Chapter 303 - Anomaly
The other Scarlett’s eyes lingered on Scarlett, her expression unreadable as she slowly rose from her seat. Around them, the scene of the office began to dissolve, its edges fading into a dim expanse of dusky, twilit sky, shrouded in heavy grey mist creeping from the horizon. Endless rifts of white void spread through the space, leaving Scarlett standing on a raised platform. She glanced around, taking in the abrupt shift in her surroundings.
This was, she was fairly certain, where she had encountered Thainnith’s fragment — the space that had been invaded by a foreign force just before Scarlett was given the man’s legacy.
“A proper introduction, you say?” came the low voice behind her. Scarlett turned to find the other version of herself standing there, now identical to her in every detail, down to the minutiae of expression and that same quiet, penetrating gaze.
Scarlett studied her counterpart for a moment before motioning to the surrounding scene. “It appears you have made yourself quite at home.”
“Not in the least,” the other Scarlett replied. She regarded her with a long, deliberate look. “…You seem confident that I am the Anomalous One.”
“Am I mistaken?” Scarlett asked.
From the beginning, this other version of herself had been unlike the other constructs in the Memories. Though the ‘younger’ Scarlett feigned ignorance, Scarlett herself had been convinced she understood far more than she let on. Smaller indicators had hinted at it, but her abrupt disappearance in Freymeadow—just before Vail’s arrival—couldn’t have been a coincidence. If Scarlett had to guess, it had been an attempt to contain Vail. Even Vail’s initial remarks upon seeing her supported that conclusion.
The woman continued to study her, then took a step closer. Scarlett instinctively drew back — a reaction that seemed to mildly amuse the other.
“Should I take offense?” the other Scarlett asked, her eyebrow raised slightly. “You, Amy, are far more dangerous than I. If there is any reason for concern here, it ought to be mine.”
Scarlett’s expression remained openly skeptical. “Forgive me if I find that difficult to believe.”
“I would prefer not to, if I am truthful, but I know you well enough to see it would be in vain.”
A brief, tense silence fell between them. Scarlett examined the woman, wrestling with the strangeness of the situation. She had heard so much about the Anomalous One—this being of supposedly unimaginable and terrifying power—but there was much she had yet to understand about it. To finally meet it like this, mirrored in herself, was…