Fiona’s mind turned to the crucifix. Maybe. Just maybe that would help here. She reached into her pouch with the last bit of strength she had left. She pulled out the silver cross laden with gemstones. She held it in her hands and prayed. She had never really been a religious girl, but she prayed to the Venerated. Prayed for them to stop whatever this was and help her. The blonde just wanted this to end, she didn’t want to falter right at the gates of Istrel! Not when she hadn’t managed to accomplish anything! 

“Please… Venerated… save me…” She pleaded. 

The sensation continued, but there was a feeling of some warmth radiating from the crucifix. It pooled outward and into her very bones. The chill from before when she had picked it up was replaced instead by a dull warmth that filled her body. She still felt herself being drained away but something was answering her prayers. Something was coming to her. The world continued to spin around her and she felt herself lose her sense of the world. There was a bright flash of light that appeared in front of her however. One that seemed to get bigger. 

“Acknowledged.” 

The voice was rigid and steely but it also boomed out above into the heavens above. Fiona felt herself recovering slowly. When she looked around… the world had changed. It had gotten bigger. And then she spied the sword she had dropped nearby. Still at its same scale. No, she had just gotten smaller! Her eyes widened with fright. Fright that only got more pronounced by the time she looked up and saw… her. Saw a being that was absolutely a spitting image of Fiona herself. 

She was towering above into the air, the blonde with the same face gazing down at Fiona. Her eyes were a shining and gleaming gold and her armor was that of a golden warrior. The figure looked down at Fiona upon the ground and stared at her for a long few moments. Fiona… was at a loss for words. Staring up at this clone of herself with radiant eyes and armor like out of some fairy tale. 

“Wh-who…” 

“I am that which you called upon for aid upon the symbol. What you choose to call me is irrelevant. What matters if I have answered your call.” The same voice Fiona had, only it was far louder. Around the woman’s neck was hanging the same crucifix that Fiona had just been holding. 

It was… a lot to take in all at once. She was shrunken for some reason. A divine clone of her was standing over her saying she had basically answered her prayers. The blonde felt like her head was spinning even more than when she had first crossed over into the city. It was complete madness really. Everything about this was madness! Fiona was just stunned into silence for a long while as she traded stares with this other Fiona. 

A silence that was broken by the rattling of chains in the distance and a giggle that thundered through the air. “Well, well, well now this is a funny little toy that’s wandered into Istrel!” 

She was a dark haired woman dressed in rather tattered grey clothes. Her skin was unearthly pale, it almost had a slightly bluish tint to it really. She was rather pretty, though the look in her eyes as she beheld Fiona below on the street was anything but comforting. A smile split her lips as her dark eyes gleamed with malice. A chain was wrapped around one arm like a snake and dangling from it was a small cage. Her eyes then turned to the golden warrior standing over Fiona and she grinned even more. 

“You’ll be soooo much fun when I throw you in a cage! Oh I know Lady Freya will *adore* you! She does so love tormenting those like yourself. And of course the teeny tiny little plaything down below as well!” She giggled in an unhinged way and crouched low, holding her cage like a weapon to be swung. 

“Tch.” The golden warrior seemed irked. She turned to face the dark woman. 

“I understand this is all strange to you most likely. However I need your authorization, otherwise I cannot engage in battle. Say you will enter a contract with me.” The blonde boomed. 

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, tiny! Contracts with beings like her… you’d be better off blindly signing a contract with a devil!” The dark haired woman remarked. 

Fiona was in such an absurd situation. Everything was coming at her so quickly she barely had time to think or react. But what she did know was she felt like this wasn’t just a thing she could take back. It felt binding, whatever it was. 

A-5a: Fiona makes a contract with the entity

A-5b: Fiona does not make a contract with the entity

To be Continued...