I'd like to thank Nialltalic for the wonderful fan art above! It's a beautiful edit and I absolutely love it! Thank you so much for taking the time to make this. It's gorgeous! <33
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⏳ --
I blinked, and was blinded by a bright light.
Oh, well, great. Was this Heaven? Because Heaven could keep its pearly gates shut for the next century; I wasn't ready to go.
I propped myself up onto my elbows and looked around. There was nothing but white; that was all there was. White walls, white flooring, white ceiling. White. White. White.
I pressed a finger to my hairline, and found no blood there. I stood with ease. What I'd broken was no longer. Even my knuckles—where the skin had torn—were clean and unscathed.
My eyes flicked about the place. Where the hell was this? I couldn't be dead. The fall wasn't bad enough to induce it. But that whack to the head? Perhaps. I squinted. But if this was Heaven, then it was in dire need of redecorating.
And then it hit me. Realisation did. I recognised this place. But it was impossible. I couldn't be here. I didn't go into the Time Trance. So, how was I?
"The seeds of evil have been sowed."
The voice, the words, echoed around the whiteness. The somberness of it struck me like a crushing punch. The future words I thought had ceased to follow me since the civil war had come to pass reverberated off the white walls.
"United we stand. Divided we fall."
Footsteps joined the words, and I whipped around in circles, trying to find the source. It wasn't Eon. It wasn't Dark Andi. Recognition set in, and I felt my heart sink.
"When time collides, we stand as one or we fall splintered."
I turned and faced him. He watched me, and I gazed back.
Eilian.
"Am I dead?" I asked, my voice almost inaudible.
"No," he replied flatly. "Not yet."
My brow furrowed. "Not yet? W-What does that mean?"
Eilian circled me, gazing at me woodenly. How was he here? He was gone. I'd let him go since the last time I was in this white prison. I...I didn't understand.
"How are you here?" I asked. "You're dead."
"Your payment with Strange is up," he replied in a deadpan tone.
I raised my chin as my breath slipped out from under me. I schooled my expression into neutrality, though it was completely opposite of what I was feeling. "What do you want? Why are you here?"
Eilian halted his prowling to turn to me face on. His look was devoid of the roguish charm I'd known so well, loved so much. He played the neutral game as well as I did, not letting anything slip. Not letting what he was thinking slid into his expression.
"It's coming," was all he said.
I squinted. "What's coming?"
"The end." His expression fractured from neutrality to grimness. Sympathetic. "Time's colliding, Andi. The spell you and Strange did to bring me back, even for that short period, is destabilising time. The Reaper's come to collect payment."
I swallowed, and felt a chilling shiver rattle my spine. It was too soon. How could it be so soon? The gravity of the spell demanded payment, I'd know that from the beginning. Dark magic had always worked like that. The form of it was clear. How it would be carried out? That was a mystery to me. Perhaps that was what Eilian was here for, and that worried me.
"A decision is coming, Andi," Eilian prophesied. "A time will come to pass where you will have to choose. The Reaper will take either way."
"What decision?" I questioned, trying to pry out as many answers before our time ran out. "What are you talking about?"
"The world needs heroes. It always has. The world needs heroes that aren't always the ones that win. Heroes that will lose sometimes. Heroes that keep fighting. That keep coming back. That don't give up. The world needs a hero who will sacrifice everything for them."
"W-What are you saying? I don't understand."
"You will." A kind, gentle smile, one so rarely seen on such a man, graced his old face. "You'll understand someday."
Everything inside me splintered at the words that framed my existence. Words that I'd learned from him. Tears so familiar, painful rivers I'd felt too much with him, welled.
"Am I ever going to see you again?" I whispered, reaching out to touch him.
The gentle smile grew wider, even as he stepped away. "You'll see me again, Andromeda. I'm waiting for you on the other side."
I inhaled a shaky breath as he vanished, and everything blasted white.
❈Author's Note: Hey, there! If you liked this chapter, please consider giving it a quick vote! Thanks for reading!