What She Took From Us

--Lia's Perspective--

"Are they... in a sphere? What is that?" I asked, walking over to the ball and tapping on it.

Just recently, we had won a war against Orion in a desperate attempt to escape from his evil grasp on the Isle, but as soon as we got to our destination... we had another problem. Sure, she healed some of our wounds... but she never fixed the rest of them. I was still injured, along with several other people. And Illya, she was just sitting down with her head tilted next to Sky.

They were in a sphere-looking object which was filled and outlined with strands. It was a pretty big sphere, to the point where I could also stand in it.

"Now what? What do we do? Wait for them? How long is this going to take?" Carl asked everybody. It was weird to see him standing, along with Mandi after being injured so badly.

"I don't know... he was taken away so fast. We won't leave him here, will we?" I asked.

More conversations went on, but all were interrupted by Dani's high-pitch, agonizing scream. It sounded like she was being ripped apart from the inside. I ran over to her so I could see what was wrong.

"Dani?! What's wrong?!" I shouted out. At this point, Dani was convulsing with foam coming out of her mouth. Her eyes were rolled into the back of her head and followed by more, muffled screaming, it was looking bad.

"What the hell did Illya do to her?" I mumbled.

After about five seconds, however, she stopped. It was dead silent as we all dreaded finding out if she was dead. I assessed the damage... but she was fine. Dani was breathing normally and her heartbeat was fine.

More time passed and she sat upwards like nothing happened, wiping foam from her mouth.

"Where... is she..." Dani mumbled. She sat up with her regenerated limbs and odd stance, looking up toward the sky. She had a huge scar on her face from when Moonlight cut into it.

"Dani... what happened? Are you okay?" I asked her, but she was unresponsive. She just looked up at the sky. Afterward, she turned to see Illya and Sky in the sphere, walking over to it and watching from the outside.

"Why is Sky in that thing with that girl?" Dani asked me.

"Dani... that's Illya Asterio. Her family commit genocide back on Earth in the past... and she used to be married to Sky." I told her. Dani's eye twitched while looking back at me. I couldn't tell what it was about her... but she was scary right now.

"Like hell she was. How do I get in there?" Dani said, pushing her hand up against the sphere.

"You can't... Illya told us she was going to train Sky to be a Deity, and that his memory would be wiped when he went with her." Dani pounded on the dome with a fierce punch as I explained what happened to her.

From behind us, a loud, crashing noise emitted from the glass as yet another person landed on our Isle. Carl took up his weaponry and everybody else did as well, only to see a defenseless girl with white hair and orange eyes walk up to us. She looked almost exactly like Illya.

"Deity?! Where are you? Did the White Stone put up a fight?!" The girl asked around, looking for Illya.

"No... Deity got our White Stone. Who the hell are you?" I asked the girl. She seemed puzzled.

"That's not right... why am I still getting readings of a White Stone here?" She asked. She turned around and looked at everybody, stopping at Dani.

"You... the readings are high." The new girl held the left side of her head and stared at Dani, getting closer to her face. Dani put her hand on the top of her chest and pushed the girl back.

"Get the hell away from me," Dani told her.

"You have strands in your body... and not just any strands, where did those come from? How did you get those?" The girl asked Dani.

"No idea. Anyways, are you going to tell me how to get my boyfriend out of that goddamn dome with that bitch that looks like you?" I was almost creeped out by the vulgarity Dani now had...

"Don't you call my Master a bitch!" The girl stepped up to Dani and she scoffed.

"Then get my boyfriend out of there," Dani demanded.

"What the hell is going on right now? Why don't you explain to us why you're here and how to get our friend out." I told the new girl.

"Your friend, Sky Asterio, has been a subject Master and I have been watching for a while now. We know about all of you, and she's using The First Trial to breed him into a Deity. There's no getting him out until he's attained Deity status. I just wish she would've taken me with her..." The girl said.

"You're here because you thought another White Stone would be here... but Dani was the one you talked to. Why? Why did you think she had a White Stone?" I asked the girl.

"Because she has Golden Strands in her body." The girl said. We all looked confused. Strands? Those things Sky had?

"What's the difference between normal and Golden?" I asked the girl.

"One of them is a trait of somebody who has already turned into a Deity. Another is one who is a vessel, ready to turn into one." The girl said.

"Pause. So, Dani is a Deity? Then why couldn't Sky just turn into one the same way?" Carl asked.

"Memories were wiped... why did she wipe his memories as well?" Dani asked the girl.

"To breed him into the Deity of Wrath. Somebody with things to protect can't be a Deity of Wrath, can they? He's not supposed to have friends, he's only supposed to have Master. And when he's done, I presume they'll go to fight her brother." The girl said.

"Brother? There's two of them?" Dani scoffed.

"Don't think we're so lucky. There are three." The girl explained.

"Will you help us get our friend back?" Carl asked her. The girl thought about it for a moment.

"I've pledged my allegiance to Master, unfortunately. But, can you explain something to me? Why did she leave me behind? I wanted to come with her and serve her in The First Trial as well..." The girl muttered. I didn't know what to say... but Dani did.

"Because she thinks you're worthless. You're not worth anything, nothing positive anyway. She thinks your life doesn't matter, you're not worth the trouble. That's why you were left behind. None of our lives do. Didn't you hear Zeal? Especially if you know everything about us? We don't matter, we were born to die. Are you okay with that?" Dani asked the girl. She shook her head.

"It makes sense... but why wouldn't Master tell me that? I'm not built with emotions, I could handle a fact like that." The girl stated.

"Why weren't you told? Because she was probably afraid telling you that would cause you to listen to the person telling you the truth. It doesn't matter if you were born with no emotions. You're still an Arkian, aren't you? Doesn't it piss you off that your Master is sitting alone behind that dome without you? We have a common goal, you know." Dani was starting to sound... persuasive. Like she wanted the girl under her control.

"Quit it. Listen, we want your help releasing Sky. You lose nothing and gain your Master. Will you help us?" I asked her. She thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Fine. I'll help you. So long as Master and I can be together again." The girl said.