Allegra runs her bare feet through the tall grass. The hills stretch on as far as the eye can see, with thin clouds passing quickly over the sun a few times every hour. The area is unfamiliar, but she feels at home. She turns around and sees Genus, Lumen, and Necros, gathered in a soft spot of the earth where the grass is shorter and more abundant.

“Look who it is!” Genus says. “The hero of her time.”

Allegra humbly declines the compliment. “If anything, the twins did most of the heavy lifting.”

“And without you, this group would’ve never come together.”

She continues to eye her surroundings, still unsure of why it looks foreign but feels like she’s been here before. “Am I gonna wake up in another shallow pool of water?” she asks.

“No. You’ll wake up in your bed, well rested.” Lumen sheds her armor, setting it carefully in the grass beneath her feet. “You’re back in Elk City. You fell asleep on the way home and your sister didn’t want to wake you after such a long week.”

“I… expected something more dramatic. Like hitting my head. Or dying.”

“Your sister is a creature of nurture, after all. Come, sit.” Allegra settles into the grass. Lumen rests her head gently in Genus’s lap. A crow trudges through the tall grass, pokes its beak around Necros curiously, then flies away. “You underestimate yourself, Allegra. You show bravery and attribute it to ‘being in the right place at the right time’. No matter how much you wanted to live in your sister’s image, you always knew it wasn’t for you.”

“Craving the applause, yet hating the attention,” Genus says with a smile.

Allegra rolls her eyes. “You guys sure seem to know what’s in my head.”

“We’re visiting you through a dream-- so, yes, you could say that.”

Allegra pulls fistfuls of grass from the earth. “I still betrayed Julius. He trusted me, and I threw it back in his face. I don’t know if I can fix that.”

“What’s done is done,” a detached voice says. “But you have realized your mistake. All you can do is make yourself worthy of his forgiveness.” Chronum appears a few feet behind Necros, his wrists loosely bound by a rope of light. Allegra tenses up before she notices the grief on his face. “For what it’s worth, I hold no grudge. Time doesn’t stop for petty fights. As its former keeper, neither should I. My greed blinded me. I ask not for my sons’ forgiveness, but maybe-- with work and with time-- one day, I will be deserving of it. In the meantime, someone needs to keep order.”

“You have given souls something they didn’t have before: choice. The ability to control whether you’re born again or you’re attached to an existing vessel,” says Lumen. “While that still means that mankind has to learn to live with these souls, there will be far less instances of corrupt creatures-- especially with your hands on deck. Orien isn’t the only creature of nurture in Elk City.”

“Do us a favor, Helena: look after your people. We’ll stay out of mortal matters; you’ll be our eyes on the ground, in a way. There’s no one better suited to lead than you and your sister,” says Necros.

Allegra exhales gently. “Answer one question for me— how is Wendy?”

Lumen smiles. “She’s out there, somewhere, getting used to her new body. She’s free of her burden.”

“You mean, she’s alive? And she’s… herself?”

“We came to the conclusion that this is not where her story ends. The trust she placed in Orien, the way Lynx looks at her, the way she looks at life itself— I can’t take that out of the world just yet.” Lumen smiles. “But don’t ask me to make any other life cycle exceptions. Like I said, we’re staying out of mortal matters from now on.”

Allegra smiles. “Thank you,” she says. “All of you. I hope I can be everything you make me out to be.”

“I have full faith in you,” Lumen says, tucking a strand of hair behind Allegra’s ear. “Now, go. There’s someone waiting for you.”

Allegra opens her eyes to a warm, setting sun draping lines of light over her bed. The room is exactly the way she left it last week-- unfolded laundry and all. Orien spins around in her desk chair when she hears her stirring.

“Look who’s finally awake,” she says. “Don’t worry, I haven’t been here long. Mom told me to wake you up before dinner so that you’d finally eat something.”

“Have I been asleep that long? What’d I miss?”

Orien inhales deeply. “Well, Mom and Dad woke up to their estranged, four-eyed, fanged daughter sleeping on the couch, which sure was something. They were happy more than anything, thankfully. No yelling, no arguing. After that, I went to the Sentry station. Definitely another shock-- mostly because of the whole “we met the deities and brought peace back to the life cycle” thing. Bottom line is, I think I got through to them somewhat. But it’s gonna be a lot of time and a lot of work to teach them that these beasts aren’t… beasts.”

“Where is everyone else?”

“Lynx, Chaos and Calamity went back home. We can visit them, but I think we’ve got our work cut out for us here.” Orien stands up and turns the doorknob. “As for our stowaway--”

Julius, wholly human, gazes sheepishly through the doorway. As Orien leaves, he enters. Allegra throws herself out of bed and wraps her arms around him.

“Julius, I am so sorry. I was stupid, and naive, and I can’t believe I threw everything away for--”

“I know. I remember.”

“And… you’re not chewing me out?”

Julius leans against the windowsill, gazing across the city. “I know why you did it and that you’re sorry. That’s enough for me. It’s gonna be a long road, getting Elk City to understand how to handle lost souls. I think that’ll give you plenty of opportunities to make good on your promise.”

“You don’t have to forgive me.”

“I know. But we’ve got more than enough time to get everything figured out.” He drums his fingers against the window. “Chronum gives us time, we decide what we do with it. We’re all going to waste some of it making dumb decisions, but I think we just have to roll with the punches and be as wise as we can. Every waking moment since I first turned, everything I did revolved around how much time I had until someone found me out-- ‘until’, never ‘if’. I’m way too young to feel like I’m running out of time. Now, with how things are hopefully going to change in Elk City, I don’t have to. And I think I’d get bored if I didn’t have someone to spend it with.”

Allegra breathes a sigh of relief. Forgiveness will come with time; for now, a second chance is more than enough. “You, know, I said--”

“--That I’d give you some sappy response, I know. You know me well.” Julius slinks his arm around Allegra, resting it over her back and pulling her closer. “I’d get lonely if I didn’t have someone poking around in my head all the time.”

“Is that right? You better make some more friends, then.”

Allegra rests her head against Julius’s shoulder, watching the sun drift over Elk City and disappear behind the distant forest.