Felix pulled a cord on the helm of his coat, letting a dark red cape unfurl from his collar. He pulled it out and wrapped Marcia in it, before carefully setting her onto the ground. She felt as light as a spirit and looked as pale as one too. But she was still alive, and that was all he cared about for now.

The man took a good look around him. What was once a bright golden world now looked more like a rundown-looking town that had been abandoned for centuries. The obsidian stone architecture remained unchanged, although it was now devoid of people. There wasn’t much to confirm his postulations, but Felix could only presume that they disappeared as well when Fausta allowed herself to merge with him.

He bowed his head in condolence as Apollo and Diana Pagonis flashed in his memories. Rest well, everyone.

Pink flashed before his eyes as he jerked his head back, narrowly avoiding a seemingly sentient cloud of smoke. Marcia’s body twitched and spasmed as the psionic essence escaped from her orifices.

Felix narrowed his eyes in realisation, watching the pink gas head straight for the skull-shaped cloud at an alarming speed. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that it was intending to fuse with the Unendings inside.

“Oh no you don’t.”

Power surged through Felix’s body, and he teleported several hundred metres into the sky. He barely had time to marvel at his new abilities when the pink gas came into view in front of him. It swerved to the right sharply in an attempt to avoid him, but Felix wasn’t taking any chances.

The psychic opened his mouth as pink light burst from his mouth. He focused his energy, absorbing the pink cloud into himself. It was probably unsanitary in some manner, but he wasn’t exactly in the mood to care about hygiene at the moment. Besides, it was only right that Fausta got that fraction of herself back.

Thankfully, it did not take too long for him to absorb everything back into his body. His jaw was getting tired from holding it in that position anyway. Felix glanced at the tiny figure on the ground below and blinked back to her in an instant. He staggered to regain his balance, still reeling from how quickly he covered that distance.

“Teleportation, huh?” the psychic muttered to himself, staring at his hands in awe. “So this is how it feels like to have so much power.”

“Felix? Is that you?” Marcia’s eyelids fluttered and slowly opened. “This… This isn’t still a dream, is it?”

Relief drained the tension from Felix’s muscles as he pulled her into a tight embrace. “No… No, this isn’t. Oh, thank the gods you’re alright.”

“I— Ugh…” The woman tried to sit up, but groaned and slumped back down unceremoniously, putting a hand to her temple. “My head hurts.”

“I suppose that’s what happens when you get possessed by someone else’s lingering mind.”

Awareness crept back into Marcia’s expression as her eyes softened considerably. She threw her arms around the man.

“You saved me,” Marcia whispered. “I… I’m sorry I said all those things to you. I’m so weak-minded. Can’t believe I fell for such an obvious lie.”

“It’s easy to be deceived when you’re already running from the truth,” Felix said. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this whole mess.”

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“Mess? What are you talking about?” The woman blinked in confusion. “What happened? Where’s Orpheus and Titus?”

Felix’s eyes glowed as his telepathy brushed against the entrance of Marcia’s mind. She nodded, and the psychic promptly showed his memories to catch her up.

He withdrew his telepathic contact after a few seconds of staring into glowing eyes, leaving Marcia to stare into space, dumbfounded.

“I can scarcely believe this,” she blurted. “Orpheus has it out for you; you’re an Unending; a female version of you was the cause behind all this… It’s all just so much to take in.”

“I know,” Felix gave her a wry smile. “I’m still trying to process everything— Guh!”

He doubled over as his power flickered slightly. Marcia released a short gasp as black scales began crawling up his hand. Felix steadied his breathing, refocusing his power again. The scales retreated temporarily.

“Damn it… I can’t keep this up forever,” Felix hissed under his breath. “I need to seek Orpheus and put an end to all of this.”

“But that’s not going to fix this, is it?” Marcia asked darkly. “That’s not the reason why you’re seeking him out.”

Felix gave a sad smirk.

“Perceptive as always. You are my sister, after all,” he said. “I’m getting the Solstices from him so that I can send you home safely.”

The woman remained silent, waiting for him to continue. Felix relented.

“All of this has been a blessing.” He put a hand on his chest. “But I am already dead, and so is he. Vengeance is keeping him alive so that it can devour him forever. I have to put a stop to this. It’s me he actually wants, even if he believes me still trapped. This cycle of hatred will only end when both of us are gone.”

Marcia closed her eyes painfully, and Felix feared for a moment that she would lash out again and scream for him to stay.

But she smiled at him instead.

“Thank you for everything,” Marcia said. “Truly. When my brother was alive, he had always been my hero. I’m glad to see you’re no different.”

“Then allow me to save you one last time, sister.”

~ ~ ~

Felix wasted no time after crossing back into the technomagick-filled world. One teleport jump later, he found himself face-to-face with Gaius yet again. Or rather, just his head. Marcia, of course, was just thoroughly confused.

“What are we doing here?” she asked, staring at Felix pull the magic from Gaius’ rotting skull.

“It’s almost as if the gods had intended this to happen,” the man mumbled to himself. “We have just enough of Janus’ remnant power in Gaius’ head to create one last portal.”

The golden particles swirled around his fingers violently, as if protesting against the fact that a Meta was wielding it. Felix couldn’t care less. Tiny psychic force fields bent and pushed back against the magic, deftly guiding it around his psychic channels. He couldn’t wield magic, yes. But it did not mean that he could not still manipulate it.

With a final flick of his hand, the man swatted the trail of magic and focused hard. A golden door materialised, although it seemed to be flickering with an unusual amount of power this time.

“I will send you home, this I promise.” Felix turned to Marcia. “But I may not live to see you off. Promise me that you’ll go home no matter what happens, alright? Promise me you’ll live on, Marcia.”

Marcia choked back a sob. “You always ask so much of me, you know that?”

The siblings from different worlds shared one last hug.

“I promise, brother.”