Then, in the year 698 of the 12th cycle, Luke Timothy John, the Pope of The Way, set out to complete a critical mission he had put on hold. This was a confrontation he and only he must face alone. Before he departed, he gathered his students and told them he might not return from wherever he was going, but they should remain strong, continue to grow, and, crucially, none of them should ever come looking for him.
Just two years later, in the year 700 of the 12th cycle, a huge ray of holy light erupted, momentarily blinding and shaking the entire world. Then, in the year 705 of the 12th cycle, the Voice of The World reverberated once more, bestowing the power of Holy Lord upon a new person. The divine pronouncement echoed across the land: "With the disappearance of Pope Luke Timothy John, you Michael Amon Husia, have been chosen to wield the power of the Holy Lord, to lead the people in the way." With the official appointment of this new pope, it was made unequivocally clear to the world: the former pope had vanished. This left the McKellen family utterly devastated, but the most profound hurt was felt by Anna, Beth, and Annabeth, whose hearts ached with his absence.
Two months after everything had somewhat quieted, Anna found Beth curled up in her room, weeping. Without a word, Anna hugged her sister from behind, remaining with her in comforting silence for hours. Once Beth had finally calmed, Anna began to speak, her voice soft but resonant.
"We were once one before we were two. But even though we're two, we share the same memories, emotions, and love." She paused, allowing her words to settle in the quiet space. "My dear sister Beth, for I know, you know, we know our love runs far deeper than we understand. Our love, a pure, endless ocean, has been tainted with grief and heartbreak. Our hearts ache and quake like an erupting volcano, its lava searing us from deep within—yet in total silence. We wake to nightmares we pray never to witness again, and we drift into dreams we wish would stretch into eternity. Our minds and eyes bleed, relentlessly searching for an answer we know, with painful certainty, will never come."
"We've cowered long enough in grief and heartbreak, while doing nothing." Anna declared, her voice rising with newfound resolve. "We curl up in pain and sorrow, as the lava roasts us inside out." Her voice grew louder, echoing with conviction. "My dearest sister Beth, enough is enough. For we need conviction, resolution, and absoluteness, for the vast world of Azure lies right before us. Beckoning us to come, come explore, come find, come heal."
"But, but..." Beth stammered, tears welling again.
"I understand what you want to say, Beth. But we need to be one, we need Annabeth. The vast world lies out there, while we wallow in here doing absolutely nothing except grieving."
"But he told us not to come after him, Anna. To stay strong… we must honor his last wishes to us," Beth pleaded, her voice trembling.
Anna replied to Beth's plea with a chilling intensity, "Honor? I—for I have honor only to me. Why should I show honor to his wishes… When he belongs to us?" Her voice cracked with raw emotion, but her eyes burned—cold, defiant. "He made us. He shaped everything we are. And then he vanished. Left behind silence and ache and stories we weren't ready to end. So don't speak to me of honor, Beth. Not when it's our hearts bleeding for the one who made them beat."
"Here was our master… our friend, our godfather… our first love. Don't you have any pride left, Anna? Any pride to honor his last wishes—as someone who claims to love him wholeheartedly?" Beth shot back, her voice laced with pain and accusation.
"Pride, you say? Oh, Beth… I do have pride." Anna responded, her head lifting, eyes shining with a cold, resolute light. She took a step forward, her voice rising with each word.
"Pride to raise my honor high above all. Pride to flaunt my truth without shame. Pride to show the world that I am above them."
Her tone sharpened, laced with raw, untamed self-worth as she begins to exalt her bloodline.
"I am a Drakosylvan—a hybrid, a fusion of dragon and dryad, a rare existence. I am the niece of a Brave Hero, forged in fire and battle. I am the great-granddaughter of King Al, rightful ruler of Velmunth. My lineage is might. My very being, legend."
She narrows her eyes, her voice like a sharpened blade.
"So tell me, sister… Why must we lower our pride, To honor the wishes of someone who belongs to us?"
As they both began to embody their two aspects—Anna rising in defiant pride—Annabeth Ruth McKellen, already a fading echo, dimmed even further. Like fog thinning in sunlight, the once-whole self grew more obscure with every step Anna took toward her true aspect. With each word, each breath of conviction, the presence of Annabeth became little more than a memory—distant, dissolving, and on the verge of vanishing altogether.
Beth stood, breath shallow, eyes glistening with desperation. "Anna… this isn't just pride anymore. You're walking a path we can't come back from."
But Anna… she didn't hesitate.
"I have lived long enough in the shadow of heartbreak," she said, her voice colder now, weightier. She paused. "...It's only been two months."
The words didn't shake—they struck.
"And if grief was a flame, then Power… Power is the ash that follows."
She stepped forward, and the air around her thickened—heavy, electric, almost reverent.
"I have pride," she continued, "but what is pride without Power?" Her voice echoed—not loud, but absolute.
"Power to bend the world before my will. Power to forge a path, even if it scorches all that lies before it. Power to protect what I love, even if what I love breaks in the process."
Her eyes, once dimmed with sorrow, now shimmered with purpose.
"I am no longer a girl searching for someone who chose to disappear. I am the daughter of strength, the heir of dragons, the will of the forest—and I will not be powerless again."
"Power? What do you speak of?" Beth tried to laugh, but nothing came out. "For over 200 years we've been in existence. We've only mastered the abilities that come with being a Drakosylvan and our color lineage, and have only undergone our first natural evolution. And all this was done by Annabeth, not us. So tell me, Anna—where do you get the idea of being powerful? When the one or thing who made a Profound Human, a realm just beneath the genderless, disappear from this world?"
At Beth's words, Annabeth beamed—just a little. A faint flicker. Thinner than anything, yet still there.
As Beth tried to continue, Anna leaned on her shoulder—surprising her, silencing her.
Her voice dropped to a quiet murmur.
"Evolving, you speak of. You, I, and Annabeth know why we never evolve. Yes... because of childbirth. As a Drakosylvan hybrid, evolution comes to us in the same way as Uncle Matthew. We can evolve whenever we want to... ain't that right, Beth?"
Beth's voice cracked as she stepped forward.
"You're not thinking right, Anna. How can you say he's ours? Who are you? Where's my sister—what have you done to her? Because whoever stands before me right now… isn't the sister I know."
Anna barely blinked.
"Then you've never known me, sister."
She straightened her posture, her words like steel.
"We're superior beings—above anyone else. Why should we honour the wishes of a measly pope? Why should we cower in fear of the world, when we can gain strength as easily as drinking? The world should bow to us… for we are their New Rulers."
Beth dropped to her knees, covering her ears.
"Shut up! Shut up! I don't want to hear your delusions anymore!"
Anna stared at her, voice now hollow but cutting.
"I thought we loved him… But I can see now—your love wasn't genuine."
She stepped closer, eyes cold, calm.
"You know what? I came here for Annabeth. But after talking with you… the fog in my head has finally cleared."
"I'm a being above all else. I need no one."
Bending down, she gently kissed Beth on the forehead. Then she turned to the door.
"I guess this is goodbye, sister."
She opened it, but paused—one foot past the threshold.
"Until we meet again… I hope you still won't be a coward by then."
She shut the door behind her.
Beth collapsed onto the ground, sobbing tears and blood.
And at that moment—
The already-faded, near-obscure Annabeth Ruth McKellen… completely ceased to exist.