We ran.
Not the heroic kind of running where music swells and capes flap.
This was the oh-god-the-castle-is-exploding-and-I'm-in-slippers kind of running.
"LEFT!" Normilyn shouted.
"I DON'T KNOW THIS PLACE!" I yelled back.
"Exactly why you should listen!"
We skidded around a corner as a fireball obliterated the hallway behind us. Heat blasted my back.
I tripped.
Of course I did.
I braced for pain—but didn't hit the floor.
Normilyn had stopped, gripping my wrist with impossible strength for someone who looked like she still got asked for ID at taverns.
"Don't die here," she said calmly.
"EXCUSE ME?"
She yanked me up, and we kept running.
We burst through a door and tumbled into open air.
I screamed.
Then—thud.
Grass.
Soft. Green. Very alive.
I lay there gasping, staring at the sky.
Two suns.
"…Okay," I wheezed. "That confirms it."
Normilyn collapsed beside me, laughing like she'd just watched her favorite comedy.
I sat up. "You. Blue dress. Future stalker energy. Explain. Now."
She wiped her eyes. "You're alive longer than expected."
"That is NOT an explanation!"
She studied me closely, like she was checking if something was broken.
"Huh," she murmured. "You still joke at this point."
"AT THIS POINT?"
She hugged her knees. "You're the seventh Jj."
My brain shut down.
"…The what."
"The seventh version," she said gently. "Same face. Same name. Same world. Slight differences each time."
I laughed weakly. "Wow. Great prank."
"The first one died screaming."
My laughter vanished.
"What happens to the others?" I asked.
"They die," she said simply.
Silence.
"And you just watch?" I whispered.
"No," she replied softly. "I fall in love."
My chest tightened.
"With each one?"
"Yes."
"That's messed up."
"I know."
She met my eyes. "But this time is different."
"Why?"
"You survived the summoning."
A horn echoed from the castle.
Normilyn stood and placed something cold in my hand.
A dagger. Black metal. Symbols pulsing faintly.
"You didn't have this before," she said.
I stared at it.
"…Why does it feel like it knows me?"
She smiled.
"Because you made it."