Vencian's knees pressed against the shifting ground. His breath came fast. Before him stood the two figures—the one he wished he wasn't and the one he never wanted to meet.
Both stared down at him.
The fog turned, thickening into movement. The burning corridors fell away. Cold air rushed in.
When the world settled again, the battlefield was gone. The Laauar plains stretched beneath a gray sky, frost biting the air. The same place where he had killed a man for the first time.
He looked down at his hands. They still looked clean. I killed someone here. The thought crawled up through his throat. I did it myself. If I were still that Luke, I wouldn't have been able to. He closed his eyes. That's why I changed. But for what? Every path brings me back here—to the same person I've been trying to erase.
When he opened his eyes, the two figures towered over him. He wasn't sure if they had grown or if he had sunk lower, but they looked immense. Luke's dull eyes met his first.
