The world jerked around Jennifer, the sensation similar to the times she died, yet distinctly different in a way she couldn’t explain. A familiar throne room spread endlessly around her. Yet where once there had been lazy strings of fate that drifted across the chamber, now there were taught strings that stretched into the beyond.

“J-Jenn?” A feeble voice echoed through the chamber.

Jennifer’s head snapped towards her brother, who sat huddled in a corner. She dashed towards Keith, grabbing him up in a tight embrace. Shivers ran through Keith’s body as he seemed to melt into her embrace, all strength lost.

“Jenn… Mom and dad, they- they stayed behind, to save me. I couldn’t do anything Jenn… I…“ Keith’s words dissolved into silent cries, as his hands clawed at Jennifer’s back. Hot droplets of his tears streaming down his cheeks and wetting her shirt as the blood on his hands painted her clothes a dark red.

"Xar, put him to sleep. Please," Jennifer asked through the mind-link.

The spider didn’t protest, silently doing as she’d asked. Mind-magic pulsed, and a moment later, Keith’s cries faded, the boy’s mind settling into the embrace of sleep.

"Can you make sure he doesn’t have a nightmare?" Jennifer asked, Xar. Her voice felt distant to her, as if she wasn’t there in her own body, but watching from some far off place. She was so calm. As if she felt nothing.

"He won’t," Xar replied, and Jenifer nodded in gratitude. "Xar can make it easier on Jennifer too. Clear her head," the spider offered.

Jennifer didn’t reply, her eyes shifting sideways. In her rush, she hadn’t noticed her master and Rumina standing nearby, both looking haggard.

“Jenn, I—“ Rumina’s voice choked, as her friend walked closer and took her in a hug.

Jennifer nodded, returning the hug lightly before she parted. “Look after Keith for me,” Jennifer said, patting Rumina’s shoulder once as she stepped away.

Her eyes swept the room reaching the throne set at the further end. Her master stood beside it, accompanied by Irwys. Yet, Jennifer’s eyes didn’t linger on the two, but instead on the Prince of Zandria. His red eyes were shining beacons of silver now, the Mark on his forehead glowing fiercely as his fingers plucked through threads of fate stretching all over the chamber. Fate mana flowed through the chamber in torrential floods, as complex spells etched themselves on each surface of the chamber.

Jennifer walked up to the foot of the throne, her eyes remained rooted on the prince’s figure. She watched his fingers move in silence, as the magic flowed all around him. The silence gave her enough time to process the things she’d been feeling, and she found a droning noise starting to ring in her ears.

She shouldn’t have told them. She shouldn’t have told anyone. If she had fought against the demons silently, all by herself, then this wouldn’t have happened. She failed her family. She failed Keith. She couldn’t let this happen again, relying on others was not an option, it was merely another opportunity provided to her enemies to hurt the people she loved. She needed to make sure every demon was dead before she told anyone about the truth.

She would kill them. All of them. Every last one.

“Lass! Stop it!” Haireth shouted, moving up to her. The stocky half-dwarf grabbed her shoulders, pressing them tight. “It wasn’t yer fault, lass. Stop taking everything on yer head. You’re just hurting yourself.”

Jennifer looked down at her master, her eyes distant. Something hot ran down her palm. Jennifer looked down and saw her skin cut by her nails, blood trickling down her hand in little streams of red.

“Hurting yerself ain’t gonna help lass. Keep yourself together, yer brother needs ya,” her master said, clenching her shoulder tightly.

“But… I knew. I knew about the demons and I still told them. I could’ve saved them, Master. I could’ve stopped the demons. Now I will have to live forever knowing that I let Keith go through something like this,” Jennifer’s lips trembled, as the pain began to overflow.

"Xar, can you cut off my emotions?" Jennifer asked, as the tears began to well in her eyes. She felt Xar hesitate for a moment, before the spider probed her mind, and Jennifer found everything turned distant and dull, as her emotions were cut off.

Jennifer returned a tense nod to her master, as the man stepped back. She could sense the concern in his eyes, but he did not comment any further, and neither did she.

Together, they all waited for the prince, as the threads of fates continued to shift and stir. A few moments later, the prince retreated his hands, as the torrent of fata mana began to settle, the silver glow of his eyes receding.

“Fates,” the prince breathed. “How long was I out?” he asked, wiping his golden hair aside from his forehead, as he gasped for breath.

“Almost twenty minutes, your highness. I was about to snap you out of it by force,” Irwys replied, bowing his head.

“Well, I’m really glad you didn’t,” the prince said, before his eyes settled on Jennifer. A sombre, sorrowful expression took over the prince. “I’m really sorry that we have to meet again under these conditions, Jennifer. And you too, Xar. Though I believe we haven’t met yet.”

“Why did they attack my family? How? I never once mentioned the Mark to anyone outside my family, and there’s no way they told anyone,” Jennifer asked, her eyes set on the prince.

“It wasn’t your family Jennifer,” the Prince said, his eyes staring into hers. “It was me. I told the demon.”

Jennifer stared blankly at the prince, her mind struggling to grasp the words she’d just heard. “Why would you…”

The prince raised one hand, breaking her off. “I told the guild’s top brass about the invasion, a couple days before you went into the dungeon and I had to send Nathaniel to sneak that letter to you. A test on whether he was the demon or not. He passed the test, some of the others did not.”

“Then… Why was my family attacked?”

“The demon knew who you were, Jennifer. It had more information than it should’ve had, proving my worst case hypothesis. The demon has some method of retaining information over resets. Not all of it, or else there would be no hope, but enough to allow it to deduce who you are. It had been a surprise strike made by a small group of powerful demons,” the prince said, his hands rubbing the circlets carved on the sides of his throne.

“The guild’s top brass were targeted. I’d expected something like this. That was the whole point of it. To release information to a restricted group of individuals and observe all of them for suspicious activity. It’s why I’d send men to keep an eye on your family. But I hadn’t expected such a strong force. What happened is entirely my fault,” the Prince said, rising from his throne. His eyes glimmered intensely as he stood in front of her.

“I won’t ask for any forgiveness. I did, as I thought best given the chances we have. As long as you exist, no sacrifice is too great to make. I’ve lost almost three dozen men to the demons so far, ordered them to their deaths to find out more about the demons. Each one weighs on me. But if asked to do it again, I would gladly send a hundred men to their deaths or more. As long as you remain with us, their lives would not have been lost.”

Jennifer stared at the Prince, his eyes glowing silver, as strings of Fate swirled around him in a frenzy.

For the first, she felt like she was meeting the Prince of Zandria. The Mark of Fate. A man who would not hesitate to spend the lives of men and women so long as it won him this war.

“You’re insane,” Jennifer breathed, finding the bottled up hate spewing out from her chest.

The prince smiled ruefully, as if well aware of just what he was. “It is the burden of my throne, and my powers.”

“No it is not. Do you think that just because I can go back and do it all over again that this isn’t real? That the pain, and suffering that these people feel doesn’t happen? You won’t be the one who will have to remember any of this, you won’t have to be the one who has to live their life with all the memories, with no one around to share the burden with. At the end of it, I have to do this all alone. No one else can take my place, no one else can save my home. You don’t have the right to choose what sacrifices can be made. You have no right to use my family’s lives… like, like some kind of pawns in your war.”

“You’re wrong Jennifer. I will remember. The moment we formed a bond, I saw thousands of futures. Do you know how in many futures your family died to the demon? How many times your city was burned to ash? I lived through each of those thousands of potential futures, and I am ready to make any sacrifice necessary to make sure the future we fight for is not one like that,” The Prince’s voice rang with steel, eyes flashing swirls of silver.

Jennifer stared into the Prince’s eyes, finding them unfeeling. What stood in front of her was not Laiken, but a man fighting for the fate of an entire continent.

The Prince sighed, as the silver faded from his eyes. Walking closer, he put a hand on Jennifer’s shoulder. “Ultimately, the Mark never should’ve landed in the hands of a child like you. The burden is far too big and heavy. No one should’ve to bear this fate. No one but me.”

Jennifer turned to look at the prince, her anger now mixed in with confusion. This was the man who had gotten her parents killed, who had caused unspeakable suffering to her brother. Just because she knew they would forget did not redeem him of his actions.

“You are right,” Jennifer replied, looking up to meet the Prince’s eyes. “I never should’ve gotten the Mark.”

The Prince regarded Jennifer for a moment. “You can abandon it, Jennifer.”

“What?” Jennifer stammered, eyes widening. She struggled to believe what she’d just heard. “How?”

The Prince stood thoughtfully in silence. A few breaths later, his expression steeled itself as he spoke once more.

“Reach into your soul with your mind, and pry the Mark out. Absolve it from within, and it will return to the place it came from. Time will likely reset one last time when you do, and you will not remember anything.”

Jennifer stared at the Prince, her heart thundering. “You… knew this all along?”

The prince looked back at her silently, and Jennifer found the world spinning. She stumbled backwards, her master catching her so she didn’t fall.

“The Mark is not forced upon anyone. We all choose to bear it, even the little spider on your shoulder. Any who do not wish to carry the burden can discard the Mark on their soul, and they will be rid of its blessings.”

Jennifer felt her throat clam up. He’d known… all this time he’d known how to free her of this Mark, of the weight of so many lives.

She struggled to keep her eyes from drifting down to the Mark seared onto her hand. Memories of her own deaths flashed across her mind, of Keith’s cries, and the demon’s twisted face as it wore Rumina’s skin.

“But before you make your choice, I want you to see something,” the Prince said. “I’d told you before, that your fate was cut off from the rest of the world, as if you were beyond the ties of our realm. Even dead men had ties of fate, but you seemed to be beyond them. That wasn’t a lie. But it wasn’t the truth either,” the Prince said, walking closer towards Jennifer.

“There was a single strand. Faded and feeble, it barely held onto existence. Yet it was tied to your soul as firmly as your Mark. I saw that strand of fate, when I took your hand the last time we stood in this chamber, and shared a bond. You saw it too, though your mind couldn’t grasp the shifting of fates. I can show you what it was meant to be,” Laiken said, extending his hand towards Jennifer.

She eyes the hand hesitantly, unsure of whether she could trust the prince to not lie to her yet again, or deceive her for his own purposes.

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"He isn’t lying." Xar whispered in his mind. "Xar can tell."

Nodding affirmatively, Jennifer grasped the Prince’s hand.

“[Fated Strings]” the Prince whispered, as the world split into a thousand.

***

Jennifer stared at herself, her hand drifting across a piece of armor, craving engravings onto it, and enchanting its body. She remembered the day. It was the day she’d met Irwys, and fallen into the Dungeon.

“Lass! Come ere!” Her master shouted from the outside.

“Coming!” Jennifer replied, dusting off the mithril dust from her hands as she walked outside.

“Ye need to drop off this thing at yer friend’s place. Don’t delay it,” her master said, handing her the package.

Jennifer frowned when she saw no package from Irwys given to her past self.

“Fine,” the phantom image of her replied, rolling her eyes as she stepped out. She watched the girl stroll past the crowds, making her way towards Rumina’s.

“Rumina!” The phantom Jennifer shouted, waving at her friend.

“Jenn!” The red-head replied, rushing out to greet her. The two girls talked merrily, as Jennifer completed the delivery before they began to walk around the city, talking cheerfully.

Jennifer turned to her left, watching Laiken who floated next to her in spirit form. “What’s this?”

“Your fate, if you had never met Irwys, and gained the Mark of Time,” the prince replied.

The world blurred, speeding up, as Jennifer watched her past self talking cheerfully with Rumina. But the peace didn’t last long, as the dungeon break sent the city reeling. The ground cracked beneath the dungeon, as monsters flooded the city. Jennifer ran with Rumina, running around in a frenzy.

The two girls stayed together, hidden inside as adventurers swept through the city, taking out all the monsters who had escaped one by one.

Then the first flame pillar rose to the sky.

Explosions rattled the city, chaos tearing apart Lienmont as demons and abominations flooded the streets. Jennifer ran towards her home, to check after her family, when she found herself intercepted by her master.

“Run to the guild ya dumb brick! Don’t get yerself killed!” The man screamed, pushing Jennifer back. A moment later, he rushed towards her home, as Jennifer wiped her tears and ran to the guild.

The night dragged on as people flooded the guilds, running for their lives. Blood filled the air, the sound of burning flesh and screams echoing through the sky. Blood red runes flickered to the ground, rousing the dead, and turning the living into demons, as Lienmont’s defenses began to break apart completely.

The guild fell, the guild heads abandoned the city, evacuating everyone they could. Jennifer waited, screaming for her family, when she found her Master, blooding and with one eye missing, as he stumbled towards her.

Forgive me lass…” the man coughed, pushing Keith into her arms. “I could only get him…” her master wheezed, with the last of his strength, before collapsing onto the ground.

Jennifer weeped, hugging her unconscious brother, as she begged for the adventurers to help her master. One of them did, taking him up by the shoulder as he guided them out of the city.

She ran, having lost her home and family to a war she’d never asked for.

The years passed by, and Jennifer now stood among recruits gathered from all over the continent, dedicated to the war, and to fight back against the demons. Her eyes found Livian, and Beritross, and Loux. Alongside many other faces from her city, and other places, joined together in the War Academy that would be formed at the heart of the Alliance.

She would attend the Academy for five year, pushing through hellish training with a manic fervor, to fight against the demons, and to pay them back for stealing her home and her family from her.

Over five years, Jennifer watched her hate and rage turn into something colder. Through the five years, she honed her hate, rising as a [Soldier] and a [Mage], to fight back and reclaim her home.

The Alliance rose against the demons, burning with hate against their enemies. Armies gathered, commanders rallied their forces, the continent united against the common enemy as war once again returned to Lienmont.

Years passed, as the war raged on.

Jennifer saw herself, much older now, and dotted with strips of white. Battle scars covered her body now, her face a stoic unmoving thing. She rushed through the depths of the dungeon, spells of glass tearing through enemies and slashing them apart. A battalion of mages followed behind her, as she led them into the heart of the depths.

Death followed her steps, friends and comrades losing their lives one after another. She watched livian die, taken in an abush. Watched Rumina die, assassinated in some political warfare. Friends, neighbors, acquaintances. They all died one by one, over the years.

Yet Jennifer remained, commanding more and more soldiers, as more of her friends died with each passing year. She barely knew her brother by now. He was old now, old enough to fight. But though he insisted, she wouldn’t let him. He was the thing she fought for, afterall. How could she let him die so easily? For a cause she had long since stopped caring about. Even the hate had numbed over the years, leaving behind just duty.

And now, it would finally have some meaning.

Jennifer watched her older self walk into an old broken chamber. It was filled with odd contraptions, and magic beyond her understanding. And within it, she saw her older self find something. A message, by a figure she couldn’t make out. She died there, in that chamber, wiped out like the rest of her team. But she managed to send one message back to the army. And eventually, they found the place.

“And thus, we found the clues about the existence of the ninth Mark. One free from all gods, born from the trial itself. The Mark of Time. And alongside it, a weapon that sever fate itself. [Fate Severer],” Laiken said, turning to face her.

“You found the Mark of Time, alongside the methods to find the hidden Mark of Time. It would rise through the dungeon upon the day of the dungeon break, but that alone was not enough. The fates of the world would rip apart any soul that would take on time itself. We could only do it once, with everything we had found in Alphion’s hall. The river of fate does not bend, does not buckle against force. It is why [Fate Severer] was needed. To cut off the Mark from the stream of fate, to free them from destiny itself, and allow them to guide the world into a better future,” the Prince said, his eyes shining a deep silver.

“Irwys was chosen for this task.”

Jennifer felt her breath tighten in her chest.

“He was to return back in time, to eight years ago, just before the beginning of everything, and obtain the Mark of Time. He would then take [Fate Severer] that was embedded in his soul to cut himself off from Fate.”

Jennifer’s heart pounded in her chest. “Then… this is all real? It all happened? How come he didn’t take the Mark? He could’ve taken the Mark after I died… right?”

The Prince looked into her eyes, and nodded.

“I think Irwys made a mistake. I think he should’ve let you die, before he took the Mark for himself. But he made his choice back then, and now, you will make yours.”

Jennifer stared at the Prince, watching her in silence.

“How long have you known? All of this.”

“From the day we met here and formed our bond. I never lost these memories. I suspect Xar won’t lose his memories either. I’ve been watching in silence, trying to find the enemy that lurks behind with whatever knowledge I retained. I almost have him, but some sacrifices needed to be made, to draw him out.”

“Him? Not it?” Jennifer asked. The Prince didn’t reply.

“Can I give the Mark to someone else? To Irwys maybe? He was supposed to be the one who should’ve had the Mark right? I would only be returning it to the rightful owner,” Jennifer asked.

“You can’t,” the Prince replied. “[Fate Severer] cannot be used again. If it still even exists in the Library. No one but you can wield this Mark. If you forsake it, then time should reset once more, as the Mark will return to the place it was taken from.”

“You really aren’t making this easy,” Jennifer said, as she closed her eyes, feeling the Mark burning in her soul. She imagined reaching out, imagined prying it away and being free of everything. Of her memories, of this burden. Laiken was right. She was too young, too immature and inexperienced to have a Mark like this.

"Xar thinks Jennifer is lying to herself." The spider spoke up, startling her.

"Jennifer is strong. Xar has seen her. Not just in this timeline either. He saw her grow old and scarred, fighting against armies by herself, all to protect her family. She remained standing till the end, even when many others died, both weak and strong. She is strong, she just doesn’t realise it."

“I’m not…” she replied. “I’m a coward who’s too scared to give up. So I keep running in the hopes that if I run fast enough, I will somehow solve all my problems. I jump headfirst into everything, because I’m scared. I’m terrified that I’ll give up, that I’ll get cold feet and abandon the people I love. So I don’t give myself time to be afraid, and jump into every problem I see. I’m just a coward who’s too scared to give up.”

"Isn’t that fine? Xar is here to help her through everything. Jennifer doesn’t need to be afraid anymore, because Xar is mighty!" the little spider exclaimed with utmost confidence, as if stating an absolute fact of the world.

Jennifer found a smile breaking out on her lips, as tears welled in her eyes. Somehow, she’d forgotten. That, despite everything, she wasn’t alone anymore. That perhaps, even after everything, she didn’t have to do everything by herself.

She turned to look at Laiken, her eyes flashing a deep blue, as they turned reflective. The Mark of Time burned on her hands, glowing with a bright light.

“I did not ask for this power, did not choose it. I was handed this power, unaware of what it entailed. Handled this burden that I wasn’t prepared to handle,” Jennifer said, mana flowing through her body.

“But not this time. This time, I choose this Mark. Its powers and its burdens, I choose them all.”

The Mark lit up like a burning fire upon her soul. Something settled into place. Jennifer’s eyes lit up with the glow of her Mark, as she declared her Mark to the world.

“My name is Jennifer Laine, and I am the Mark of Time.”

Mark of Time: [Time Reset → Time Leap]

***

Jennifer found herself standing back in the throne room, the Prince standing right next to her.

She turned to face the man, her burrows furrowed. “This does not mean that I forgive you. You lied to me, and kept me in the dark, using me as some sort of tool. Our bond has already frayed, and if you truly want me to help you then you cannot lie to me anymore,” Jennifer declared.

Laiken looked at her, nodding. “Very well. First things first then,” the Prince said, turning to face the others in the chamber. “The Demon has Jennifer’s friend, Rumina’s form. Seeing how our bond did not fade over resets either, I am starting to believe that the Marks and their abilities are immune to the time reset,’ the prince said. Jennifer turned towards Rumina in surprise, her eyes wide.

“But that is not all,” the prince continued. “I believe the demon has found a way to piece together clues from across resets. I don’t know how, but each reset, it has been getting faster and more accurate in its workings. Given the massive blood spell that festers the city, I believe a third party is behind the Mark of Deceit. Even the God of Deceit wouldn’t allow his Mark to be in a Demon’s hand. Which means, someone must’ve stolen a Mark, and handed it to the demon.”

Jennifer stared blankly at the Prince. “Are you serious? Do you mean there’s someone else out there who can steal Marks and just hand it out to demons?”

“Not that simple, but yes, that is indeed what I’m saying. To prove this, I went looking into the whereabouts of the Mark of Deceit, and found something somewhat disturbing. Haywind Nazrel, a small time [Thief] from the Ostiri and The Mark of Deceit in another time and life, died of unknown causes at the start of this month, across three resets. At the precise moment that Jennifer returns to in time. As if his soul just didn’t return alongside the rest of the world.”

“Ye mean to say…” Haireth trailed off, brows set deep in worry.

“Yes. Us Marks, it seems, do not come back like the rest. Once we are dead, we remain dead. Is it only if we die at the hands of another Mark, or not? I don’t know. But I do know that Haywind was supposed to not die when he did. His fate strings were snapped off, as if by force.”

Jennifer stared at the prince, her eyes seeking answers. “So if we kill the Demon once, he won’t revive?” She asked carefully.

“Possibly. We can never be sure. But even if Deceit doesn’t come back, the person behind Deceit will remain still, aware that its puppet just got its strings cut. They will learn about your existence then, and work to counteract or neutralise you. If that happens, then all will be lost.”

“Who’s this guy ye’re so afraid of?” Haireth asked the Prince.

Laiken turned to look at Haireth. “Elphion’s chosen. The Mark of Death.”

“And? Is that supposed to tell me something?” Haireth retorted, raising an eyebrow.

“We don’t know much about the Mark of Death, but whoever it is, they’re powerful. Back to the demon for now. I have a plan, one that’ll need a couple of months to work through, but if we can get this right, we will be able to stop the invasion and stop the demons,” the prince said, turning to face Jennifer.

“Well, let’s hear it,” Haireth replied, crossing his arms.

“Unfortunately, we can’t. Jennifer has to do this alone. Until close to the end at the very least. I know it’s a lot to ask for, Jennifer, but you're the only one who can do this,” the Prince said.

Jennifer took a deep breath. “Fine. Let’s hear the plan.”

The Prince smiled apologetically, as his eyes flashed silver, the Mark on his forehead lighting up. Strands of fate swirled around Jennifer, as images flashed in front of her eyes. A thousand possibilities, all tied together by her existence, each piece of this vast puzzle swirling to slot into place. The world spun around her, as she reeled back from all the information that had just poured itself into her mind.

“You really are insane,” Jennifer said, catching herself. Her heart thundered in her chest, as she tried to piece together everything she’d just seen. “I’ll do it. Sera take me, I’ll do it.”

“Great! I've also cut off the strings so none of our memories return on reset. Now, Xar. Please kill Jennifer,” Laiken said, a smile plastered on his face.

"What?" Xar sent, confused.

“Do as he says, Xar. Trust me,” Jennifer told the spider.

The spider hesitated, his little legs shifting uncomfortably. Jennifer heard an odd gurgle sound coming from her mind-link, before the link snapped back in place.

"Fine! Xar will do it!" the spider exclaimed.

It took a moment for Xar to gather himself, and prepare the attack. A pulse traveled outwards from the spider, aiming itself at Jennifer. A sharp swift wave traveled through her mind and Jennifer let it.

With a snap, a tug pulled at Jennifer’s mind, and death claimed her yet again.