The scream wasn't sound.
It was space tearing.Time convulsing.Reality rejecting what Kael had just done.
The moment his hands closed around Eliora's shoulders, the Between buckled like a glass sphere crushed in a fist.
Light carved across the sky—fracturing everything into shards of shifting timelines.
Kael pulled Eliora into him, refusing to let her slip away.Her form flickered—solid one second, transparent the next, like she was caught between existence and memory.
"Stay with me," he hissed.His voice was shaking.He didn't care.
Her fingers curled weakly into his shirt, but her eyes—Kael's breath froze.
They weren't hers anymore.
They were glowing white-gold, bright enough to cast shadows, swirling with fragments of futures that weren't supposed to touch her.
"Kael…" she whispered, voice echoing with overlapping tones."I can't… I can't tell which one is me."
Behind them, the alternate Kael swore—actually swore—under his breath.
"Idiot—You chose for her. You forced the anchor."
Kael bared his teeth.
"I'm saving her."
"You're overwriting her!"
Reality shuddered again, splitting open like a cracked mirror. Through the fractures, Kael saw flashes of things that should not be physically visible:
—Eliora fighting beside him in a war-torn realm—Eliora lying on a stone altar, lifeless—Eliora crowned in celestial fire—Eliora whispering his true name, a name he didn't remember learning—Eliora turning her back on him, blade in hand
Each version—each possibility—was being pulled toward her, collapsing into one shape.
Into one fate.
And Kael was the gravitational center forcing it all to fuse.
He tightened his hold, voice shaking.
"No. No, I refuse to let her be rewritten."
"You already have!" the alternate Kael snapped, stepping forward."Look at her! She's merging with every version tied to your power. That's irreversible!"
Eliora winced, clutching her head as if a thousand voices were screaming inside her skull.
"Kael… make it stop… I don't want their memories—I don't want their deaths—"
Kael grabbed her face gently, forcing her eyes to meet his.
"I won't let you disappear. You hear me? Not in this world. Not any world."
Her breaths were quick, panicked.
"Then—"She gasped as her form glitched, becoming light and shadow."Then tell me which version I'm supposed to be."
The question struck like a blade.
Kael froze.
His heartbeat stuttered.
Because the truth was:
He didn't want one version of her.He wanted her.This Eliora.The one he had chosen.
And choosing her meant destroying every alternate possibility trying to force its way into her.
He swallowed hard.
"You're the you I want," he whispered fiercely."The one right here in front of me."
Her breath shuddered out.
But the alternate Kael slammed his palm into the ground.A shockwave rolled out, stabilizing the collapsing space just enough to buy a few seconds.
"Then you'd better fight for her," he said sharply."Because every version of her linked to you is trying to merge. And if you don't choose one—this one—she'll be forced into a conglomerate of every possible existence."
Kael gritted his teeth.
"What do I do?"
The alternate Kael lifted his gaze.
And for the first time, Kael saw fear in those golden eyes.
"You don't stabilize her."He pointed a finger directly at Kael's chest."You stabilize yourself."
Eliora trembled violently in Kael's arms, her voice breaking.
"Kael—please—everything hurts—I'm losing—"
Power surged around them, wild and chaotic, ripping apart what remained of the Between.
Kael held her tighter, refusing to let go.
He closed his eyes.
Forced himself to breathe.
To focus.
To anchor.
Not to her…but to the truth inside him.
That terrifying, overwhelming truth:
He loved her.
And the moment he accepted it fully—unconditionally—the unstable power inside him roared.
His skin lit up with burning runes.The fractures in reality froze mid-shatter.The timelines screaming through Eliora's veins recoiled—
Because for the first time, Kael's choice was absolute.
"Eliora," he whispered, forehead pressed to hers,"You are the one I choose. And I won't let any version of reality take that from you."
The white-gold glow in her eyes flickered.
Her fingers tightened around his wrist.
She breathed his name—
"Kael…"
And the Betweencollapsedin a single, deafening burst of light.