Reset: Achaena

Achaena looked up from her work, mixing a healing potion, and staring into the mirror that sat behind her workstation.

The woman who stared back was not her own face.

She'd seen the specter around the manor a few times now - a high elf, if she was any judge.

The others didn't see the woman. She only appeared to Akkie.

"Why me?"

She asked it quietly - she didn't need her training master to hear. He'd think she'd snapped, and she knew she hadn't. She would know if she'd gone insane.

The specter reached out, her pale fingertips touching the glass. Her other hand came to her lips, pressing a single finger to them, and silencing her.

What do you want?

She didn't know if the spirit could hear her thoughts, but the ghost didn't want her to speak aloud, that much was obvious.

And ... who are you?

The mirror's surface blurred for a moment, and she once again saw herself. The spirit was there, too, however - her arms wrapped around Akkie's shoulders gently.

"They're coming."

Akkie could read the woman's lips, though no sound issued forth.

Who? Who's coming?

The spirit gestured, pointing toward the window.

It was late, the sky was dark. Akkie hadn't been able to sleep, these last few nights.

She moved, silently, to the window, looking out. The spirit's reflection pointed, and Akkie looked down. There. Movement in the courtyard. Armored men? At this hour?

Those were guards. Stormwind Guards.

Her blood froze in her veins. No, that couldn't be right. The masters were always so careful.

She heard the distant thump of a fist, pounding on the door.

No. No.

She turned toward the door, opening her mouth to scream the warning - and the spirit slid into her body, freezing her voice in her throat.

"No," the spirit whispered gently, in her own voice. "No."

Her body turned toward the window, opening it quietly. She slipped outside, onto the roof, tumbled soundlessly to the ground - and ran. No one saw her move through the streets, up the trellis, and onto a different rooftop. Her body used its training, moving without her consent.

The screaming began when the manor caught fire.

She turned briefly, her eyes fixed on her home, the only place she'd ever known.

"Run," the spirit urged, and her body obeyed, taking her outside the city walls by way of another rooftop, a tall tree, and a controlled dive. She was going to feel that one in the morning - but nothing was broken; she'd rolled just so, at exactly the right moment.

Her feet took her to a clearing in Elwynn, a small, empty space with a tiny pond in the center.

Finally, finally, the spirit let go of her.

"Why?!" She cried it softly into the wind, fists balled up with rage. "They need me!"

The spirit sat across from her, now, resting on a tree stump. "You would have died." She said it softly, her voice sad. "I couldn't bear it," she admits. "My only daughter ...."

"My mother abandoned me!" She said, denying it. "I was left at the orphanage before I could even talk!" That - was what the masters had told her, anyway.

The masters wouldn't lie to her, would they?

"Not by choice," the spirit whispered. "They lied."

The dead had no reason to tell falsehoods. She looked the spirit over, really inspected her. Her long, flowing hair was lighter than Akkie's, though Akkie couldn't say if that was because she was dead, and that had sucked the color from her, or if there was some other reason.

A line of dark blood slit her throat from ear to ear, the blood running down her front. "You were murdered," she said softly.

"In my own home," she said softly. "While my dear, beautiful daughter lay only a foot away in her cradle." No. No, the masters ...

"Your masters lied to you." the spirit repeated. "And now they are dead." A grim smile that didn't meet her eyes. "It brings me no joy," she admitted. "But it puts my soul at ease, to know that I managed this one thing. My daughter is safe - and my murderers have met justice."

The spirit began to fade from view.

"Mother - no - " Achaena reached for the ghost, her fingers brushing through the air where her mother had been, and as the ghost disappeared entirely, she knew then that she was alone. Tears tracked their way down her cheeks, unbidden.

What was she supposed to do now?