in years.” A familiar voice.

The large, bearish man that they fought before stepped out of the bushes. Then a few dozen people in all directions walked out after him. All of them were armed and several with arrows and crossbows trained on them, one was even standing a fair distance away with flames flickering on their fingers. They had a mage as well.

“I normally don’t call the whole group out for two people, but seeing as how you so thoroughly cleaned our clocks the first time I thought it was justified this time.” The man said. She could see on his face that there was a new scar and a massive bruise on his cheek.

“You chased us halfway across the country? Don’t you have kids? Are you making them hike along the road too?” Andromeda asked.

“Oh, you actually believed that? No, that's just something I tell people to get them to surrender. Nobody wants to make an orphan out of a kid, even if their dad’s a criminal.” The man said.

Andromeda weighed her options. She was surrounded and outnumbered 50 to 1, even if she tried something they would shoot her down. They had Eli too so she couldn’t even try to make a run for it.

“Fine. I’m not stupid.” Andromeda asked. It was pointless to try anything right now, at best she might put up a last stand and get both her and Eli killed, at worst she might give them a bigger grudge than they already have.

“Smart, knock’em out and haul them back to camp.” The man said, then it all went dark.

-----

Andromeda woke back up, feeling a lot lighter than she was before. She looked down to see they stripped her of everything excluding her lowest layers, they even took one of her rings, the tracking one Rhys had given her, not the mana void. Strange that they didn’t take the other, though she wasn’t complaining either.

It was early morning now, the sun wasn’t up yet but the sky was that faint shade of blue and yellow that you could only see in the early hours of the morning.

She was tied to a tree, in the distance she could see that there was a large bonfire and a large group of people partying. Even with them being as far as they were she could hear that they were cheering about money. They must have found her money bag and found out how much she had. Far to her right she could see that Eli was slumped over and tied to another tree. He didn’t look hurt, but she couldn’t be sure from this distance. What actually upset her was that she could plainly see that the mage from earlier was sitting near the bonfire showing off her robes as if they were her own.

Her hands were tied up behind the tree, and she could feel that whatever was on her wrists were still there. She tried to use Expliza Mending to break her binds but it didn’t work, she went through the whole process in her mind but nothing came out when she tried. Something was blocking her use of magic.

Andromeda! You’re awake!

White’s voice was wrong out in her head, they must not have been able to contact her while she was unconscious.

“Yeah, I am, what’s up?” She whispered to herself.

What’s up? WHAT’S UP? YOU'RE NOT APPARENTLY OR YOU”D BE TAKING THIS MORE SERIOUSLY.

White was angry with her right now, perhaps justifiably.

Before she woke up, she had convinced the shadow creature that invaded her mind to work with her. Which led to a couple different things happening. The first of which was that White came running not long after they made the deal and found not a shadow creature, but yet another clone of Andromeda being cradled by Andromeda herself, the dark haired and tanned clone was crying hysterically into Andromeda’s shoulder while she herself just looked up at White guiltily.

Things only got worse when White realized that whatever was keeping the entity at bay before wasn’t working anymore, which coincided with the entity herself noticing White was there and breaking down even harder. She sobbed into the ground with such force that both White and Andromeda started to feel bac, she was blubbering about attacking Andromeda and the trouble she caused her.

Believe it or not, it got worse when Andromeda started explaining everything that happened. Starting backwards by explaining that she had linked her soul with the shadow entity, which had the dual effect of making her take on an altered version of Andromeda’s appearance and making the entity dependent on her to live. While technically solving the issue at hand, it did mean that she had to stay in their shared mind forever. Technically becoming the third owner of the shared space.

White did NOT take that well at all. She threatened and attempted to throw the new member of the group out, and failed. The entity then crawled over to White’s feet and started groveling, begging for forgiveness, which displeased White even more.

It took a lot of convincing, but White eventually relented after a lot more screaming and heard the rest of the story. Every detail she heard about the entity made her more upset, but once she reached the peak of anger it wasn’t like she had anywhere else to go. So she just sat in silent rage waiting for Andromeda to finish.

By the time she finished explaining everything, the entity had managed to get the crying out of her system and listened intently while Andromeda spoke and added details where she could. Andromeda’s explanation came to a close with her finishing out her rough breakdown of what the entity was and what she thought White was.

White took exception to being called an Aberration, but she didn’t have the mental fortitude to become even angrier. So defeated, she gave up and begrudgingly accepted her new roommate. Only on the condition that she never harm Andromeda again. Something she wholeheartedly agreed on.

That led them to the problem of the new roommate in question not having a name. By her own admission she didn’t have a name and didn’t need one until now. The only time she was ever interested with people or others of her kind was when she was eating their souls. A fact that White pushed to the back of her mind to stay focused.

Andromeda threw the idea of calling her “Black”, to match White, but White herself was heavily against the idea and vetoed it, grounds being that she didn’t want to invite the comparison. White herself didn’t want anything to do with it, and the entity didn’t know what would make a good name. So the responsibility fell to Andromeda.

Shadow was another one idea, but something about it seemed to upset the entity, but when she was asked why all she could do was shake her head and whimper, so that one was out as well. White also took issue with the name because it wasn’t really accurate anymore, as she was just a version of Andromeda. That, and because it brought up repressed memories of Andromeda’s early teen years.

After some thinking, Andromeda remembered how Eli described the voice in his head. He said it was like a whisper that invaded his thoughts. So suggested the name “Whisper”.

When the name was presented White didn’t reject it, and the entity took to it well compared to the other ideas, so it was settled. Whisper was then christened as such and they gave her a quick tour of the shared space. There wasn’t a whole lot to show because it was one giant white void with a few chairs, bookshelves, trees, and a river.

With the immediate problem solved they all agreed it would be smart to have Andromeda wake back up and let Eli know the good news. That led to her getting captured, and getting her into her current situation.

So it was understandable that White was not pleased with Andromeda.

The A- I mean, White has been yelling for a while now trying to get you to answer her.

She heard White’s voice again, but judging from how it spoke in the third person she guessed it was Whisper talking.

“You two sound the exact same, can you do something about that?” Andromeda asked.

There was a wave of different feelings that radiated throughout her body. She interpreted it as an argument between them.

Alright, fine, I’m going to stay like this.

>And I’ll go with this.<

The first voice, which she assumed was White, sounded the same but came with a feeling that reminded her of the color white. Which was fitting. The second voice was then Whisper, and it was a bit deeper than White’s and came with a feeling like the color black, which was also fitting.

“Anyway, what were you trying to talk to me about?” Andromeda said.

I was TRYING to get you to wake up. Seriously though, why are you not panicking more?

“Not a whole lot of good panicking right now. It’s not like I can do anything right now.” Andromeda said.

Well, I mean… Yeah, I guess that makes sense. But you could at least be a little more upset.

“Unless we make up a plan, freaking out isn’t going to help. Remember what acting before thinking got us into the first time?” Andromeda said. A wave of annoyance radiated through her, but White didn’t object.

>Uhh, hey, I don’t want to interrupt you two. But I might have an idea.<

What could you possibly do to help right now?

“Come on, let her speak. Might as well hear her out.” Andromeda said.

Fine.

>Right, so, I’m linked with you two down in the soul, but I don’t think I’m trapped in here like I thought anymore. I might be able to travel around the camp.<

…

“...”

“Really?” Andromeda asked. She could feel an oncoming burst of anger from White, but elected to ignore it.

>I think so, but I can’t do it without one of them getting closer. Now that I’m locked in with you my ability to travel around isn’t as strong. Before I could jump miles at a time.<

“So I just need to get one of them to come over here?” Andromeda said?

Andromeda…

“Do you have any better ideas White?” Andromeda asked.

…

“That’s what I thought, now before I try getting their attention. How do you think this is going to work?” Andromeda asked.

>Once they’re close enough, I should be able to jump into their mind. Normally that’s when I would start trying to eat their soul, but… Well, that’s not the goal right now. I can speak to them in their mind and try to convince them to do things. I could also probably read their minds if they are distracted. However, because our mind is the only thing keeping my hunger at bay, the longer I stay gone the more it will come back. I can’t promise how I’ll act if I’m gone too long.<

“Alright, we’ll try it, but you need to be as quick as you can.” Andromeda said. Getting a read on their thoughts could be just as useful as influencing, and seeing as there wasn’t a better option she elected to take a chance on it. She just had to be careful.

>Got it, I won’t disappoint.<

Andromeda took a few deep breaths to psyche herself up, then let out a scream.

“HEY! UNTIE ME YOU THICK-SKULLED BANDIT SHITS!!” Andromeda screamed, her sudden scream was enough to catch everyone off guard. But then they all started laughing, leading to the big man walking toward her. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Eli turn his toward her with a broken look. Her heart dropped to see that his eye was bruised and bloody. He must have fought back while they were being brought back to camp.

“Well, well, well, look who’s awake. I’m surprised you’re up. I had one of our boys mix up some knockout drops, you must be made of some strong stuff.” The man said.

>Here I go!<

Andromeda felt a strange feeling right after that. The only way she could describe it was something leaving her, but what it was didn’t surprise her. The man looked at her with a confused look, he scratched his head and blinked several times. It seemed like something was distracting him.

>I’m in, he didn’t put up a fight at all. I can tell you pretty much anything you want about him, but it will take some more time to convince him of anything.<

“What’s his name?” Andromeda thought. Whisper took a few moments, then got back to her. The man shook his head and turned away from her.

“I’ll get back to you later, I don’t feel so good right now…” He said.

>His name is Fatter, but his buddies don’t know that. They call him Stund.<

Perfect timing.

“Hey!” Andromeda said.

Fatter turned around and looked at her with a glare.

“What?” He said.

“I can see why you use a nickname.” Andromeda said. His dumbfounded stare told her everything she needed to know.

“How did you know about that?” He said, suddenly angry.

“I heard one or your friends over there call you “Fatter” when they were tying me up. But the other one said your name was Stund. I think the first one was the one who took my robes.” Andromeda lied. Fatter’s eyes burned in their sockets and he stomped off in the other direction.

>Perfect, you got him distracted. I can root myself a bit deeper.<

“I can still hear you from that far away?” Andromeda asked.

>Yeah, I’m still connected to you so we should be able to talk from any distance.<

Fatter walked up to the mage who took Andromeda’s robes and laid her out with a slap across the face. Everybody gasped and asked what the hell he was doing, but he shut them all up when he revealed what she supposedly did.

Andromeda felt a strange feeling in the back of her mind, but then she recognized it was similar to the one when Whisper left.

>I’m in the mage’s mind now, the slap just now was enough distraction to let me get inside. Watch this.<

The mage woman stood back up after getting sent to the ground and rubbed her cheek. Fatter seemed confused at first, and that confusion bought the mage enough time to not let him react to the mage lifting up a nearby stone from the ground and chucking it off Fatter’s head.

Fatter gripped his head in pain as the blood started pouring from between his fingers. Another strange feeling in the back of Andromeda’s head later and the mage was suddenly struck with sudden surprise from what she did. Another man walked up behind her and slapped a pair of glowing metal handcuffs on her.

She swore up and down that she didn’t mean to do that, but nobody listened to her excuses while their boss was bleeding from the head in the middle of camp. The sudden upset ruined the moon so everyone broke off and headed to their own corners.

>I’m back.<

Andromeda was in shock, White was in shock, Eli in the distance was also in shock , though that mostly because he just saw that happen without context

“That was… wow… Did you do all that?” Andromeda asked.

>I can’t take all the credit, it seems like they all hate each other’s guts. All I did was push a little bit.<

That’s all well and good, but what now?

White brought up a good point, even though she got the mage locked down and Fatter bleeding, it didn’t do a whole lot of good in getting Andromeda free.

>It’s really hard to get a lock on someone if they're really active and alert. I can only get my hooks into them if they're distracted like that. But if they’re not doing much it's a lot easier to influence them.<

“That makes sense, Eli said it was harder to resist your influence when he wasn’t busy.” Andromeda said. There was an embarrassed wave of emotion followed by a short annoyed one.

>Yeah… So, anyway, I need you to get one of them close again so I can find someone who might help us.<

“Alright, but you have to make this one work because I’m not going to get away with this much anymore.” Andromeda said. She geared herself up and yelled again.

“HEY!” Andromeda screamed. Everyone was less pleased about hearing her yell this time and they sent someone else over to deal with her.

He was a young man, a few years older than herself. He wore a torn up and ragged shirt with a leather belt hanging over his shoulder. He bent down in front of her so he was at eye level.

“What is it you want, do you wanna die so soon?” He said, his tone of voice was even and cold. It was almost disturbing how casually he said it.

Whisper jumped over to him while he was close, just like fatter before him he looked faintly distracted, but unlike with Fatter he never broke eye contact.

“You should let me go.” Andromeda said.

“Really? Should I? What makes you say that?” He said, pulling a knife out of his boot and flipping it in his hand.

“You know, my buddy over there had a knife just like this one. We got a pair of them when we were kids living on the streets in Trevias. You probably don’t know this, but they don’t look kindly on kids that can’t do magic. They call us Muddies. I didn’t have a lot of money back then, neither did my buddy. I took my portion of our stealings and bought us a pair of good knives from a seller, had to starve for days until we found another mark. We’ve had these knives for damn near our entire life. Imagine how heartbroken he was when he came back to camp the other day when he had to tell me his knife was lost. Thrown into a bush by a mage that laid him out.” He said.

“Look, can you blame me? I was defending myself from someone trying to kill me.” Andromeda said. Trying to get him to see it plainly.

“Oh I get that, I’d have probably done the same thing in your shoes. But don’t get it twisted, you say I should let you go. I say that I want to carve a smile in your cheeks so you never forget. Just how my buddy will never forgive himself for losing it.”

This was going poorly.

>You need to give me something to work with, all I have right now is him wanting to kill you.<

Very helpful, thanks Whisper.

“What if I promise to replace it, would that be enough?” Andromeda suggested.

“Replace?” The man laughed, then something snapped inside him and he brought the knife to her throat. “No, it wouldn’t.”

Andromeda gulped in fear and could feel the knife press against her skin as it went down.

“Look, if you kill me right now your friends over there will skin you alive. I would be dead already if they didn’t have a plan for me. Plus your buddy might get hurt or killed trying to protect you.” Andromeda said. She could see it in his eye, the moment that idea sunk into his head he started second guessing his actions.

>Perfect!<

The man shook his head and glared at her.

“Keep talking, how can you get my buddy’s knife? It’s days back.” He said.

“I can’t get the exact knife back, but you said the knives are a pair. So they are identical, right?” She said, “They are, as close as two could be.” He said.

“Then we’d break your knife in half and I’d mend both sides separately. Then you’d get two copies of the one knife.” Andromeda said. He narrowed his eyes at her, he wasn’t taking the bait like she wanted.

“So your solution is to break the only good knife we have between the both of us?” He said. The knife pressed harder into her neck, if she breathed too deeply she was worried it might break the skin.

“Even if it doesn’t work, I can just mend the good knife back to perfect condition. It will probably be better than when you bought it.” Andromeda said.

>Keep going, he’s about ready to break.<

“Think about it, I’m a mage. Better than that thief with the sparky hands that just beamed your boss between the eyes. All you need to do is get these things off my wrist and walk away, I’ll do the rest. If you help me and my friend get out of here and get our stuff back, I’ll make it worth your while.” Andromeda said.

>We got him.<

Andromeda watched as his eyes started to glow in their sockets, the faint glow was like her own. He looked down and shook his head.

“Fine. Make this worth my time.” He said.