Page 62 of The Endless One

She shook her head and took another step away from the woman who was not her mother, and the woman who was not her. “I don’t trust you. I don’t think a word of what you said is true either.”

A wrinkle of anger creased the old woman’s face as she backed away, farther and farther. And then the woman in the garden stood and turned, revealing that she wasn’t the queen after all. She stood far taller, stronger than her mother. And when the visage finally fell, she recognized a strong goddess who had been the one supposed to take over her body.

Then the old woman melted before her eyes, revealing the same Huntress standing in front of her. The two images shimmered and merged, the entire realm seeming to tilt in front of her.

“You caught me,” the Huntress said. “It’s a shame, really. This would have been so much easier if you’d just come quietly.”

“What would have been easier?”

The Huntress lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Ajax has never been very good at finishing what he starts. But a spell is a spell, and your body is still something I can take if I can catch it. This is the best way to do so. I didn’t think you would die and leave it vacant.”

Jessamine’s mind whirled. “Why would you need to control me, then?”

“Because you can return to it,” the Huntress spat, stepping closer in an obviously aggressive move. “A pity, really. You could have made this easy for both of us.”

Finally, she caught up. All the pieces of herself flooded into her mind, and she knew that she was in grave danger. Whatever this place was, the Huntress had trapped her here. She was not quite dead yet, which meant she still had a chance. She could still beat this.

Jessamine wasn’t sure she could fight a goddess, though. In fact, she knew that she couldn’t. The Huntress had centuries of experience fighting, and she would destroy Jessamine easily.

Unless Jessamine made it difficult.

This golden realm, whatever it was, was linked to her death. All she had to do was push and she could control it. Just like Elric’s realm.

A rumble started at her feet as she gathered what was left of her magic, what she hadn’t already given to the other witches. But this time it was golden, dripping from her fingertips, and it made everything all that much easier.

“Fine, then,” Jessamine said. “But you’ll have to catch me first.”

She released all her magic, turning the world nearly upside down. Buildings and forests bloomed out of the golden light. Deep lakes, endless plains, weaving wheat that blew in the wind, every bit of landscape she could think of until there were countless places for her to hide.

The Huntress merely grinned. “I have hunted far more difficult prey than you.”

“But it’s not just me you hunt.”

Jessamine sent a prayer to Elric, hoping that in some way, he might be able to find her. Maybe he could save her one last time, if only he could hear her wherever he was.

Then she splintered herself into every version she had ever been: sad, rageful, guilty, fearful, protective. She scattered the pieces of herself throughout the entire world and told them all to hide.

And if they couldn’t hide, then they needed to run.

He woke slowly, his body and magic taking time to stretch into a new being. It was always like this when he was sacrificed. It took some effort for his corporeal form to decide what it wanted to do.

The first few times he’d died, he’d turned into something monstrous. He wasn’t even certain what to call that hulking form, something like the cross between a bear and a raven. Massive and covered in black feathers, he had stretched out his arms that turned into great wings with talons at the end. He’d existed as that monster for many years before finally returning to a shape that was less terrifying to wandering souls.

But this time, it was easy for him to choose what he wanted to look like. Elric wanted to look like the man she loved. All he could remember were the soft words she’d spoken in quiet moments between the two of them. How she liked the shape of his nose. The way her fingers trailed over his shoulders like she couldn’t stop tracing the outline of him. And that she’d kissed a scar on his collarbone more times than he could count.

All of these things were dear to him, and so he kept his form the same.

As he blinked his eyes open, he was shocked to find that he wasn’t in his realm. He had expected darkness, ink, hands reaching out of the water to grab onto him.

Not this. Not a golden city gleaming in sunlight that nearly burned his retinas, surrounded by lakes and waving grass. This was a whole new world for him, and none of it made sense.

Elric stood and dusted himself off. He glanced down his body, realizing that he was also wearing very familiar clothing. It was the same outfit he’d been in when he first manifested himself to Jessamine. The black obsidian buttons down his jacket were recognizable, as was the loose black shirt that billowed open to reveal his chest, and the tight dark pants fitting into his boots. This was… him. Not an older version of himself, not a manifested creation of terror, but Elric.

“Something isn’t right,” he murmured to himself before heading out into the golden city.

Every step echoed as he wandered through the empty streets. There wasn’t a single soul, not a wandering spirit, nothing but silence that was so heavy it pressed against his ears and made his head ache.

Whatever this place was, it wasn’t filled with anyone who had once been alive. Nor did it have any signs that someone had lived here before. There was no dirt on the streets, no smudges on the golden walls of the city. Nothing but perfection as far as the eye could see.