Amy had told Julius everything. In response, he’d gone up and convinced Karl to leave her alone. For that, she was eternally grateful.

The next morning, he returned with salty soup and water. She accepted it in silent thanks.

Now, curled in the darkness of night, she plunged into the cold abyss.

She knew she was dreaming already. And, for the first time since she was seven, she didn’t resist the drop. Back then, her eyes had been wide with wonder as she drifted into the orange glow, into memory. But she knew where to stop this time. She knew where to find Milo.

So she flailed, focusing forward. Like in a lucid dream, movement came from will. Eventually, four orbs lit the void, glowing faintly: purple, orange, blue, red. At the center of them all sat her biological father, Milo.

He was hunched low, suspended in the abyss, his dark hair curling at his neck. His slender frame remained very still. The man who broke the world, Amy remembered Julius say. The monster who manipulated and threatened Karl before he reached her current age…

Milo was focused intently on something far below. But despite his absentminded appearance, he knew she was here. Always did.

He didn’t speak until she drifted closer, limbs flailing awkwardly like she was swimming through space. Her feet landed on something invisible but solid. Gravity pulled her forward, toward her father. She walked toward him, determined to step into the center of the orbs.

“Don’t take another step.”

She took heed of his warning, shivering in the darkness.

In front of her stood the man she’d avoided in dreams. The one her adoptive father had begged her to flee. The man who died overseas.

He nodded, as if reading her thoughts, his gaze washing over her.

She swallowed.

“I warned you not to come back. Why are you here, Amy?”

She remembered there was no reincarnation for him. She knew because he had told her before. Back when she was seven.

Some people only had one life. Milo had been blessed with five. For him, it was four too many. Her eyes flicked to the orange orb — the one tied to her lingering memories. Each orb holds a past life, he had once explained to her. These are mine.

But that was before she’d accidentally told Kristo that Milo appeared in her dreams. Before Kristo had paled and shot her a look of pure fear, one that was seared in her memory.

“Milo. Dad…” She swallowed again. “Kristo’s dead.”

He turned fully, tilting his head upward, studying the darkness thoughtfully. “I wonder why you call me dad… Is it to invoke guilt? Or is it, rather, because you still hope I’ll claim you?” His eyes narrowed before he sighed in defeat. “No matter…if Kristo’s dead, Samantha probably killed him.”

Amy started to protest, but Milo pressed on, his expression fatigued. “What do you want to know?”

She swallowed again. “I want to know who Aurora is. I mean, I know she’s the Empress…” She didn’t know what else to say.

Milo looked up thoughtfully. “Very well," he said. "I'll give you the information you seek. Your mother and I were allies,” he conceded. “Then adversaries. Then something harder to name. I’ve called her mine… I’ve called her dangerous. She’s called me heartless and dead. And she was correct, or course. More than once, really."

His voice dropped slightly. "Once, Aurora wept and bled for a better world. And when the world didn’t change, she became it.”

He stepped forward.

Amy didn’t back away.

I’m not scared of him, she reminded herself. Flickers of their past life stirred in her mind. In that life, Milo had once answered every question she asked. He hadn’t been perfect, but he had never left. Now, she couldn’t breathe near him. Part of her was scared to learn about the ghosts of his past. Scared to learn why Kristo had once looked at her like the monster spawn she really is.

As if to answer, he opened his hand. Crackles of black lightning danced across his fingertips.

Her eyes widened. She had learned about magic only recently.

“Stolen from Cerceras,” Milo murmured. “A name you’ll have to learn for the road ahead.”

His eyes locked onto hers. As always, they were cold and resolute.

“If you remember me, as you claim, then you know I hurt people — break them. I'm actually a professional, really.”

Amy shook her head. “I don’t remember much.” She breathed in slowly. “But I also know to take people at face value.”

Milo dipped his head, as if to say fair enough.

She stopped just before the boundary of the orbs, careful not to step through. Milo didn’t throw out warnings carelessly.

“Samantha,” she said slowly, gauging his reaction. “Who is she? And…” She swallowed again. Despite knowing she mustn’t cry in front of Milo, her throat tightened, and the tears came, unwitting and unbidden.

Game over.

Milo stared at her, mouth open as if not knowing how to react — or what to say. Then he sadly shook his head. She expected him to ridicule or chastise her, but what he said next made her blink.

“You’re just like your mother,” he muttered. “You’re scared to cry because you assume I brand emotions as weakness. But I don’t. I see it as sincerity, truth.”

She wiped her face, but the tears kept falling.

“Samantha,” he said softly. “She’s someone who wants to hurt your mother. Aurora. She’s someone who has to be stopped.”

“I know my mother’s the Empress. But why did Samantha have to come…” Her throat tightened again. And kill Kristo?

Milo exhaled sharply.

“Knowing Samantha, she wants to revive me.”

Amy’s eyes flew open wider. Milo shook his head, laughing softly, as if surprised himself. “And I thought that by dying I had ended the cycle. That she was finally safe from me.”

Milo had believed he was the curse that caused Aurora’s inevitable death, as she had died for him in four of his five lifetimes. He turned toward her with a faint smile.

“In the life you remember, Aurora died for me. Do you remember her death?”

Amy swallowed, shaking her head.

Milo looked upward into the void thoughtfully. “I see… your memories stop where mine begin.”

“Milo,” Amy began. “If Aurora found out what Samantha’s doing, would they join forces and try to revive you?”

For the first time, Milo laughed. “No,” he said, his eyes twinkling. “Your mother would absolutely not revive me. She knows I need to stay dead.” His gaze darkened again. “But…depending on the circumstances, she might try to join me. And that would be…unbearable. Especially after all the effort I went to…”

He turned back to her, shaking his head. He couldn’t even finish the sentence. He let out a heavy breath. “Regardless, Samantha doesn’t even want to resurrect me for a good reason. Not even a compelling one. She just wants to tether onto me. Or control me. That's always been her limitation. Her motives have always lacked originality.”

Amy’s body tensed. “What is your relationship to her?”

Milo smiled softly. “To Samantha? Nothing. Well, I suppose once, she followed me.” He gestured to the blue orb before shrugging. “She thought I was the first person to see the real her. The only person who truly showed her empathy. She…just wanted to be seen. But I left her.”

His voice cooled. “Now, a part of her probably wants revenge. Another part of her wants me weaponized. And the other part…” He flinched slightly. “She believes if she can get me to bend the knee, the world will finally belong to her. She thinks I owe her.”

Milo turned to her, eyes cold. “So does she have you?”

“She’s trying to.”

“Where are you now?”

“Confined by Julius… and… Karl.”

Milo tilted his head slightly at the second name.

“Karl will try to use you for other reasons, I suppose. But you have Aurora in your veins, so I’m not worried for you. As for Karl? He’s just a man. Another insecure one. Yeah, I’m not worried about him .”

His voice darkened again. “As for Samantha… be sure she doesn’t catch you.”

And with that, Milo and the orbs began to fade.

“Wait!” she screamed, aware he was disappearing by will. “Don’t leave!”

But he did what he did best.

What he did to her mother over and over again.

He left.

And Amy was stranded in the dark.

But Milo’s last words echoed in her head: “Be sure she doesn’t catch you.
—
She didn’t particularly know how to get out of the void. So she just floated until her body started to wake. She waited for what seemed like an eternity.

Though she drifted through the void, she felt like she was free falling. She felt nauseous as she glanced downward, wondering if she should let herself fall deeper.

She could. She could peer into her own past life with Milo, but she wasn’t ready.

Not for the orange orb.

Kristo’s death still held her captive. She wanted to honor the memory of him.

No, she couldn’t drift down, not yet.

So instead she sat, drifting in the darkness, until her body decided it was morning.
——
She woke to the faint rocking of the ship. When she opened her eyes, she saw was Julius’s face, his arm extended, offering a cup of something steaming.

She blinked groggily, feeling someone staring at her back. Turning around, she saw Karl glaring. She flinched, shivering.
—
It took two more days to reach the other continent—Aurora’s continent. The air was freezing, sharp on her skin. Glaciers loomed like teeth in the water, threatening to shatter their little ship.

And somewhere behind them, Samantha chased. Of course she did.

That’s why her hands shook as she gripped the port as Karl sped forward recklessly. And finally, they docked. Amy stepped onto snowy ground, clutching the thin blanket Julius had given her.

“The Land of Ice and Fire,” Julius muttered beside her.

She flinched again as strangers in heavy coats approached with sleds.

Karl was right behind her, like a watchdog waiting for her to bolt. He bared his teeth. She knew what he wanted and obeyed, stepping onto the vehicle.

The sled lurched forward. They passed smoke-wreathed villages, snow falling like ash.

And ahead, through the haze, she saw it. Karl’s base. She clutched her blanket tighter. Whatever waited ahead, it couldn’t be worse than what she left… Right? I mean, probably.