Life After You

There is nothing to help me figure out who the voice belongs to—the man with gold-black hair. I am not trying too hard to find the answer, not when Gilad is hanging mid-air, right in front of me.

Rehan: “…”

Rehan grits his teeth. For every moment that he is not focusing on his threads, a part of the sky falls away. It cracks like an old painting and then it chips off; the world itself is collapsing, there is no ambiguity about that one fact.

Zeph: “Five minutes.”

He mumbles under his breath. I glance at him.

Zeph: “Five minutes until this world disappears.”

Despite the low volume of his voice and Rehan’s pain—whatever it comes from—Rehan looks up at him. At his gaze, Zeph glances at him as well. Then, the manager shifts his attention to Aziel.

Zeph: “Could you find a connection from this world to the one she’s from if you actually make an effort?”

He scoffs, not letting go of his playful demeanor in spite of the situation…it’s literally the end of the world playing right in front of us!

Delilah: …or maybe it doesn’t make a real difference to him, since his ends with eternal death every time anyway.

Aziel: “I already did, boss.”

Aziel smirks.

Aziel: “But I’ll need some help getting it to work. Kendric?”

Kendric: “Yeah? What can I do?”

Aziel whispers something in Kendric’s ear. It takes…I don’t know how long, but definitely under five minutes—though this must be the longest five minutes of my life.

Another part of the sky falls away.

And then another.

And then another.

The pieces fall until there is no more sky. The crystal with Gilad in it hovers in the air still, disconnected from the now-black “sky”. The ground is trembling.

Rehan stands back up straight. He takes a deep breath.

Rehan: “It was me. I know we don’t have much time, so let me at least tell you what I can…everyone.”

Mykel stops playing his flute.

Mykel: “You’re giving up?”

Rehan: “I’m a sorcerer from another world. My friend—the one you saw with the dark hair—is one as well. Where we come from, sorcerers can live for a very long time. Immortal, even, if they’ve reached that level. My friend there was sealed away for his wrongdoings, and I…well, I made a mistake. I went insane. I made this world and made myself forget everything about where I came from. I guess he came to kick me out for being a coward.”

Delilah: “If he’s sealed away…”

Rehan shrugs, then chuckles bitterly.

Rehan: “I guess he broke it somehow. And I don’t know how your—”

The entire sky has fallen apart. Zeph glances at Aziel, who tosses a dart at the crystal. The crystal cracks.

In the next instant, everything happens all at once.

Kendric runs in our direction. Zeph reaches for me. Kendric picks the both of us up and tosses us into the crack.

The world begins swirling.