The Black Lake

-February 2nd, 2446-

--Sky's Perspective--

I woke up with a numbing headache, rubbing the temples to my head while sitting up. It took me a while to understand where I was. I remember this place... the water underneath me. It wasn't wet, it was thick like mud, but I didn't sink into it. Here, I had my right arm attached to my body after not having it for so long. I looked down at my body in surprise. I didn't have the White Stone in my left hand... if I remember correctly, this was The Black Lake.

The last time I was here... well, the last time I remember it was when I was sent here on the frozen bay.

I scanned around, looking for the girl from last time with bright-colored hair. This time, I could only see one with pure-white hair in the distance. She was looking away from me, off into the distance.

"It's you again. Why am I here again?" I yelled out to her. I got her body to turn around and she looked at me with a smile.

"I couldn't reach you because you never dove into your Corrupted State, so I waited until you had a nightmare and used that rage to forcefully come here. Do you remember me yet?" She asked. I shook my head. Her piercing red eyes were so... unsettling, even from this distance, it felt like she could see through me without any problems.

"How did you do that? Why do you have so much control over me? This is a dream, right?" The girl with red eyes shook her head.

"Not a dream. I can do this because you fell into Corruption. I guess you could say... I'm the Corrupted Queen. That sounds too corny though..." She paused, looking up to see the reflective ceiling of The Black Lake.

"Deity, that's what the Arkians call me. Deity, that's who I am." I tilted my head in confusion. A rush of memories of that name hit me. Zeal talked about it, didn't he?

"Then, you know Zeal?" I asked her. She nodded shamefully. I could relate to that.

"He knows me. I barely know what he's like, but he praises me with every fiber of his being. He wants to be my apprentice, but I just don't believe that he's ready for such a difficult task." She told me.

"I see. Then, can I be sent home now?" I asked her. She shook her head.

"I haven't discussed what I needed to yet, you know? Be patient. Well, I'll begin." The girl summoned a chair made of string... did she have strands too?

"You seem to be preparing for war, I take it? That's what your nightmare was about, death and destruction. You were angry because a certain somebody died, that's when I snuck into your mind to trap you here." She told me. I asked her how she did that, and she effortlessly replied.

"I told you. I have control over you. I am Deity." She told me. I wasn't satisfied with that answer... but whatever.

"You're afraid. Why? Are you not confident in the skills I gave you?" She asked me. I shot back in surprise.

"The skills you gave me?! Are you my System?!" I asked, but she shook her head without hesitation. She wasn't lying, I could tell.

"No. I am Deity. I created all who roam that Isle. Well, I personally created all White Stones... or refabricated them, you could say." She explained.

Deity spoke with a smooth tone, showing no fear in whatever she said and with all confidence. She was terrifying for that reason, anything I asked she answered without hesitation.

"Why do I remember things that I've never experienced? Why can I remember my last name up until I say it? Why do things slip from my mind? Why is Corruption what holds us back? What is going on?!" I asked her all at once. She paused for a moment, then began.

"I can't tell you all of the details yet, or else your brain would shut down in an attempt to perceive what I tell you. That would kick you out of this place and put you into a coma. We can't have that so close to your war. That's why you can't recall anything. About the Corruption... I don't remember explaining that that's a bad thing to undergo. You didn't Corrupt your system out of malicious thoughts, you did it to defend your family, right? The only people who think it's bad are those who do not understand the pain you've experienced." Deity explained.

"Then, you? Do you get it? You don't blame me?" I asked her, to which she shook her head.

"I think in the future if you beat Orion, you will come to realize how much I supported you. To the very ends of this Isle and the other two, maybe even this galaxy. I do not doubt you tried your hardest with everything and what you have done is in no way harmful to the existence of all other White Stones." She explained.

"Then why was I hunted like I killed the world? Why has the Isle died after I woke up here?" I asked her.

"You were hunted because of who you are. That's all I can say while actively keeping you out of a coma. The Isle died after you woke up because I killed it." She said. I paused dead in my tracks.

"You... killed the Isle...?" I asked, barely believing her at this point.

"I guess I don't mind telling you this... but it has to do with why you were being hunted by the other White Stones... actually, let's clarify something. The only White Stones behind the hunt for you were Elo and Zeal, the first and second White Stones." Deity explained.

"Zeal wasn't the first?" I asked, to which Deity shook her head.

"Zeal is ranked first because of his influence, but the mastermind behind everything was Elo... up until Zeal killed Elo, Talion, and Xian. Zeal took over after their failed attempts to kill you. I killed the Isle to prevent Zeal from transporting over and killing Orion and you. I quickly caught on to what he had planned after he complained to me that he would try to kill you. Maybe I had gotten too involved at that point." Deity said, putting her finger to her mouth and thinking.

"To send Zeal back to the Isle, I killed his wife and disemboweled her. I hung her up in the town square of his city so everybody could see the message I had to Earth now that Zeal had killed some of my creations. But, I digress, I'm no God, I'm just tampering with things that had once existed." She explained.

"You... killed his wife... and disemboweled her? Why were you that brutal?" I asked her. Deity looked to the sludge underneath us and giggled.

"You're a sheltered White Stone. I don't blame you for not understanding, but I could've done a lot worse with my power. That was nice of me to stop there, you know. That city on Earth rests in the palm of my hands." Deity said, violently closing her fist to mimic the city being destroyed.

"Zeal is a terrible man who I have no intentions of teaching to be my apprentice... but you, on the other hand... show promise. Your body is fit, healthy for producing Strands. You Corrupted your system with the foresight to protect your friends. You have the ideals of a true leader, unlike Zeal. That's why I'm here now. It's to study your brain and what you plan to do. So far, it's really promising up here. There's so much to learn and observe... I'm sorry, I can't answer any more questions, but you should wake up now, shouldn't you? I have a lot of work to do." Deity said. With the snap of her fingers, I fell out of my dream.

-

I shot out of bed immediately gripping my right arm in a cold sweat. I was panting like crazy, afraid for my life. I looked all around my room, shutting the curtain and putting the blanket over my head, staring off into the corner of my bed in total darkness.

I panted more, in that dream, I didn't care about her but waking up with my right arm after that encounter told me that wasn't a dream... there was somebody up in my head who gave this to me. What the hell is going on?

I didn't make sense of anything at the time, but Deity spoke to me?! Deity knows who Zeal killed?! She made me?! What the hell... WHAT THE HELL?! What is this...

I lifted my hands off of the bed to see them rapidly shake back and forth. I couldn't concentrate at all, my mind was somewhere else and I was trembling in fear. Remembering the look in her eyes petrified me every time I thought of it, yet, she was all I could think about.

Her knowledge... her looks... everything about her was terrifying.