Englecon Mine, Desmond, 10416 P.C.

“Oceania!” the Overseer grunted as he rose to his feet. "I told you to stay with your mother!"

"You will not take another innocent life," she said, striding forward. "You will not touch any of them again!"

The Overseer glared at her before shifting his gaze beyond Matthew and giving a firm nod. Matthew knew it was coming and moved like lightning, the Warmth bursting inside and speeding up his reflexes; the guard's blade found stone instead of flesh. Matthew reached up, grabbing the guard's wrist and imagining it snapping. He felt it break in his hand, heard the man's scream loud in his ears. He grabbed the man's sword as it fell from limp fingers. Matthew rose to his feet, pointing the heavy sword at the guard holding Stephanie. The man let go of her and backed away immediately, his hands up and his eyes huge with terror. In a mere thought, Stephanie's cuffs broke off and clattered to the floor.

Oceania stopped just feet from her father, hands in fists. "A revolt has started," she said, her voice tremulous. "The people are fighting back! It's over, Terminus."

The Overseer's face was hard. He stepped over Abby, closing the space between them. "You speak to me in disrespect," he said, "and you use my name as if I am not your father?" He ended the sentence in a yell, yet Oceania did not flinch.

"You never respected me," she replied bitterly, holding his gaze in a way Matthew had seen no one, man or woman, ever do. "You never treated me like your daughter. You never cared about me and yet you demanded my respect! I am done being ruled by you, I am done watching you hurt and abuse and kill innocent people! The only good thing you have ever done is inadvertently hidden and protected Matthew from the dragon and his witch." Oceania turned to look at Matthew, who was startled at her mention of him. "Thanks to you, Matthew can now play the part he was destined for." She looked back at her father, who was watching her with a gaze darker than Matthew had ever seen it. "It's over, Terminus. Your tyranny is over."

The Overseer took a slow, deep breath. "You're right. Yet you will never escape it, daughter."

Matthew saw the movement too late. With a yell, he rushed the Overseer, lifting the sword in a powerful swing as Oceania collapsed to the ground with her father's dagger in her chest. The sword did its job, severing the Overseer's head from his body in a mere second. Matthew caught his balance, gasping for breath as he watched what remained of the tyrant of a man fall in a heap on the ground. Crimson blood, like a flood, swept over the rocky floor, destined to stain it as the blood of so many others had before it.

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Dropping the sword, Matthew fell to his knees beside Oceania, struggling to believe what had happened and what he had done. Pulling Oceania into his lap, he cradled her head with a shaking hand. Her breathing was wet and blood bubbled at the corners of her lips as her eyes seemed fixated on one spot. She was slipping away, and there was no way he could pull her back.

"Hey," he whispered, struggling to keep his voice steady as he held her. Matthew had seen death many times. He had witnessed the deaths of old men and young men, little children and women. He had watched the life leave the eyes of the dying, he had looked death itself straight in the eyes and kept living to tell of it. He had seen sudden deaths and gradual ones, he had seen sacrifice and heartache and grief. He had seen so much loss.

He was tired of it. So, so tired of it.

"You did good," was all he could think of to say as he fumbled over his words and fought to keep his emotions at bay. Oceania had always been kind to him, always been a light in his dark world — but lights burned out. Hers was fading. He wasn't even sure if she could hear or see him anymore, but he kept talking, rambling. "Thank you, Oceania. You kept me alive, you know that? It was you, you talked him out of killing me so many times, it was you, okay? You protected me. You." He choked on the lump in his throat as he watched the life fade from her eyes.

With one last shuddering breath, she was gone.

Matthew gently laid her on the ground. He closed his burning eyes, taking a deep breath as he felt Stephanie's hand on his shoulder. "She risked her life over and over to keep me alive and I don't even know why," he whispered.

Stephanie spoke quietly. "Because you're special, Matthew. Clearly, she saw that."

"I don't want to be special."

Stephanie placed something on the ground before him, and he opened his eyes. The Overseer's screen blinked up at him, full of numberless dots.

"We can't choose who and what we are, but we can choose what we do with what we've been given." Stephanie knelt on the other side of Oceania's body to look him in the eyes. "What are you going to do, Matthew?"

Matthew held her gaze, letting the determination he saw in her cultivate his. Without a word, he picked up the screen and crushed the Athrii within it before snapping it in half with his bare hands.

Stephanie smiled.