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When her body was not hers, she slipped into a different realm, it seemed. Perhaps Shadow, the Aether Spirit, or both used their energies to suppress her. Bits and pieces of their memories were allowed to her: the burning of the funeral home, the attempt at flight, and the slaying of impudent beasts with balls of oblivion. The rest of her mind was swallowed by dreams and visions.
She trudged through a desert. Time was enigmatic; it was neither night nor day. The desolate waste was assaulted by sandstorms. Nu covered her face with her arm, the grains scratching her fair skin and tossing her long brown hair. There was an oasis, however, a mile off, a speck of green amidst the dunes.
When she entered, the palm trees and heaven lotuses sheltered her from the storm. What a beautiful place, Nu thought as she sniffed the flowers, but … where am I? She continued through the trees, her bare feet cooling against the wet leaf mold.
After walking for half a mile, she came upon a great stone house sitting in a wide clearing. She approached it, climbed up the six steps that led to the door, and knocked. It opened. Behind the door was an old lady with thin white hair. Her long brown robe was threadbare, and holes had been ripped in a few places. She seemed happy to have a visitor.
"Hello dear," she said with a smile so big it partially shut her eyes, "come in and relax. The tea will be ready in a few minutes."
Nu hesitated for a moment; she looked around the tropical forest. There was nowhere else to go, to be sure, so she entered the woman's house. Several corridors were laid out before her. She did not know which one to go through until she heard the old woman call from three passages ahead.
The room Nu entered was warm, a fireplace burning brightly at the western wall. There was only a table and two chairs in the vast chamber. The old woman sat in one seat, pouring tea from a black pot into one cup and then the other. There were no windows in the room. When she saw her come in, the old woman nodded at the other seat. Nu, with soft steps, made her way to the table and did as she bid. The seat's cushion was velvet and soft.
They sat quietly, doing nothing but sipping their tea.
Nu spoke up. "It must be peaceful," she said, awkwardly trying to start a conversation, "living in this little forest—"
The old woman raised a hand to halt her. "Please, child," she interrupted, "speak not until we are finished with the tea."
Nu felt a little abashed but obeyed without voicing an apology. After one cup came another, then another, until the pot was empty.
The woman sighed. "I miss the village more than I love the peace," she admitted after she drank the last of her cup.
Nu thought there was more coming, but that seemed to be it. "Well," she said politely, smiling prettily, "maybe you can see it again one day."
"If only," the old woman said, "but the village is gone, and the sun only lights the ash where it used to be."
Nu sympathized. "I'm sorry."
The fire started to die after she apologized.
"That is what I've been saying," said the woman.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm sorry. Yet I don't hear their ghosts forgive me," the fire died down to embers as the pot and cups disintegrated into salt, "perhaps I even destroyed those as well."
"W-what?" Nu called out to the old woman in the darkness, "what did you do?" If she was still there, she did not respond. "Please tell me." But yet another question needed to be answered. "Who are you?" she blurted.
The Aether Spirit answered instead. "You."
"The Aether Spirit," Nu muttered, "please save me. I think Shadow—"
"That being is not here," claimed the Aether Spirit, "It is only me."
The fireplace lit up above her head. The table, the chairs, and indeed herself were now on the ceiling. Walking across the stone floor was a being who looked exactly like her.
The copy looked up. "And me alone."
"Where is the lady of the house?" Nu asked her look-alike below.
"I am here," she answered, "as I was at the village."
"Are you the Aether Spirit?" Nu asked.
"At this moment, it seems I am Nuallis."
The fireplace suddenly died like a blown-out candle. When it reignited itself, Nu was seated at the table. This time they were on the floor again. Her look-alike sat at the other end of the table.
"No," Nu said, confused, "that's me, I'm Nuallis."
"You are nothing," said the look-alike. It snapped its fingers, and the fire died once more.
The world around Nu changed. Before her was the great spirit Aion. Dying, he was, and reaching out to give her something. "Take it," he commanded with his heavy breathes, "take it and guide the elementalist."
Nu didn't protest and took her gift from him; it was the Eye of Aion. Nu heard the snapping of fingers again.
They were now in the sky, her and her twin, surrounded by endless blue and harsh cold winds.
"For centuries, the Aether Spirit has selected its host. It was to guide the elementalist, yet failed, time and time again," said the twin. "Do you know why?"
Nu shook her head.
"Because the Aether Spirit refuses to be one with its host. It fears obliteration. It does not deign to let an elementalist have power over it. It will only accept its fate of it overwhelms you, rather than you it."
They descended toward the earth. Below them was a forest ravaged by fire. When Nu looked closely, she saw people running from and fighting a single being of white light.
The twin went on. "Lost in its sanctimony and disgust for its host's own imperfections, the chaos in the split mind achieves nothing but death." The twin looked her in the eye. "You are nothing. I am everything." It pointed at the white light, and Nu could see a human shape in the brilliance. Even from afar, Nu could see the torment in its expression. "That is what the Aether Spirit believes. It understands nothing about creatures below it, yet is just as imperfect as them." They soon became close enough that they could hear the last words of the dying, oblivion ripping through their soft flesh. "Don't you find it odd that you and the Aether Spirit desire the same thing yet have vastly divergent solutions? Even now so, it is merged with the spirit called Shadow … we will weave this world as we see fit … such arrogance."
Nu could not suffer the carnage and looked away. "I don't know what to do," Nu admitted.
"Yes, you do," said the twin, "but as long as you believe you don't, the suffering will continue." The twin came close and faced Nu. "True unity must be achieved." It raised its hand. "Shadow is alien to you and the Aether Spirit, to be sure, but that caster has the knowledge to suppress him. Trust in them, trust in your friends. But you alone have the will and strength to quell the Aether Spirit, for your, love, compassion … your truth outshines the spirit's falsities."
Nu reached out and placed her palm against her twin's. The world suddenly went black at a distant snap of a finger, and Nu fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
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