I wasn’t dead. For what it was worth, I knew that I wasn’t dead.

  The stale smell of a clean hospital room filled my nostrils. The uncomfortable bed and sterile surroundings were enough evidence of that. How long had I been resting in this bed? There was no way to find out. It could have been weeks. I heard the sound of something shuffling next to me, attracting my attention.

  It was Veronica.

  Her eyes narrowed, “Where are you hurting right now?”

  “...Everywhere,” I rasped.

  It didn’t take a genius to figure that out. I was covered almost head to toe in bandages, and every small movement I took caused my nerves to send a bolt of protest into my brain. Speaking revealed the extent to which my throat had been cooked by the heat coming from the crystal. Not a good idea to start talking right after waking up.

  Burns were an incredibly painful type of injury, and I counted my blessings that it wasn’t even worse. Samantha’s magic must have done a pretty good job rewinding the clock.

  She filled me in without forcing me to ask questions; “You’ve been asleep for ten days. The doctors said they were amazed that you survived the ‘accident,’ but I knew that it’d take a lot more than third-degree burns to finish you off.”

  “How bad?”

  Veronica sighed, “I didn’t even want to look at you afterwards, but Samantha said she healed a lot of the damage caused by the crystal, at least she did after she stopped being so angry at you for ditching her and running off on your own. It wasn’t a pretty sight.”

  “You... hm. That makes sense.”

  “No snide comments?”

  “No. I wouldn’t want to see my daughter in that state either, not that I have one.”

  Veronica’s face was unreadable. She paced over to one of the chairs beside my bed and sat down to explain what happened.

  “Sloan’s in custody, the city’s cleaning up the mess and burying the dead, and all of the rats he was working with are trying to flee the sinking ship before they get pulled under. They won’t get away for long.”

  “They’ll get off...”

  “No, they won’t. They’re serious about this one. Killing that many people? Trying to assassinate the King and dissolve parliament? There’s not a corner of Walserian society willing to sit back and let them off without a sentence for that, and the Royalists amongst the lower classes aren’t exactly pleased with what they did either. Ekkehard went back to Thersyn with his tail between his legs and handed him back the throne, just like that.”

  It was no guarantee that he’d stay safe by doing that though. Thersyn didn’t have the unilateral power to dismiss criminal charges against someone – he could only forward his recommendation to the justice minister and vouch for them in a personal capacity. Ekkehard would have to squeal to the police and WISA about what he knew if he was ever going to see the outside of a jail cell.

  But maybe that would be a safer place to be than outside. Ekkehard was about as popular as a sexually transmitted infection, and even the people who wanted to restore the monarchy wouldn’t argue for his appointment to the throne. Everyone could see him for the puppet that he was, and they would be angry. This was the type of thing that led to a spurned supporter grabbing a pistol and taking their best shot.

  “It’s not like you have any reason to put your neck on the line now. We’ll see how it plays out in the coming months, or weeks, they want it wrapped up fast before a lynch mob finds them.”

  “Are you the only one here?”

  “It’s early. The others are sleeping, but Sam has been here every single day waiting for you to wake up. She’s going to be mad when she gets here and sees that you’re awake again.”

  “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”

  She handed me a glass of water and watched silently as I sipped at it over the next five minutes. It was nectar to my scolded tissue. My mouth was dry, and the anaesthesia meant I was desperate to use the bathroom. I had all kinds of wires going in and out of me, presumably to keep my body nourished and bladder empty.

  “You did it. Mission accomplished.”

  “I’ve still got a long life left to live, yet.”

  “Not with the way you’ve been acting. Maybe you should spare a thought for the people who care about you before rushing headlong into a suicidal charge?”

  I stared at the empty glass and shrugged.

  “I’m not used to people caring about me. I don’t expect them to.”

  “That’s too bad. Samantha cares, and downplaying it isn’t going to make her go away.”

  I allowed myself to break out into a smile, not born from malice or a rush of adrenaline, but from the raw feeling of success. On the other hand – I was being drugged to hell and back to keep my injuries from crippling me from pain, but I liked to think that it was because I felt a weight lift from my shoulders.

  “That’s the first time I’ve seen this,” Veronica said.

  “Not much to smile about when I was on the Goddess’ leash.”

  This was the first time I’d felt genuinely relieved since I arrived in this damned place. No more worrying about what Durandia wanted, no more looking over my shoulder for two years straight waiting for the knife to sink into my back, and no more walking into any given situation expecting the whole thing to turn into a violent gunfight ripped from the reel of an eighties action movie. A more sober assessment of what was next could only be performed when I wasn’t high on morphine.

  I decided to enjoy the feeling instead of raining on my own parade.

  “I can breathe a sigh of relief now that I know you’re still alive, if not entirely unscathed.”

  I reached up with my ‘good’ hand and touched the bandages that covered one side of my head and face. It was obvious at the edges that the skin beneath was still scarred to some extent. It was going to be another striking feature on top of all the others – although the high-minded nobles at the academy would likely find this one far less fetching than my doll-like proportions.

  “We’re going to have a serious discussion about this, like adults.”

  “You are an adult,” Veronica grumbled.

  “You know what I mean.”

  “I’ll get out of your hair for a while. Lots of clean-up work still to do, but I’ll visit again and we can have that chat.”

  I nodded and waved goodbye. Once she stepped through the door and out of the room, she was quickly replaced by an exhausted looking Samantha. The bags under her eyes communicated that her sleep wasn’t restful in the least, as did the wild messiness of her untamed hair.

  I frowned, “What the hell have you been doing? You look even more bedraggled than I do!”

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  Samantha’s bottom lip quivered. All of that tension left her body now that I was awake and speaking to her. She hurried over to the side of the bed, and against all expectations, pulled me into a hug.

  “You have no idea how relieved I am...”

  I didn’t know what to do with my hands. I sat there like a statue and let Samantha do as she pleased, which turned out to be hugging me for no less than five minutes straight while trying to control her breathing. It was humiliating enough for the both of us without her also breaking out into tears.

  “I’m so angry with you. Honestly. What’s wrong with you?”

  She pulled away and leant against the edge of my bed.

  “You already know full well what’s bloody wrong with me. Not that it matters much now – I think we’re in the clear when it comes to life-threatening drama. You’ll never have to fight a demon again, hopefully.”

  “Don’t say that, you’ll jinx us!” she admonished me, followed by a nervous laugh. She slumped down onto the chair beside the bed. She’d spent the past week practically living in this hospital, watching and waiting for me to wake up.

  “I wouldn’t get angry if you took some time and went home. You didn’t know how long it would take me to wake up.”

  “Come on, you can’t expect me to run off and relax at home in a situation like this!”

  “I can when you look like you haven’t had a good night’s sleep in two weeks.”

  “You’re not my Mum.”

  “Hm. Considering how much I’ve looked after you, I feel like your Mum.”

  “The tough-girl act doesn’t work so well when you’re bandaged up like this.”

  I pushed my head back against the pillow and chuckled, “You’re right. I take it that everyone else went back to their families to keep them from causing too much of a fuss.”

  “They did. Max is across the city in another infirmary, his brother woke up a few days ago. He’s recovering well considering how severe his injuries were. Claude is back with his parents, and Adrian went home instead of waiting.”

  At least everyone else was getting a happy ending. The only thing they had to worry about was the mental trauma from all of the crazy shit that happened to them. I was somewhat steeled to it – but those tortured bodies held aloft by their own blood was a sickening sight even to me. This was going to leave a collective scar on people’s memories for a very long time.

  If there was one aspect of Landon Sloan’s involvement to be thankful for it was how polarizing his actions were. He was suddenly thrust into a leadership position within the conspiracy, alienating friends and sympathizers and galvanizing public support against their cause of monarchist restoration. The entire nation was on the brink of civil war just over a week ago, but now it was on nobody’s mind with the horror of his actions published in every newspaper in the country.

  “You want to talk about it?” I asked.

  “Not really. It’s been nothing but this for almost an entire year. I knew that going to the academy was going to be tough but I didn’t expect this. It makes the academy and all the sneering nobles look tame by comparison, honestly. What am I supposed to do with these powers? They’re not going away.”

  “Even with that kind of power, you’re only one person. Nobody expects you to shoulder the world. Why don’t you focus on your original goal of becoming a doctor or healer? You did a good job on me.”

  Samantha frowned, “Do you have any idea how much of a bloody hypocrite you are?”

  “Yes. I never said that my methodology is the smart thing to do.”

  “And for that matter, nobody’s shown you a bloody mirror either! Don’t say I did a good job before you even see how much of a mess I made. Healing burns that severe based on my memory alone is hard enough, and it still wasn’t capable of getting rid of all of the scarring.”

  I touched my face and applied some soft pressure to the burnt skin. Some areas were deadened, while others were sensitive and painful. The structure of it was obscured by the padding and bandages. I got a rough impression of how accurate her work was.

  “A little disfigurement never hurt anybody...”

  Samantha sighed, “I see that your morbid sense of humour didn’t burn with your flesh.”

  I smirked. Messing with her was too much fun. Maybe there was a good reason to stick around after all.

  The final report was filed and issued to the Council of Peers.

  The ephemeral existence known as ‘Durandia’ left the grand hall and floated along a rainbow-coloured walkway. The dark energy that emanated from her being made it obvious to her fellow higher-beings that she was contemplating something profound. She had succeeded in her plan to save the world she guarded, yet now more than ever she felt a great sense of uncertainty.

  Her allowance of meddling in the physical world had been expended. She was no longer permitted to nudge events in any one direction, and now she owed a large pile of favours to the one who watched over Jensen’s original reality and assisted her in the endeavour.

  There was some solace in having her plan unfold without any blips. She stuck inside of the lines that were drawn for her and achieved a good outcome. All she could do now was hope that no further intervention would be required. It had taken an almighty effort to convince the Council to vote in favour of her scheme.

  Despite the success of the plan, there was always going to be scepticism from some members on the board, and even more so from those who lacked vision and perspective. She could sense Xenia on the unseen winds. They were lingering near the chambers to try and catch her leaving.

  “Do you have something of import to say, Xenia?”

  “I would have thought that you would be in a more celebratory mood.”

  “There is nothing to celebrate. Despite my best efforts, many lives were still cut short.”

  “You should not forget our place. It’s not our decision to make. We do not control the levers of life and death. The worlds will keep turning, lives will be born and lost, as we were once made and unmade and brought forth into this realm of feeling and thought. Expressing my distaste for this situation will not help now.”

  “Then stay your words and leave me be.”

  “I was hoping that this experience would bring you around to my way of thinking. I understand that you were not an active user of the Red Tree before this incident occurred. Do you now see what I do?”

  Durandia’s form turned pointed in irritation; “See what, exactly?”

  “That we live within a prison of our own making. We write fate onto the pages of our history books and cement it into place.”

  “The Red Tree does not possess that power. It does not ‘write’ anything. It is a computer simulation that works through data and study. Your gripe should be with how our pasts shape our behaviour, to the extent that it becomes predictable in the first place.”

  “Regardless of how it works – it is too much influence for any one existence or group to bear. Do you believe that the safeguards we have now will be enough to prevent abuse in the future?”

  “No, not entirely, but that is a high bar to set, and you could easily apply such thinking to any of our duties or powers over the mortal realms. We can only trust ourselves to act in their best interests, and punish those who do not. I followed the rules and abided by the restrictions placed on me because I value their guidance. It is important to me that I do.”

  “I think we should destroy it, or lock it away. Imperfect beings should not be positioned to manipulate the path of history in this way. It’s absurd.”

  “I find it more absurd that you assert so proudly that it is possible for any living being to be ‘perfect,’ to live up to this standard you’ve created. Would an upright individual, with all of the tools available to them, willingly sit back and allow an entire world to come to an end?”

  “That is the natural way of things!” Xenia replied, “We do not exist for the purpose of perpetuating warm-blooded life alone. Is it fair and even-handed for us to spare them from their mistakes? Is it fair to the other intelligences who might flourish instead in their place?”

  Durandia was losing patience.

  “You’re starting to sound like him.”

  The name was left unsaid, but the implication was obvious to all present.

  “He said the same things. He rolled the dice over and over again, believing earnestly that there was some unseen ‘better way’ beyond the clouds. All he found was disappointment when the same patterns emerged time and time again. Intelligent life will always follow a similar path, that is the natural way of things. Will you become nothing more than a mad scientist, breaking rules and taboos whilst declaring your sanctity?”

  “You forget our origins.”

  “You are the only one who forgets your origins, Xenia. We are not gods, and that is not a standard that any of us can live up to. Excise your emotions with a fine scalpel and assert the fundamental laws of our universe and I might agree with you.”

  “Purity, justice, those are the virtues I pride myself on.”

  Durandia closed the millions of miles that separated them so that her ‘voice’ could be heard clearly.

  “And what good are your virtues when you willingly disarm yourself? What good is being ‘just’ when you forfeit your strongest weapons? You will help nobody that way, nobody but yourself and your ego.”

  Three femtoseconds passed. The message was instantly transmitted through the airless medium they inhabited and touched the back of Xenia’s mind. It was an extremely long pause. Durandia filled the gap with her final statement of intent.

  “We may not have physical bodies, but we are not ghosts. I will not refrain from doing as I please, living as I please, and believing in what I think is right. If not – then what is the point in going on? I’d rather scatter myself to the four corners of existence than become a mere bystander.”

  Xenia quickly changed to another subject.

  “Do they have a punishment in mind for me?”

  “No. I already account for your involvement during the planning phase, which you so helpfully alerted me to by taking a physical body for a brief moment in their world. I assume Jensen did not agree with your perspective at the time.”

  “Of course not. They’re the same as you. It’s all relative thinking and utilitarianism. That’s why you selected them. Besides – I don’t pose much of a threat given my personal opposition to using the Red Tree. That’s a particular gate I do not wish to open. Please allow me to keep life surprising.”

  “Nobody is forcing you to scry your own future, fool.”

  “It’s the temptation, the temptation! Get back here! I’m not done just yet!”

  Durandia was already moving away to find someplace quiet. Nothing made a bad mood worse than being forced to listen to Xenia for more than a few moments...