Part 2 — The Price of a Second Chance
"You brought me back once."
**I AM:** "Yes."
He stepped forward.
"And this time, Whitefall happened."
**I AM:** "It did."
David's breathing quickened.
"Then it worked."
The ancient presence remained silent.
"You changed the outcome. You gave me another chance, and we saved the planet."
His eyes filled with a fragile, desperate hope.
"Then we can do it again."
**I AM:** "David..."
He moved closer.
"Listen to me. This time, don't take my memories."
His voice trembled.
"Send me back with everything I know. Let me remember Kharos Vale, the Fallen, Vireth, all of it."
He swallowed.
"I'll know what to do differently."
The column of light remained motionless.
David continued, speaking faster now.
"I can warn my parents before they leave. I can make sure Gamma Squad survives. I can stop everything that happened on Kharos Vale before it ever begins."
He took another step forward.
"And Nyra..."
His voice broke.
"I can save Nyra."
For the first time since learning about the original future, David allowed himself to imagine something other than loss.
A future in which his parents came home.
A future in which Gamma Squad never stood before Nyra's coffin.
A future in which the girl he loved was waiting for him at the lake house.
He looked into the light.
"Please, I AM."
Tears rolled down his cheeks.
"You've already done it once."
His hands trembled.
"Just give me one more chance."
The column of white light remained silent.
David stood before it, his breathing uneven, waiting for the ancient presence to answer.
For the first time since Nyra's death, he had found something to hold on to.
A possibility.
Not a memory of what they had lost, or another promise that time would somehow make the pain easier to bear.
A chance to change everything.
He knew now that I AM had already altered his life once. The future in which Kharos Vale fell to Greyfall had been replaced by one in which humanity achieved Whitefall.
The impossible had already happened.
Surely that meant it could happen again.
David stepped closer to the light.
"Please say something."
The radiance illuminated his face, revealing the tears still gathered along his cheeks.
"I know what you're going to say. That there are consequences. That I don't understand everything."
He swallowed.
"But I don't need to understand everything. I just need you to send me back."
**I AM:** "David, what you ask cannot be granted."
The hope in his expression faltered.
"What?"
**I AM:** "I cannot return you to the past again."
David stared at the column.
For several moments, he said nothing.
Then he shook his head.
"No. You just told me you did it before."
**I AM:** "I did."
"Then do it again."
**I AM:** "It is not possible."
David let out a strained breath.
"How can you say that?"
He gestured toward the darkness around them.
"You brought me here. You changed the future. You sent me back to before my sixteenth birthday and erased an entire life from my memory."
His voice rose.
"Don't stand there and tell me something is impossible when you've already done it!"
**I AM:** "There are rules you do not understand, David. Rules that cannot be broken."
David stared at the light.
"Rules?"
**I AM:** "Yes."
He looked away, struggling to contain his frustration.
"Whose rules?"
The ancient presence did not answer.
David turned back.
"Who decided you could send me back once but not again?"
**I AM:** "The restrictions governing such an act are not matters I can simply disregard."
"That's not what I asked."
**I AM:** "I know."
David gave a short, disbelieving laugh.
"Of course you do."
He rubbed both hands over his face.
"Of course you know."
His voice trembled.
"You know everything, don't you? You know what happened before. You know what happened this time. You know what happened to my parents, to Gamma Squad, to Nyra."
He lowered his hands.
"But when I ask you to do something about it, suddenly there are rules."
The column of light remained motionless.
David stepped forward.
"Then break them."
**I AM:** "I cannot."
"Why not?"
**I AM:** "Because there are boundaries that even I must obey."
David shook his head.
"I don't care about boundaries."
**I AM:** "You should."
"Why?"
His voice cracked.
"What happens if you break them? What could possibly be worse than everything you've just told me?"
The ancient presence remained silent.
David stared at the light, waiting.
He had spent so much of his life following orders.
At the Academy, Commander Vance had taught him that rules existed for a reason. Soldiers who ignored them endangered their squads, and reckless decisions could cost lives.
He understood that.
But rules had not saved Nyra.
They had not saved his parents.
And according to I AM, they had not saved anyone in the original future either.
David's expression hardened.
"If following your rules means leaving her dead, then I don't want to follow them."
**I AM:** "Your grief is clouding your judgment."
"Of course it is!"
The words burst from him.
David took a breath, but his voice remained strained.
"How could it not?"
He looked down at his hands.
"Hours ago, I stood beside her coffin. I watched her father accept medals she would never get to wear. I watched everyone try to say goodbye to someone who should've been standing there with us."
He swallowed painfully.
"And tonight, I sat on the rooftop with the people I have left. We talked about summer. We talked about visiting each other and keeping Gamma Squad together."
His eyes filled again.
"But every time someone said something funny, I kept looking toward the place where she should've been sitting."
David lifted his gaze.
"Do you know what that feels like?"
**I AM:** "I know the depth of your suffering."
"No."
David shook his head.
"You know what happened. That's not the same thing."
The light remained silent.
He looked away, struggling to steady his breathing.
For a moment, his anger faded beneath the exhaustion.
"I don't want to fight with you."
His voice softened.
"I really don't."
He turned back toward the radiance.
"You've helped me before. I know that. Whatever you are, you've been there when I needed you."
He paused.
"And maybe you really did save me by bringing me back the first time."
His eyes searched the brilliant column.
"But I need you now."
David stepped into the circle of light.
"More than I ever have."
His voice broke.
"Please don't tell me there's nothing you can do."
For a long moment, the ancient presence remained silent.
Then it spoke.
**I AM:** "When Nyra's life was lost, I sought to alter what had occurred."
David froze.
He stared at the light.
"What?"
**I AM:** "I attempted to return you to an earlier point."
His heart began pounding.
"You tried?"
**I AM:** "Yes."
David remembered something from Kharos Vale.
A darkness.
A voice.
A strange sensation he had barely understood before losing consciousness.
He had dismissed it afterward as another fragment of his exhausted mind.
Now he wondered whether there had been more to it.
"What happened?"
**I AM:** "The attempt failed."
David's expression tightened.
"Failed how?"
**I AM:** "The return was not permitted."
He stared at the column.
"Not permitted?"
**I AM:** "The past remained unchanged."
David shook his head.
"Then try again."
**I AM:** "The result would be the same."
"You don't know that."
**I AM:** "I do."
"How?"
The ancient presence did not answer.
David took another step forward.
"How can you be so sure?"
**I AM:** "Because the restriction remains."
He clenched his fists.
"Then find another way!"
His voice rang through the darkness.
"You're telling me you can change an entire future, but you can't find one way around this?"
**I AM:** "There is no path available to me that would restore what you have lost."
David stared at the light.
For several seconds, he couldn't speak.
Then he slowly lowered his head.
"No."
The word was barely audible.
"No, there has to be something."
He pressed his fingers against his forehead, trying to think.
There had to be another possibility.
Another condition.
Something he could change.
He had spent his entire time at the Academy learning that strength came at a cost. Every new ability required effort, every increase in power demanded greater risks, and every victory had been earned through pain.
Perhaps this was no different.
Perhaps I AM simply needed something in exchange.
David slowly lifted his head.
"What if I gave you something?"
The ancient presence remained silent.
David stepped closer.
"What if there's a price?"
**I AM:** "What do you mean?"
He swallowed.
"The System."
The words came out suddenly.
David looked toward the light.
"Take it."
**I AM:** "David..."
"I'm serious."
His voice grew steadier.
"Take the System away from me. Every quest, every level, every attribute. I don't need any of it."
He opened his hands.
"I spent so long thinking it was the reason I could protect everyone. I thought if I kept getting stronger, I'd eventually reach a point where nothing could hurt the people I cared about."
His expression twisted.
"But it didn't save her."
David lowered his gaze.
"So take it back."
The darkness remained silent.
He continued before I AM could respond.
"Take Spatial Severance, too. I don't care how powerful it is."
He thought of the relic he had discovered on the unknown planet, the impossible force that had allowed him to cut through space itself.
He had once believed that ability might become the key to overcoming enemies far stronger than himself.
Now its power seemed meaningless.
"Take Shadow Step. Predator Step. My gauntlets, my abilities, everything I've learned."
His voice trembled.
"Take all of it."
**I AM:** "Your abilities are not a price that can purchase another life."
David shook his head.
"Then tell me what is."
**I AM:** "There is no exchange that will change this outcome."
"There has to be!"
He stepped forward so abruptly that he nearly entered the column itself.
The light did not move.
David stood within arm's reach of it, his face wet with tears.
"Everything has a cost. You taught me that. Every battle, every decision, every time I used my abilities, there was always something I had to risk."
His hands trembled.
"So let me risk something now."
**I AM:** "David, this is not a matter of sacrifice."
"Then make it one!"
His voice cracked.
"Take my levels. Make me start over. I don't care if I have to become the weakest person at the Academy again."
He swallowed.
"I'll train. I'll fight. I'll do everything all over again if that's what it takes."
The ancient presence remained silent.
David continued, desperation driving his words faster.
"Take away every advantage you've ever given me. Let me go back without the System, without my abilities, without anything."
He paused.
"Just let me keep my memories."
His voice softened.
"That's all I need."
He looked toward the light.
"If I remember what happened, I can change it."
For a moment, he pictured the first day he had met Nyra.
He could still see her standing among the other cadets, her silver-white hair catching the light as she turned toward him.
He remembered their first training sessions, the way she encouraged him when he doubted himself, and the quiet conversations that had slowly become the moments he looked forward to most.
He could go back.
He could meet her again.
And this time, he would know how little time they might have.
David's shoulders trembled.
"I'll tell her."
**I AM:** "Tell her what?"
"Everything."
A tear slipped down his cheek.
"I won't wait until we're dying on a battlefield to tell her I love her."
He tried to smile, but couldn't.
"I'll tell her the first chance I get. I'll take her to that lake house. I'll meet her father, and I'll make sure she gets to have the summer she wanted."
His breathing became uneven.
"I'll make sure she gets to grow old."
He closed his eyes.
"Even if she doesn't choose me."
The words hurt, but he forced himself to continue.
"If changing things means she falls in love with someone else, then fine."
He opened his eyes.
"I can live with that."
His voice broke.
"I can live without her loving me."
He swallowed painfully.
"I just can't stand knowing she never got the chance to live."
The light remained silent.
David lowered his head.
For several moments, he could only hear his own unsteady breathing.
Then another thought occurred to him.
He looked up.
"What about my future?"
**I AM:** "Explain."
"Take that instead."
He spread his arms slightly.
"Whatever you had planned for me. Whatever you wanted me to become."
His voice grew desperate.
"Give it to someone else."
**I AM:** "David—"
"I don't need some great destiny."
He shook his head.
"I don't care about becoming stronger than the Twelve Families. I don't care about exploring other worlds or discovering why the System chose me."
His expression tightened.
"I don't even care if anyone remembers my name."
He looked directly into the light.
"Just let Nyra live."
The ancient presence remained motionless.
David's voice dropped to a whisper.
"You said the first future wasn't what you envisioned for me."
**I AM:** "Yes."
"Then forget whatever future you envisioned this time."
He swallowed.
"Give it to her."
A long silence followed.
**I AM:** "I cannot transfer the course of one life to another."
David stared at the column.
"Then take mine."
The words settled into the darkness.
For the first time, the ancient presence seemed to hesitate.
**I AM:** "David."
He stood perfectly still.
"If that's what it takes, then take my life instead of hers."
His voice was quiet, but there was no uncertainty in it.
"I don't want anyone else to die. I don't want my friends to suffer. I don't want her father to stand beside another coffin."
Tears continued rolling down his face.
"If one of us has to be gone, let it be me."
**I AM:** "Your death would not restore hers."
David's expression crumpled.
"Why?"
His voice cracked.
"Why won't anything work?"
**I AM:** "Because what you seek cannot be obtained through an exchange."
David looked away.
He had offered everything he possessed.
His power.
His abilities.
His future.
Even his own life.
And none of it was enough.
For a long time, he stood silently beside the light.
The hope that had carried him through the conversation was beginning to collapse.
He tried to think of another possibility, another question, another thing he could offer.
But nothing came.
His shoulders slowly sank.
"Then..."
He struggled to speak.
"Then can you at least let me see her?"
The ancient presence remained silent.
David looked up.
"Just once."
His voice was barely audible.
"I don't need you to bring her back. I don't need you to change anything."
He wiped his eyes.
"Can you show me her?"
**I AM:** "I cannot return her presence to you."
David swallowed.
"What about her voice?"
He took a small step forward.
"Can you let me hear her voice?"
His breathing hitched.
"Even if it's only for a moment."
The light remained still.
David tried again.
"She used to say my name in this particular way when she thought I was worrying too much."
A faint, broken smile crossed his face.
"She'd look at me and tell me to stop carrying everything by myself."
He closed his eyes.
"I can remember what she sounded like. Most of the time."
His expression tightened.
"But I'm scared that one day I won't."
He opened his eyes.
"Please."
His voice trembled.
"Just let me hear her say my name."
**I AM:** "I cannot."
David stared at the light.
For several moments, he didn't move.
Then he lowered his head.
The silence became unbearable.
He had asked for another chance.
He had offered everything.
And when even that had failed, he had begged for something as small as hearing the voice of the girl he loved.
Still, the answer had been no.
David pressed a hand against his chest.
The ache there seemed almost physical.
He thought about Nyra laughing beside him.
Her hand slipping into his.
The warmth of her forehead resting against his.
He remembered the way she had looked at him during their final moments on Kharos Vale.
And suddenly, the knowledge that he would never hear her voice again felt impossible to endure.
"Why did you let me meet her?"
The question emerged so quietly that it barely seemed spoken.
The ancient presence remained silent.
David slowly raised his head.
"If you knew all of this could happen..."
His eyes filled again.
"Why did you let me fall in love with her?"
**I AM:** "I did not determine whom you would love."
"But you changed my life."
His voice grew stronger.
"You sent me back. You took my memories. You put me on a path where I met her again."
**I AM:** "The choices you made upon that path were your own."
David stared at the light.
"Then why couldn't you let me make this choice?"
**I AM:** "Because the choice you seek is not yours to make."
Something inside David shifted.
He looked at the column, his grief slowly giving way to a deeper anger.
"Not mine?"
**I AM:** "There are events beyond your control."
David let out a bitter laugh.
"Everything seems to be beyond my control."
He stepped backward.
"My parents died, and I couldn't stop it. Nyra died, and I couldn't stop it. You erased my memories, and I didn't even know it happened."
His hands curled into fists.
"And now you're telling me I don't get to decide whether I can try to save her?"
**I AM:** "I am telling you that the path you seek is closed."
David shook his head.
"Then what good are you?"
The question escaped before he could stop it.
The ancient presence remained silent.
David looked directly into the light.
"You keep telling me you're here to guide me."
His voice trembled with anger.
"Guide me where?"
He gestured toward the darkness.
"To another battlefield? Another war? Another person I have to watch die?"
**I AM:** "David, your anger is understandable, but you must not allow it to consume you."
"Why not?"
**I AM:** "You have already seen what grief and rage can drive you toward."
David remembered Kharos Vale.
Vireth standing before him.
The crimson rapier piercing his shoulder.
The fury that had consumed him after Nyra died.
He remembered wanting nothing more than to destroy the Fallen responsible, regardless of what happened to himself.
**I AM:** "You stood against an enemy far beyond your strength, with little regard for whether you survived."
David's expression hardened.
"He killed her."
**I AM:** "And in your grief, you nearly surrendered everything that remained of your future."
David stared at the column.
"Who cares?"
The ancient presence fell silent.
David took another step forward.
"Who cares what happens to my future?"
His voice rose.
"Everyone keeps talking about it like it's something I'm supposed to be grateful for."
He shook his head.
"Whitefall happened. Humanity won. The Academy is celebrating. Everyone gets to go home tomorrow."
His eyes burned.
"And Nyra is dead."
The words echoed through the emptiness.
David's breathing became ragged.
"You keep telling me there's some future waiting for me, but you won't tell me what it is. You won't tell me why I'm important. You won't tell me why you brought me back."
He pointed toward the light.
"And when I finally ask you to do the one thing that matters to me, you tell me there are rules!"
**I AM:** "I have never wished suffering upon you."
"Then why does everything you do leave me suffering?"
The question struck the silence between them.
David stood trembling.
He had wanted to believe that I AM was protecting him.
Even after learning that his memories had been erased, some part of him had tried to understand.
But now he couldn't stop thinking about the choices that had been made without his knowledge.
Someone had decided which memories he could keep.
Someone had decided when his life should begin again.
Someone had decided what future he was allowed to pursue.
And through it all, he had been expected to trust a voice that refused to explain itself.
David looked down.
"Did you ever think about asking me?"
**I AM:** "David?"
He raised his head.
"Before you sent me back. Before you erased everything."
His voice was low.
"Did you ever think about what I wanted?"
The light remained silent.
David swallowed.
"Maybe I would've wanted to remember them."
His eyes filled.
"Even if it hurt. Even if I remembered every single one of them dying."
He stepped closer.
"Those were my friends. Those were people I loved."
His voice cracked.
"You didn't have the right to take them away from me."
**I AM:** "I acted to preserve you."
David shook his head.
"You preserved what you wanted me to be."
The words came out with a bitterness that surprised even him.
"You didn't preserve me."
The ancient presence did not respond.
David stared at the light, his expression hardening.
"And now you expect me to just accept it."
**I AM:** "I ask only that you understand there are reasons for what has occurred."
"Reasons you won't tell me."
**I AM:** "Not all answers can be given at this time."
David let out a strained laugh.
"There it is again."
He looked away.
"Another secret. Another reason I'm not allowed to know."
His breathing slowed, but the anger remained.
He thought about everything I AM had told him.
The first future.
The deaths of Gamma Squad.
The abandoned soldiers.
The Fallen slavery that awaited him.
The erased memories.
The failed attempt to return him to the past.
And now the refusal to give him another chance.
David slowly turned back toward the column.
"There's one more thing I want to know."
**I AM:** "Speak."
He stared into the light.
"On Kharos Vale, when Vireth had me..."
His voice tightened.
"I remember his sword going through my shoulder. I remember trying to fight, but I couldn't move anymore."
He swallowed.
"Then I remember waking up in the hospital."
The ancient presence remained silent.
David stepped forward.
"Everyone told me Vireth died after drinking my blood."
**I AM:** "That is correct."
David's eyes narrowed.
"But it wasn't just my blood, was it?"
The silence stretched.
He thought back to the battlefield, to the strange words he had heard as consciousness slipped away.
A voice that had seemed to come from somewhere beyond the fighting.
A judgment.
David looked directly into the column.
"That was you."
**I AM:** "Yes."
His breathing slowed.
"You killed Vireth."
**I AM:** "Judgment was rendered upon him."
David stared at the light.
For several moments, he said nothing.
Then his expression changed.
The last fragile remnants of his hope gave way to something colder.
"So you could save me."
The ancient presence remained silent.
David took a step closer.
"You could interfere when Vireth was about to kill me."
**I AM:** "Your death at his hands was not an outcome I could permit."
David shook his head.
"But you couldn't save Nyra."
**I AM:** "No."
He looked away, his jaw tightening.
"You couldn't bring her back."
**I AM:** "No."
"You couldn't even let me hear her voice."
The light remained motionless.
David slowly looked up again.
His eyes were red from crying.
"Then you should've let me die."
The words lingered in the endless darkness.
David stood before the column of white light, his fists clenched at his sides. Tears continued slipping down his cheeks, but he made no effort to wipe them away.
He had spoken without thinking.
Or perhaps he had finally said something he had been carrying inside him since the moment he woke in the Academy hospital.
The ancient presence remained silent.
David stared into the light, waiting.
**I AM:** "That was not an option."
A bitter laugh escaped him.
"Of course it wasn't."
He shook his head.
"Nothing ever is when it's something I want."
**I AM:** "Your life possesses value beyond what you can presently understand."
David's expression tightened.
"Stop saying things like that."
His voice was low, but the anger beneath it was unmistakable.
**I AM:** "David—"
"No. I'm serious."
He stepped closer.
"Stop telling me how important my life is. Stop telling me there's some future waiting for me that I'm supposed to care about."
His breathing became uneven.
"You keep talking about my life like it's something that belongs to you."
The column remained motionless.
**I AM:** "Your life has always been your own."
David stared at the light.
"Has it?"
He gestured toward the darkness surrounding them.
"You sent me back in time without asking me. You erased my memories without telling me. You decided I shouldn't remember watching my friends die because you thought it would hurt too much."
He paused, struggling to keep his voice steady.
"And when I finally had a chance to die fighting the person who killed Nyra, you decided I wasn't allowed to do that either."
**I AM:** "I would not permit Vireth to take your life."
"Why?"
The question came sharply.
"Because you need me for something?"
There was no answer.
David took another step forward.
"Is that it? Is there something I'm supposed to accomplish?"
**I AM:** "There is much that remains before you."
"Then tell me what it is!"
His voice rang through the emptiness.
"What am I supposed to do that's so important?"
The ancient presence remained silent.
David waited, his jaw tightening.
"Am I supposed to save another planet? Fight another war? Become strong enough to face something even worse than Vireth?"
**I AM:** "The path ahead of you has not yet been determined."
David let out a strained breath.
"Then why are you so determined to keep me on it?"
**I AM:** "Because your story has not reached its end."
David looked away.
For a moment, he could almost hear Nyra's voice.
*You don't have to carry everything by yourself, David.*
He closed his eyes.
He remembered the warmth of her hand against his cheek, the way she had smiled at him despite the pain she was suffering.
He remembered promising that everything would be all right.
And he remembered how helpless he had felt when she stopped responding.
David opened his eyes again.
"Her story wasn't finished either."
The ancient presence did not answer.
"She wanted to go home."
His voice trembled.
"She wanted to spend the summer with her father. She wanted to show me the lake where she grew up."
He swallowed.
"She had plans for the future, too."
David looked directly into the column.
"So why does my future matter more than hers?"
**I AM:** "I have never said that her life held less value than yours."
"Then why am I standing here?"
He spread his hands.
"Why am I alive and she's not?"
**I AM:** "The choices and circumstances that led to her death cannot be undone."
David shook his head.
"That's not an answer."
**I AM:** "It is the truth."
"Then I don't want to hear it anymore."
His voice cracked.
"I don't want to hear about circumstances. I don't want to hear about rules. I don't want to hear that everything happens for some reason I won't understand until later."
He lowered his head.
"I just want Nyra."
The confession came out so quietly that the anger seemed to leave him for a moment.
David stood trembling beneath the white radiance.
"I want to hear her laugh again."
His breathing hitched.
"I want to sit beside her on the rooftop and listen to her talk about things that don't matter to anyone else."
He wiped his face with one hand.
"I want to walk into the training hall and see her waiting for me."
His eyes filled again.
"I want to wake up tomorrow knowing she's somewhere in the world."
He looked toward the light.
"That's all."
For a long time, the ancient presence remained silent.
Then its voice emerged, quieter than before.
**I AM:** "I know what you have lost, David."
David slowly shook his head.
"No."
His expression tightened.
"You know what happened to her."
He swallowed.
"But you don't know what it's like to stand in front of an empty coffin and wish you could trade places with the person inside."
He looked down.
"You don't know what it's like to sit with your friends and realize everyone is trying not to look at the place where someone should be sitting."
His voice began trembling again.
"And you don't know what it's like to be afraid of forgetting the sound of someone's voice."
The column of light remained steady.
David drew a slow breath.
"I thought you were different."
**I AM:** "Different?"
"From everyone else."
He looked up.
"When I first heard you, I didn't understand what you were. I didn't know if I should trust you."
A faint, painful smile crossed his face.
"But you helped me. You warned me about things. You gave me reasons to keep going when I didn't know what to do."
He paused.
"And after a while, I started believing you were looking out for me."
**I AM:** "I have always sought your well-being."
David shook his head.
"Then why didn't you tell me the truth?"
The ancient presence remained silent.
"You could've told me about the first future. You could've warned me about what happened on Kharos Vale."
He looked directly into the light.
"You could've trusted me with my own memories."
**I AM:** "I sought to spare you the suffering those memories would bring."."
David stared at the column.
"And you never thought about what losing everyone again might do to me?"
The question went unanswered.
David took a step backward.
He had been angry before.
On Kharos Vale, after Nyra died, his rage had consumed almost every thought. He had wanted to destroy Vireth, even if doing so meant losing his own life.
This anger was different.
It did not burn with the same wild intensity.
It was heavier.
A deep, exhausted bitterness toward someone he had trusted, someone who had known far more than he ever revealed.
David lowered his gaze.
"I trusted you."
**I AM:** "I know."
"I listened when you warned me."
**I AM:** "Yes."
"I followed your guidance, even when I didn't understand why."
The light remained silent.
David looked up.
"And you still kept everything from me."
**I AM:** "There are truths whose time has not yet come."
David let out a quiet, disbelieving laugh.
"You're still doing it."
He shook his head.
"Even now."
**I AM:** "David, I ask that you do not allow this moment to destroy what has been built between us."
David stared at the light.
"What has been built between us?"
He stepped forward.
"Trust?"
His voice hardened.
"How am I supposed to trust someone who decides what parts of my life I'm allowed to remember?"
**I AM:** "My actions were never intended to harm you."
"But they did."
The answer came immediately.
David's expression crumpled.
"They did hurt me."
He pressed a hand against his chest.
"Maybe you don't understand that. Maybe you think saving my life means everything you did was worth it."
His voice broke.
"But I have to live with what happened."
The ancient presence remained silent.
David looked down.
"I have to go home tomorrow."
He swallowed.
"To a house where my parents aren't waiting."
He closed his eyes.
"And every time I think about summer, I'm going to remember that Nyra was supposed to be there."
He opened his eyes.
"You don't have to live with that."
**I AM:** "I will remain with you through what lies ahead."
David went still.
For several seconds, he stared at the light.
Then he slowly shook his head.
"No."
The word was quiet.
**I AM:** "David?"
"No."
He took a step backward.
"I don't want that."
The ancient presence remained silent.
David looked toward the endless darkness, then back at the column.
"I don't want you telling me what to do anymore."
His voice was trembling, but his decision was becoming clear.
"I don't want another warning. I don't want another explanation about some future I can't understand."
He swallowed.
"And I don't want you making decisions for me."
**I AM:** "You are speaking from a place of great pain."
"Yes, I am."
David looked directly into the light.
"And for once, I want you to listen to what I'm saying instead of deciding what you think I mean."
The ancient presence fell silent.
David took a slow breath.
"I'm done with you."
The words hurt more than he expected.
For so long, I AM had been a presence he could turn to when the world around him became impossible to understand.
There had been times when hearing that ancient voice had reassured him that he wasn't entirely alone.
But now he couldn't separate that reassurance from everything he had learned.
The erased memories.
The secrets.
The decisions made without him.
And Nyra.
Always Nyra.
David wiped his eyes.
"You do whatever you want, you tell me nothing, and you expect me to trust you."
He shook his head.
"I can't do that anymore."
**I AM:** "David, I would ask you to reconsider."
"No."
His voice grew firmer.
"I've spent this entire conversation begging you for something. Anything."
He looked toward the brilliant column.
"I offered you the System. My abilities. My future. Everything I have."
His hands trembled.
"And when you told me none of it was enough, I asked you to let me hear her voice."
His expression twisted with grief.
"Just her voice."
The light remained motionless.
David swallowed.
"And you couldn't even give me that."
For several moments, he stood silently.
Then he lifted his head.
"Get out of my head."
The ancient presence did not respond.
"Go away."
His voice broke.
"I never want to speak to you again."
The darkness seemed to grow even quieter.
David waited.
Part of him expected I AM to argue.
To explain that he was making a mistake.
To tell him there were still things he didn't understand.
But when the ancient presence finally spoke, its voice carried none of those things.
**I AM:** "As you wish, David."
The column of light softened.
David remained motionless.
**I AM:** "But I will never leave you, nor will I forsake you."
His eyes filled again.
**I AM:** "I will wait for you, no matter how long it takes."
David looked away.
**I AM:** "All you need to do is call my name, and I will hear you. I will return."
The light began withdrawing upward, its edges narrowing as the brilliant circle beneath David's feet slowly faded.
For one brief moment, he wanted to say something.
He didn't know what.
Perhaps another question.
Perhaps an apology.
Perhaps one final plea for Nyra.
But he remained silent.
The ancient voice spoke one last time.
**I AM:** "Goodbye, David Wyn."
The column of light disappeared.
Darkness swallowed the place where it had stood.
David remained alone.
He stared into the emptiness, listening for the voice that had accompanied him through so much of his life.
Nothing came.
He lowered his head.
For several moments, he could only stand there, trying to understand what he had just done.
He had rejected the one presence that might have understood the mysteries surrounding his life.
The one presence that knew about the future he had forgotten.
And perhaps the only one who knew what lay ahead.
But he couldn't bring himself to regret it.
Not yet.
He was tired of secrets.
Tired of being told to wait.
Tired of hearing that everything would make sense someday.
David closed his eyes.
"Goodbye."
The word was barely audible.
Then the darkness began to change.
A faint breeze touched his face.
The black floor beneath his boots slowly regained its texture, becoming the familiar stone of the Academy rooftop.
Distant sounds returned.
The hum of the nighttime security systems.
The rustling of leaves in the gardens below.
The quiet movement of wind between the surrounding buildings.
David opened his eyes.
He was standing at the rooftop railing of Dormitory Building One.
Exactly where he had been before.
His hands rested against the cool stone.
The Academy stretched out beneath him, its walkways illuminated by pale lights. The distant towers stood against the night sky, and the training grounds lay empty beyond the gardens.
Everything looked familiar.
Everything was unchanged.
Except the moon.
David slowly lifted his head.
The brilliant white moon that had illuminated the rooftop earlier was gone.
In its place hung a vast crimson sphere.
The entire surface had turned red, bathing the Academy in an eerie glow that stretched across rooftops and courtyards.
David stared at it.
He had never seen the moon look quite like that.
Its light seemed to deepen the shadows between the buildings, transforming familiar places into something strangely unfamiliar.
But he could barely bring himself to care.
His thoughts were still trapped in the darkness he had just left.
He had learned that his life had already happened once.
That everyone he loved had died in another future.
That humanity had abandoned him.
That I AM had taken his memories and sent him back to begin again.
And after everything had changed, Nyra had still died.
David lowered his gaze.
Tears continued slipping down his face.
He rested both hands against the railing, trying to steady himself.
For a while, he simply stood there.
The wind moved gently through his blond hair.
Far below, the Academy remained quiet, unaware of the conversation that had just taken place.
Tomorrow, the surviving members of Gamma Squad would leave for summer break.
Lucian would return home.
June would probably spend half the summer bothering everyone through their communicator channel.
Mira would go somewhere quiet, though David suspected she would still answer whenever someone called.
Castiel would leave too.
And David would return to the house where he had once lived with his parents.
He had no idea what he was supposed to do after that.
The future stretched before him, vast and uncertain.
For the first time, he didn't want to think about it.
He only wanted to remember a girl with silver-white hair and pink highlights who had somehow made every difficult day feel a little easier.
David turned his head.
The space beside him was empty.
He stared at it for a long moment.
Then, almost without realizing it, David imagined Nyra floating just beyond the rooftop railing.
Her silver-white hair moved gently in the breeze, the pink highlights catching the crimson moonlight. The faint scar along her cheek was just as he remembered, and she wore that familiar, gentle smile that always seemed to make his worries disappear.
David's breath caught.
"Nyra..."
She hovered in the air, just beyond his reach, looking at him with the same warmth she always had.
For a moment, he forgot about the empty rooftop and his painful conversation with I AM.
She looked so real.
Tears filled his eyes.
"I miss you so much."
Nyra smiled softly, tilting her head the way she always did when she wanted him to stop worrying.
David remembered her laughter, the warmth of her hand in his, and all the little moments they had shared.
He would have given anything to experience just one of them again.
Slowly, he lifted his trembling hand over the railing, reaching toward her.
"Please..."
Nyra extended her hand toward his.
David leaned forward, keeping his other hand firmly against the railing as he stretched toward her.
"Don't go, Nyra."
Their hands drew closer.
For one beautiful moment, he almost believed he would feel her fingers wrap around his.
But her image began to fade.
David's eyes widened.
"No... please!"
He desperately stretched his hand farther, tears streaming down his face.
Their fingertips were almost touching.
Then, just as he was about to reach her, Nyra disappeared.
"NYRA!"