“I know where to find Karl,” Julius said. He continued to explain how, during the previous day’s battle, he had run into and talked to his ex lover and had told him to come here.

  Aurora felt a pit in her stomach as they came closer to the man who had once been a boy she should have cared for, but instead ruined.

  And sure enough, they found Karl at the edge of the old quarry road, shoulders hunched, staring at the ground. They watched as he straightened, his shoulders squaring like he was bracing for an impact that never came. The ground around him was cracked and wet, likely from one frustrated, powerful blow.

  Aurora narrowed her eyes as she looked around. Her instincts screamed as she recognized how easily he could crush them. She pressed the scar on her wrist where she had extracted the source of Ysalva’s light energy.

  She dared not break her gaze from his figure as he finally turned toward them. They could see that his fury was still there, sharp and volatile. His eyes snapped to them, unsteady, raging… Grieving.

  And underneath it all, Aurora recognized bone deep fatigue.

  Julius called his name softly, but he was met with silence before Karl laughed hysterically, looking up at the sky.

  “Well,” he said. “If it isn’t the defeated players. Why are you here, to celebrate Samantha’s victory?”

  Julius furrowed his brows, clenching his fists. “Well, why are you here? I told you to meet me here if you needed me. And you came.”

  Karl’s mouth twitched. “I guess. I didn’t have anywhere else to go.”

  Julius flinched at the words.

  Amy stayed a step behind Aurora, eyes steady, taking Karl in without flinching or softening. Her calm was…unnerving. She didn’t reach for him with her gaze the way people sometimes did when they saw something broken. She didn’t look at him as if she could mend what ailed him. She just… watched.

  And Karl noticed, looking slightly intrigued.

  He clapped once. “Ah, if it isn’t the girl who messed up Aurora’s plan, everything.” He clapped again. “Thank you, I guess.” His attention slid to her, slow and assessing, like he couldn’t quite place her.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “No speeches?” Karl asked, almost amused. Then he scoffed.

  “Not yet.”

  He looked back at the quarry, jaw tightening. Aurora imagined him remembering the atrocities he committed following Samantha. Recalling the trauma Milo had put him through.

  The moral hesitation he had carried the last few days. The knowledge they both shared of what Samantha was capable of. Her instability.

  “Why did you stop her?” He sounded tired again. “Why…didn’t you finish it? She killed your father. Well, the only one that mattered anyways. Milo and your mom…killed my mother. So why… why didn’t you choose power? Hate? Revenge?”

  His nose flared as he glared at Amy.

  Aurora could hear what was unspoken.

  Why didn’t you become like me?

  Aurora side-eyed Amy. It was true, Amy’s composure was unsettling. From Karl’s perspective, probably more so. She had been broken but remained resolute, and that…that destabilized him. Because Karl was thinking: why couldn’t you become like me?

  Amy didn’t stagger back as Karl staggered forward, reaching toward her, closing the gap. “You could’ve had victory.”

  Amy just sighed. “Victory?” That stopped Karl dead in his tracks. “You call emptiness victory?”

  His eyebrow arched, just one.

  Amy smiled, though sadly. “I guess if that’s victory, you’ve been winning for years Karl. How does it feel?”

  Aurora swallowed.

  But Amy didn’t stop as she lifted her chin. “You think revenge makes you strong, but it’s only keeping you from having to decide who you are.”

  “You,” Karl lunged forward, but Amy easily dodged. Karl glowered. “I felt it when we last met. You saw my memories. Of Milo… of what he did to me.”

  Amy nodded, eyes still sad. “And still you say they ruined you. I can understand why. But every choice since then has been yours.” She closed her eyes briefly, as if to mourn, before opening them again, voice forcibly steady. “I did see everything,” she inhaled deeply. “That’s why I understand. I understand that you don’t hate Milo… You just hate that he shaped you. That his ghost continues to decide who you are. And you hate that he walked away.”

  She clenched her fist as if the words cut her too. “You say you want revenge…but what you really wanted was for him to see you.”

  Aurora flinched. Milo was the only parental figure Karl had had, as awful as that was.

  “You…” Karl lunged again, as if to strangle Amy. “You don’t understand! You don’t…you don’t understand what he did. What that does to you. You don’t know what it’s like.”

  This time, tears streamed Amy’s face. For the first time since she was in the cargo hold of Karl’s ship, the day Kristo had died, she cried, choked. “I do.”

  Recognition bloomed on the man’s face as his gaze dropped, as he looked away. “No, you’re wrong. I… I… I just became stronger.”

  Amy’s voice steadied. “And I refused to.” She didn’t move closer to Karl as the tears forcefully dried. “When I lost my dad, did you think I didn’t want her dead? Do you think I never imagined it?”

  “But… if I stop… then what was all of it for?”

  Amy wiped her tears. “Karl, it doesn’t have to be for anything. You just have to stop.”

  Tears now flowed down his face. “Stop,” his voice shook as he laughed. “Yeah right.” But the tears kept coming.

  “Karl!” Julius yelled, running forward.

  “Stop!” Karl bellowed. He turned, choking as if he couldn’t breathe, hiding his face as if he couldn’t stand being seen.

  Fire bloomed into a wall protecting the three from a massive wave. When the steam cleared, Karl was gone.

  And Amy was too.