Ashton had said that we needed to kill Lote, but I could tell she wasn't ready to do it. I believed that in the moment, she would rise to the occasion, but I easily recognized the anxiety in her after a lifetime of dealing with it. She was still emotionally attached to him and struggling to reconcile the truth with what she'd believed until today.

The plan was for Elias and Ashton to enter Lote's office early so that Elias could voluntarily turn himself in and open a dialogue with Lote. They should have already arrived. Meanwhile, I waited with Jax at Elias's apartment, waiting for Elias to send the message that they were ready for us to teleport into Lote's office.

Back home, Piercey had connected us all through the neural network so we could communicate whenever we needed to, and even hooked up the phone system at the Sacred School and the demon alerts to help those without power join. I wasn't a part of any such system here, but Elias and Piercey had connected, so Elias knew how people in my world initiated communication through our neural implants.

It could be hard to connect from a distance, but Elias was very good with technology, so I believed that he would be able to do it. His messages so far had come through just fine.

"I can't believe how much you look like her." Jax held his sword in hand, already well-prepared for the upcoming assassination.

It felt like Nash stood beside me and I missed him so badly that I had to remind myself that this man was not him. The problem was that he felt like him in every way. Even smelled like him. "Same for you."

"You know another me?"

I smiled, only meeting his eyes for a moment, because I felt bad that my stomach felt lighter near him. My memories and Ashton's intertwined in my mind, so similar to my own memories anyway. Nash and Jaxon even kissed in similar ways. I wanted to go home to him. "I do."

"Did you go to the Sacred School like Ashton?"

"Yeah. I escaped and had my power sealed."

"Wild. Does Nash have powers like I do?"

"He does now. Elias gave him a neural implant."

"You're close enough for that." I didn't even have to look at Jax to know he had that cocky smirk. "That a boy, Nash."

"Don't tease me. That's his thing."

"Oh, Ashton used to say she hated when I teased her."

"Well, she didn't." I waved my hand at him. "I miss Nash and you literally are another copy of him, so give me some space. It's hard to keep reality straight."

"I'll show you some mercy, mostly because I feel the same." He started to turn away but then stopped. "Can you tell me just one thing?"

"What?"

"How happy are you? I always thought if Ash and I could just find a way to be together, we'd be happy, no matter what problems we had to deal with."

I wasn't sure how much I should say to him. I hesitated and then met his eyes. "He makes me happier than anything else in the world." Mentioning Elsie seemed wrong, as if I was bringing her into something that none of us should be a part of, much less a little girl. But I wanted to tell him it was her too. That the three of us together made life feel perfect, no matter how imperfect it might actually be.

The depth of Jax's eyes when he smiled made my heart ache for the life that he should be living with Ashton. I worried that knowing might hurt him or even spark jealousy, only I saw nothing like that in him. "I'll remember that forever," he said in a low whisper that I thought I might also remember forever. If I wasn't sure before, I was now. Jax loved Ashton very deeply, so deeply that the thought of the two of them living out a happy life in another world fulfilled a piece of him even without living it.

I bit the inside of my cheek so hard I expected to taste blood. "Jax, I'm so sorry–"

"There's nothing in either world for you to be sorry about when it comes to this. Go home and live the best life you can. I'll cherish knowing that you're happy there."

A hot, messy ball of emotion lodged in my throat. "Don't give up on her. This will change her and then you can try again."

"Yeah." He sighed. "We'll try."

"Don't sound so hopeless."

"I'm not. I just have been through this already. I can't hope yet. The time for that will come later."

I yearned for Nash again, wanting nothing more than to grab him in an embrace right now. I wanted to do the same to Jax and assure him that Ashton absolutely would come around, because how could she not?

"There was a time that I told Nash no. I didn't believe we could have the life we have. I truly didn't. I'm so happy that I changed my mind. I'm telling you, don't give up."

He looked at me a little longer this time before he smiled again. "Okay, Max. I won't. I'll be even more stubborn than she is."

I burst out a laugh, understanding intimately well just how stubborn that was.

"One minute," Elias said through the neural connection.

I straightened, yanking myself from the spell of getting lost in thoughts of my life with Nash and the one I wished that Ashton had here with Jax. "Did you get it too?" I asked Jax.

"Yeah. I got it. Make sure not to communicate like that in Lote's office. Elias is a technology officer, so he'll know how to evade any security systems. It's too advanced for me and you have no experience with it, so receive, but don't send."

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

"It's crazy what you all have developed here with the same amount of time."

"When the entire world runs on power, you get pretty good with it."

"Now," Elias said in our minds. "He's sitting in his normal chair.

I clasped Jax's wrist and whisked us through spacetime to Lote's office, hoping everything would be right when we got there.

When we appeared, we landed directly behind his chair. I didn't even take the time to register everything I saw in the room. Ashton and Elias both were in position on the couches, with Jax and me close behind Lote.

I wasn't waiting and neither was Jax. My readied blade already pressed against his throat, while power burst from Jax's palm toward Lote's face.

Ashton's wide, shocked eyes must have mirrored Lote's own as the double assault hit him at once.

My blade screeched as if it had hit steel, while Jax's power bounced off Lote's skin. I didn't see any kind of shield erected around him and I hadn't sensed it before, but I did now as it deflected our attacks. His skin rippled with a red sheen of power in the places we'd hit.

Lote leapt from his chair, whipped around to face us, and used his power to push himself toward the other side of the room, presumably so that he could see all four of his guests. But as his eyes found mine, he slowed to a stop.

How had Lote prepared his shield instantly? It happened faster than human response time should have made it possible, even if he'd enhanced his senses with power constantly. It was an automatic shield and neither Elias nor Ashton had indicated that was a possibility here. Nothing in my memory of living through Ashton's life suggested this was an ability they had mastered. I could keep a shield around myself at all times, but it would require constant energy. This was something I'd never seen before.

The low grumble from Jax told me that he also hadn't expected this and realized that Lote was going to be harder to kill than we originally thought. He was similar enough to Nash for me to be able to fight easily with him. Neither of us had said that we weren't going to wait to negotiate like Ashton wanted, though neither of us had agreed it, but I wasn't surprised that he'd done the same thing I had.

I needed to move right in this second if I wanted to take advantage of Lote's shock, which was far greater than the simple surprise of two people teleporting into his office, an office that he likely took great pains to protect from any intrusions. The problem was that I no longer knew what kind of weapons we faced.

I'd have to just try him out and see what he was capable of. Standing here, wasting my advantage, would do nothing.

My thoughts moved fast as I rapidly considered these options and teleported across the room to him. I heard his deep gasp the moment I made it by his side, this time attacking with my energy sword, and the strongest plunge of the blade I could manage having just teleported.

Bursts of power exploded from the collision of his strong shield and my overbearing sword. In the time it took for him to raise his hands defensively, casting another shield, my sword cracked the one that had instantly protected him, slinging blood through the air.

I teleported again on instinct, knowing that he was too dangerous to linger beside.

When I landed by Ashton, I caught the end of the attack that would have definitely injured me. His shield had shot out a beam of power that he now caught and rendered inert before it crashed into his beloved artwork.

Jax rushed for him and I joined, both of us swinging our blades.

"Ashton!" Elias shouted.

As both my blade and Jax's swung for Lote, Ashton stood paralyzed, staring with tears shining in her teams.

Damn it all to hell. She wasn't ready to kill him.

"Fuck," I shouted as I had to pivot to avoid a second shield and a second beam of power. So far he was predictable, but that didn't matter when his attacks were so effective. The energy was too powerful for my shield. I could sense the enormous amount packed into each beam.

I was going to have to unleash my own blasts on him, but I worried in this small space that I could hurt the others, especially Elias.

"Ashton," Lote said in a voice thundering with authority and expectation, the same word that Elias had spoken, but bursting with the kind of power that only came from either mastering the neural implant or living the life of a king.

Elias closed his eyes and raised his head back. Lote shouldered past me, driving straight for Elias, the beam of power flickering for an instant before it shot out.

I caught Elias just in time, but a shield that looked like a cement wall shot from the ground up in front of him. The beam hit it with an ear-shattering whack that made the room tremble.

I hadn't known that he could use shields.

"Code," Elias said breathlessly, apparently realizing that I was confused.

Brilliant. I was mistaken to assume that since he focused on technology he wouldn't have any combat abilities. He'd said that he didn't know any combat at all, but he could still protect himself, and probably manage some kind of an attack.

It would help, at the very least.

The wall slowly turned translucent so I could see Jax viciously attacking Lote with his swords. Ashton ran to his side and jabbed her sword for her mentor's gut. I wasn't sure if she'd have the heart to actually hurt him after I saw her freeze, but I was thankful she could provide some kind of assistance.

"Go," Elias said. "I'll protect myself and strengthen you."

I sensed the others trying to break into the room now. "Are you the one holding them off?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Then focus on protecting yourself and holding them off. I don't have to hold back if I know you're safe."

I caught his smile as he nodded and I lunged for Lote.

Ashton, Jax, and I all attacked at the same time, primarily utilizing our weapons in this small space. My blade caught Lote's thigh, the only of our attacks this round to break through his shield.

"What the hell are you doing?" he cried out, aiming his palm at Ashton.

She dodged a beam of power that shot straight through one of Lote's paintings and set the two beside it on fire.

Anger darkened his expression as he flicked his hand to put out the power.

As we fought, I felt something strange, almost like hearing static in the background that grew by the second, only it was power that I sensed.

Something was wrong.

We were starting to breakthrough his defenses, but he didn't seem concerned in the slightest. If no one had been aware of his ability to instantly erect a shield over himself, one of the most powerful I'd ever encountered, what else could he do?

"It's a machine," Elias said. "I can see it now. He's using a machine somewhere in this room to provide a constant shield over him. It's activated by power or by the force of a strike, but it's always there. I just can't shut it down or find the machine."

Machine? I ground my teeth. "Why did none of you tell me he has machines?" I channeled my power through my blade, piercing his shield right as his gut and screaming as I struggle to force it through the shield. A pinprick of blood bubbled at the blade before he blasted me one of those damn energy beams I had to dodge.

"He's not supposed to," Elias said. "We've been trying to figure out how to create and incorporate machines in our warfare, but we are far from actually utilizing them. Or so I thought. Apparently he's keeping it for himself."

A twisted sneer snapped onto Lote's face. The low-grade power I felt started to surge.

We needed to get out of here. Urgency filled me, undeniable. The instinct that we absolutely could not defend against whatever was about to hit us.

"Come to me," I said and shot back to Elias. If we could all grab onto each other, I could teleport us to the cabin where Ashton had been fighting.

Jax and Ashton didn't question it. They abandoned their attack on Lote and sprinted for me. I clutched Elias with one hand and reached for Ashton with the other. She grabbed Jax's hand, her fingertips straining for mine.

That power I'd felt traveled through every fiber of my being and locked me in place with my fingers and Ashton's so close that even flinching would bring us all together. We all stood frozen in place, my hand wrapped around Elias's wrist, and Jax and Ashton's laced together.

I remembered when the Prophet of the Valley would use his energy to bear down on us so we couldn't even breathe. This was different. I could breathe just fine and my heart didn't race. It was like the power had wound through every strand of muscle in my body and locked it rigidly in place.

With horror, I realized that I couldn't even gather my power at my fingertips.