Blast ! I had this ready on Wednesday...I swear, but I couldn't upload,
because of technical difficulties. I'm sorry for the delay. Anyways, here
is the next chapter. It's a little bit weird, but never mind. I hope you'll
like it nevertheless. Thanks for your extremely kind reviews, guys! 'Nuf
said :)
Chapter 15: The transformation
"No, actually you are not allowed to choose in this matter at all," Sauda announced with a firm voice.
"I expect you to be on my side. You owe me this much after all those years."
Arnaya hung her head. Her mother's words managed to appeal to a part in her that still felt love and respect for her and probably would never stop to do so, even though she had been lied to and sent on a suicide mission. But there was something else inside of her that had been nourished in the last weeks, or to be precisely awoken: her self-esteem. She slowly raised her head and came to look Sauda square in the eye. The other woman flinched. She didn't expect that kind of reaction. Usually everybody obeyed her orders.
"Yes, I owe you for the good times we've spent together, for your kindness and love. This much is true. But I won't stand idly by while you kill my friends. You let your hatred overpower you. If you think about it closely you will find out that nothing good can come of this. Never."
"This is not about good or bad. It is about justice. He has to be punished for what he did," Sauda hissed.
"Oh, is that so? What exactly did he do?"
"You told me you were lovers, you were happy and everything seemed to be perfect. Until one day he left saying that he had to follow his calling, that he could no longer ignore what his purpose in life was," she paused collecting her thoughts, "You became bitter and hatred poisoned your soul. And that is were you went wrong, mother."
"You are in no position to judge me, child. You have absolutely no idea how it feels to have your heart ripped out," the evil witch answered with barely suppressed anger in her voice.
"Well, mother I think you got that part covered pretty well. Don't you think so?" she paused and bit her lip. Arnaya hadn't wanted to say that. This was not about her pain, her anger, but about the situation at hand. She had to save Legolas.
When she continued she sounded much more composed, "Even though I'm still young I know one thing with absolute certainty. Love is something given freely. You can't force anybody to stay with you, much less love you. It is a gift and if you're lucky you get to keep it. To love means not being selfish, feeling for the other person and wishing them well constantly. I believe Gandalf when he says he once loved you. Did you want him to stay even if he was unhappy with the kind of life he let?"
"That's besides the point," the other woman said with narrowed eyes.
"No, that's exactly the point."
"Silence! You will obey me or your lover will die," Sauda's voice reverberated like thunder from the stone walls of the room. She returned her attention to Legolas and tightened her mental grip on him again. The elf struggled desperately, gaping for air, his hands trying to pry away the invisible claws that lay around his neck choking him mercilessly.
A piercing scream cut the air and Arnaya stormed at her mother with murder in her eyes. Sauda's face was an expression of perfect surprise. She hadn't seen that attack coming. But her initial shock wore of pretty quickly and she summoned her powers to defend herself. The elf was no longer of any importance; she couldn't waste any energy on him. She let him slump to the floor like a rag doll. Legolas coughed loudly and greedily sucked in the air with shuddering breaths.
Arnaya registered from there corner of her eye that he had been freed, but she knew all to well that this had just happened out of necessity. The young witch gritted her teeth together angrily.
She stopped mere inches away from Sauda, though her body literally vibrated with suppressed anger. Both women glared at each other menacingly. All those happy times they spent together had suddenly lost their importance; they faded into nothingness, because they couldn't withhold the violent emotions of the presence.
Like to wild beasts they waited for the other to show a sign of weakness: maybe a slight flinch or the tiniest tremor of a hand. There would undoubtedly be a fight. The only question left to answer was when it would start.
Suddenly the unexpected happened. Both Arnaya and Sauda had forgotten about the fact that they were not alone. A strong hand lay on the shoulder of each woman and they both whipped around in unison to see who dared to interfere in their quarrel. They met Gandalf angry glare and his voice was so loud they felt as if their heads would burst. They both covered their ears instinctively. The shrill screams that escaped their throats were drowned by the wizard's words that seemed to enter through every pore of their body . "Enough! Now this is going to be settled once and for all," he said.
Arnaya suddenly felt an incredible powerful current of energy rush into her. All her senses went into overload. The colors of her surrounding seemed violently bright; all the sounds that reached her ears were painfully loud. She staggered. Her body protested under the continuous onslaught of sensations. Her vision became blurry. She collapsed while her consciousness frenetically ordered her not to surrender. Was she dieing now? What happened to her?
She felt that she didn't have anymore strength left to struggle. The fight was lost. It was all over now, she thought with an eerie calmness before she fainted and slumped down on the cold stone floor.
~
She blinked lazily. Every bone in her body hurt. But that was a good sign, wasn't it? It meant that she was still alive. Arnaya clumsily got to her feet. Her legs protested initially, but her they finally had to obey the screaming voice of her will that mercilessly commanded them to work. She was standing, though on shaky legs, but nevertheless standing, in a black room. The floors, the walls, the ceiling everything was pitch black, but to her utter surprise she was not surrounded by darkness. There was only one source of light there, one object that emitted a soft glow and tinted her surroundings in gray twilight - a mirror. It was plain and simple; no ornaments adorned its wooden frame.
Arnaya cautiously stepped closer. The mirror seemed to call her. She could detect movements on its silvery surface. Like smoke, or mist something flickered in it; shades of grey, flitting over it like dancing fathoms. Her inner voice warned her not to look. Turn around and run, it begged her. The young witch shivered, but her curiosity won the upper hand over her fear. Her feet brought her closer and closer to the mirror, almost as if they had their own will. She finally came to stand in front of it.
What kind of cruel trick was this? There was no reflection: only the seemingly infinite darkness behind her. Suddenly she heard loud laughter. It sounded oddly foreign and yet familiar. Somebody stepped out from behind the mirror. She looked into a pair of chocolaty brown eyes that sparkled full of malice with an almost feral expression to them. Arnaya gasped loudly as she realized the grotesque impossibility of what she was experiencing. She was starring at herself.
"Surprised to see me?" her vis-à-vis said with an amused smile on her face.
"Who...? What are you?" Arnaya asked timidly.
"My, my, I thought I was brighter than this. I am you. Well, at least partly."
"Partly?"
"Partly?!" her twin repeated mockingly, rolling her eyes.
"Well, listen up moron-me...I'm sure you remember getting really pissed off once or twice, you know the times when our blood boils and we only think: kill, kill, kill. Every little bit of malice, every insult that comes from our mouth, every tiny bit of delicious hatred that curses through our veins - that's me."
"Evil-me. Great! That means I have finally gone insane," Arnaya said with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh, I would like that, but unfortunately - no, still everything as usual," her evil twin winked at her with a smirk on her face.
"Don't listen to her," another voice announced from behind the mirror.
"Not her again," her counterpart, ran her fingers through her hair exasperatedly, the cocky, yet vicious grin was gone for now.
Another woman appeared from behind the mirror and as she stepped into the softly glowing light, her identity was revealed. It was yet another doppelganger, but strangely enough, very much like the previous one, she had something about her that distinguished her from the actual Arnaya. Her face wore a gentle, calm, almost serene expression that could be rarely seen on the other woman's face.
"Don't be afraid. You should know that I don't want you any harm. I only want to help, bring clarity."
"Enter Miss Goody-two-shoes," Evil-Arnaya announced sarcastically.
"Maybe I'm not insane. I'm dead. Yes, I'm dead. That must be it. By the Valar.,"Arnaya said, her eyes widened in shock and with a far away expression to them.
"Fantastic. She is not only stupid, but also whiny."
"Try to put yourself in her place. This must be extremely disquieting," the other one said with an understanding voice and laid her arm around Arnaya's shoulders in a soothing gesture. Her well meant attempt to comfort her had the effect that the young witch quickly jumped to her feet at the tiniest touch of her and slowly retreated, her eyes widened in shock.
"Leave me be, evil ghosts, or you will feel my wrath!" she hissed in an attempt to sound threatening, which came out ridiculously timid.
"You can be glad there is only the two of us," Evil-Arnaya laughed playing with a strand of her hair.
"Are there more of you?" Arnaya asked curiously forgetting momentarily about her fear.
"Of course, there are. We are thousands and thousands, as numerous as the stars up in the sky."
"What do you want?"
This was when Good-Arnaya decided to take the platform, "An excellent question, really. This is exactly what our little meeting is all about - to find out what it is you want."
"You haven't really made up your mind in the last few weeks now, have you? Sure you have complained a lot about your dire lot, you poor thing you, got all cozy with the elf - may I say that he's all yummy - but apart from that..." her evil twin waved her hand dismissively, "Nothing."
"Why is this so important to you?" Arnaya suspiciously looked at her two doppelgangers.
"Right now you are not heading in any direction at all. You are stuck. Yes, neutrality is also an option, but if you think about it closely it's rather depressing. Let me put it in simple words: either you are too much of a coward to make a decision or too stupid," her evil twin paced up and down in front of her.
"Look, you are endowed with amazing powers, you have got potential. You can be better than you are if you allow yourself to grow," her doppelganger said and her warm eyes sparkled friendlily.
"Mediocrity is no option," said the other one, emphasizing her point of view by letting her fist slump down in her hand. "Plus, choosing between two evils, two extremes can be fun."
"I'm not evil," protested Good-Arnaya.
"Well, depends on the point of view," the evil twin winked at her with a cocky grin on her face.
"Why now?" Arnaya asked at a loss of words. She would need some time to make the right decision.
Good-Arnaya wordlessly took her by the hand and let her to back to the mirror. "Look," she said quizzically and motioned at the blank silvery surface.
Arnaya squinted her eyes together in concentration. At first there was nothing and she was about to ask the others if this was some kind of cruel game they played with her, but then little swirls of color rippled the smooth mirror glass and slowly formed a blurry pattern. Everything fell into place faster and faster until it came into perfect focus. A blood chilling scenery unraveled before her eyes. She saw herself lying on the floor, Gandalf standing over her with a concerned expression on his face, her mother lying next to her - unconscious. There was also something different about Sauda she couldn't quite but her finger on.
Energy bolts were flashing through Arnaya's body that tossed from side to side in a painful struggle. There were diving into her and shooting out of her, causing her body to contort in violent spasms. Her eyes were open, but empty and glowed brightly like to blinding stars made of blue light, silent tears were running over her face.
Arnaya couldn't stand watching this any longer. She turned away from the mirror while shivers ran down her spine.
Chapter 15: The transformation
"No, actually you are not allowed to choose in this matter at all," Sauda announced with a firm voice.
"I expect you to be on my side. You owe me this much after all those years."
Arnaya hung her head. Her mother's words managed to appeal to a part in her that still felt love and respect for her and probably would never stop to do so, even though she had been lied to and sent on a suicide mission. But there was something else inside of her that had been nourished in the last weeks, or to be precisely awoken: her self-esteem. She slowly raised her head and came to look Sauda square in the eye. The other woman flinched. She didn't expect that kind of reaction. Usually everybody obeyed her orders.
"Yes, I owe you for the good times we've spent together, for your kindness and love. This much is true. But I won't stand idly by while you kill my friends. You let your hatred overpower you. If you think about it closely you will find out that nothing good can come of this. Never."
"This is not about good or bad. It is about justice. He has to be punished for what he did," Sauda hissed.
"Oh, is that so? What exactly did he do?"
"You told me you were lovers, you were happy and everything seemed to be perfect. Until one day he left saying that he had to follow his calling, that he could no longer ignore what his purpose in life was," she paused collecting her thoughts, "You became bitter and hatred poisoned your soul. And that is were you went wrong, mother."
"You are in no position to judge me, child. You have absolutely no idea how it feels to have your heart ripped out," the evil witch answered with barely suppressed anger in her voice.
"Well, mother I think you got that part covered pretty well. Don't you think so?" she paused and bit her lip. Arnaya hadn't wanted to say that. This was not about her pain, her anger, but about the situation at hand. She had to save Legolas.
When she continued she sounded much more composed, "Even though I'm still young I know one thing with absolute certainty. Love is something given freely. You can't force anybody to stay with you, much less love you. It is a gift and if you're lucky you get to keep it. To love means not being selfish, feeling for the other person and wishing them well constantly. I believe Gandalf when he says he once loved you. Did you want him to stay even if he was unhappy with the kind of life he let?"
"That's besides the point," the other woman said with narrowed eyes.
"No, that's exactly the point."
"Silence! You will obey me or your lover will die," Sauda's voice reverberated like thunder from the stone walls of the room. She returned her attention to Legolas and tightened her mental grip on him again. The elf struggled desperately, gaping for air, his hands trying to pry away the invisible claws that lay around his neck choking him mercilessly.
A piercing scream cut the air and Arnaya stormed at her mother with murder in her eyes. Sauda's face was an expression of perfect surprise. She hadn't seen that attack coming. But her initial shock wore of pretty quickly and she summoned her powers to defend herself. The elf was no longer of any importance; she couldn't waste any energy on him. She let him slump to the floor like a rag doll. Legolas coughed loudly and greedily sucked in the air with shuddering breaths.
Arnaya registered from there corner of her eye that he had been freed, but she knew all to well that this had just happened out of necessity. The young witch gritted her teeth together angrily.
She stopped mere inches away from Sauda, though her body literally vibrated with suppressed anger. Both women glared at each other menacingly. All those happy times they spent together had suddenly lost their importance; they faded into nothingness, because they couldn't withhold the violent emotions of the presence.
Like to wild beasts they waited for the other to show a sign of weakness: maybe a slight flinch or the tiniest tremor of a hand. There would undoubtedly be a fight. The only question left to answer was when it would start.
Suddenly the unexpected happened. Both Arnaya and Sauda had forgotten about the fact that they were not alone. A strong hand lay on the shoulder of each woman and they both whipped around in unison to see who dared to interfere in their quarrel. They met Gandalf angry glare and his voice was so loud they felt as if their heads would burst. They both covered their ears instinctively. The shrill screams that escaped their throats were drowned by the wizard's words that seemed to enter through every pore of their body . "Enough! Now this is going to be settled once and for all," he said.
Arnaya suddenly felt an incredible powerful current of energy rush into her. All her senses went into overload. The colors of her surrounding seemed violently bright; all the sounds that reached her ears were painfully loud. She staggered. Her body protested under the continuous onslaught of sensations. Her vision became blurry. She collapsed while her consciousness frenetically ordered her not to surrender. Was she dieing now? What happened to her?
She felt that she didn't have anymore strength left to struggle. The fight was lost. It was all over now, she thought with an eerie calmness before she fainted and slumped down on the cold stone floor.
~
She blinked lazily. Every bone in her body hurt. But that was a good sign, wasn't it? It meant that she was still alive. Arnaya clumsily got to her feet. Her legs protested initially, but her they finally had to obey the screaming voice of her will that mercilessly commanded them to work. She was standing, though on shaky legs, but nevertheless standing, in a black room. The floors, the walls, the ceiling everything was pitch black, but to her utter surprise she was not surrounded by darkness. There was only one source of light there, one object that emitted a soft glow and tinted her surroundings in gray twilight - a mirror. It was plain and simple; no ornaments adorned its wooden frame.
Arnaya cautiously stepped closer. The mirror seemed to call her. She could detect movements on its silvery surface. Like smoke, or mist something flickered in it; shades of grey, flitting over it like dancing fathoms. Her inner voice warned her not to look. Turn around and run, it begged her. The young witch shivered, but her curiosity won the upper hand over her fear. Her feet brought her closer and closer to the mirror, almost as if they had their own will. She finally came to stand in front of it.
What kind of cruel trick was this? There was no reflection: only the seemingly infinite darkness behind her. Suddenly she heard loud laughter. It sounded oddly foreign and yet familiar. Somebody stepped out from behind the mirror. She looked into a pair of chocolaty brown eyes that sparkled full of malice with an almost feral expression to them. Arnaya gasped loudly as she realized the grotesque impossibility of what she was experiencing. She was starring at herself.
"Surprised to see me?" her vis-à-vis said with an amused smile on her face.
"Who...? What are you?" Arnaya asked timidly.
"My, my, I thought I was brighter than this. I am you. Well, at least partly."
"Partly?"
"Partly?!" her twin repeated mockingly, rolling her eyes.
"Well, listen up moron-me...I'm sure you remember getting really pissed off once or twice, you know the times when our blood boils and we only think: kill, kill, kill. Every little bit of malice, every insult that comes from our mouth, every tiny bit of delicious hatred that curses through our veins - that's me."
"Evil-me. Great! That means I have finally gone insane," Arnaya said with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh, I would like that, but unfortunately - no, still everything as usual," her evil twin winked at her with a smirk on her face.
"Don't listen to her," another voice announced from behind the mirror.
"Not her again," her counterpart, ran her fingers through her hair exasperatedly, the cocky, yet vicious grin was gone for now.
Another woman appeared from behind the mirror and as she stepped into the softly glowing light, her identity was revealed. It was yet another doppelganger, but strangely enough, very much like the previous one, she had something about her that distinguished her from the actual Arnaya. Her face wore a gentle, calm, almost serene expression that could be rarely seen on the other woman's face.
"Don't be afraid. You should know that I don't want you any harm. I only want to help, bring clarity."
"Enter Miss Goody-two-shoes," Evil-Arnaya announced sarcastically.
"Maybe I'm not insane. I'm dead. Yes, I'm dead. That must be it. By the Valar.,"Arnaya said, her eyes widened in shock and with a far away expression to them.
"Fantastic. She is not only stupid, but also whiny."
"Try to put yourself in her place. This must be extremely disquieting," the other one said with an understanding voice and laid her arm around Arnaya's shoulders in a soothing gesture. Her well meant attempt to comfort her had the effect that the young witch quickly jumped to her feet at the tiniest touch of her and slowly retreated, her eyes widened in shock.
"Leave me be, evil ghosts, or you will feel my wrath!" she hissed in an attempt to sound threatening, which came out ridiculously timid.
"You can be glad there is only the two of us," Evil-Arnaya laughed playing with a strand of her hair.
"Are there more of you?" Arnaya asked curiously forgetting momentarily about her fear.
"Of course, there are. We are thousands and thousands, as numerous as the stars up in the sky."
"What do you want?"
This was when Good-Arnaya decided to take the platform, "An excellent question, really. This is exactly what our little meeting is all about - to find out what it is you want."
"You haven't really made up your mind in the last few weeks now, have you? Sure you have complained a lot about your dire lot, you poor thing you, got all cozy with the elf - may I say that he's all yummy - but apart from that..." her evil twin waved her hand dismissively, "Nothing."
"Why is this so important to you?" Arnaya suspiciously looked at her two doppelgangers.
"Right now you are not heading in any direction at all. You are stuck. Yes, neutrality is also an option, but if you think about it closely it's rather depressing. Let me put it in simple words: either you are too much of a coward to make a decision or too stupid," her evil twin paced up and down in front of her.
"Look, you are endowed with amazing powers, you have got potential. You can be better than you are if you allow yourself to grow," her doppelganger said and her warm eyes sparkled friendlily.
"Mediocrity is no option," said the other one, emphasizing her point of view by letting her fist slump down in her hand. "Plus, choosing between two evils, two extremes can be fun."
"I'm not evil," protested Good-Arnaya.
"Well, depends on the point of view," the evil twin winked at her with a cocky grin on her face.
"Why now?" Arnaya asked at a loss of words. She would need some time to make the right decision.
Good-Arnaya wordlessly took her by the hand and let her to back to the mirror. "Look," she said quizzically and motioned at the blank silvery surface.
Arnaya squinted her eyes together in concentration. At first there was nothing and she was about to ask the others if this was some kind of cruel game they played with her, but then little swirls of color rippled the smooth mirror glass and slowly formed a blurry pattern. Everything fell into place faster and faster until it came into perfect focus. A blood chilling scenery unraveled before her eyes. She saw herself lying on the floor, Gandalf standing over her with a concerned expression on his face, her mother lying next to her - unconscious. There was also something different about Sauda she couldn't quite but her finger on.
Energy bolts were flashing through Arnaya's body that tossed from side to side in a painful struggle. There were diving into her and shooting out of her, causing her body to contort in violent spasms. Her eyes were open, but empty and glowed brightly like to blinding stars made of blue light, silent tears were running over her face.
Arnaya couldn't stand watching this any longer. She turned away from the mirror while shivers ran down her spine.