The travel back to Nash and Piercey drained my remaining energy. As soon as I landed in the path of the horse, my knees buckled, and I collapsed onto the ground.

Piercey had healed Nash enough for him to regain consciousness, but that effort had taxed my friend when he’d already used so much energy. They both climbed off the horse and rushed for me, looking ready to also fall over.

“Max.” Nash took my face and searched for new injuries. “Is it—”

“It’s done.” A weary smile crawled onto my face as tears filled my eyes. “Flare is gone. I killed her and Dr. Henderson will never be allowed back in.”

He drew me close and held me tight. “I was scared I would lose you again.”

I looked over his shoulder at my old friend. “Do you hate me for killing her?”

Piercey glanced down, his face looking sour. “I hate myself…” He looked at me again with great pain in his eyes. “Because I’m happy you killed her after she stole you from us.”

Nash and I both smiled appreciatively at him.

“Let’s go back to the Sacred School. The kids need to know I’m alive.” I touched my side, really feeling the wound now that my adrenaline was waning. “Piercey do you have any strength left? I need help getting us back.”

Piercey managed to help me enough that I could get all three of us back to the Sacred School, but we all immediately fell onto a bench in the hall.

“I don’t know if we should see Elsie or Rune while we’re like this.” Nash and I rested against one another. “But I don’t want to wait.”

“I’ll heal you both more soon,” Piercey said.”

"You’re exhausted." Nash’s voice was tense. "You held off the entire town and then you started healing me as we fled. The kids will be fine. They have to understand the way of things."

“I died. They don’t need to be scared of anyone else dying.”

“They need to know you’re alive.”

I swallowed hard and finally nodded. "But look at yourself." I caught a tattered piece of Nash’s shirt, crusted with blood. "You want her to see you like this? We should cover the blood."

"Fine. You’re right."

The holes all over his shoulders from the claws twisted my gut. As soon as we found the strength to stand, we stopped by our room to grab a blanket for each of us and then walked for the courtyard, where Trish waited with Elsie.

My legs felt numb as we reached the door, until we opened it to sunlight, and I saw her small form. Energy rushed through me.

A little purple skirt swayed with the breeze. Curls bobbed with each tentative step forward. Big, beautiful brown eyes stared wide at me in shock.

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Elsie drew closer slowly. Slowly, until she stopped in her tracks, tears starting. And then she dashed across the grass with her fists pumping and sobs shaking her high-pitched voice.

I dropped to my knees and caught her in my arms, holding her so tight against me.

“Max,” she sobbed.

I kissed her face and rocked her. “I’m here, Elsie. I’m here.”

Lifting her, I turned to Nash, and slid an arm around him, so Elsie rested between us both. She cried and cried until it all turned to sniffles. Her eyes slid closed as she fell asleep in my arms, with her head against her father. Soon, I would find Rune, and set his world right as well. But for this moment, I held Elsie, focused on the little girl who I had never expected to have in my life.

I looked up into Nash’s eyes, understanding fully in that moment that I wasn’t who I once was, and I now held what I’d once run from, and how beautiful and dangerous that all was. Because I’d never had so much to lose.

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Dusty morning light bathed the green field before us, filtering through the dirt picked up by the wind. It hadn’t rained in the two weeks since we killed the Prophet and the people called it a bad omen.

Nash slid his arm around me, unable to draw me too close because of my bow. “Ready?”

“You know I always am.” Within a few days time, I expected blood to stain this untainted field. Two armies were close to colliding and I’d been traveling with Nash to scout out enemy territory and locations we might use for battle or ambush. "The Valley is in chaos. War doesn’t wait on us to be ready.”

“We wiped out the Valley’s leadership. We knew it would be a rough transition.”

“I understand why Piercey wants to vote on such major decisions. It’s too much power for us to have.”

“Does that mean your days of overthrowing Prophets and gods are over?”

I chuckled. “I don’t know. That’s a big commitment. The Flatlander Prophet claims that he should inherit the Valley now that our Prophet is dead. Piercey and his graduates are preventing anyone from taking charge, but we’ll need a leader soon. I hope it can be someone without power. I hope it can be the first step toward a different way of life.”

“Piercey loves voting. Perhaps we’ll vote for someone.”

My brow raised. “Our people vote in blood. It’s hard to change so quickly. We did this. We’ll have to help stabilize the region. It’ll be the kind of war we’ve never fought, but we’ll win.”

“We will.”

“Dr. Drake wants to be soon too. The gods want to hear from me again. They want to start making this right.”

“Do you think they will?”

I paused. “It sounds foolish to place hope in the people who created the problems we’re trying to solve.”

“Dr. Henderson didn’t have that much power compared to the Collective. They easily locked her out of the world once you killed her.”

The words felt ominous. “If others are corrupted, they’ll be harder to deal with. Who knows what is happening to other simulated worlds like ours.”

We looked into each other’s eyes until I thought I could see straight through to his soul.

“We’ll fight together,” he said. “We’ll fight in every life we live and every world we call our own.”

“Yes. I want to believe this is the beginning of peace, but Dr. Henderson is like our world. A symptom of a bigger problem.”

“We have each other, though.” He kissed one side of my face. The other. Voice husky. “Always.”

My fingers crawled along his whiskered cheek, up into his hair. “No matter how many lives we live.”

He grinned. “Let’s get back to Leif and Wren.”

I took his hand and teleported both of us back to our friends. Leif caught my wrist as soon as I appeared and whispered quietly. “Follow me. We have a target. Flatlanders are up ahead and we’re going after one of their demons.”

“I’ll shield you,” I said, heat already warming my palms as I listened for heartbeats ahead. The woods were crawling with enemies. I had to continue honing my power until I could protect this valley from everyone.

These were the battles I had no doubt we could fight. What came next, now that had made it hard to sleep at night.

No matter what though, I wouldn’t let myself slip away from this life and the people I loved ever again.

This was my world. I would protect it.