Three Arches (Solo Thread)

[Cadence]

Chapter 2: The Second Arch

Kira didn't speak, just gathered herself for the next arch. "The second time is for what is. The way back will come but once.  Be Steadfast"

Kira entered the second arch and found herself in the Hospital Wing. She was sitting next to a patient, a man who was sick.  She wasn't sure what it was, but the on duty Yellow had told her to stay here. He asked for water and she gave him one, humming to herself as she did.  She saw another novice - long red hair and a pale complexion.  Kira had seen her before. She gave Kira an annoyed look.  Kira couldn't remember her name.  They didn't interact much.  Her bedside manner was atrocious and Kira just felt it best to keep her distance. 

The way back will come but once. Be steadfast.

Kira returned to her patient with a glass of water, but found he was convulsing.  Kira put the glass down, turning to tell the other novice to get help, but she had disappeared.  She thought of procedure.  If something happened - go to the Aes Sedai.  Don't try to handle it.

"I don't know if you can hear me," she said, slight panic in her voice. "But I'm getting help."

She turned and ran to where the Aes Sedai stayed, but found the seat empty. "Aes Sedai," she yelled. "Aes Sedai! He needs help!" 

A crashing sound caught Kira's attention.  Her patient was now standing, but he no longer looked human.  His skin looked burned and his eyes were a glowing red.  Kira barely kept from screaming as it spotted her and began to move towards her.

The way back will come but once. Be steadfast.

It moved fast and Kira turned to run, leaving the infirmary.  There were always Warders, Aes Sedai, Accepted, and Novices around, but she found the halls empty.  Her lone companion had disappeared, and her patient had become some monster. She closed the door, hoping that would slow the creature as she ran through the halls. But hope came.  Hope came as she heard voices.

Kira ran towards them, finding a gaggle of Novices hiding in a room - her friends and sisters.  Many of them had been there for her since the beginning, encouraging her and trying the get the Aes Sedai to help her through her trauma.

"Kira!" one of them called. "What are they!?"

They implied more than one.  A loud bang from the side wall made the Novices jump.  Several of them cried.  A hand broke though the wall, skin burnt.  Her patient had arrived. A change in the mirror above the girls caught Kira's attenion and she saw the arch behind her.  

The way back will come but once. Be steadfast.

Kira knew she had to, and it broke her heart to do it. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Tears began to stream down her face as she turned in ran. The screams of the girls echoing in her ears. The crashing of the wall stop and the screaming reached a crescendo as Kira ran though the arch.

Kira fell to her knees as she once more entered the arch chamber.  Tears stained her face and she struggled for breath.  She focused herself, using the techniques Aranea Sedai had taught her to imagine her emotions.

Cool water washed away her tears as the Red spoke. "You are washed clean of false pride. You are washed clean of false ambition. You come to us clean in heart and soul."

"I abandoned them all," she whispered, as the Mistress of Novices took her arm to lead her to the last arch. "I left them to die."

There is always a reason not to come back. The ter'angreal pulls this from your mind. You must want to be Aes Sedai more than anything to pass the test.  Each arch is harder than the last."

Kira considered those words. She could stop.  She could refuse.  She would be removed from the White Tower, but it was an option. What was worse than abandoning her friends to death. The thought frightened her more deeply than anything had before. But she couldn't.  She would be Aes Sedai.

She didn't speak, but took another step forward, and then another.  She would be Aes Sedai.