Born as Irreplaceable Copies

"Valt, did you fell asleep?" someone asked, shaking his shoulder and

jostling him awake from his position slumped over the table. The girl who

roused him was gazing down with concern in her green eyes.

Her gaze finally brought him back to reality, and he reached out to

stroke her soft cheek. "Morning."

When Miralys heard that, she pursed her lips. "You dozed off, which

must mean you're exhausted. We should postpone things."

"I'm perfectly fine. I was just having a little dream of a time long in the

past," he said before rising to his feet. He had only meant to contemplate a

few things, but he must have drifted off, wasting precious time.

Still, what he'd dreamed of, that memory of the far distant past, was

noteworthy. Those events no longer existed; no memory of them lingered

anywhere.

Seeing them now must have carried some significance.

Valt observed the girl before him—her lustrous silver hair, her pale

green eyes. In a few years, she would be a glamorous beauty. For the time

being, she seemed the sort who counted on him.

He reached out and took this girl who was once his wife into his arms.

"Miralys, thank you for everything you've done."

"Where is this coming from? You are exhausted, aren't you?"

"Never mind that, just let me say this. We're at an important juncture."

"Don't make it sound like we're going to be torn apart forever. Come

on. Dinner is waiting," she replied exasperatedly.

Valt's eyes fell shut, and he smiled.

This did need to be said now. He hugged her tighter. "I love you. No

matter the life or timeline, I'm always so happy with you."

None of that was fabricated. It was a truth that wouldn't change,

regardless of how many traumas he suffered.

She had kept him going this entire time.

But this Miralys, who had no memory of any timeline but the present,

only frowned. "Are you sure you phrased that right? Anyway, I don't intend

to leave you. What about dinner?"

"Right. Sorry."

"You're going to be here at the dining table with me, tomorrow and

every day after that. Always."

"Yes," Valt responded, keeping his voice cheerful as he buried his face

in her hair.

He wished that could be so.

One of their lives had been like that.

It had only happened once, but they'd enjoyed a peaceful existence

growing old together until death had them part ways.

Once was enough. The love he'd known then was plenty.

He'd sat down at the dining table with her countless times. He'd been so

happy, and at the same time, just as sad.

Amid all the lifetimes, so many it made his head spin, Valt could never

return the love she constantly lavished on him. It was far too great.

So in exchange, he gave her something else—undeniable proof of his

feelings, though that, too, would fade from her memory eventually.

Now he would take to the stage to bring this interminable comedy to a

close.

The day dawned bright and sunny.

Oscar had come to Tuldarr via his personal transportation array. He

gazed up at the sky from the passage leading to the cathedral. Clear water

fell from a colonnade he spied in the distance, flowing into the gardens.

Farther back past that was the tower where the ruler dwelled…though

Tinasha no longer lived there. She'd abdicated yesterday.

Today was Legis's coronation.

In just half a year, the reins of the kingdom had traded hands. Two days

after stepping down from the throne, the sovereign queen would become

Oscar's wife.

As Oscar reflected on the year that had passed so quickly, he mused that

his younger self from before Tinasha would be stunned to see what had

transpired. That version of himself believed that, curse or no curse, he

would choose the safest possible option for his bride. That or he would

marry no one at all and adopt an heir instead.

As he'd grown to understand her, he'd fallen in love.

She was reckless and unmanageable, and he knew freedom when he was

with her.

That was something he would have never felt in his life had things

progressed normally. Her somewhat clingy and entirely peerless love for

him had opened a new door. It brought such tremendous joy that it felt like

a miracle.

For that reason, he wanted to give her just as much freedom. Perhaps

even more. Even if it took his whole life, he wouldn't regret it.

"I thought that with so many ceremonies taking place day after day,

some of the guests would go home, but the crowd hasn't diminished," Oscar

remarked.

"Don't tell me that's why you put your wedding on the last day." Doan

hissed.

"That was just a coincidence," Oscar replied. Naturally, he'd checked

with Tuldarr's schedule in advance, but he hadn't selected a date hoping for

a lower attendance. His only request was to make it as soon as possible after

Tinasha's abdication.

In return, both Tuldarr and Farsas were receiving and hosting guests

who would be present at all the events. Once Legis's coronation concluded,

Tinasha planned to go to Farsas.

"You know, I haven't seen her wedding gown yet. I'm really looking

forward to it," Oscar said to Doan.

"Really? That's a surprise."

"But I did have her dresses for all the other events made to my tastes."

"There it is," Doan quipped dryly, as he so often did. Oscar burst out

laughing.

Until the day of Tinasha's coronation, when she announced she would

be abdicating, Oscar had never dreamed of such a future for himself. He'd

decided to gift her a new gown every year, since he couldn't spend his life

with her. It made him starkly happy that they had wound up together after

so many twists and turns.

That was why he had to carry out the duty he had assigned himself.

Pausing before the entrance to the cathedral, Oscar glanced at the royal

sword belted at his waist. "I'm praying we keep making it out alive…"

He hoped they would eliminate all plots against them and never give

enemies an opening. They would live together, and he would protect his

country.

Clouds occasionally streamed past the blue sky out the window. It had to be

windy higher up. Tinasha felt a curious longing for the past as she watched.

A door in the back of the room opened, and a young man in formal attire

entered. She bowed to him. "All is secure, Your Majesty."

"I'm not king yet," answered the man she had called "Your Majesty"

with an exasperated smile. At present, Tuldarr had no ruler.

The queen, who had abdicated the day before, flashed a mischievous

grin and waved a hand dismissively at the soon-to-be-crowned ruler. "You

may as well be. I believe the guests have all arrived."

"I appreciate them for coming, but it does make me nervous to undergo

a coronation ceremony before all the other nations," Legis admitted.

"You're lying to me. You're not nervous at all, are you?"

"You can tell?" Legis said with a laugh, passing some papers to Tinasha.

Legis's impending royal inauguration didn't involve inheriting the

mystical spirits, instead emphasizing integrity over formality. For the

following six months, Tuldarr would remain a monarchy. After that came

the shift to the two-pillar system of monarch and parliament.

Legis followed Tinasha's gaze up to the sky. "I'm glad we have fine

weather today. Everyone's worked so hard to make this come together."

"Had it been stormy, I would have changed the weather."

Chuckling, Legis replied, "Spoken like a true spirit sorcerer."

His placid gaze turned remote as he regarded the city streets in the

distance. "I love this country. I am prepared to devote my entire life to it."

His tone was full of conviction. Once Legis was king, he'd give all of

himself to Tuldarr for as long as he reigned. Such was the path he'd chosen.

However, it would make his life a lonely one. Legis was prepared for

that, though. As he had always done, he intended to listen to the opinions of

those around him, entertain discussions, and pave the way for a new reign.

That was how a king ought to live his life in this era.

Tinasha smiled at the young man who had inherited her country, four

hundred years later. "I am sure you will be a much better ruler than I was."

The praise came in a clear, ringing tone. Legis's cheeks were pink as he

grinned at her, but a serious look stole back over his face. "I am very glad

that I was able to meet you. You've saved the country more times than I can

count."

"I feel like I've caused nothing but trouble for you over the past several

months, though," she answered, sighing.

Legis had helped Tinasha just as much. It was because of him that her

reign was half as long as she'd originally planned. His assistance with royal

duties had also permitted her to indulge in selfish things on occasion. None

of that would have been possible in the Dark Age.

Safety for mages and peace for all citizens were not mutually exclusive,

yet were rarely found together.

Moved almost to tears, Tinasha bowed to Legis. "I should be the one

offering you my gratitude. You've taught me so much."

"Not at all. I've learned from you. Come back and visit whenever you

feel like it."

"Now that you've offered, I definitely will. I know Oscar's going to

waste no time teasing me once we're married."

"Please do. I'll keep your rooms open. You can confide in me anytime,"

Legis assured her.

"I'll admit to feeling hesitant about the prospect of wasting a king's time

with my personal gripes and grievances…"

After four centuries, Tinasha no longer had a home to go back to. Once

she married into Farsas, she would have a new place as its queen consort. It

meant the world to her that Legis and Tuldarr would still be a home for

whenever she had trouble.

"I'm so glad I could come to this time period," she stated, meaning

every word.

Legis smiled. "I'm delighted that I could be of service. I wish you all the

happiness in the world."

He bowed deeply to her before leaving for the coronation. Sunlight

streamed in from the windows, shining off the back of his official dress.

Tinasha watched him go with a myriad of emotions in her throat.

What was despair?

It wasn't the same thing as death.

Death was something he had experienced many times already. He had

repeatedly witnessed his own passing and the passing of others.

Tragedy had numbed his emotions.

He stood frozen at the beginning of the beginning, screaming and

insane. Ultimately, he had come to believe that no matter when or how a

person dies, death itself had no meaning.

The coronation began on schedule.

Tinasha was not seated with the guests, for she was in charge of security.

That stationed her right to the side of the entryway, where she could

monitor the network of spells she had laid out.

She stood to the back of the central altar, and it obscured her view,

creating a blind spot of the front. Still, she knew Oscar was seated there.

They had both been so busy in the past few days that they hadn't been able

to meet, which was in line with the Farsas tradition for the betrothed

anyway. As often happened whenever Tinasha was incredibly swamped, the

whole thing felt like some nostalgic dream of bygone days.

"Although he'd probably be annoyed with me if I told him that," she

murmured.

As her wedding was not for another two days, she was between titles at

present. While Tuldarr treated her like a royal, she was no longer a queen,

nor a princess.

She had taken advantage of that to position herself behind the scenes of

the coronation.

Tinasha's dark eyes were closed so she could focus her awareness on the

defensive spells, but she still heard Legis delivering his opening remarks up

on the dais. His pointed yet tolerant message expressed his personality very

well; Tinasha smiled.

For the time being, she didn't detect anything suspicious. The coronation

was scheduled to finish in another five minutes. Tinasha sensed Pamyra's

magic as the woman approached on patrol, and she waved to her without

opening her eyes.

And that was when Tinasha furrowed her brow.

There was something—a voice only she could hear was calling.

The magic was faint, though that did not reflect on the strength of the

speaker's power. Instead, it meant the magic had been engineered only to

reach her, cleverly weaving through the castle wards. Had such an adroit

mage in possession of such spectacular magic served the court, their name

might have gone down in history.

Instead, this person operated in the shadows, plotting and scheming.

Tinasha couldn't imagine what this certain individual, endowed with vast

archives and memories of lost lifetimes, was thinking, or what they might

attempt.

The message that came to her consisted of congratulations on the new

king's coronation and well wishes on her upcoming nuptials. But there was

no way she could accept that at face value, nor did she trust the sender to be

genuine.

Legis's speech finished.

Raucous applause burst forth at this birth of a new king. The fervor and

excitement in the cathedral reached a fever pitch.

With this, a new chapter of history would dawn on Tuldarr. Tinasha

wished the people living in this country eternal happiness. Hopefully, they

would know the protection of a well-founded government.

That was one more reason why she couldn't let any schemers do as they

pleased.

The network of security spells Tinasha had set for the coronation had

fifteen parts, each monitored by several mages. She was only within the

spells' coverage to keep an eye on them. Her absence would not alter the

magic.

The decision took only a moment. Tinasha honed her consciousness to a

point and followed the voice, locating it at the edge of a very small, very

fine hidden spell.

He wasn't going to get away again. She wouldn't let him.

This time, she would capture him, control him, and make him surrender.

There could be no mercy.

At last, she located him. He was within Tuldarr but was a considerable

distance away.

Such a gap didn't matter to Tinasha, though. She forced a link to the

place, tracing his magic and pulling the coordinates from his spell.

As her lips curled in a defiant grin, she vanished with no incantation,

leaving the cathedral brimming with enthusiasm.

Tinasha's surroundings rearranged around her. She had landed in the

middle of a wide field. Wind streamed across the grass, making it undulate

like waves.

Standing in the center of the field was Valt, who smiled delightedly at

her arrival. "Ah, so you came. You're the only one who could trace my

location, despite all my camouflaging."

Without answering, Tinasha lifted her right hand, placing a teleportation

ban on the area.

Valt looked surprised, but it was unclear whether this was because of the

speed of her action, her decision, or the complexity of the spell. His tone

was glowing as he praised her. "Wonderful work as always. But there's no

need to rush. I have no intention of running."

"How admirable. Does that mean you're ready to die?"

"Of course. I am ready to die anywhere and at any time. I've been ready

for a long time. However…this moment will never come again. Do you

truly understand the significance of that?"

Valt gazed up. Clouds drifted rapidly across the sky.

Loneliness he failed to suppress shone in his eyes—an emotion he

couldn't share with others.

He pointed to a spot on the empty field. "Once upon a time, an azure

tower stood there. The tower was equipped with a series of trials, be it traps

or monsters. Those who beat them all and reached the top level would be

granted a wish from the witch who lived there. But now that tower doesn't

exist—it never did."

"And was that witch me?"

"It was. The Witch of the Azure Moon—the fifth witch and hailed as the

strongest. That is a version of you that no longer exists. Are you surprised?"

"A little, although I had some vague idea," Tinasha replied, tucking her

black hair behind her ears to keep the wind from whipping it up.

How had she been married to Oscar before the world was changed,

despite their differing eras?

Why hadn't he ever explained it?

There was only one sort of being who possessed mighty power and lived

for centuries.

Tinasha had remained unconvinced by that alone, however. That was

why she'd frozen up when Valt said that name so abruptly the last time they

spoke.

Valt's gaze dropped to the barren plain at their feet. "You built a tower in

this wasteland and lived there alone. You were much stronger and colder

than you are now. That's why I rejoiced when I discovered that you hadn't

become a witch this time and that you had put yourself in a magic sleep.

Come, let's go and retrieve the other half of Eleterria. It's time to bring all

of this to an end."

Valt drew out a small white box. Both of them knew what was inside.

While on guard against him, for she had no idea what he was thinking,

Tinasha licked her lips. "I'm not going. Give that back."

"You'll go, and willingly. I know how effective hostages are at swaying

you," Valt said lightly, and he snapped his fingers. The world shuddered a

bit.

A hint of magic drifted through the air. Tinasha frowned. "What are

you…?"

"I've put just a bit of power into a spell. You can tell what it is, can't

you?" Valt replied, closing his eyes and looking confident.

Tinasha glared daggers at that calm, composed face and followed the

faint traces of magic to their source. It went on and on, stretching far into

the distance on a path that branched and forked, but finally, she grasped the

complete picture.

Once Tinasha understood, she was struck dumb. "That's insane."

"Do you see? The best hostage I could take to move you would be

Tuldarr itself."

Valt's spell was an enormous magic circle linking five cities and towns

in a ring, with the castle city in the center. Rigged up out of sight, it would

erupt into a conflagration once triggered. The flames would then consume

the lives of all inside, using them as catalysts to summon up more magic

until they swirled into a firestorm that would destroy the entire country. The

spell was designed to massacre on a terrifyingly large scale.

A twisted expression formed on Valt's face. "If you refuse to cooperate, I

will ruin Tuldarr."

Tinasha shuddered to imagine such an unprecedented forbidden curse.

There was, at least, magic in place within the capital city that prevented

any unauthorized widespread spells. Yet this had slipped past that defense.

"No… Did you shrink down the magic for the spell itself to the smallest

it could go? You made it so weak it would never have any effect, ordinarily.

To compensate, you made the configuration as intricate and complex as

possible…"

"Ultimately, it's much more difficult to defend than to attack. All the

deciding power lies with the aggressor: where to attack, how to do it, and

when. Admittedly, it would've been difficult for any ordinary person to lay

the groundwork on such a massive scale. We drew up dozens and dozens of

spells so small you wouldn't notice until the very last minute, and then we

connected them. Oh, but it did make us uneasy when someone discovered a

half-finished spell once and tried to use it," Valt explained blithely, though

the level of spellwork here was anything but normal.

To have come so far with such a massive, forbidden work required vast

reserves of magic, exceptional spell-casting ability, and fierce tenacity.

And not only that…

"Where did you learn of this spell?" Tinasha demanded. "There are

many forbidden curses that use souls as catalysts to summon magic, but this

is one that was used four hundred years ago, and no records remain of it."

It was the very spell that Lanak, Tinasha's fellow candidate for the

throne, sought to use on her when she was young. Here it was again,

targeting her anew, but knowledge of this magic should have perished.

Valt gave her a wan smile. "We acquire knowledge and pass it down.

Some of us, in lifetimes past, were close to your fiancé."

"This isn't funny. Are you saying that your people have acted in the

shadows of history this entire time?"

"Surely not. The Time-Reader clan is not as all-encompassing as you

may believe. Our founder was only one person. The next heir can't awaken

to their powers until their predecessor dies. The only thing we know about

the other heirs, past and future, is their names. Everything else we must

relay via journals and memoirs. It's an inconvenient, lonely existence," Valt

said bitterly, his face conveying only sadness and gloom.

But then his enigmatic smile returned. "It has taken more than three

months, from the time we began laying the groundwork for the spell up

until the finishing touches. We had to be exceedingly careful not to trip

Tuldarr's surveillance network and alert you. Ironically, you would have

noticed if we'd prepared this in Farsas. Considering the scope of this spell,

it is constantly emitting low-grade magic. However, Tuldarr is a nation of

mages. The faintest trace of odd magic wouldn't give you pause, would it?"

Tinasha gritted her teeth at the enormity of her blunder. Yes, she had

sensed stray bits of magical power, and she'd found them strange—many

times now. But as Valt said, she had never investigated.

And now, her carelessness had brought her here, to the worst possible

outcome.

Caught in the full force of Tinasha's murderous stare, Valt shrugged.

"Allow me to say that I am not the one who cast this spell. If you kill me,

the caster will trigger it. Ah, and don't think of telling anyone. No one can

do a thing to stop this. Within the spell are five definition names."

Such was the thoroughness of Valt's plan, and how cautiously he had

arranged everything.

Tinasha's irrepressible emotions made her magic start to roil and seethe.

"You would go this far to get Eleterria…? What do you mean to do by

changing the past?"

"I have a mere personal wish," he answered, which was the exact

opposite of what Tinasha, one who would do anything for her country, had

expected.

She understood that some people weren't like her. For most people, in

fact, what was worth doing and what they wanted to do didn't equal out.

Valt was a prime example.

"I feel no guilt at all, no matter how many I must sacrifice. Regardless

of how I die, it is only for a moment. It's all overwritten before long. That's

how we've always done things."

Tinasha sensed a quietly flickering flame deep within the man's eyes

and voice.

A cynical grin twisted Valt's lips. "Shall I let you in on a little

something? Do you want to know why I picked Tuldarr for my target?"

"Isn't it because it's my homeland?"

"Yes, that's certainly part of it. I know the nation is your weak point.

You'd never abandon Tuldarr. But there's more to it than that. Ordinarily,

that country shouldn't exist."

"Excuse me?"

What was he on about? Tuldarr had been founded five hundred years

before Tinasha's birth. It was one of the most long-lived nations in all the

land.

What did Valt mean by claiming it shouldn't exist? How had things

gotten overwritten to make that…?

Gasping, Tinasha clapped a trembling hand over her mouth. "No…!"

That couldn't be. He was referring to her.

On that night four centuries ago, she would have been the only casualty

if he hadn't stepped in.

After suffering a betrayal by her only family in the world, she fled

Tuldarr and became a witch. That was the original sequence of events. Yet

because she'd met Oscar back then and he told her that he knew she could

control the colossal magic coursing and raging through her, none of it had

ever transpired. Because of Tinasha…

"Tuldarr actually fell the night they ripped you open," Valt stated, the

words sounding heartless to Tinasha's ears.

She pressed an unconscious hand to her unmarred stomach. "But how? I

controlled that magic…"

"Yes. You triumphed even on the brink of death. But the catalyst for the

forbidden curse was not the same. Magic summoned using Lanak as the

sacrifice would be quite different from that summoned by offering you. You

were unable to take it all in, and the wild power destroyed Tuldarr and sent

shock waves through the rest of the mainland. In the true course of events,

almost all of what was once Tuldarr is now a barren wasteland razed by a

forbidden curse."

"But… No…"

Her vision was going dark.

The energy was sapped from her body.

Tinasha struggled to breathe. Without her will to guide it, her body

broke into a shivering fit.

Tuldarr had been her life.

Spilling blood had never been something Tinasha had questioned. She'd

killed her emotions, too. Even when she couldn't live up to a single one of

her ideals, she had made the best choice possible. That was how it had been

since she was born. Growing up all alone in a huge, empty wing of the

castle, the betrayal of the man she saw as her brother, and the sacrifice of

the only person to love and rescue her—she had borne all of it to keep

Tuldarr safe.

It went beyond duty. Tinasha had endured out of love for Tuldarr,

despite its taking everything she had to give.

And now, she was being told that it was never meant to exist. In the true

course of events, Tuldarr would have perished with her.

"It can't be…"

Her throat was dry as a bone, and she could barely force the words out.

Valt eyed Tinasha with a modicum of sadness. "When Eleterria alters the

world, it remakes itself by keeping a bare minimum of things the same.

However, the survival of a nation that should have perished is too much. It

doesn't pain me at all to take Tuldarr as my hostage, because it should never

have existed anyway. And what about you? Does it not pain you at all to

look at Cezar, which lost so many of its people because Tuldarr survived? If

Tuldarr had collapsed, as it should have, that would have never happened to

Cezar."

Tinasha had nothing to say in the face of such a brutal provocation.

Cezar's downfall came after it murdered its own people to give rise to an

army of the dead. Could that have been averted in a world without a

prosperous Tuldarr?

If all of this were true, that meant that Tinasha—and Oscar—were at

fault for altering history.

"I…"

Tinasha felt as though she'd plummeted after losing her footing.

Alarm bells went off inside her head, pleading that she denounce her

enemy's claims as lies.

However, Tinasha did not heed that warning.

She closed her weary eyes. The discord felt like it lasted for an eternity.

Yes, it might all be a lie to throw her off. Yet it could just as easily be

true. There was no way she could know.

What was she to do, then?

She lifted her head. Her dark eyes blazed with the bitterness of her

decision and with her sheer force of will.

"Even if you're right, I won't allow you to claim your actions are

guiltless. You are the one who summoned up an evil god in Cezar, and you

are the one attempting to destroy Tuldarr."

When Valt heard that declaration, he couldn't hide the bitterness in his

smile. "That's true. We're both at fault. We keep betraying the world."

How could one choose what to keep and what to abandon?

Humans had made their selections repeatedly, over and over. And this

was the end result.

"I will protect my country. Tuldarr is alive and well. That may be the

result of altering the past, but I will never choose to abandon a country that

is here now."

This was Tinasha's conclusion. She would protect the people in front of

her.

Although she stood upon the back of an old crime, her only option was

to move forward from where she stood.

Valt's gaze turned distant once he heard that. "I suspected that would be

your answer. You've never turned your back on your people, even dead

ones. You've chosen to live alone for four hundred years, all for them."

"I don't like it when you talk about things I have no memory of."

"It's true. You were very fierce. Once, you even gave your life to save

the people of Farsas," Valt said. His voice choked up for only a moment

before he regained composure. "You will accede to my demands to save

your country. Is the remaining half of Eleterria in the Tuldarr treasure

vault?"

Tinasha hesitated over how to answer.

Could she hope to trick him? She wanted to discover what Valt was

after.

"What will you do with both of the orbs? You only need one to change

the past."

"I know. I've used one myself. But I want to change the future."

"You want to travel forward in time?"

Whether going to the past or future, both were about knowing what

would happen down the line and dealing with it before it happened. When

traveling to the past, however, the user ceased to exist once events were

sufficiently altered, and they were erased from the new future.

Jumping to the future meant that the person who returned with

knowledge of eventualities would not disappear. As long as the present was

the true timeline, they could keep making moves forever. That was certainly

an advantage.

"What exactly do you intend to accomplish?"

"I'll tell you soon enough, once I have both. Now, let's hear your

answer."

Tinasha couldn't delay things any longer. Her very country was on the

line.

With her voice dry and hoarse, Tinasha told Valt the truth. "The other

Eleterria…is in the Farsas treasure vault."

She bit her lip. There was no knowing the right decision. It was all she

could manage to follow the course that kept things from falling to pieces

before her.

When the attendees filtered into the great hall after Legis's coronation

concluded, Oscar—one of the guests of honor—noticed that his fiancée was

not there. "What? Is she planning to lurk behind the scenes the entire time?"

And here he thought he'd get to see her in full regalia for the first time

in a while. While it was Farsas custom for the bride and groom not to see

each other before the ceremony, that didn't mean he was a fan of it. Just

thinking about how long it had been since he'd last glimpsed her adorable

smile sent his mood plummeting.

All that said, he hadn't come for her. He was there to congratulate Legis,

the new king. Farsas and Tuldarr would have a long and fruitful relationship

going forward.

With that on Oscar's mind as he made his way over to his new fellow

king, he was surprised to find Legis approaching him as well. After the

briefest of greetings, he leaned in to Oscar and whispered, "Do you know

where she is?"

"Tinasha? I haven't seen her… Did she do something again?"

"She's gone. Evidently, she vanished toward the end of the coronation

and hasn't come back since."

"Oh."

The two kings exchanged glances, unsure of what to make of this

inexplicable and unpredicted turn of events.

In a tight voice, Oscar said, "I think Valt believes the other half of

Eleterria is in Tuldarr."

"I'll launch a search for him immediately, including around the treasure

vault. He might have set a trap there."

"To be on the safe side, I'll return to Farsas and notify you if I learn

anything."

"Please do," said Legis.

The pair had no idea that, at that very moment, Tuldarr itself was

balancing on the scales of destiny.

Oscar stalked out of the great hall with a foreboding look on his face.

Valt's recollection of his very first life was already hazy.

His father hadn't known what he was until Valt was around five. That

year, when his grandfather passed away in some distant city, his father

inherited the title of Time-Reader. Valt couldn't imagine his father's

surprise, nor how much it shook him to experience his first rewinding of

time. His father was a gentle, kind man, though Valt did recall him

occasionally muttering, "That can't be. Impossible."

In his first life, Valt was twenty-one when his father died in a carriage

accident. Upon his demise, Valt realized everything about the magic orbs

that could alter the past and the clan of Time-Readers who kept records of

lost histories.

It took him a while to believe it all, though, because he hadn't yet seen

these archives he was meant to safeguard.

He continued his life, much the same as his father had, thinking, That

can't be. Impossible. Until one day, time rewound.

Valt's father had been astonished the first time he experienced it. He

thought he'd died, but he discovered he was living his life over from an

earlier point—back when his son was only an infant. Things continued, and

he remained perplexed until he died when Valt was twenty-one.

That repeated twenty-seven times.

Valt had never spoken to his father about a Time-Reader heir's duty,

because Valt had no memory of the heirs while his father was alive. His

father left no arrangements of any kind for after his death. There were heaps

of their ancestors' journals and records stacked in his room, though. Valt's

father had taken them after his own father's passing.

The number of times an heir experienced a rewinding of time varied.

Valt's own far eclipsed his father's, but even his had been on the high side,

owing to the many times the red orb of Eleterria changed hands during that

period.

But despite the alterations, history still progressed in fits and starts. Time

regressed by decades, but not centuries. Those heirs unfortunate enough to

be living through an era of repeated misuse of Eleterria had to bear it in

silence and wait for their age to pass.

That had been too much for Valt's father.

Valt remembered the one and only time his father had lectured him on

the subject.

"Once I'm dead, you'll know for the first time what I was and what you

are."

He was talking about the artifact. Perhaps those were his parting words

to his son.

"The world is waiting for one last straw. That which will undo all the

interventions and restore it to its original shape."

What he said was undoubtedly true.

That was why the world kept chasing Miralys down.

"Valt, are you okay?" the girl called to him telepathically, her voice

anxious.

"Yeah," he replied, still facing forward. He couldn't tell her the truth. He

had to keep it hidden until the end. If she knew, she would place him above

her own future. That had happened on countless occasions, so he would

prevent it this time. At last, she would know a happy existence.

The hallways of Farsas Castle looked as peaceful as ever. A woman with

long black hair walked a few paces ahead of Valt, her beauty catching the

eyes of passing guards and mages who bowed to her. It was a sight he

hadn't seen in a very long time. There was a clear dollop of fear mixed into

the gazes, however.

The Witch of the Azure Moon was the strongest in all the land,

possessed of the mightiest magic in history.

The invisibility spell she had placed on Valt held fast; no one noticed his

presence. Even the court mages were fooled. Such was her power.

The two of them strode along quickly toward the Farsas treasure vault.

Once they were out of view, Valt whispered to Tinasha, "Is teleporting

directly into the treasure vault beyond even your capabilities?"

"Of course not, but we'd be detected immediately. Would you like the

castle to discover that something is amiss?"

"No. We'll keep going like this," he said. Valt knew this palace inside

and out. He followed after Tinasha but was sure of his way, had he been

alone. After a sigh, he remarked, "I never expected you to acquire one of

them only to transfer it to Farsas."

"I knew you wouldn't expect it, which is exactly why I did so."

"You certainly trust the Akashia swordsman a great deal."

"Of course I do," Tinasha spat.

Valt focused on that reaction. When last had he seen her like this? He

was now the only one to remember her as the queen consort of this nation.

"Destiny…has always had some twists in store for you. I do truly wish

for you to be happy, but you're just too powerful for that. I'm sorry." It was

an honest apology. Valt really did wish that Tinasha could live out her days

pleasantly.

It wasn't to be, though. The world was like that all too often.

Tinasha glanced at Valt. He couldn't decipher what emotion flickered

across those dark eyes. Decisively and vehemently, she hissed. "My life is

entirely what I have chosen."

She sounded exactly like the queen of Farsas she had been in another

life.

Tinasha turned left down a different corridor and faced two treasure vault

guards.

While surprised to see Tinasha, they bowed to her. Sheepishly, she

explained, "My apologies, but Oscar has asked me to retrieve something.

Could you let me pass?"

Only the authorized were allowed entry to the treasure vault. That was

how things normally worked, but everyone knew that Tinasha would be

queen in two days and how much the king doted on her.

She was powerful enough to force her way in if she desired. There was

no need for her to request permission, which lent credence to her story.

That line of thinking informed the guards' decision. "Yes, my lady.

Please be careful."

"Thank you," Tinasha replied as the guards willingly stepped aside to let

her through. Once out of their sight, she breathed a little sigh. After turning

two more corners, she saw the treasure vault come into view. She

approached its heavy doors and pushed them open with magic.

Within was a pedestal that had held one part of Eleterria until Valt stole

it from this very spot. Now it held another box. Recognizing it, Valt exhaled

with relief.

As she dismantled the barrier around the pedestal, Tinasha snapped,

"There. Is that what you need? Will you undo the spell in Tuldarr?"

"Not just yet. We're only getting started," Valt said, drawing an identical

box from his pocket and offering it to Tinasha. She frowned at him

suspiciously.

In resounding tones, he said, "Now you will destroy Eleterria for me and

fulfill my mission."

Tinasha stood aghast. "Excuse me?"

The severity in Valt's voice did not falter as he explained, "Both must be

destroyed at the same time. Breaking one will trigger the other to overwrite

its twin's demise. This is why there are two."

The two orbs protected each other. Although only one was needed to go

back in time, there were two to ensure that both remained.

"In the past, I've destroyed one of the orbs numerous times, only for

time to rewind. Eventually, I learned that both had to be shattered

simultaneously, and you are the only one powerful enough to accomplish

the feat. You broke an outsiders' artifact just the other day, did you not?"

Valt was referring to the Mirror of Oblivion.

Shamelessly, he continued, "Yes, you're the strongest in all of history,

but because you didn't become a witch, you're an inferior version of who

you were meant to be. That's why I tested your power. How fortunate for

me that you absorbed Simila's incarnation."

"You…"

Every action, this entire time, had played right into Valt's hands on a

chessboard he had set.

From the shadows, he'd puppeteered events, sending formidable

enemies after Tinasha in a bid to hone her power.

While awaiting his chance to steal Eleterria back, Valt had prepared

Tinasha for her role as the architect of the orbs' destruction. The Simila

incident had enhanced Tinasha's magic tremendously.

But why did he want the artifact destroyed?

Without making any effort to hide her confusion, Tinasha questioned,

"Didn't you want to change the future?"

"I do. I want to rip down this mess of a canvas that's been painted over

too many times and restore the true future."

For a moment, fury burned in Valt's eyes, but he swiftly quashed it,

replacing the fire with his usual placid smile. He placed the box holding the

stolen Eleterria on the pedestal.

"The records say it all began with the death of a child. The cause of

death isn't mentioned, and it's irrelevant anyway. As the child's mother

sobbed over the corpse, she sensed someone nearby. A voice told her that it

offered the salvation she desired. She then received the two Eleterria orbs,

used them to go back in time, saved her child, and died."

"And it was an…outsider who gave them to her?"

"Yes. An interloper from beyond our world. You don't seem to find that

terribly difficult to believe."

"Well, according to Travis, I should have no reason to doubt the

existence of these outsiders, considering we know that their artifacts exist.

Evidently…he once met someone who came from outside our world."

"Really? It's the first I've heard of that. I thought the outsiders only sent

in objects, never entering personally. There are a total of twelve such

artifacts. You've destroyed the ruins and the mirror, leaving ten."

Both the ruins, which captured and stored information on humans, and

the mirror, which absorbed and entrapped souls, were unusually powerful

and endowed with abilities that defied the laws of magic.

"So outsiders really do exist, then," Tinasha said.

"They do. I don't know what they are, but they're certainly not deities.

Following the Age of Gods and prior to the start of the Dark Age, there is a

blank period of time. That was when they zeroed in on our world,

introduced these experimental items, and recorded what we do like we were

toys in a miniature garden."

Valt studied Tinasha's reaction.

Before, in many other lives, he had told her this truth. In response, the

witch always asked, "What exactly is this family of Time-Readers?"

This time was no different, as Tinasha repeated the inquiry verbatim.

She never changed. Valt chuckled before giving the same answer.

"We are the descendants of that first child saved by time travel. Ever

since Eleterria was first given to humans, one member of my lineage per

generation has been trapped as part of the artifact's power. Our souls are

used as record sheets."

"What…? Your souls?"

"Outsiders' artifacts defy the laws of magic because the artifacts are

each powered by fundamentals from beyond this world. Didn't it strike you

as odd that a tiny little orb could be so powerful as to overwrite the world

by turning back time?"

"Well…yes. It didn't map to the scale of it at all."

"Exactly. That's because Eleterria incorporates the soul of the current

Time-Reader heir when it activates. Once it's triggered, it calls up a

specified point in time from the pool of memories the world has stored and

reproduces it. The soul of the heir serves as the anchor that stabilizes that

specified point and then acts as the record board where a log of usage is

inscribed. The names of all the heirs, past and future, are also written upon

that board. Our ability to retain memories of the lifetimes we've repeated is

only a by-product of all of that."

Whoever the outsider that came up with such a mechanism was, they

must have been ignorant of the acute suffering of the humans whose souls

would be used for this. Because Valt's family was only alive thanks to

Eleterria, the system would abuse them for centuries to come.

Valt tapped his forehead, his smile not reaching his eyes. "I have a

complete log of everyone who's ever used Eleterria and why stored in here.

At present, the last time it was used was sixteen years ago so that the late

Queen Rosalia of Farsas could save her son's life. And Eleterria's most

massive overwrite happened four hundred years ago, when the twenty-first

king of Farsas, Oscar Lyeth Increatos Loz Farsas, changed the past for his

wife, a witch. It all adds up, doesn't it?"

Tinasha's jaw had dropped, which Valt observed with a tight grin.

Lives, rewound abruptly because someone else wished it so. Memories,

accruing and overlapping. That would be enough torture to crush the

average person. The worst part of it all was that it was only a side effect.

Irritation welling up within him, Valt let his gaze wander. Slowly, his

head turned as his gaze went beyond the castle walls and onto the wider

world. Finally, he fixed his eyes on Tinasha again. "You probably don't

understand, being the current version of yourself. But as a witch, you

comprehended me a little, as you were also someone who had lived for a

long time under the crushing weight of your memory."

An image of that all-powerful witch superimposed itself over the present

Tinasha's face.

They were the same and yet very different. The Tinasha who was

familiar with the eons of time always had a vaguely sad, self-deprecating

aura.

"I'm not talking about four centuries here," Valt went on. "I've endured

through millennia. There is only ever one heir who is unable to share the

experience of repeating lifetimes with anyone else. Go on, visualize the

horror of it. No matter what, my father always committed suicide. When I

was seventeen, when I was thirteen, when I was ten… Everything you

thought you'd already lived through comes back, and you must experience

it again. It becomes unbearable."

At first, Valt decided his ancestors should have never had children, that

someone somewhere should have cut off the line. It wasn't until much later

that he learned why that wouldn't have solved anything.

"Sometimes, I've gone back only a day in time. Sometimes I've returned

many years. I've seen things rewound to before my birth and relived that

time. We don't know when or where time will repeat, but it will,

mercilessly. Only at the very beginning was I happy to learn what the future

held. I grew sick of it fast. It needled at me, made me feel like I would

burst. I've died more times than I can count, but then I'm back again. How

many more times must I repeat this?"

A tragedy taken too far became a comedy.

On this stage, all the players of the world were dancing against their

will. It was time to bring the curtain down.

"I've attempted to destroy Eleterria, but ordinary power levels cannot

break an outsiders' artifact, let alone two of them. Along the way, I realized

you were the only person capable of doing it, but either I wasn't able to get

in touch with you, or I died before I could. Everything that could go wrong

did, and I had my share of frustrating experiences. But then something

happened that wasn't supposed to. Someone went back four hundred years

in time and changed history. You were no longer a witch."

"Me not becoming a witch is something that wasn't supposed to

happen?" Tinasha muttered.

Valt gave her a pained smile. "Do you know what must transpire in

order for Eleterria to activate? Have you wondered how it gets the

coordinates for the targeted point in time? The soul of the current heir acts

as the anchor, but that's not what makes things rewind to the desired time in

specific."

It was a crafty artifact. Valt knew because he'd used it himself.

"Those orbs react to human attachment—love, hate, whatever. Any

strong emotion will set one off. That means that a jump of hundreds of

years shouldn't be possible, ordinarily speaking. No one could feel such a

powerful attachment to someone that far in the past, right? But there was a

lone exception—a man who loved a witch and made her his wife. Your

husband."

Tinasha's eyes widened.

The artifact was designed so anyone sufficiently determined could

change the past.

But that was only half of it. Resolve alone with no feeling behind it

wouldn't trigger the artifact.

Only the desire to use Eleterria, even at the cost of one's own life, would

remake the world anew.

"The heir four hundred years ago must have been pretty surprised. Just

when he thought the cycle was over and he could enjoy his final rest, his

own era started up again."

It was all too easy for Valt to imagine his ancestor's shock. He must

have felt astonishment that bordered on despair—enough to make him

scrawl a curse upon future generations in the records.

"But on the contrary, it gave me hope. I dared to think…if you weren't a

witch, and if you came to this time period in search of him, then this may be

the timeline where everything goes as planned."

And now, that hope was paying off.

All of Valt's meticulous preparations had successfully tripped Tinasha

up.

Tinasha, with all of her fantastic power, had rarely showed herself in

previous timelines. Even once she met and married Oscar, she would refuse

to listen to any request that sounded remotely fishy.

But she was different now. While she could be cruel, she was also lost.

The fact that Tuldarr had not fallen to ruin also worked to Valt's benefit.

He knew that when she'd been a witch, she chose to continue living for the

Tuldarr citizens who perished and turned to souls without any sense of who

they were. He was well aware that Tinasha would never, under any

circumstances, abandon her country.

This chance would never come again.

If Valt let it slip by, salvation would elude him and his beloved for all

time.

He had to detach them from the world before it caught up.

"There is no such thing as a world where everyone is happy. Saving one

person means that someone else will be sacrificed. And Eleterria will

always get used as long as there is misery in the world. But I'm done with

all of that. Our worldviews are all so limited. The exact same sand dune

collapses only to be rebuilt, over and over. How much longer must I go

along with it? It's foolish and selfish to believe that saving those important

to you means nothing else matters. It's infuriating."

It really was foolish. And Valt was one of those fools.

He eyed the woman who would become the world's trump card.

"That's why I want us to end this. You're going to destroy it. You're the

only one who can."

At last, this farce would draw to a close.

Tinasha stared back at Valt. Then she glanced over at the two orbs on the

pedestal—the artifact given to a mother who lost her child a long, long time

ago.

That was how everything started. And ever since, Eleterria had inflicted

pain on human souls and caused indissoluble anguish, even as it reflected

people's strongest emotions and desires. It had altered reality, something

that should have been unimaginable.

All because of one simple wish to save someone else.

That was certainly absurd and self-centered. And yet…

"I once tried to use it myself to save a child who was killed," Tinasha

admitted softly, her eyes on the Eleterria orb. "But it didn't activate.

Probably because, as you said, I had no true attachment to that boy."

If she were the mother of that fallen child, she would have been able to

use it to rewind time, without question. But it wasn't to be. That bereaved

mother did not have an otherworldly artifact—only the cold, dead body of

her son. Tinasha could still vividly remember the sight of her sobbing,

hunched over his corpse.

"Yes, it may be true that not being able to go back in time to save

another is natural and right. All of you have suffered so much from

Eleterria's use. I can't ignore that," Tinasha said, tipping her head up to

gaze at Valt. Her face was puckered, as if she were on the verge of tears.

"But I can't deny the wishes of those who use it. That's the human…heart

we're talking about."

She couldn't refute Valt's despair and suffering, yet she also

acknowledged the desires of those who sought to alter history.

Tinasha's eyes grew hot with tears, and she looked away. Her heart

ached because that little girl who'd been rescued once still lived within her.

She understood the mentality of those who used the orbs. Changing the past

and history would revise people's relationships, too. While it was foolish to

desire that someone else live, even at the cost of another's existence, she

also found it to be a very sacred thing.

Valt's voice cracked as he replied, "You only feel that way because you

were rescued by someone who used Eleterria…"

"No. I'm positive it was only a coincidence that allowed him to save me.

When we first met, he said that he didn't know why he'd traveled back in

time, and he wanted to return."

Oscar had unwittingly activated Eleterria. That proved how great his

love for his wife was.

Thus, Tinasha's own experiences weren't informing her opinion. "A

desire to save the people we love, even if it goes against all logic, is an

extremely common, extremely human emotion. Denying that would be

tantamount to refuting our humanity."

"Even if…the end result is the reshaping of your fate and that of all

those around you? You never know if someone's tampering with history

would render you unhappy."

"Even so, a person's strength of emotion is what activates Eleterria. That

means it is a tool for human salvation."

Tinasha touched a corner of the pedestal, finding the stone to be colder

than her tears. "The true object of your resentment is not the people who

used the orbs. There's a real reason why you feel you must destroy Eleterria

rather than simply seal them from use. What is it?"

The wounds Eleterria had inflicted on Valt were surely unspeakable.

But why was he so dead set on destroying the artifact completely, which

would be far more difficult than only rendering it permanently unusable?

She had yet to press him on that.

Tinasha tore her gaze away from the red and blue orbs and stared at Valt.

As he looked back, his eyes blazed with a soul ground down by many,

many long years—a flame that would never be extinguished.

"The world is waiting for a revolution."

"What?"

"That's what my father said. He used to say that each time our world is

altered, another pin gets stuck into it. So it's waiting for one last straw that

will uproot the changes and restore things to their original form."

"'The world is waiting for a revolution'…"

It was the exact same phrase uttered by the Witch of the Water when she

gave Tinasha's fortune.

Did that mean that the way she and Valt were facing off was also part of

the world's wishes?

In a bland, emotionless tone, Valt said, "Sooner or later, it will reach its

limit. Someone has to do this. Our world has already reached a standstill.

The furthest date in history is only another thirty-one years from now. No

matter how often time is rewound, things never progress beyond that point.

One Eleterria or the other will be used. Don't you think that's abnormal,

even considering that this era has seen record levels of time travel?

Eleterria's survival means everything will stagnate."

It was a frightening truth. Tinasha's eyes grew wide again.

But while that was an answer to her question, it was not his answer.

"Then what will happen to the world when the orbs are destroyed?"

Tinasha pressed.

Would things go on turning without Eleterria? Or…?

No answer came.

Tinasha stared at Valt.

His eyes were filled with both all-knowing insight and silent resolve.

She had seen that look on the battlefield before, and she understood what it

meant.

The scales were perennially out of balance, with only the most cherished

things in all the world weighed against one another.

It was certainly arrogant to believe one person could save everything.

But would choosing the things on one side of the scale over the other

lead to strength? Was it possible to change without sacrifice?

Tinasha gazed evenly at the man before her. His eyes shone with the

bright light of one who no longer had a choice.

Valt watched her with bated breath.

He didn't think Tinasha should know this. But he did want to tell her.

Perhaps she would understand him then. If this version of Tinasha were the

queen he had served, he might have revealed everything.

But if he did, Miralys would learn the truth, too, as their senses were

linked at the moment. And she could never know. It would shake her

terribly. She would tear down the spell, which would mean defeat.

Valt and Miralys had first met a long, long time ago. Back then, Valt had

already relived his own life many times. He was the latest in a long,

unbroken line of heirs. While wandering, tired of enduring his own

distorted existence, he rescued a grievously wounded girl in a forest. He

shared some of his blood with her, using magic.

After that, the girl, who had no family and no ties, joined him. She was a

bit of an odd one, only showing fondness for him. When had he started

loving her?

They'd lived together, and, when she came of age, they had a simple

wedding. It was a happy life.

She remained ignorant about how events occasionally rewound. Their

shared life shone so brightly that it was enough to make up for the repeats.

However, Valt had no intention of ever having children. He couldn't

bear the thought of creating any more tools for the artifact to consume.

Valt did not despair when he died in an accident five years after they

were married, nor when he was returned to her side because someone

changed the past with the orb. He only wept when he learned, from the list

of heirs etched onto his mind, that Miralys inherited the title of TimeReader after his demise. He grilled her once he knew, but as Miralys was

not heir while he yet lived, she had no memory of previous timelines.

Valt regretted his carelessness. For the first time in all his lives, he

wanted to redo the past.

When, by sheer coincidence, he was returned to a time before he met

her, he was even grateful to whoever had made that happen. He was careful

when he rescued her again not to give her his blood or let her come along

with him. Thinking he'd spared her his fate, he continued on, relieved.

But then he learned that despair was not so easily cured.

No matter how many times Valt repeated it—giving her blood or not,

running into her or avoiding her—the end result was the same.

Her name was already engraved onto the records as an heir, and the

curse passed to her.

Surely it had occurred to Valt's ancestors to end the suffering by not

having children. He realized that the reason the line had gone on unbroken

nonetheless had to be because of some fearsome compelling force that

would not allow for such things.

And his hopelessness did not end there.

Miralys had become the one last straw the world was waiting for.

"There are no heirs after me," Valt stated.

In reality, the heir after him was Miralys. That was already set in stone

and could not be changed.

Tinasha arched an eyebrow. "How can that be? According to you, there

are still thirty-one more years until the world comes to a standstill. Won't

the next heir just inherit this fate after you die?"

"There isn't one. I know the names of all heirs, past and future. My soul

will be dismantled before it picks out the next one."

Unbearable pain lanced through Valt as he made that statement. He

thought of all the losses he'd endured repeatedly.

Tinasha's eyes narrowed like she was analyzing magic. "Your soul will

be dismantled? Does Eleterria do that, too?"

"No. In my first life, I didn't have enough magic, and I resorted to a

forbidden curse. I traded my soul for power."

That was just a hypothesis. Valt could only guess what would befall

Miralys when she inherited the Time-Reader position and its magic.

However, her soul had indeed been splintered for some mysterious reason.

And that had drawn the world's attention.

"The heir's soul is treated as a part of Eleterria. When my soul was

dismantled, it created a gap in the succession line. Then someone used

Eleterria to go back in time, and the world decided that this gap could be

used to get rid of the troublesome artifact. No matter how drastic the

changes to history, it would all get added to that one fixed point of repair.

With every rewinding of time, my soul fractured and was dismantled

again."

"What…? You mean you used more forbidden curses?"

"No, it happened for a different reason with every instance. Once I was

attacked by a demonic spirit; once I got dragged into someone else's spell.

The worst time was when a force of nature that sucks up mages' souls came

to the city where I was living and killed hundreds."

Irityrdia's attack left the most devastation in its wake. Valt covered one

hand with another to stop them both from trembling. "Initially, it only

occurred every five lifetimes. But each rewinding of time increased the

frequency. No matter how I tried to avoid it, something would inevitably

happen to dismantle my soul, because that would create a gap in the

succession line. That may be related to how the timeline can't continue

forward past a certain point."

It sounded like Eleterria and the world were engaged in a tug-of-war.

One was rewriting the world over and over, while the other was

attempting a revolution.

"I have nowhere to go from here. My soul won't blend back into the

world, either. It will only keep getting damaged by Eleterria and dismantled

by the world."

From the world's point of view, the death of a single human was a

microscopic moment that was easy to set as a fixed point.

Her body, which lacked a soul, was always warm.

He remembered every bit of that heat, never forgetting. He had believed

that this would be the time he would save her, and the only difference

would be whether he lost her first or died first.

"Sealing Eleterria won't save my soul. And eventually, it will select

some nonhereditary new heir instead. That's why it's much better if this

ends here, with me."

Miralys stood at the edge of waters teeming with the fusion of rewriting

and repairs. Valt had to get her out of there. He didn't care what it would

cost. If not even going back in time would change it, then his only option

was to destroy the orbs.

For the moment, Miralys didn't know she was to be the next heir. She

thought Valt was the last.

She believed him and had come this far to save him. Which was why…

"There was a girl living in that house with you, wasn't there?" said

Tinasha, her voice clear and ringing. Her dark gaze appeared to see right

through him. "Is she the one you truly wish to save?"

Tinasha studied Valt's reaction carefully. He looked more shocked than she

had ever seen him. Never had the man's desires been laid so bare. Tinasha

was careful not to let him pick up on her own anguish.

If Valt truly was the final Time-Reader, he would not be able to proclaim

with such conviction that while he would know if there were any heirs to

come after him, none existed.

He knew that there was one after him. The last heir was that girl.

Her soul, too, had been dismantled. She, too, stood at a deadlock in

history…

Thus, Valt's mind was decided.

All the blood drained from his face, but he remained silent. Evidently, he

didn't want to answer.

Tinasha took some deep breaths. She kept her voice calm and steady. "I

understand what it is you wish for, as well as the state of our world and

what Eleterria has done to it."

"Well…good. Then you'll break it for me. You know I'm not going to

back down. You're the only one who can save Tuldarr," Valt said, eyes

shining as coldly and emotionlessly as they had before.

The many hostages denied Tinasha the luxury of choice.

However, she had sensed from her conversation with Valt that the

present was at a crossroads, with no options left.

Should Eleterria be destroyed and the world restored to its original

form…

Wouldn't history start over from that blank space in time thousands of

years in the past when the two orbs were introduced?

"And that would mean…?"

How close was the present world to its natural state? Wouldn't negating

all of the changes mean that Tuldarr would fall to ruin anyway?

And not only that, without Eleterria's changes, Oscar's fate would differ

as well, since his mother saved his life. All of those rescued because of

another's wish while holding one of the orbs would be erased.

Tinasha stood frozen. As if he could read her thoughts, Valt remarked,

"Take a chance on it. Maybe your country and your husband will remain,

and history will go on as it has, even after Eleterria is no more. But if you

fail to make a choice here, Tuldarr will fall."

"I know…that."

She couldn't abandon her citizens, the ones alive right now, to die. Not

without putting up a fight.

Tuldarr was her beloved motherland. That was as true four centuries ago

as it was today. It was a country like any other, where people worked from

dawn to dusk, laughed with their families, made merry at the occasional

festival, and grew old in peace.

Gazing out at the city's lights from the castle was lovely. She saw

human life as a beautiful thing.

Tinasha had believed she would happily spend her whole life protecting

theirs.

And yet every choice facing her seemed to lead to a dead end.

They were all so heavy.

If the weight of them meant allowing others to live, she would bear that

burden without question. However, that wasn't what was at stake now.

Tinasha was so beset with doubts that she wanted to take a knee from the

weight of them.

Two little boxes lay open on the pedestal, one containing a red orb, and

the other, a blue one.

Eleterria, an instrument of hope and despair, absorbed human emotions.

How much would people's fates change if she destroyed it?

With trembling fingers, Tinasha reached out.

No sooner had she done so than a man roared from outside,

"TINASHA!"

Relief and remorse swept over her.

That voice belonged to her one and only beloved.

With Tinasha about to crumple, Valt tutted in irritation and acted swiftly. He

shoved one Eleterria orb into his pocket and seized the remaining one. With

his free hand, he grabbed Tinasha and cried, "Let's go!"

They couldn't exit the treasure vault. Even Tinasha would need an

incantation to teleport out of it, allowing Oscar enough time to capture Valt.

Valt set off at a run, dragging Tinasha deeper into the vault and kicking

open a door. He burst into a dark stone passageway. A moment later,

candelabra on the walls lit up.

"Run. Do as I say."

Tinasha nodded. They hurried down the dimly lit passage, casting

defensive barriers to guard against traps. Tinasha bit her lip as she heard the

sound of footsteps pounding after them.

She'd wanted him to come but also wished he hadn't.

Her country had been taken hostage, and she was in the midst of making

an impossible decision, and now he'd gotten involved. Her delaying had

dragged him into this mess.

"Oscar…"

The two mages weren't especially quick. They couldn't keep tripping

over their feet while running for much longer.

For one thing, there was no way out. Tinasha didn't know about the

secret path back into the castle. Only the Lake of Silence awaited them.

"Oh!" she gasped, recalling the lake's connection to Farsas legend. The

idea had crossed her mind when she was trying to decide where to put

Eleterria.

It would be difficult to pull off now, but not impossible.

She concentrated on the person behind her.

Trusting in the man who would undoubtedly catch up before long, she

kept running.

After tumbling down the passageway, Valt was struck dumb upon arriving

at a large body of water. Discovering an underground lake beneath the

castle was quite unexpected. He hadn't thought their escape would be easy,

but he'd counted on the flight buying some time.

A short distance away, there was a path that crossed the water, but Valt

hesitated to take it. It would leave them extremely visible.

Instead, he threw a glance at his prisoner. "Cast a teleportation spell.

Now!"

"That's enough," said a commanding voice before Tinasha could answer.

Oscar stepped out of the passageway, Akashia in hand.

The king smiled as he looked at his fiancée and the intruder clutching

her wrist. He had all the majesty of a monarch who could bring all who

beheld him under his sway. "You're going to pay for dragging her around.

Come here, Tinasha."

"She won't. She can't disobey me," Valt responded, forcing a smile onto

his face despite the cold sweat pouring down his back.

Valt had served Oscar once, but only for three years. Yet in that short

time, Oscar had imprinted himself as king into the man's subconscious.

This made it difficult for Valt to manipulate Oscar as he did other people.

Instinctively, he shrank back.

He wasn't very good at dealing with Oscar and never wanted to face

him. There could be no admitting as much, however.

Wrapping an arm around Tinasha, he dragged her a step back with him.

One more step, and they'd land in the lake.

The smile dropped off Oscar's face, and he took a step forward. A royal

sense of pressure, enough to change the atmosphere around them, rolled off

Oscar in waves and crashed into Valt. "Hand her over. Eleterria, too. I won't

let you change things."

"You're the one who overwrote the past! It's your fault that we've had to

suffer all over again!"

"Well, I'm sorry about that. But it's all over now. We're going to seal

away those orbs and not let anyone touch them again."

"No. You don't know anything."

"You haven't explained anything. Of course I don't."

"You are capable of putting your country ahead of the people you hold

dear! That's why I have no choice but to keep betraying you!" Valt shouted.

Once upon a time, the king requested that Valt talk with him before

indulging in treachery, but there was no way he could. Valt knew what the

answer would be. Even Oscar, who prized his wife above himself, would

still choose his citizens. Oscar might understand Valt's feelings, but he

would never endorse them. Valt couldn't ask a man like that to cooperate.

As long as Eleterria existed, Miralys's soul would fracture. There could

be no yielding here.

"Valt," called an anxious voice in his head. It was the girl he wanted to

shelter from everything. His one and only. If he could free her, it didn't

matter if he ceased to exist and she forgot all about his love as if it never

was.

"Valt…! Run…!"

"It's all right. I can still do it."

He couldn't back down. Dying with his mission incomplete was

unacceptable. Fighting was the only recourse. He could rise above despair.

"Please, come back."

She was seeking confirmation. Pleading.

Never had Valt doubted her love for him.

Still, he trusted she could love another if he didn't exist, if they had

never met.

And that would be fine.

It was better that way.

Valt tightened his grip on Eleterria as he stared Oscar down.

He would handle this battle alone, atop a sense of disquiet no one else

would comprehend.

The girl continued to call to him.

"Are you listening to me? It's pointless saving me if you just end up

disappearing. I would choose unhappiness and knowing you over happiness

and never knowing you. Even if our time together is limited. That's what it

is to be human. So please, come back to me."

"Miralys…"

Valt was breathless.

She must have caught on during his conversation with Tinasha. Miralys

knew that she was the last heir…and that Valt would disappear along with

Eleterria if it were destroyed.

Knowing everything, aware of what she would suffer, she still chose

him. That was the type of person Miralys was. Her strength was so familiar

to him.

Valt wanted to cry, to seek refuge in that power of hers. A desire to let

her tranquil love compensate for all his repeated lifetimes rose within him.

Yet Valt held his ground. He couldn't see the future, which meant he

couldn't give up.

He listened with growing frustration as Oscar and Tinasha spoke to each

other. Just as he was about to urge his captive to teleport them away,

something knocked into him and sent him reeling.

"Don't kill him!"

A gigantic splash echoed in the cavern of the dark, subterranean lake.

Held behind Valt, Tinasha gazed past her captor to Oscar. Fury was plain on

his face.

No mage could take him on at this range. If either of them cast a

teleportation spell, he would be on them instantly.

While Valt held Tinasha hostage, there was no avenue for his escape.

Tinasha glanced up at Valt's tense, tight face. The imprint of a round orb

shone through one of his pockets.

She looked back to Oscar. Valt had to know that Tuldarr was no

compelling hostage to Oscar, which meant that he was stuck, just as Tinasha

was.

But Oscar wasn't. He would fight Valt with no hesitation at all, despite

Tuldarr's fate being on the line. That was the sort of person he was. Tuldarr

wasn't his country. He would make the choice he had to, even if Tinasha

resented him for it. His fortitude was entirely unbreakable.

That made him the only one she could rely on, the only one who could

shake them out of this stalemate.

Tinasha sucked in a deep breath.

She could trust him. There was no one else but him. His eyes, the color

of a bright twilight sky, were fixed right on her.

"Why does something like this happen the second I take my eyes off

you?" Oscar sighed.

"I'm sorry," Tinasha responded.

"It's fine. We'll figure this out," he said. The steady response was

characteristic of her husband.

The two of them were to be husband and wife; that was a milestone they

were meant to reach on their long and winding journey.

No matter who they were up against or what sort of situation it was, they

would overcome it, just as they had so far.

Oscar adjusted his grip on Akashia. "I know you're in the midst of a

situation, but don't get reckless. Or do anything you don't have to."

"Despite how things look, I'm always considering what would be the

quickest way out."

"Yeah, and I'm telling you that's unnecessary."

"I can do it because I have you," Tinasha replied. Her deep trust in him

was more than she had even in herself.

The two of them had each other. Surely it was a stroke of fortune,

enabling them to take on this intersection of their many layered destinies.

Tinasha gave Oscar a smile like moonlight.

"So Oscar, come and save me."

A hand shot forward and plucked the Eleterria orb from Valt's pocket,

quick as can be. Then Tinasha rammed herself into her captor and used the

recoil to leap backward. From the corner of her eye, she could make out a

look of astonishment on Oscar's face.

"Don't kill him!" she shouted to Oscar before diving into the lake, the

blue orb still in her hand.

A loud splash rose with white foam. The cold of the water hit her like a

shock.

I know Oscar can stop Valt.

A little smile materialized on Tinasha's lips as she peered at the water's

surface growing farther away.

What a task to leave to someone else. Was it all right to dump it in his

lap?

Regardless, he'd allow it. This one time, Tinasha would sit back and let

him take the lead.

If anyone should shoulder the blame, it ought to be her, not Oscar.

Tinasha wouldn't let that happen, though. No one would be lost today.

She'd return to Tuldarr and undo that spell at any cost.

Then she would face Valt again and attempt to extricate the souls from

Eleterria.

Oscar would almost certainly call her naive for such an attempt, but that

was his standpoint talking. If Valt and Miralys were trapped, wedged in the

middle of the war between the world and the alterations, Tinasha would see

to their safety first. Then she would talk to him again and consider what to

do about Eleterria and the world.

For now, she need only survive to reach that point.

Tinasha focused her mind. The lake water dispersed her magic.

However, its ability to do so was weaker than Akashia's. She hadn't

imbibed any of the water, enabling her to push past its effects by enhancing

the pressure of her power. That was how she averted danger the last time.

As quickly as able, Tinasha cast an incredibly dense spell.

Once the teleportation spell was complete…she suddenly realized that

the blue orb felt warm. Despite the chill of the cold water, the half of

Eleterria in her grip was giving off heat. And it felt like all the water in the

lake was quietly urging her to clench it tighter.

Something's wrong.

Her movements slowed. Her spell dissipated.

Tinasha was sinking, caught in a trap and dissolving as she held this

little burning sphere.

Losing track of her very place in the world, she no longer knew what

was happening.

A crack appeared on the orb's surface. Tinasha stared at it numbly.

Before her eyes, it widened, and lake water flowed into the fissure. The

sigils carved onto it glowed white, almost defiantly.

It began to activate.

Frantically, Tinasha poured magic into her hands to stop the orb from

triggering, but the light intensified.

I want to go back to him.

That wish flashed through her mind. She could tell she was about to lose

everything.

She was so close. She was about to be his bride. The promise he made

her when she was a girl would come true.

With each new component of her wedding ensemble, Tinasha had

savored the pure excitement. It didn't seem real that the time had really

come for her to wear the veil her parents gave her; she'd thought it

something that had long passed her by.

Even the wait for her days with him to start was joyful.

Oscar had given her something that transcended four hundred years.

Once she wed him, she could die happy that very night.

And yet now…

A blinding light engulfed Tinasha, blotting out her vision. The hand

holding the orb disappeared.

Her body, mind, and magic were all dismantled.

As was her heart.

I want to…go back—

With that final thought, her memory cut off and vanished.