"No one ever does," Lyra replied. "But we plan anyway."
Seraphine's portal stabilized. "It's time. The gateway will only remain open for a few minutes."
Satou took one last look at his settlement—at the people he'd built this for, at the two women he loved, at everything he'd achieved since he had been reincarnated into this new world .
Then he stepped through the portal with Cassius beside him.
The last thing he saw before the gateway closed was Lyra and Jessica holding each other, both of them trying to be strong while tears streamed down their faces.
The portal deposited them on a hillside overlooking a vast valley. The transition was disorienting—one moment in his settlement with its familiar sights and sounds, the next standing in completely foreign territory.
But what territory it was.
