32 The Council of A's

The air was filled with tension within the void of Ai's domain as she stared uncomfortably at the girl that now resided within her personal domain. Three girls sat on a coiling mana stream across from each other. The first, in her blue dress, dark mane of silver strands and silver and purple eyes, Ai sat clenching her ethereal hands. The second, donning a set of beast-skin robes, with similar hair, but with noticeably more silver and her purple eyes, Aiya sat, scratching her cheek as she looked away nervously. And the third, the cause of Ai's tension, sitting with her legs crossed in a frayed grey dress, silver hair, and silver eyes was Andromeda.

Ai closed her eyes, rubbing her forehead, wondering how they all came to be in her domain. She looked up at Aiya, who seemed to have an equally hard time thinking of anything to say, then to Andromeda, who smiled warmly, patiently waiting for the inevitable barrage of questions, but Ai didn't know where to start. Why was she here? Was she trying to take over her body? No. The insanity seemed to have left her eyes, those nightmare-inducing red eyes.

Andromeda coughed awkwardly and decided to break the silence. "I am sure you have many questions, first and foremost, no, I will not try to kill you, needless to say, I wasn't quite... myself."

Ai clenched her ghostly fists and glared at Andromeda. "Whatever the fuck you have to say, say it. But I won't forgive you." She snapped through gritted teeth.

Andromeda nodded her head, maintaining a smile that made Ai feel sick to the stomach. "I have much to explain, but please, let us at least try to get along."

"Get along? Bitch, please! You nearly killed my sister and-" Ai yelled at Andromeda but was cut off by Aiya. "-My sister." "Our sister." Andromeda corrected, causing the two to glare daggers at her.

"She ain't your sister, harlot!" Aiya snapped in a very back-woods accent, throwing Ai off guard.

Andromeda took a deep breath and sighed. "We are all one and the same-" "I won't accept that." Ai interrupted.

Andromeda hopped off of the mana stream and bowed her head. "Please. No interruptions, let me explain myself, this entire situation is far more complicated than you both think."

The void grew silent once again as Aiya looked away again and Ai stared at Andromeda with hatred.

"It started with what most people call the Blood Plague. For those of us that utilize the recollection system, its effects are quite different, as Aiya can verify. To us, it is known as the Memory Virus, and besides adding a few staged to the plague, it ultimately takes our worst qualities and amplifies them a thousand times over, overriding most other memories and thoughts."

"I suppose I should start by explaining the stages of the Memory Virus, the first three stages are widely known. In the first stage, the blood of the victim is infected, the reality is that the virus starts to spread throughout the body through the blood, but it also starts to infect the system as well, if it just infects a normal person, it won't affect their system past this point."

"The second stage is when the virus begins to absorb essential nutrients and mana in the body, weakening it to the point where the third stage can begin, for those with the recollection system, it starts to run deeper and begins to drain memories as well. When memories start to get absorbed, it absorbs less of the body's nutrients, and this becomes important for the third stage onward."

"In the third stage, this is where the host body begins to shut down as not enough nutrients and mana circulate throughout the body, the plague begins to become visible at this point, turning the blood and veins black. Aiya was at this stage when we fought, which is why I decided to kill her, and yes, I will explain that shortly. For us, this isn't an immediate death sentence like it is for normal people, as, thanks to the virus going after memories instead of nutrients, the body is able to survive through this stage."

"Moving on to the stages that affect us, the fourth stage is where the true purpose of the virus begins to take place. The virus almost completely switched to absorbing memories, causing rapid memory loss and even basic functions like eating and sleeping. It's at this point where the eyes become red and the body stops most functions."

"From there, the fifth stage of the virus takes complete control of the husk left behind, taking the memories it had absorbed, creating a twisted version of the original. After some time passes, the final sixth stage happens, splitting the body into two, completely severing the infected persona from the rest. The infected host will then use any means to disable or infect the purified second body."

"In your case, Aiya, I infected you immediately, leaving you passed out. When my mind struggled with itself over what to do since I had succeeded in infecting you, I managed to convince myself to find you, just to make sure you were infected, it was then when I tricked myself into killing you before it was too late, giving Ai the chance to kill me."

Ai and Aiya stared at Andromeda in shock. 'The Blood Plague?' Ai thought to herself. "But, why? Why did you need Aiya to die and for me to fight you?"

Andromeda smiled warmly. "Ah, I probably should have mentioned this, but only the purified version can kill the infected person, once Aiya was infected, it was too late, as the cycle only would have repeated itself. I tricked myself into killing Aiya so that Ai, who would take over the corpse and purify the virus, would have a chance to kill me."

Ai nodded as the pieces started to click together, Aiya dying at the hands of Andromeda, Ai waking up in that same place. But that raised another question. How long have they been around? She initially thought she had reincarnated at that point in time at the prestige altar because that is where They had died.

Ai looked up at Andromeda. "So who am I? Where do I fit into all of this?"

Andromeda remained silent for a moment before responding. "You are me, and I am you. All three of us are fragments of a single individual. We are Andromeda, the -------- of ---'----- and --------."

Ai clutched her head as it began to throb. But Andromeda simply smiled. "I can tell you aren't ready for the answers yet."

'Get out of my head.'

'You already know the truth.'

'We all do.'

Ai looked up at Andromeda as tears of blood trailed down her cheeks. She gritted her teeth as she glared at her in anger. No. Rage. "Take your bullshit and get out of my head!" She yelled out.

Andromeda frowned, looking down at her hands. "It breaks my heart to hear you say that. After all, out of all the insanity that I endured, one thing was true." She looked up at Ai, a single tear running down her cheek.

"I love you."