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She couldn’t take her eyes off him. He was barely three feet away, Aven’s power having blasted him through the air and nearly to her side.

Refusing to believe what she was seeing, Alex crawled towards him on quaking limbs, placing her hand against his still warm cheek.

“Kaiden?” she whispered, the sound barely escaping her lips.

He didn’t blink, didn’t turn towards her. His beautiful blue eyes just stared into nothing.

“K-Kaiden!” she cried, a sob leaving her partway through his name. She grabbed his shoulders and gave a gentle shake, and when that didn’t work, she gave a rough shake, jostling his entire body.

Still, he didn’t awaken.

“No,” Alex whimpered. “No, no,p-please no.”

She couldn’t stop looking at him; atallof them. Devastation gripped her.Crippledher. Sitting there with her hands now placed protectively on Kaiden’s chest, numbness took hold, heading right for the shattered pieces of her soul.

This was too much.

This was too much.

She couldn’t—

She couldn’t—

“Nowthisis what I have longed to see,” Aven crowed, sauntering towards her, his eyes alight with triumph. “The look on your face—that’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

Alex could say nothing. Could do nothing.

Her heart—

Her heart—

“I’m almost tempted to leave you alive, this torture beyond anything I could hope to replicate,” he continued, closing the distance between them. “But you’ve been a thorn in my side for too many years to count, dearest Aeylia, thanks to your journey through time. It’s no longer enough for me to take away those you love—you must also join them.”

Alex raised flooded eyes to his just in time to see him position his sword above her head. But as he did so, she also heard his words repeat in her mind.

‘… your journey through time.’

‘… your journey through time.’

‘… your journey through time.’

And then she heard another voice, that of the Library.

‘You have always been the master of your own destiny. Now is the time to choose your path and follow where it might lead.’

This was not Alex’s path.

This was not her destiny.

She refused to accept this end.

‘If there’s anyone who can do the impossible, it’s you.’

Athora was right.

She would make sure of it.

So, as Vae’varka swung down to meet her, Alex moved. Not to attack Aven, not to defend against his strike. Instead, she tore away from Kaiden and sprinted towards the Tower, passing body after body as she all but flew across the silent battleground.