Chapter Text
Bela peered down at the sickle in her hand, watching as Vikcia’s dark blood trailed along its curved edge. It brought her back to her darkest days inside Castle Dimitrescu. Those evenings when her madness consumed her to the point where somebody else had to die so that she might prosper. A silent tear befell her eye as she lowered her arm, allowing the weapon to fall from her grasp and hit the floor.
I guess we won.
Ethan took her left hand into his own, holding it tight with as much love as he could muster. Bela’s tear soon found a duplicate that emerged from her opposite eye. Before she knew it, her throat quivered with a whimper, and she broke down right then and there.
She found herself in his arms immediately after, unsure whether she had grabbed onto him or if he had embraced her first. Her mind was adrift, unable to process the world around her. The only thing that she could concentrate on was the feeling of his body. It was warm and responsive, contrasting with all that she had ever known before she arrived in this forsaken place.
“It’s okay, Bela,” Ethan whispered into her ear as she grew weaker.
“What am I going to do?” She asked, her eyelids pressed shut, and her fingers pulling on the seams of his tattered shirt. “What kind of a future do I have?”
His hand wrapped around the back of her head as he pulled her in closer, kissing her shaven scalp to remind her that her past did not exile her from love. “That is for you to decide,” he said, kissing her one more time before she pulled herself away.
Her amber eyes, glistening with tears around them, centered on his before her mouth softened. He saw her gaze at his lips, those pale fingers turning to touch his cheek. Her brow was curved with remorse, reflecting on everyone she had harmed. “What makes you want me?”
“To be honest,” Ethan said as he leaned in, his arms wrapping around her narrow waist, right above her rounded hips. “I see a part of myself when I look at you.”
“What part is that?” Her eyes looked up at him, her finger circling around the edges of the skin on his face.
“I see someone who is scared,” he answered in a calm tone. “Someone who cares and wants to be loved as much as they love. But most of all, I see someone who is still trying to figure out what the hell is going on, and I can tell you that I’m still trying to find the answer to that too.”
Bela shut her eyes as soon as she heard him say that. It all made sense to her. That had been her entire life. She never had a direction beyond the confines of that castle. Her only purpose was to be an obedient daughter. Nothing more than an extension of one’s cruel will. Years of fighting for a love that she never quite received. It had always been just out of her reach. An inch ahead of her fingertips.
She had to be perfect, lest one slip-up result in everything she fought for falling apart. It gave birth to her unending anger. Her contempt for everyone she met. Her newfound outlook on life was a transition that she was still adjusting to. Even when her feelings for the man in front of her were still blooming, her anger could never be too far away. She realized that the adjustments would take time, but if he was willing to give her that time, then she would be able to grow.
Bela took in a slow breath, nurturing her heart as she reminded herself that she still had him. After everything she had done, he was willing to give her love.
“I have so much going on inside me right now,” she said to him, her brow furrowed as her eyes shone in the light. “And I know that you do too. I wish things had been better for us, but if we can repair our lives, then I want to do it together.”
“Me too.” He kissed her cheek, his thumb caressing the edge of her chin. “You are someone I was never prepared for. They say learning to love means learning more about yourself, and I think we still have a lot to learn.”
“We’ll teach each other.” Bela kissed him gently, admiring his lips as she fused them with her own. They broke contact after just a couple of seconds, eyes closed as their foreheads rested together.
Ethan let out a small sigh, still reeling from the pain of his wounds. Hers were no better. Vikcia’s claws had done a number on her body. She wouldn’t be fighting off any infected any time soon, but the blonde was grateful to still be able to stand.
She looked down at the fallen woman nearby, still thinking about what she had heard before the life left her completely. That voice—there was just something about it. Bela knew that she would not get all the answers that she sought. It felt like they were always destined to leave this realm with more questions.
Ethan’s hand landed on her shoulder, leading her away from the carnage. She was done with death and wanted to see no more of it. He stopped to turn around, pointing out that her sickle had been left on the ground.
“Just leave it,” she told him. “It’s no longer a part of me.”
Walking back toward the stack of corpses that led up to the ladder, Bela strained under the sting of her injuries. Ethan glanced at the lengthy lacerations that had been inflicted on her. The blood was still trickling out from the torn flesh, but with no bandages to aid them, he was at a loss. She picked up on his concerns, choosing to power through the torment.
“Let’s just focus on getting home, shall we?” She said, taking a second to peek over at the damage. “Besides, it’s not as deep as it looks. It just hurts a lot. You’re no stranger to that, are you?”
He couldn’t help but chuckle just a bit. “You got me.”
Yeah, I do.
As they moved closer to the mound of corpses, Bela stopped to peek at the gunshot Ethan had received at Malcolm’s house. The bandage looked like it had been stained with various fluids, likely from the decomposing bodies around him. The bite wound on his right shoulder looked no better. Coupled with the various traumas that her body had received, she knew that they needed to seek some medical care soon.
He could not help but ask the biggest question of all, “What do you think things will be like when we get back?”
Bela paused, her expression frozen and blank, for a second. She had not given much thought to such scenarios until now. Before, her priority was to get to this clock tower, defeat Vikcia, and ensure that he was safe and sound. Now that she had accomplished all three of those goals, she didn’t know what to do next.
Perhaps that was what the next chapter of her life would be all about. She had not a single clue as to what was in store for her. Her life had been a scripted tragedy before that bright light shot a flame onto its pages. Her life was finally her own, and she would have to make her own choices from here on out.
“I don’t know,” she responded meekly, shrugging her shoulder in the process. “If we wind up right where we left off, then I’m going to do what I can to help you save your daughter. If it’s just us, somewhere else, then we both just continue moving.” She reached for his hand, intertwining their fingers. “As long as I have you, I’m okay with where my life goes.”
“I’m not going to leave your side, I promise.” Ethan kissed her again. She took him in, enjoying his touch with a hum that purred from her throat. When they disconnected, the corners of her mouth rose to form a shy smile.
You don’t know how sweet it is to hear those kinds of things.
“Ethan, thank you.”
“Of course.”
Bela glanced up at the ladder that would bring them to the control room. Once they got there, they would be able to tinker with the fragments, trying to figure out a way to somehow create a path back to their world. It was a far-fetched idea, but after everything that they had been through, ‘far-fetched’ held no meaning any longer.
Climbing onto the bodies, Bela continued to hold his hand as they made their way toward the ladder. It was a grotesque parade, but she kept her mind off the facts of the matter with the touch of his palm. He would be her light in the dark, and throughout these horrors, he was the one who guided her heart. They would make it through this nightmare and then onto better things.
Bela took the lead, assisting him as he followed behind. She remained at a close interval as the two of them navigated the steps together, holding onto him firmly so that he would not slip and fall off. His arm was weak from what had happened to it, but using the rest of his body, he was able to keep himself up. The two made it to the top, with Bela turning around to give him one final pull before his feet landed on the floor of the control room.
Ethan stood up as she assisted him. His breaths were heavy, personifying the exhaustion inside him. With her back turned toward the rest of the room, Bela only focused on him, but the expression in his eyes caught her attention immediately. They were wide with disbelief, almost as if he had just witnessed a ghost. As his mouth opened to speak, she turned her head, searching for whatever it was that prompted such a startled reaction.
What the…
Standing over the box of fragments was none other than their companion herself—Kyia.
Ethan was the first one to break words, all while Bela adopted the same perplexed look that he had. “Kyia… You’re alive?!”
The brunette peeked over at him as she continued to rummage through the box of shards, her hands bleeding from the many cuts that she had just sustained. Her face was free of any speck of dust. Bela could not believe it at all. She had witnessed the woman endure a direct blast from the infectious plume, only to throw herself over the railing of the walkway as soon as she could. It was a steep fall, one that heralded certain death.
How could she have even survived such a thing?
The blonde called out to her, “Kyia, how are you not infected? How are you not dead?”
She replied casually to her question, her voice laced with a sarcastic hint of dismay, “Were you hoping that I would be?”
Bela shook her head, nervous but incredibly confused. “No, I, uhm, no! But the height of that fall! You’re not infected! The only way that could be possible is if...
“No, Bela,” Kyia said with a sigh as she lowered her chin and withdrew her crimson-coated hands from the box, taking the time to step around the table slowly yet gracefully. Her brow was flat, and her eyes were filled with a distinct purpose. “I’m not dead. I’m quite full of life, in fact.”
Ethan interjected, sensing that something here was amiss. “Kyia, wait. What is happening? What are you not telling us?”
She sighed again, glancing down at her sliced-up palms, which she had been unzipping with the aid of the sharp metal fragments. She pressed her hands together, just as a bright blue light began to emit from the center. The edges of her fingers lit up with a faint flame, colored the same blue tinge as the rest of the glow. It was a dazzling spectacle, but a horrifically unsettling one.
“What do you want me to tell you, Ethan?” Kyia raised an eyebrow as she tilted her head, parting her thin pink lips at him in a coy fashion. “You cannot become infected because your body is dead, to some degree. Vikcia’s plague does not cling to cells that are not completely packed with life. As for me…”
Kyia spread out her hands, showcasing her now completely healed skin. “My body rages with a natural fire. People like me don’t get sick because it is so effective at cooking any pathogen that enters. We can project our flames at will. That is just one of our many fine qualities.”
Bela was at a loss for words. Ethan, on the other hand, could not keep his questions at bay.
“People like you?” He asked. “Who?”
Kyia smiled as her green eyes glinted at him. “Fawns.”
Bela reached for his hand, holding it tighter than ever.
Fawns? That’s what those voices have been speaking about. What is that? Aren’t they…
Ethan glanced over at the fragments, only for Kyia to follow his gaze to the box as well. Her narrow shoulder shrugged at the sight of it. “Kyia…”
“Yes, Ethan?” She spoke without a care in the world, leaning over on the table as if this struggle were simply all over for her. That grin on her face would not subside, maintaining its tiny pull as her lower eyelids lifted. “Is something wrong?”
Bela pressed her lips before she nervously spoke, “What is happening?”
Kyia’s smile lowered to a hollow frown as she twiddled her fingers at the edge of the table. “Hmm... alright, I suppose I haven’t been entirely honest with either of you.”
Ethan was not amused. “No, I wouldn’t think so.”
The brunette rolled her eyebrows with a soft groan as she stepped around the table. The closer she got, the more the duo sought to move back. Neither of them trusted her. The presence of flames at her fingers was concerning, but that was likely just the tip of the iceberg. What else about her did they not know?
Kyia raised both her hands at shoulder level as she paced around the room. “First things first: I only lied because I truly believed it made things easier for you both to not know the truth.”
Bela pressed her again. “Which is?”
The blue glow returned to both of Kyia’s hands, concentrating into a small flame that birthed just an inch above her palms. “You two and Vikcia were not the only ones from another world.” She playfully chuckled at the end of her statement. “Duh.”
Bela and Ethan both exchanged a perplexed stare. Kyia? A being from another realm?
The blonde whispered to the man beside her as her fears grew, “Ethan, I don’t know…”
“I can hear you,” Kyia interjected, flashing a stern glare her way. “My powers are great, but I’m not deaf, either.”
Ethan took charge, his voice firm as he pointed to her and the fragments. “So, you were from a different world this entire time? You should have told us that!”
Kyia let the flames in her hands die out. “I don’t think it would have done me any favors.”
Bela was just as firm as he was. “The fragments. Is that what this has all been about?”
Before Kyia could answer that, Ethan spoke again, “Tell us the truth, Kyia!”
As neutral as her expression was, the tone of Kyia’s voice was laced with agitation. “I do not enjoy being yelled at, Ethan. Kindly lower your voice, if you do not mind.”
Bela turned her eyes to the man she loved, now fearing for his safety. He didn’t look happy at all with the circ*mstances. Hell, neither was she. The two had just stumbled onto something far greater than they could have ever imagined, and they needed to tread carefully.
After a long inhale, Kyia lowered her shoulders and glanced back at the box of fragments. “I’ll be truthful. I owe it to you after everything.”
She raised her hand, her fingers glimmering with blue sparkles as one of the metal shards began to rise out of the box. Bela gasped softly as she watched the spectacle unfold. It was like Heisenberg, but she had a grave feeling that Kyia’s powers weren’t limited to just metal. The fragment hovered around in the air, encased in the same blue aura that emanated from the brunette’s slender digits.
“I’m from a place called Locwitary,” she said with a grin as she turned her green eyes toward the pair. “Sound familiar?”
Neither Bela nor Ethan said a word.
“In my world, there are only two kinds of people: fawns and poils,” Kyia explained. “Poils are just regular folk. Nothing remarkable. But we fawns, however, have very special qualities. We’re all women, gifted with green eyes and a varying degree of energy. Some of us, such as myself, are what you would call ‘Surges.’ We’re known to have the highest forms of power amongst our kind.”
Kyia continued to pace around the room as her monologue played out, though she was not too intent on talking for much longer. “We tried to coexist with the poils. It worked for a long time, but then they became hungry for power. And who wields power? We do. A great war broke out, one so terrible that it destroyed the advancement that our world had achieved.”
The levitating fragment swirled around in multiple directions as her finger pointed back and forth. “Watching my sisters die, I knew that I wanted no part in this fight. Neither did several other fawns who agreed with my proposal. There were still some poils that I could trust." Her voice turned cold. “Even after everything they had taken from me.”
Kyia released the fragment in mid-air, allowing it to clink on the ground when it dropped. “With their help, we sought to escape to a different world. Locwitary was lost, and we knew that we would not survive. Myself and the other surges worked hard to channel our flames into a powerful metal, creating the very dagger that sits in this box. It held the strength to cut through the barriers of the realms. I decided to be the one who wielded it, so that I might take us all to a safer place. Unfortunately, I was unprepared for the power that it unleashed, and I was caught in an explosion. When I reformed, I was in the middle of this city.”
Ethan and Bela sat there in shock, both remembering the newspapers and stories that they had read since their arrival. The blonde swallowed a breath, still shaky as she spoke. “So, the girl who appeared in the middle of the city, the one they kept up in the tower... that wasn’t Vikcia.”
Kyia's eyes were dead on them as she shook her head. “No.”
Bela turned to Ethan, and a grim feeling started to come over her. He did the same, showcasing the unsteadiness that he felt. She had seen this kind of expression from him when faced with certain danger. Kyia’s explanation of her true origins pointed to only one possibility, which they shuddered at the thought of.
Bela asked her another hard question, “How did Vikcia get here?”
Kyia did not respond, sending a shiver down both of their necks.
The blonde furrowed her brow as she craned her neck over her shoulder, searching for the fastest escape route. Ethan’s stare remained set on the brunette before them, who also would not remove her gaze from the pair.
Kyia shook her head again as she moved further away from the table. “You wouldn’t understand,” she stated, the calmness inside her beginning to morph into contempt for her past. “None of you have any idea what this place was like.”
Ethan held his hand out, hoping to avoid her anger rising to an uncontrollable level. He saw the potential that she held. Why wouldn’t she be able to burn them alive or fling them into the wall? “Look, I just want to know what’s going on, that’s all.”
“What do you want me to tell you?” Her voice rose as she turned to him, and her eyes were sharper than any knife. “You want to know how terrible this world was to me? How I arrived here, alone and afraid, only for them to surround me and bind my hands, telling me that I was a threat to their insane ideology?”
Kyia’s frustrations mounted as she relived some of the worst days of her life. “I lost all my powers when that dagger took me across the barriers and planted me in this wretched city! I couldn’t defend myself! I had to endure everything that they did to me.”
Her hands tensed up as the flames inside them swelled, mirroring the very strength that she wished she could have displayed in her moments of weakness. “Imagine you go somewhere new, only to be shackled to a chair, being beaten over and over, all because of things that you do not understand. I tried to explain to them where I came from, but all they did was decry my truths, saying that I was a non-believer who had slighted their precious ‘Fabled Ones.’ All my tears meant nothing to them, even when I begged them to stop! They did not care!”
She spat on the ground, signifying her immense animosity for this place. “What kind of world does that? All I wanted was refuge, but what they gave me was more persecution!”
Bela joined in the effort to get her to simmer down, holding her hands out to remind the fawn that they were her allies. “We’re not here to persecute you, Kyia. We just didn’t know.”
“Oh!” Kyia laughed as she smiled and pointed to the box of fragments and then to the wall. “They didn’t know! None of them had a damn clue!”
“What do you mean?” Bela asked.
“When the Peak Bishops got involved,” Kyia elaborated, “they were the worst. The daily abuse that I suffered under their hands… argh! But…” She calmed down, beginning to grin as she remembered how it all ended. “But they were the dumbest of the batch. You see, the passage of time between the barriers of these realms is uncertain, as I’ve mentioned. When the dagger tore through the walls that separated our worlds and sent me here, it exploded, and most of the fragments fell into this city. However, they were dispersed across centuries, only to conveniently be gathered by the time of my arrival. Call it fate, one might say, but when my so-called ‘ramblings’ alerted them to those shards, they listened to my request to see them for myself, so that they could disprove my beliefs.”
Kyia rolled her eyebrows in amusem*nt. “They were so concerned about how I threatened their religion. Pitiful. When I got a hold of those fragments, I sensed the immense power still inside them. All it took was just several cuts to reignite my abilities, and when that happened, I decided to disprove their religion entirely.”
Ethan lowered his arms. “How?”
“They thought the Fabled Ones would save them from the end of the light,” Kyia remarked. “So, what happened when the end of light came? Nothing.”
Bela turned to Ethan, her eyes signifying that they needed to run.
Kyia pointed to the ceiling. “They didn’t believe in the existence of other realms, but as a fawn, I knew about them very well. In fact, I couldn’t help but think about one very specific realm, filled with the most destructive of forces. So, I decided to open the barriers myself, and when I did... well, you know the rest.” Her smile said it all. The glee that she felt in the wake of her horrendous act.
Ethan's mouth quivered in disbelief, his voice quaking, “Jesus Christ, Kyia, you killed all these people.”
“No, I didn’t,” she affirmed, growing tense at his accusation. “Vikcia did.”
Bela interjected, “But you unleashed her upon them!”
Those green eyes flickered a bright blue as Kyia lifted her nose ever-so-slightly at the blonde, tempting her to continue confronting her. “After what you’ve seen these people do, Bela, could you really say that justice wasn’t served?”
All Bela could think about after she said that was Edith and Mabel, who were reminders of the good in humanity. All the writers of every note that she had read; their lives torn to shreds by the otherworldly force that had ravaged their home. Every twisted creature—perversions of nature itself—was the product of the plague that Kyia had set forth.
She could not believe how many lies this woman had told—masquerading as an inhabitant of this realm, pretending that she was someone innocent. It was no wonder she knew so much. Why she had been so evasive about her past and every question that dared to dive deeper into the realms beyond.
For the sake of her own goals, she had to play the part of the weak civilian when, all along, she was a force of nature more destructive than anything that they had ever witnessed.
Bela only had one more thing to ask, “You’re the one who brought us here, didn’t you?”
Kyia pursed her lips before her eyes shut, and her chin dipped down to her chest in that typical expression of shame. “Unfortunately, I expended the remainder of my powers seeking an escape from this world after Vikcia arrived. The barriers between the realms have a great way of dissolving one’s special qualities, but they can be brought back, though they aren’t the same as they were before. I accidentally created another opening to this world, rather than a way out.”
Bela spoke to herself, “That’s why we lost our powers.”
“Opening a portal was the only way for the dust of Vikcia’s world to enter this realm unfiltered,” Kyia admitted. “Sadly, I did not count on her slipping through. The mindless animal must have just run toward it. I assume you two were pulled through the barriers themselves, hence why you arrived here as you are.”
Her eyelids squinted as she studied them. “I don’t quite understand why you two were the ones who were chosen to come here, but I’m glad that it was you.”
What is she talking about?! Is she crazy?!
Ethan snapped at her. “Are you kidding me?!” He screamed at the top of his lungs, eliciting a displeased scowl from the slender brunette. “You took me away from my daughter! You threw me into this f*cked-up world! Do you have any idea how much Bela and I have suffered because...”
“Enough!” Torrents of blue flames expelled forth from Kyia’s hands and torched the fixtures around her. Her face, rife with rage, only simmered down after a couple of seconds of silence. Taking a breath, she regained her composure, just as the remnants of smoke faded from her fingers.
She gazed at the pair sternly, but the calmness of her voice had returned. “We have all suffered greatly, Ethan. Believe me when I tell you that I did not personally choose you to come here. I needed a way to get my abilities back. It was the only chance we had to get out. You saw me…”
Kyia began to approach him, her arms held out in a gentle manner. Bela stood by his side, trying to devise a way to overcome this madness. “You know how much I tried to keep you safe. I am not a perfect woman, and I have made my fair share of mistakes. Believe me when I tell you that I can rectify them all.”
“What are you going to do?” He asked her.
Kyia stopped just a few feet away from him, still reaching out for his hand, even though it held Bela’s. The blonde withheld her scornful words, aware that Kyia could possibly kill her at any given second.
“I can open a portal to your world and bring you back,” Kyia said, her smile broadening as she clasped her hands together at her chest. “You can see your daughter again. You won’t have to deal with that kind of loss.”
He tried to remain calm, but the way she went about her words failed to sit right with him. “So, you’ll take us back to our world?”
Her green eyes then set on the amber ones of her greatest obstacle. Kyia’s expression immediately degraded to that of resentment. “No. Only you. She stays here.”
“What?!” Bela lashed out at her. “Kyia! Why me?”
Her stare shifted back and forth between the two of them, her face growing more disgusted with each pass. “Because no world needs a vile creature like you. No good world,” she spoke with venom in her heart.
“I thought you and I understood each other.” Bela pleaded for Kyia to be rational, hoping that she would see the redemption that the blonde sought for herself as a path to a better life.
But Kyia would have none of it. “I regained some of my abilities when I first cut myself with the fragments that you and Ethan brought back. When I touched your hand, I saw the visions of what you and your horrible siblings had done. Fawns are taught to forgive the wicked, but time and time again, I have watched good hearts be pierced by those very same people. There is no looking the other way with that. Justice was absent in my world.”
She waved her hand at the hundreds of bodies outside the room they stood in. “But I brought justice to this one.”
“You’re insane!” Ethan yelled at her. Kyia only glanced at him for a brief second, averting her eyes as the corners of her mouth twitched.
“And you chose to fall for someone who butchers the helpless?” She scoffed, peering down at her fingers. “My hands have never taken a life, but she cannot say the same.” Her emerald irises then turned his way. “How hypocritical of you to condemn me for my retribution, only to give your heart to a bloodthirsty monster.”
“Bela isn’t what you think she is.” Ethan defended her, but his worry over her safety rose by the end of that sentence. “Kyia, please, don’t do this.”
She spared the blonde one more glance before her right hand glowed a bright blue. At the swirl of her finger, the pair felt their locked hands become encased in a blanket of warmth that suddenly pried them apart. Bela stumbled to the side, jolted by the unforeseen act. She was left clutching her hand as Kyia approached Ethan, now standing a foot away from him.
“This place has ruined me, Ethan,” Kyia said with fragility on her tongue. “All I want is to live a peaceful life.” A tear fell from her eye. “That is all that I want. I look at you, and I see someone who wants the same exact thing, but sadly, I believe the circ*mstances that we were handed have shifted the outcome of what is meant to be.”
‘Meant to be”? She can’t be serious.
Kyia laid her hand on his gunshot wound, projecting a blue glow onto it. Ethan could only watch as the glimmers of light traveled around between them. In a steady fashion, all the pain and discomfort that he felt under his bandage soon began to ease. Bela looked over in curiosity, fearing for the man’s safety. But when Kyia withdrew her hand, her magic pulled the bandages apart along the way.
Ethan’s arm was as good as new.
Did she... did she just heal him?
“I told you I tended to the sick and injured back in my world, did I not?” Kyia smiled, while Ethan was too shocked to say a thing. She giggled at his reaction, laying her hand over his bite wound and repeating the same measure again. “I can show you the true me. My heart only seeks to love, just as much as it wants to be loved. I want a world without sorrow. And if I am to be a mother again, my child can have that world as well.”
Her hand reached for his, but the moment they touched, he pulled away. “No, Kyia.”
A tear ran down her cheek, but all she did was take a step back. “You think that I can’t make you happy, but you won’t give me a chance. All I have ever done was look out for you. I took care of you when you felt weak, bearing your burdens without you having to shoulder mine. Ethan, is that not love?”
Bela could not take it anymore. “Get away from him, Kyia!”
“Or what?” The brunette glanced at her. “Are you going to cut me open, hmm? Slit my throat and let my blood drain into a glass? You’re sick, and you have no place in his life.”
Kyia eyed Ethan again, whispering softly as her hands rose to his chest. “Please don’t make this terrible decision, Ethan. I’m not going to hurt you. I would never do that. I offer myself to you because I know when I see the good in someone, and you are the most loving man that I have ever met. Let me take you back home, and I promise, when we figure everything out, evil will have no residence in your life.”
He stepped back to get away from her, only to suddenly trip off the edge of the opened hatch behind him. It would be that same steep fall once again, but just as his balance gave way, he felt his body become stiff—frozen in place as he hung there.
Kyia’s hand was already lit with that blue fire that pulsated around it. “I will always be there to save you, Ethan. Please, make the right choice.”
“No,” he said, rebuking her offer.
“Last chance…” Kyia somberly parted her lips. “You don’t find out what else is in this world.”
“I’ll take my chances,” he defiantly told her.
Kyia’s lips pressed together as her brow slowly pinched down, her glare unwavering as her eyes narrowed. Her nose lifted as her hand rotated, her fingers curling into her palm. Ethan felt the energy coursing around his body at that very instant.
“Your funeral,” Kyia lamented, echoing the words of a life that he would live in another timeline. She gently pulled him closer, allowing his feet to be placed back on the floor. Once he was steady, she released her magic’s hold, turning away from him with both her hands held down at her waist. “I hate to imagine that you are that foolish, but sadly, I must assume that you are.”
With a groan, Kyia pressed her hands toward the ceiling, her blue fire emanating throughout her body as she began to dance along the floor. It was a slow, classical display, with her arms angled across her body before they circled around her waist and hips, her torso craning to the side, right before she spun around. As soon as she stopped, Kyia hunched forward, her fingertips at her feet. In a swift movement, she then stood straight up, both her arms spreading apart as her head leaned back.
With her mouth wide open, the brunette raised her hands above her head, kicking her right leg back and throwing her arms down at her hips again. She ended the display with a fierce shout, the sound of the thunderous heavens above roaring with an unexpected ferocity. When she looked up at the astounded duo in front of her, her irises were adorned with a bright blue glow, which flickered out after several seconds.
“What is happening?” Bela’s eyes darted in all directions.
“This world is dead, Bela,” Kyia replied, her hands raging with bundles of blue flames. “You don’t know how strong of a fawn I am. They gave me the dagger for a reason, because my powers would not cause me to burnout. And if I must brag, I would say that I have become quite accustomed to opening portals to other worlds. Serpenmoor is about to be flooded with more of what came from Vikcia’s realm, and it doesn’t end there. Those openings are going to chain, reaching other lands across those waters. Everything that this wretched world is will be subjected to the same events that this city has seen. That is my parting gift to this damned realm.”
She then glanced at Ethan. “Let the wicked rest with the wicked, and let us leave this place. I still have not given up on you, because that is what love is all about.”
We must stop her!
Ethan felt his heart pound inside his chest. If Kyia’s words were to be believed, which they were, then she had just doomed this entire world to a horrific slaughter. Her potential had already been observed upon their arrival. The devastation that had been inflicted upon this city was worse than Hell itself. He knew that she could not be allowed to traverse the barriers and escape to another world, as she would only repeat her actions again.
He understood what he had to do. It was his only option.
“And the wicked shall rest.” He withdrew the pistol from his waistband, aiming it in her direction as quickly as he could. It was the fastest quickdraw that he had ever performed, powered by the urgency of the situation at hand.
Kyia’s eyes glinted at the sight of the weapon, just as Ethan pulled the trigger.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The fawn disappeared in an instant, her body dispersing into a field of blue particles. The three bullets that he had sent her way ended up striking the wall behind her. Bela jolted away, her ears ringing from the blasts.
“What the f*ck?” Ethan waved his pistol around, searching for where she had gone. Within a second, Kyia reappeared in the corner of the room, still looking at him the same way she had when he first drew on her. The man fired his gun once more, only for her to vanish again.
Where did she go?!
As Ethan stood there, he suddenly heard a loud metallic tear coming from behind him, outside of the control room.
Just as he turned around, he saw Kyia floating in the air above the piles of dead bodies below. Levitating at her right side was a large, jagged piece of metal that looked like it had been sheered off from the clock tower walls. The thin, pole-like implant was akin to a spear in the fawn’s hold. Her expression was a mix of apathy and despair.
It was the last thing he would see.
Using her magic, Kyia hurled the projectile straight at Ethan, impaling him through his chest.
Ethan!
Bela’s face dropped the moment she saw the impact, her screams of pure horror filling the entire room. She collapsed onto the floor, unable to do anything else but shout uncontrollably.
The tip of the metal burst through his back. It had landed in the center of his chest, straight through the heart. Ethan was knocked over when it slammed into him, reduced to a slow-moving state as his life slipped away. When Bela finally sprinted over to him, she cradled his head in her hands, the tears from her eyes falling onto his cheeks.
Ethan’s stare was blank, floating around in various directions, while his agonal gasps steadily trickled down to a breathless abyss. Blood pooled out from the edges of his wounds, coating the ground below him. The six-foot-long rusty spear, which jutted out from his sternum, was lined with various edges along its surface. The damage to his insides had to have been immeasurable.
There would be no saving him from this.
“No! No! No!” Bela sobbed over him as she watched his eyes cease all movement. It was like he was frozen in place, but she knew death when she saw it. Ethan Winters was gone.
Please! Please don’t let this be real!
She had never felt this kind of sorrow before. Her soul was crippled, torn apart by the vicious act of their former ally. Her pale hands wrapped around his head as hers lay against it, her torso bobbing with each breath that was pushed out of her.
Her embrace of him was only cut short the moment Kyia teleported into the room, her hand glowing with a blue aura. Bela felt her entire body lock up, paralyzed and out of her control. An unseen energy pulled her up from the ground and away from Ethan’s corpse. Before she knew it, she was slowly being dragged out of the room while the brunette floated just feet away from her.
I can’t move! What is this?! Where is she taking me?!
Kyia carried Bela out of the control room and into the open. The two women hovered roughly fifteen feet above the dead below. The blonde could only watch as the fawn held her in place, her expression indecisive, as if she were still debating what she would do next.
Tilting her head just a bit over her shoulder, Kyia sighed as she came to terms with what she had just done. Her green eyes then fixated on the woman in her magical grasp, leaving no hint of happiness or joy. “I can just kill you right now. It would take nothing to dismantle you. To crush you.”
“Please…” Bela pushed out her words past the binding tension that enveloped her like an invisible python.
With the simple curl of her finger, Kyia pulled Bela closer to her. Their faces were just inches apart. “Death at my hands would be too kind. I find it best to just leave you here. This is where you belong.”
With that, the glow in her hand went away, as did her hold on Bela’s body.
The blonde suddenly fell straight down onto the bodies below, enduring a painful landing in the process. Her vision was blurry, but she could still make out the shape of Kyia as the woman levitated above her.
My body… it hurts. I need to... I need to stop her.
With a loud scream, Kyia crossed her arms and threw them back to her sides, flames roaring out from her hands as she powered them up. In a horrifying spectacle of otherworldly powers, a blue-bordered window of fire suddenly opened before her. At its center was a glimpse into another realm—Bela’s.
Bela could see the snow-covered landscape of her village from down below. Castle Dimitrescu was in the background, flanked by the tall mountains that kept the valley so deeply hidden. Staring at the scenery before her, Kyia smiled at the prospect that lay ahead.
“Look familiar?” She peered down at Bela. “I think this world might be the refuge I have sought. No cities. No room for persecution. And if I’m not mistaken, there is a replicant of my dagger in your world, correct? I guess the flicker theory is true, after all.”
Bela pushed herself up onto her side, desperately reaching out for something that she could never obtain. “Kyia…”
“What’s wrong?” Her eyebrows were raised in a sinister fashion. “Would it not be to my liking? Is the lie of the Fabled Ones told there, as well?”
Before Bela could answer, Kyia chuckled her statement off, shaking her head as that grin on her face widened. “Why should I concern myself? I know how this game works. If your world is the same as this one..." Her hand lifted in the air, burning with a rageful flame. “Then I will bring about the darkness yet again, and then I will just have to find someplace else. For its sake, let’s hope that I am treated fairly.”
“Kyia, wait!” Bela screamed, but it would yield no concern.
The brunette moved closer to the window, reaching out as her fingers crossed the threshold. She could already feel the cold chill of the winter air on her skin. “Wish me luck in my new world, Bela, as I wish you luck in yours.”
Kyia ended her sentence with a wink, and then she flew into the portal, disappearing along with the window itself. In its wake, there was nothing but an array of blue particles that faded away. That was it. The fight was over.
Kyia had won.
Bela was left all alone in this wasteland of death and rot, weak and beaten down. She cried endlessly as her mind returned to the truth of Ethan’s fate. He was gone, murdered by someone he had trusted so greatly. The rest of her was still in shock, still reeling from every single revelation and tragic event that had transpired.
It would take her a while before she was finally able to get up and make her way back into the control room.
__________
With tears still running down the sides of her cheeks, Bela looked down at Ethan’s body. It was at the center of a massive pool of crimson, laid down on its side. She set down the bag that she had brought in and carefully pulled the jagged metal beam out from his torso, dropping it against the wall and listening to it as it clattered behind her.
She fell onto her knees, her dirtied hands pressing upon her mouth. Her compressed eyelids pushed out additional streams of heartache as she leaned over him.
I’m so sorry, Ethan. I didn’t know that this was going to happen.
Sitting down by his side, Bela reached into the bag and pulled out his coat, laying it on top of him so that she would not have to gaze at the carnage any longer. Ethan was nothing more than a hollow shell now. An empty vessel devoid of the loving soul who had captivated her, even though he was full of life not so long ago.
We were so close to making it out of here. So, so very close...
The next thing that she pulled out of the bag was his journal. Her fingers frantically flipped through the pages, searching for the entry that she wanted to read the most. Bela hoped to have been able to share this moment with him when they returned home, but now this was the only way that she’d be able to have it.
She found Ethan’s final entry, written after the moment they kissed.
“Dear Bela,
I write this to you because I don’t know how else to speak it. You and I have been through a lot together, ever since we first found ourselves in this new world. When I first saw you, you were my enemy. Someone who stood in the way of what I wanted. I guess time wasn’t our friend back where we came from. Time has a funny way of changing sides, I suppose.
It’s easy to be enemies when you don’t know anything about each other. Why build a bridge when you don’t know where you’re going? When I got to know you, I didn’t know what I was in for. Sometimes things just click. I don’t know how this was for you, but for me, I knew that I was always missing something in my life. When you’re not treated the way you wish to be, a part of you always seeks out that kind of thing. Maybe you do know, after all.
You’re laying there, sleeping right now, or at least trying to. I’ve been thinking about our kiss. Frankly, it’s been the only thing on my mind since it ended. It feels like we broke through fate. Something like this was never supposed to happen, but yet it did. I don’t know what awaits us when we return to our world. But we have so much to figure out when we get there. I look forward to it, though, because for the first time in my life, I feel like nothing is being kept from me.
If I can find my daughter, I want you to meet her. I think she’d like you.
I’ll leave it at this for now. I really hope I find the time to speak to you again soon. You have so much going on, and I want to be there for you every step of the way. We’re in this together. Together until the end.
Ethan.”
Her tears landed on the page, soddening the surface until she finally closed it. She laid the book down on her hip, her hand caressing his cheek. Whimpering through her lips, her mouth broke into a weak smile. Fragile and broken. Hoping for something that she would never get.
“Until the end,” she told him.
Bela gave him one final kiss on the lips, wailing when they failed to move under her touch.
“I love you, Ethan... but I never got to hear you say it back.” She took his hand, unable to let it go. “Do you love me? Please... tell me...”
Silence.
“Please…”
