The darkness swallowed everything.
I couldn't see Shawshank.
I couldn't see the First Queen.
I couldn't see the woman who looked like me.
I could only hear Nerath laughing.
Then I heard Shawshank.
"Bjei!"
I reached toward his voice.
"Shawshank!"
A hand grabbed mine.
His.
I held on tightly.
"I'm here," he whispered.
I pressed myself against him.
"I thought I'd lost you."
"You won't."
"How can you promise that?"
"Because I already found you once."
His forehead touched mine.
"And I'll keep finding you."
For a moment, the darkness disappeared.
Then something inside my head cracked.
A memory returned.
I saw myself standing before five worlds.
They were connected by golden chains.
The sea.
The sky.
The land.
The fourth world.
The fifth world.
All of them were breaking apart.
And I was standing in the middle.
Alone.
Shawshank was nowhere.
I screamed his name.
Then I heard him.
"Bjei, don't do it!"
I turned.
He was trapped inside a wall of darkness.
Nerath stood behind him.
"If you save him," Nerath said, "the worlds will collapse."
I looked at Shawshank.
He was shaking his head.
"No."
"Don't choose me."
I started crying.
"I can't lose you."
"You have to let me go."
"No!"
I reached for him.
Nerath smiled.
"That is your weakness."
I suddenly understood.
Love had never been my weakness.
They had simply convinced me it was.
I looked at the five worlds.
Then at Shawshank.
And I made my choice.
I raised my hands.
Golden light exploded from my body.
The five worlds separated.
Shawshank disappeared.
And I disappeared with him.
The memory ended.
I collapsed.
Shawshank caught me.
I was crying.
"I remember."
He looked frightened.
"What?"
"I remember what happened."
The First Queen stepped closer.
"What did you see?"
I looked at her.
"I sacrificed myself."
She nodded.
"To save the worlds."
I shook my head.
"No."
Everyone became silent.
"I sacrificed myself to save Shawshank."
The First Queen's eyes widened.
"And the worlds survived because your sacrifice separated them."
I nodded.
Then the woman with my face stepped forward.
"You chose him."
"Yes."
She stared at me for a long moment.
"And what happened to me?"
I didn't know how to answer.
The First Queen did.
"She became the part of you that carried everything you refused to carry."
The woman laughed bitterly.
"My pain."
"Yes."
"My anger."
"Yes."
"My hatred."
"Yes."
She looked at me.
"And you got to live without remembering any of it."
Tears filled my eyes.
"I didn't know."
"I know."
Her voice softened.
"That is why I hated you."
I stepped toward her.
"But I don't want us to hate each other anymore."
She stared at me.
"You can't erase what happened."
"I don't want to."
I reached for her hand.
"I want to understand it."
She looked at my hand.
For a long moment, she didn't move.
Then she took it.
The moment our hands touched, golden and black light wrapped around us.
I felt her pain.
Every year she spent alone.
Every scream.
Every memory.
Every moment she wanted someone to come for her.
I began crying.
"So much pain…"
She whispered,
"Now you know."
I pulled her into my arms.
She stiffened.
Then slowly hugged me back.
For the first time, the darkness inside her began fading.
But suddenly—
Nerath screamed.
"No!"
The chamber shook violently.
The black crown appeared above him.
"You were never supposed to become whole!"
I looked at him.
"Why?"
His face twisted with rage.
"Because if you become whole…"
He looked terrified.
"…you will remember what you did to me."
My heart stopped.
"What did I do?"
Nerath stepped backward.
"You created me."
Silence.
The First Queen lowered her crown.
"That is the final secret."
I stared at Nerath.
"You're saying I created you?"
He smiled.
"I didn't begin as darkness."
His eyes turned black.
"You made me."
The fifth world began collapsing again.
The five worlds shook together.
And suddenly, a voice came from above.
Lyra.
"Bjei…"
Her voice was fading.
"Do not believe everything he tells you."
I looked up.
"Mother?"
Her voice trembled.
"There is one truth even the First Queen has hidden."
I froze.
"What truth?"
Lyra whispered:
"Nerath was never your enemy."
Then her voice disappeared.
And the fifth world went completely dark.