"Max."

Hands shook me awake. I rubbed my eyes and sat up in the library to see Nash beside me. I'd fallen asleep after hours of running through the steps to the hack. Piercey had never stopped researching and there was so much here for me to learn, even about my time slips.

The smile crept up before I thought to feel self-conscious. "Hi."

"Did you faint?"

He was worried. I shook my head. "No."

"Good." He sighed. "I had my last treatment. I feel great."

"No lasting damage?"

"None."

I sighed, weight falling off me.

"Piercey told me you're entering the Door of the Gods. I'm going with you." Nash lifted his hand when I tried to argue. "I won't back down on this. I didn't come all this way for you to go alone."

I wasn't going to take him. He was crazy if he thought I would.

"You carry so much guilt and responsibility." Nash took my hand and laced his fingers with mine. "Let me help you."

“I butchered the Sacred Guard. Brutally.” My voice was raspy, eyes stinging. “I don’t even know how many I killed.” I sighed. “I can’t pretend anymore. I'm not a normal person.”

“You were never just a normal person, Sharpshooter.”

Despite his efforts, it couldn't feel like a compliment. "We have more important things than to assuage my guilt. I owe you answers."

Nash sobered. "Piercey spoke with me again. He told me most people specialize in something, like how he heals people. He said you manipulate space and time, but that you struggle to control it."

"I've never come close to controlling it." I sat back. "This will be hard to take in. But I'll tell you what I can about the gods, our power, my past. All of it. Just tell me if it becomes too much."

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

----------------------------------------

Nash and I had talked for over an hour and there was still more to tell him. He'd needed breaks while we spoke, especially when I'd tried to explain that we lived in a simulation. That didn't make any sense to him at all, of course. Sometimes he just stared out the window at the snow. Other times he paced and asked questions. Most of the time, he simply listened. He sat at the table now looking as though a weight tried to push him down. I'd just explained to him that my Prophet from my homeland had trained me for years and told other Prophets about my potential. So, when I killed the villagers during the Eclipse, they brought me here to help me learn to control my power, and turn me into a Prophet.

Then, I told him about the day I finally had to act on my plans to flee. "The instructors were hard on us. I lost my patience because they pushed Piercey too far and he hit his head really hard. I used my power to throw one of them through the window. Others attacked to subdue me and I got angry. It was a blip of what happened when I was a kid. I started to slip through time, the power exploded, and I killed three of them. I don't remember it happening. Piercey said that I broke all the bones in their bodies."

Nash had taken my hand after I said it.

"I'd been planning to leave and find other people like me so that we could take on the instructors, the Prophets, even the gods. But I couldn't wait after I killed them. Piercey wouldn't leave with me though. He told me to go become something great and that he'd be here for me if I ever found my way back. They sealed my power while I was on the run and I spent the years away trying to regain it."

"How did Piercey end up in charge?"

The door creaked and I straightened.

"Sorry to interrupt," Piercey said.

"You're fine. We should do this." I sighed. "We'll talk more, okay?"

Nash nodded.

Piercey's face looked serious. "Do you feel ready?"

"Yes."

Nash stood when I did, staying at my side. "Where's the door?"

"Max will have to lead you," Piercey said. "I should come too."

"No. We need you here. It's too risky. If anything happens, thank you, for everything."

"If you need more time–"

"I don't. Just focus on me from here to help strengthen me. Hopefully it will work."

"I'll meditate and strengthen you." He looked to Nash then. "Good luck." Back to me. "See you on the other side."

I hugged Piercey, thankful to have him back again.

Then I turned to Nash, my heart full. "You'll be free of Flare and the Prophet. Your daughter will be free. Piercey will make sure of that."

"I'm going with you, Max. Don't act like you're saying goodbye."

I reached my arms around his neck and drew him against me. "If I don't make it back, tell Leif and Wren I love them."

When I pulled back, he tried to grab me, but it was too late. I'd already opened the door and he didn’t know how to get to it. Didn’t know it wasn’t actually a door. And right before he caught me, I pried it open in my mind, still looking into his eyes.

"Max!”