Rather than continue serving as unwitting instruments of a will they could no longer trust, rather than risk becoming, in truth, nothing more than extensions of the very power they had once existed to check, the Choosers made a final decision together.
They chose extinction.
Before they disappeared, Liora saw, they had left behind one last message, inscribed into memory itself, waiting patiently for however long it might take before someone capable of understanding it finally arrived.
*If the Chooser returns,* the message read, *let them choose freely.*
Liora felt the compass in her hand grow warm, and looking down, she saw its needle spinning with an intensity she had never witnessed before, resonating not toward any external point, but toward something — someone — much closer.
