*********Harper
The silence after Aliya's death was louder than any scream. Everywhere reeked of blood and smoke, my breath shallow as I stood surrounded by the lifeless bodies of everyone I had once called family.
Mother's glassy eyes stared at nothing. Elias—my brother—lay crumpled like a discarded doll, and Elora's hand still reached out toward me as though she had tried, even in her final moment, to protect me. And Aliya… my best friend. My betrayer. My sister in all but blood, now lying still with the dagger I had plunged into her chest.
My heart clenched so hard I thought it would burst.
Tears blurred my vision as I whispered, "This is all my fault. Everything… every single thing." My voice cracked, trembling as the weight of my sins pressed into my lungs. "Why did I let CODE take everything from me? Why did I let myself be blinded until it destroyed me completely?"
I fell to my knees, the dagger still in my bloodstained hand. Its silver edge gleamed faintly under the flickering light, mocking me, daring me to do what I already knew I wanted to do.
"There's no reason left for me to live anymore," I murmured, pressing the blade against my chest. "If death is the only escape, then so be it…"
From beyond the border, Chris's voice shattered the silence. His voice—panicked, desperate, echoing directly inside my mind—pierced through my despair.
"Harper! No! Don't do it!" he screamed, his tone sharper than I had ever heard before. "If you take your own life, it's over! You won't just die here—you'll be dead for real. That's the rule of CODE. Do you understand me? You'll never come back!"
I froze, tears spilling harder. Chris's voice trembled as he pleaded, "Please, Harper… don't break the rules. Don't let them win like this!"
Behind him, I could faintly hear Kael's voice too. He was at the border, roaring my name in agony, but he couldn't reach me. I turned, and through the blur of my tears, I saw him trying to cross—but every time he stepped forward, fire licked across his skin, searing him, burning him back. He staggered, but he still pressed on, screaming, "HARPER! Answer me! Can you hear me? Please!"
But I couldn't. Not anymore. Their voices sounded like echoes of a world I had already left behind.
Hay's presence was gone too. The silence where her soft hum of energy should have been crushed me. I realized then: she had disappeared because Luna was gone. Her master's death had erased her existence entirely.
I sobbed harder. Everyone I loved… everyone who had stood by me… gone. What was left for me?
The dagger trembled in my grip, slick with blood and tears. Chris screamed again, louder, his voice breaking:
"No, Harper! Don't! I beg you!"
But I didn't listen. My hands moved on their own, my despair deeper than any bond that could tether me to life.
With one sharp thrust, I plunged the dagger into my chest.
"NOOO!" Chris's voice tore through the air, raw and broken. In that instant, I felt his energy shatter, felt him fade completely from my mind. His light winked out. Silence rushed in to take his place.
Kael roared from beyond the border, his cry guttural and agonized. But then his body jerked. He clutched his chest, blood spilling from the exact place I had stabbed myself. His knees buckled, and he collapsed to the ground, screaming in pain.
"Harper…" His voice broke into a ragged whisper.
The sky above us shifted violently. Dark clouds churned, twisting as though the heavens themselves were tearing apart. Red lightning cracked through the gloom, streaking across the sky like veins of fire. The earth rumbled, the walls trembling, the air heavy with unnatural pressure.
And then it began—strange, horrifying changes.
I saw the floor ripple like water beneath me. Shadows warped and clawed upward, reaching, writhing as though alive. A deafening hum vibrated through the atmosphere, growing louder and louder until it threatened to split my skull.
Before my eyes closed, before the final flicker of consciousness escaped me, I realized what was happening. This wasn't just me. It wasn't just Kael.
It was CODE itself unraveling.
My chest burned with agony as blood poured from the wound, but I forced my eyes open one last time. I looked at the collapsing world, the madness unraveling around me, and whispered, "It's… ending…" before darkness swallowed me whole.
---
*********
Across the distance, Vaelthor and Natalie watched the sky from their house.
The moment the dagger pierced Harper's chest, both of them froze. They felt the world shift under their feet, the pulse of CODE rupturing like a living thing that had been wounded.
The winds howled, slamming against their windows, rattling the walls. Shadows twisted outside, spiraling in wild, chaotic patterns. A strange current tore through the air, stripping leaves from trees, toppling objects to the ground.
Natalie's eyes widened, her smirk wiped from her lips for the first time in years. She looked at Vaelthor. "Do you feel that?"
Vaelthor's expression hardened. The firelight reflected in his eyes, his voice dropping to a whisper.
"CODE."
Natalie whispered the same word under her breath, her hand trembling as the reality of what had just happened set in.
Outside, the wind roared, spiraling into a vortex that consumed everything in its path. Darkness swallowed the horizon, and the world itself seemed to collapse into chaos.
And just like that, everything fell silent.
The sky turned black.
The game had changed forever.