"Bjei… run."
I froze.
That was my voice.
But it was coming from Shawshank.
His eyes were completely black.
His body was shaking as if something inside him was fighting to escape.
"Shawshank?"
He looked at me.
For one second, I saw him.
The real him.
His eyes flashed gold.
"Don't come near me."
I stepped forward.
"No."
"Bjei, please!"
His voice broke.
"I don't know how long I can hold it."
I reached for him.
The moment my fingers touched his face, darkness exploded around us.
I was thrown backward.
"Bjei!"
The other Bjei caught me.
Shawshank screamed.
The black mark spread from his chest to his neck.
The First Mother stared at him in horror.
"The final piece has awakened."
I looked at her.
"What final piece?"
She pointed at Shawshank.
"The part of the first world that was removed when Bjei sacrificed herself."
My heart dropped.
"You mean his power?"
"No."
She shook her head.
"His existence."
I stared at Shawshank.
"He was created from you," she continued, "but not from your power alone."
"What was he created from?"
She looked at me.
"Your final choice."
I didn't understand.
"When you sacrificed yourself the first time, you didn't only divide your power."
She pointed toward Shawshank.
"You divided your future."
My breath caught.
"That doesn't make sense."
"It will."
The First Mother lifted her hand.
A vision appeared.
I saw the first world.
I saw myself standing beside Shawshank.
But something was different.
There were no kingdoms.
No queens.
No war.
No boundaries.
We were simply together.
Then the First Queen appeared.
"You cannot leave," she told me.
I looked at her.
"I don't belong to you."
"You belong to the world."
"No."
I held Shawshank's hand.
"I belong to myself."
The First Queen attacked.
Darkness exploded.
I saw myself falling.
Shawshank caught me.
Then I heard my own voice.
"If I disappear, take the part of me that still wants to live."
Shawshank cried.
"No."
"You have to."
"I won't."
"You promised."
He held me tighter.
"I promised to protect you."
"And I promise to find you."
The vision ended.
I stared at him.
"You remembered."
His black eyes flickered.
"I remember everything."
He looked at me.
"You died."
Tears filled his eyes.
"I watched you disappear."
My heart broke.
"But I came back."
"No."
He shook his head.
"You came back without me."
The darkness inside him grew.
"I waited."
I stepped closer.
"I didn't know."
"I know."
His voice softened.
"You weren't supposed to."
Suddenly, the First Queen raised her crown.
"Enough."
A wave of silver light struck Shawshank.
He screamed.
I turned toward her.
"Stop!"
"He is becoming the doorway."
"He is still Shawshank!"
"If he completes the transformation, the first world will return through him."
I stepped between them.
"Then we'll stop it together."
The First Queen stared at me.
"You still choose him."
"Yes."
"Even if choosing him destroys the worlds?"
I looked at Shawshank.
He was struggling to remain himself.
"Yes."
The First Queen shook her head.
"You never learn."
I smiled through my tears.
"That's because you keep trying to teach me the wrong lesson."
The other Bjei stepped beside me.
"She isn't alone anymore."
Nerath slowly stood.
"And neither am I."
Everyone looked at him.
The darkness around his body had disappeared.
For the first time, he looked almost human.
He looked at Shawshank.
"You don't have to become the doorway."
Shawshank lifted his head.
"Then what am I?"
Nerath answered:
"The lock."
Silence.
The First Mother suddenly understood.
"No…"
I turned.
"What?"
She looked at Shawshank.
"He was never created to open the first world."
Her eyes widened.
"He was created to keep it closed."
I stared at Shawshank.
"So why is the darkness inside him?"
The First Mother looked at me.
"Because someone is trying to open it from the inside."
The chamber went silent.
Then Shawshank suddenly looked behind me.
His expression changed.
"Bjei…"
"What?"
He whispered:
"It's not the first world that's waking."
I turned.
A massive golden eye had opened in the darkness behind us.
Shawshank grabbed my hand.
"It's something that was trapped inside the first world."
The eye widened.
And a voice filled the chamber.
"I have been waiting for you, Bjei."