Time felt almost frozen—who knew how long had passed—when, through the fog of her dazed mind, Thea heard someone calling her. The voice was soft, lovely even, but the tone was far from gentle.
"Pighead, wake up! You big dummy—if you don't wake up now, you're going to die!"
Who the…? Who dared talk to her like that? Tired of living? Thea blinked her eyes open, vision unfocused, and after a good while finally made out the person slapping her cheeks.
Who was this? A porcelain-pale face, a robe with a vaguely old-fashioned cut, a tall figure with very long legs, light eyebrows, and a head of silver hair. Silver? In this day and age, who went full edgelord and dyed their hair white?
Her gaze dropped briefly to the person's chest—two "little buns," not large, but nicely shaped. Thea smacked her lips. Okay, speech centers still worked. "Big sis, and you are…?"
The silver-haired woman's face did a full-on "囧," then she grabbed Thea by the collar and shook hard, furious. "Big your butt. You don't even recognize me? It's me!"
Someone I know? Thea squinted, really looked, searched her memory, checked and re-checked… "You're who? And where is this?"
"You're hopeless. This is a mindspace. I'm… I'm Arthas. Ring any bells?" The silver-haired woman covered her forehead with one hand, a little embarrassed.
Arthas? Thea's first thought was, Did I just get isekai'd into Warcraft? No way… She was halfway to wondering whether her mage system would be compatible with Dalaran when a word from earlier clicked. "Mindspace!"
If this was a mindspace, then no—she hadn't transmigrated. Which meant the silver-haired woman's identity was obvious. "Arthas?! That dopey, cutesy one?" Thea even mimed four hooves on the ground with her right hand.
Arthas's face darkened. "That's a turtle gesture… And don't think I can't tell what you're thinking—I can see part of your thoughts! Ugh!"
Huh. That signature move—yeah, Thea recognized it. So it was her little unicorn. Only… how did the adorable baby grow up into this not-so-adorable version?
"How did you even grow up? Weren't you supposed to need, like, long sun-bathing cycles?" Thea felt a bit wronged. Anyone seeing this silver-haired beauty wouldn't immediately connect her to the freshly weaned baby unicorn. Creativity had limits.
"You're the one who needs sun-bathing. I'm not a dead pig." Arthas's face went half black at the word sun-bathing. A vein throbbed on her forehead as she muttered, lids drooping, "As for how I grew up… I don't know either."
Thea looked around. So this really was a mindspace? An endless white expanse—pretty much what she'd pictured. But why was she here?
"How did I even get in?" She directed the question at silver-haired Arthas.
"You didn't summon me, so how would I know?" snapped the suddenly-a-beautiful-unicorn Arthas, cheeks puffed in annoyance.
Thea and she stared at each other for a long beat. And yes—those sparkling eyes really did look like before, when she'd been small… only back then a tossed snack did the trick. She had nothing on hand now.
If it's a mindspace, can I just imagine food into being? For some reason, Thea felt starving—really starving. She tried every kind of mental conjuration she could think of, but nothing appeared. Is my mindspace fake?
"What are you even thinking? This isn't a dream," a bell-clear voice chimed behind them. "You're unbelievably dense…"
The pure white space seemed brushed by black ink. The darkness pooled and flowed together, and from it stepped a tall woman draped in black gauze.
Thea frowned at the newcomer—someone she knew, because aside from black hair and eyes, she looked exactly like Thea. Despite a few guesses, Thea still asked cautiously, "And you are?"
A flush crept onto the veiled woman's face; the cool set of her mouth twitched. "You did all those outrageous things to me, and you're asking who I am!"
Thea hurriedly shook her head. "That was to, uh… test your… your limits." She searched her brain and found no better noun, so she left it vague.
With the unicorn beauty and the woman in black standing on opposite sides, glaring daggers at each other, the picture became clear. The unicorn was a scatterbrain, yes—but this wasn't Thea's personal mindspace. This was the bloodline imprint space. Theoretically, she was the guest; these two were the hosts.
She knew Arthas. But the new "black gauze Thea" needed a name—calling her "hey" or "you there" obviously wouldn't do. And honestly? Meeting someone who looked exactly like her, here of all places, was… unsettling.
"What should I call you?"
The woman in black seized the lifeline to dodge her own embarrassment. Her poise returned; she smiled bright as spring. "You can call me Thea." She paused, watched Thea's eyes widen, then grew quite pleased with herself. "Thea Merlyn."
"You?" Thea bristled. "You just made that up!"
"I've had self-awareness for a while now. The name came with it. I just… knew." The self-styled Thea Merlyn answered breezily—then shot the unicorn a very elegant middle finger.
Arthas bared a mouthful of flawless white teeth in response and mimed strangling her.
Thea scratched her head. These two had quite the "harmonious" relationship. If she weren't here, they'd probably be rolling on the floor by now.
Her bloodline talent really was bizarre—light and darkness; a sunlit unicorn and a shadow-self.
The unicorn could be taken as the Quinn family's goodness; the shadow as Malcolm's evil passed down.
Or: the unicorn embodied the native warrior path of the original Thea Queen, while the shadow embodied the mage's road the other Thea—the transmigrant—had chosen.
Same starting point. Different choices. Different ends. Best not to dwell too hard; the implications multiplied the more she thought—downright terrifying, if you followed the threads.
The upside: both powers belonged to her. No either/or ultimatum.
She raised her voice, cutting off the imminent hair-pulling. "Knock it off, you two!"
"Someone please explain why you suddenly 'grew up'—and how I'm supposed to get out of here!"
Arthas, currently choking Thea Merlyn by the neck, chirped with boundless energy, "I'll tell you in a bit—I know tons!"
The black Thea refused to concede, driving her knee into the unicorn's "little buns," scratching and clawing with her free hands, sniping as she fought, "I'm the archmage here. I understand all of this. Let me finish her off and I'll explain everything to you!"