"What happened?" Terra asks, staring at her outspread hands as snow clings to them. "Why couldn't we go forward?"
Gabriel stands above her. "I'm going to be honest. I don't know. I wasn't even sure if we'd end up back here. Thank Viatrix, we're okay."
Terra remembers that lifeless world. Everything was dead except for the golden river flowing through black trees. "Yeah, that's a relief. What now? We can't go back there, can we?"
Gabriel drapes her jacket on her shoulders. "No. Not in a million years. That place was bad news. Even if we got past it, I'm sure a slew of worse worlds would have followed."
"I really thought we'd found our window when we saw those alien cities. What went wrong?"
"That's just the randomness of the multiverse. It's nothing we did wrong. In fact, it's a miracle we aren't dead."
"But the professor…" Tears fill her eyes and drip into the snow. "She will be. She'll be gone, frozen forever with the rest of them."
"Hey…" he says, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You did all you could."
Terra slaps his hand away. "Don't touch me! Don't try to comfort me. You're the cause of all of this!"
"Terra, that's not fair. I'm trying to help--"
"I want to like you. I wish we could work but without this… If there's no place for my people…"
Gabriel shifts, making a crunching noise in the snow. He's moving away from her. "I know. You'll hate me forever."
"I wish things were different," Terra says through her sobs. "With all my heart, I wish we could find a way, but…"
"We just exhausted it," he finishes. "That was our last option."
They failed. Again. Every idea Terra has had, everything they have done, has all failed. Are she and Eila doomed to live a miserable life no matter what they do?
"We should… tell the others," Gabriel says, melancholic. "Do you want to, or should I?"
Terra stays where she is, knees deep in the snow.
"It's me, then. I'll be right back."
Flap flap
She can hear him taking off. When he returns, nothing will ever be the same.
Her heart sinks, and a deep anguish she's never felt takes over.
With all that she is, she cannot let that happen.
"Wait!" Terra screams, finally pulling herself out of the snow.
Gabriel, now a distance away, turns around and flies back to her. When he lands, it sends ice into the air. "What?"
"There's no rush. We still have time."
"Time for what? There's nothing else we can do." He turns to leave again, but Terra grabs his shirt sleeve.
"I'm not giving up. The walls haven't closed around us yet."
His face falls. "Terra… you're only going to make this more painful than it already is."
"Come on. Humor me. Is there any other way we could get through that golden river place? Or maybe… there's a string of dimensions that have a chance of being habitable?"
Despite looking like he's given up, Gabriel leads Terra to a nearby log. He brushes the snow off it and they sit. "The first idea is dangerous. The second one is just suicide."
Terra's hands are shaking. She can't tell if it's from the cold or her hope draining away. Still, she refuses to give up. "Come on. It's the multiverse. There are infinite possibilities. There has to be something."
"Not anything we could find in a reasonable amount of time. We've explored all possible worlds."
All possible worlds, she thinks. Terra recalls what he said before their journey: that they would start in uncharted territory, going across a string of dimensions that have never been documented before. She also remembers the pattern they saw. If there was water, many others would have water. The same happened for caves. That means the place that's most likely to be habitable for the humans…
Must be as close to their home world as possible.
"If that's true," Terra says, realizing something. "Then we should go over the ones in the same string as this one: as close to our dimension as possible."
"What? That's a waste of time. Those places would have been the first places my family checked when planning The Vanishing."
"But you said it yourself. They hated humans. What if they let their bias get in the way?"
"Unlikely," he says. "They wanted to find somewhere to put them as quickly as possible. If there was a habitable place, they would have put them there. It would have taken less power."
Terra frowns. Then, she thinks of something else. "Well, what if those worlds have changed? After all, your family checked them before The Vanishing. A lot can happen between then and now."
Realization dawns in Gabriel's eyes. "That's… All right. We can try, but I should warn you. Parallel universes can be even stranger than distant ones."
"How so?"
"We might run into… alternates."
Terra raises an eyebrow. "Alternates? What are those?"
"Other versions of ourselves."
It dawns on her what that means. The same world, same people, different possibilities. "That could be…"
"Strange? Yeah. I've never seen any myself, but my family members never liked the experience. Just do me a favor. If you see anyone you recognize, especially one of us, don't talk to them. We'll leave for the next world immediately."
"Got it," yet she is curious. "May I ask why?"
"Messing with ourselves never goes well. Remember: we're doing this to save the people from this world. No one else."
Trying to keep her breathing steady, Terra nods. This could be even riskier than what they just attempted, but they're out of ideas.
This is the last chance, for the professor, the trapped people.
For everyone.
With their hands intertwined, Terra and Gabriel make their next jump into the multiverse's unknown depths.
And the world adjacent to theirs' is uncannily similar.
Flying cars and ships whiz by, and the scent of gasoline hangs in the air. There are no more giant plants. Instead, the city's skyscrapers are as pristine as they once were.
Here, Nadura City is back to normal.
Gabriel starts coughing. "Geez, this place is awful. What is that horrible smell?"
"Progress," Terra says. "This is how things used to be. I guess The Vanishing never happened here."
"Are we sure that's a good thing?"
Terra glares at him.
He holds up his hands. "Sorry. I'm on your side, okay?"
This version of Nadura City certainly won't work for their purposes, but Terra takes it in for a moment. After all, they stand on a snowy mountain on the outskirts. They are far enough away not to be spotted immediately. Flashes of her old life return: taking the bus to university, jotting down notes through holographic slideshows, and getting daily help from AI robots. She wonders what happened in this world to stop The Vanishing.
Then, Terra spots a blimp careening through the smog in the distance. A giant screen on its side displays a silhouette of a person with wings. The image has a large red "X" over it, accompanied by the words: "Report or die."
Gabriel turns bone pale.
The fanice are public knowledge here, and it looks like they're being hunted.
So, this isn't like their home world.
The two of them don't stick around. As the blimp fades from view, Gabriel opens the next portal, and Terra jumps in.
They pass through realm after realm—most identical to the last. It seems that in most realities, The Vanishing failed. Whether that was due to the humans preventing it or an issue on the fanice's end, Terra cannot say. All she can think about is what Gabriel has said time and again: how her kind is just as much at fault, if not more. As they pass through dozens of worlds where Nadura City is intact, she begins to wonder if that's true.
Then, in one world, the narrative flips.
As Gabriel helps Terra into the portal, they see greenery everywhere. Cottages line the streets and rooftops of buildings. Then, they hear a deep authoritarian voice echoing through the streets. "Fanice! Come one and come all!"
Upon hearing that voice, Gabriel's eyes widen. He moves toward it.
Terra grabs his hand. "What are you doing?"
He doesn't hear her.
"The traitors in our midst have finally been uncovered. Today, you shall witness them as they face justice!"
A massive crowd's cheers echo through the empty streets. Gabriel spreads his wings, preparing to fly towards them.
"Gabriel!" Terra shouts. "What has gotten into you?"
"That's…" he mumbles. "That's my dad."
She pulls him back. "I thought you said we shouldn't involve ourselves with alternates."
"We're not. I just want to look. Only for a moment."
Terra stays rooted to her spot. "We can't do that. Let's just move on."
"My father is dead," Gabriel asserts, "killed by your guardian, no less. Now, I understand why that happened, but I need to know."
"Need to know what?"
"What the new world would have been like had he survived."
Terra lets go of his arm. She understands where he's coming from, but this idea is still terrible. "What if we're seen?"
"We'll stay hidden. I swear, I only want to look. Once I see what's going on, we'll leave immediately."
She opens her mouth to counter this flimsy plan but then closes it. Gabriel has been remarkably understanding about everything she's done. He's helped more than she ever thought possible. How can she deny him closure? "Alright. Just for a few minutes."
"Thank you," he says.
They fly in behind the crowd and take a viewing spot on one of the middle floors of a skyscraper: not as good as the top view, but a decent way to avoid being seen. They can barely make out what's happening on the distant apartment rooftop. Still, when Terra sees who's up there, her breath catches in her throat.
Scores of fanice surround the same rooftop that the professor knelt on in their world only a day before. However, unlike in their reality, this one has way more prisoners.
An older man with turquoise wings stands beside Gabriel and Michaela. Kneeling on the edge of the roof are alternate Ariel, Professor Faramund, Terra, and Eila. Instead of their usual clothes, they wear dirty rags. Even from this distance, it's clear they are trembling.
King Azrael commands the crowd to quiet down. They immediately obey. "As you all know, the very same day we took our world back, I fell victim to an assassination attempt. Luckily, my son was with me. He instantly noticed who had done it and took her down."
Alternate Gabriel steps onto the edge of the balcony, bowing. They applaud wildly. After the bow, he smiles proudly. The expression is sickeningly wicked. "That's right. We arrested the traitorous Ariel, but it was clear she hadn't been working alone. Lo and behold…" He turns toward the professor. "A half fanice had been behind the conspiracy all along."
The crowd boos. Some even try to get in close to handle the prisoners themselves. Michaela and the guard hold them back.
"Behave yourselves!" King Azrael screams. He holds out his hands, and the dissenting fanice freeze. "Stand down, or you will all join them."
He means it, too.
The onlookers fall silent.
"The mastermind behind this conspiracy was a half fanice," alternate Gabriel says. "We should have known this would happen. Even though we graciously offered them a place in the new world, they still bit the hand that feeds them." He looks down.
Terra glances at the street below and sees hundreds of half fanice watching the announcement. They're filthy, and their clothes are caked with sweat. They look like they've been toiling all day.
"So, let this be a lesson to all of you!" King Azrael yells. "Never defy the natural order."
With the wave of the king's hand, Ariel is launched off the building. Her wings are tied, so all she can do is fall. Down, down, down, until…
Splat.
Her guts splatter onto the pavement. Some of it gets onto the half fanice. The helpless people scream, trying to wipe the blood and fragments of flesh off their bodies, all while the full fanice cheer.
Before Terra can process the pure horror of alternate Ariel's death, Professor Faramund is launched as well. She falls even faster.
Overwhelmed, Terra collapses to the floor, refusing to look out the window any longer. She opens her mouth to scream but doesn't want to get caught. At the last second, she clasps her hands over her face, muffling the sound.
She can feel Gabriel's hands wrapping around her shoulders. She slaps them away, scooching as far away from him as possible. Her back hits the wall adjacent to them, and as the fanice king comes closer, all Terra wishes for is to disappear.
"It's okay," Gabriel says. "That wasn't your Damira."
Overcome with fear, Terra wants to scream that that's not the issue. She just saw the worst-case scenario, the one thing she's feared since the fanice came to the surface, and it's so much more horrifying than she thought it would be. She wants to tell him this, but her mouth won't work. Instead, her jaw trembles along with the rest of her body.
Gabriel kneels down, becoming at eye level with her. He looks like he wants to say something, but then he stops.
Instead, he simply hugs her.
Enveloped by his warmth, Terra takes control of her breathing. She wraps her shaking arms around him, and Gabriel's embrace tightens. He reeks of sweat, but the scent comforts her for some reason. As they hold each other, the world outside, the cries of the half fanice and twisted cheers full fanice, grows fainter and fainter.
"I'm sorry. We shouldn't have done this," Gabriel whispers. "We'll leave. Right now."
The fanice lets go, and his eyes turn red, but then…
"P-Prince Gabriel?" the voice of a child asks.
Little Raphael stands in the stairway on the other side of the room. It's heartbreaking seeing him in rags like the other half fanice. The poor thing looks exhausted.
"Wait, aren't you up there?" the boy says, pointing out the window. "And why are you with the traitor? I thought you were about to kill her." He glances between the execution outside and the two of them indoors. The more he looks, the more confused he grows. "Wh-Why are there two of you?"
Gabriel approaches, scanning the boy's shabby appearance. He's shocked to see him like this.
Raphael backs away. "I-I mean I don't care what's going on. I only came up here looking for food. P-Please don't hurt me."
In the distance, Terra can hear her own voice saying the same thing. "Do whatever you want to me! Just please… spare my sister. She's only six!"
"You should have thought of that before betraying me," alternate Gabriel says. "You made me think you were one of the good ones. It turns out, not only is that untrue, but you're a filthy human." The crowd boos louder, with many shouting to kill her.
Unable to handle any more, Terra holds her hands over her ears.
"I'm sorry, Raphael," her Gabriel says. The sound of his voice is muffled. "You don't deserve this." Then, she hears the familiar whoosh of a portal opening, and everything goes dark.
When they arrive in yet another alternative Nadura City, they land in some lady's apartment. She was sitting on the couch viewing something on her VR glassware. When she sees Gabriel and Terra, she screams. The two leave immediately, jumping through realities until the room is empty. In this version of the apartment, the lights are off. Perhaps those who live here have gone out.
As ships whiz by outside, Terra tries to get herself together.
She is still trembling.
"I'm sorry," Gabriel says. "I broke my own rule. We shouldn't have looked."
"No, we shouldn't have," yet she doesn't feel regret. It turns out, there isn't always a situation where the fanice are the victims. She recalls the mercilessness of King Azrael, the doting sadistic Gabriel, and the brutal deaths of Ariel and the professor. Then there was Terra's alternate self, begging Gabriel for her sister's life, and his cold refusal. They, too, are capable of great evil.
Terra holds her head.
"Hey, hey," Gabriel says, wrapping his arms around her again. "That wasn't me. I would never do that."
"But it was… a version of you" she mumbles, her voice breaking.
"Clearly the worst one, and a coward at that. He let his father kill Ariel so brutally, and when that other you pleaded with him, he just had to announce in front of everyone that she was a traitor. As if they didn't know that already. It sounds like he was too scared to acknowledge what he actually believed. Instead, he chose power."
Somehow, that statement calms Terra down. She hugs Gabriel back. "I'm… so glad you're you."
"And I forgot how much of a monster my father was."
The two embrace, with Gabriel holding her tight and whispering words of comfort. Terra feels safe in his arms.
The moment does not last long, though.
Needing to move on soon, he lets go. Terra nearly reaches back out, sad that this moment has to end, but she stops herself. They have a mission to achieve.
…
They pass through many more versions of Nadura City, almost all of which are still populated by humans. In some, fanice are being hunted like animals. In others, no one seems to know about them. It's as if they never attempted The Vanishing at all. However, the next type of world they see is even more haunting.
Gabriel and Terra appear in an overgrown city, one not so different from Faecliff. The fanice successfully took over in this reality, although there is an eerie silence. No matter which way Terra looks, she cannot see any fanice flying in the air or people in the buildings. Wondering if this is the empty world they've been looking for, she and Gabriel fly outside to get a closer look.
And they are greeted by the sickening scent of rotting corpses.
The sight of the moss-covered streets is out of Terra's worst nightmare. Thousands of people lie dead, and it looks like they have been for a while. The corpses have been reduced to patches of sunken flesh and exposed bone. It's not just fanice, either. There are humans all over the place: some draped over stop signs, others on the windowsills and roofs of buildings. It's as if they fell out of the sky.
Gabriel can't even look at them. "Wh-What on Viatrix happened?"
"I don't know," Terra says, plugging her nose. Her first guess would be that the professor's plan was a success in this reality, but that wouldn't make any sense. There wouldn't be so many people dead.
Bang.
A gunshot rings through the area, and Terra pulls out her weapon. Gabriel, too, braces himself.
Then, suddenly, they're surrounded.
People with black masks emerge from alleyways between the old skyscrapers. Some have guns exactly like Terra's.
"Put down the weapon and hand over everything you've got!" a man demands. He holds up a rifle that seems too large for his bony hands. His eyes, the only orifice they can see through the mask, are sunken.
"No, you're the ones who need to back down," Gabriel says coldly.
The thugs surrounding them recoil at his voice. They are all staring at him as if he's something they've never seen before.
"Shut up, you freak," a scrawny woman standing next to the man says. "You're one of those winged creatures, ain't you? Thought you were all dead."
Before they can insult Gabriel further, pink particles appear around them. Some look on in fear, but that's all they have time to do.
The fanice holds up his hands, and they all fall to the ground.
"A-Are they okay?" Terra asks, glancing at the dozens of collapsed bodies.
"They're just unconscious," he explains. "Come on, let's get out of here before they wake up. This place is populated. There's no reason to search further."
She knows his reasons for leaving are more than that, but she doesn't bring them up. As horrifying as this reality is to Terra, it must be ten times worse for Gabriel.
The fanice king opens the portal, but before they can jump in, they hear a familiar voice.
"Terra!"
Knowing who that is immediately, she turns around. A gray-haired woman with a red scarf around her head emerges from a nearby alleyway. She pushes the scarf down, revealing her face. It has many more stress lines than usual.
"Professor?"
"H-How is this possible?" Professor Faramund asks. "You're supposed to be dead."
"Dead?" she asks, her heart sinking. "How?"
Gabriel grabs Terra's arm and shakes his head. Then, she remembers what they learned. They shouldn't get involved with alternates. "Never mind. We have to go."
"No, please!" she begs. "You're from another dimension, aren't you? I messed up. Badly. I shouldn't have pushed you to kill the fanice. It ruined everything, and the only ones with the power to make it right are dead." Her eyes fall on Gabriel. "Please help us. There has to be a way to make this right."
His gaze turns cold. "There isn't. But you already know that don't you?"
This woman is a far cry from the professor Terra knows. Her poise and confidence have drained away, replaced by fear and desperation. As she stares at Gabriel, her hands shake. "It… wasn't supposed to turn out this way."
"Tell us what happened," Terra says, unable to hide her curiosity anymore. "And make it quick. We can't stay long."
"I made a grave miscalculation. I was so obsessed with getting revenge on the fanice and hitting a reset on this world that I didn't anticipate what would happen when the humans ricocheted back." She glances around at the bodies all over the buildings and streets. "When they returned, they appeared in the exact same positions from which they disappeared."
It takes Terra a moment to realize what she means. Then, she recalls the ships falling out of the sky. If the people returned to the same locations from which they vanished, then… She looks at the bodies too, noticing the corpses' bloodstained skin and brutally broken bones. "They fell from the sky."
"Yes," the professor mumbles. "Thousands died, and the ones who survived panicked. Important specialists like farmers, engineers, and doctors dwindled. We could not rebuild the city, and…" She looks up at Terra, tears in her eyes. "I couldn't protect you or your sister. You were caught in the crossfire."
Terra's shoulders slump. So, Eila is dead here too.
"But this version of you is alive," Professor Faramund continues. "It seems you've even allied with the fanice king. I did not think that was possible. What are you two doing here?"
She opens her mouth to answer, but Gabriel places a hand on her shoulder. "We're running out of time."
Terra nods at him. "We have to go now, professor. As for what we're doing: we're trying to save everyone. In my world, you're still alive. So is Eila, the fanice, and the humans."
"That's wonderful," she says. "Am I still a stubborn fool?"
"Yeah, but you're changing."
"When you meet that version of me again, tell her that the revenge she sought destroyed everything she loved. Tell her that she needs to appreciate what's right in front of her: the people she cares about. If she loses them, it will be the greatest regret of her life."
Terra smirks at her. "I think she's figuring that out, but I'll be sure to relay the message."
A tear falls down Professor Faramund's cheek. "Good. Then get out of here and go save your world."
Gabriel opens the portal, and Terra follows him. Before going in, she takes one last glimpse at the version of the professor who got everything she wanted. It's not at all what she thought it would look like. "I'm sorry we couldn't help you."
She shakes her head. "You have helped more than you know. Thank you for showing me that I didn't doom you. At least, not in every reality." The unconscious people begin to wake up, and Professor Faramund's eyes turn red. "Go! I'll take care of them."
Her eyes now welling with tears, Terra grabs Gabriel's arm and follows him to the next world.
This time, no matter what they witness or hear, they don't stop. They've had closure. Now the only thing that remains is to find an empty version of Nadura City.
As they pass through portal after portal, hands intertwined, Terra can't help but feel hopeful. Of all the realities they've seen, their home world is the best by far. They seem to be the only two versions of Gabriel and Terra who are working together as well. She doesn't know what's so special about them, but she's grateful.
They're going to be successful. They have to be.