Day Twenty-Five
The labyrinth had become a graveyard of its own architecture.
Thirty floors had collapsed.
Twenty-nine had repaired themselves.
The thirtieth continued falling.
Goro and Xheavend fought through the wreckage.
She had lost nearly all resemblance to the girl who had entered the labyrinth.
Her skin hung in strips.
Her lips had split.
Her bones protruded through flesh that repeatedly rotted and regenerated.
One side of her face had collapsed inward.
Her hair was matted with blood.
Her heartbeat was irregular.
Sometimes it stopped.
Sometimes it beat so rapidly that blood burst from her veins.
And still she fought.
Goro had long since stopped counting his injuries.
He had spent so much venom suppressing the armies that the glands beneath his fangs burned whenever he attempted to produce more.
Several of his golden eyes no longer answered him.
His remaining senses had begun compensating, forcing him to experience the battlefield through overlapping images of heat, spiritual movement, and poisonous residue.
Yet he continued monitoring Xheavend's heartbeat.
He could distinguish it from every sound in the labyrinth.
And whenever it faltered, he forgot everything else.
On the twenty-fifth day, Xheavend's body began decaying faster than it could heal.
Goro smelled the change.
His head snapped toward her.
"No."
She stumbled.
Her left leg broke beneath her weight.
It regenerated.
Then rotted.
Then regenerated again.
Her jaw slipped out of place.
She forced it shut.
Goro approached carefully.
His scales scraped against the broken stone.
The enormous serpent had become a dreadful sight.
Several of his golden eyes had been destroyed.
One fang was cracked.
Deep wounds ran along his body, exposing muscle and bone beneath the fractured scales.
His blood had stained so much of the labyrinth that the stone beneath him had taken on a permanent violet hue.
Yet he approached the child as though she were something fragile.
"Xheavend."
Her head twitched.
A hundred voices whispered through her mouth.
Goro lowered himself.
"Little one."
Her eyes flickered.
For a moment, the voices stopped.
"Goro?"
He went still.
"Yes."
She blinked.
Her gaze wandered across his enormous body.
The wounds.
The broken scales.
The blood.
Her expression changed.
"You're hurt."
Goro glanced at himself.
"An unfortunate inconvenience."
She stared.
"You're bleeding."
"Yes. I had noticed."
Her breathing became uneven.
"Who did that?"
Goro did not answer.
Xheavend looked around.
The chamber was destroyed.
Entire sections of the labyrinth had collapsed.
The walls were stained with blood.
Broken weapons lay scattered across the floor.
And everywhere she looked, there were marks left by a battle she could barely remember.
Her lips trembled.
"Goro."
"Yes?"
"How long?"
He tilted his head.
"How long what?"
"How long have we been fighting?"
Goro hesitated.
Then answered.
"Twenty-five days."
Xheavend stared at him.
Her mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Then she whispered:
"Twenty-five?"
"Yes."
"You've been fighting me for twenty-five days?"
"An unfortunate consequence of your stubbornness."
She did not smile.
Her eyes filled with tears.
"All this time?"
"Yes."
"You didn't sleep?"
"No."
"You didn't eat?"
"I've had more pressing concerns."
She looked toward his wounds.
"And I did that?"
Goro said nothing.
Xheavend began shaking.
"Did I?"
He lowered his head.
"Little one—"
"Please."
Her voice cracked.
"Tell me."
Goro watched her carefully.
Then answered.
"Yes."
She recoiled.
Her hands flew toward her mouth.
One of her fingers broke beneath the movement.
She barely noticed.
"No."
Goro remained still.
"No, I wouldn't—"
Her breathing quickened.
"I wouldn't hurt you."
"I know."
"I wouldn't!"
"I know."
She stumbled backward.
Blood ran from her nose.
Her eyes darted across his body.
The torn scales.
The missing eyes.
The injuries that refused to heal.
She looked horrified.
"I'm sorry."
Goro's expression softened.
"Xheavend."
"I'm sorry."
"Little one."
"I didn't mean to!"
Her voice broke into a sob.
"I didn't mean to hurt you!"
Goro lowered his enormous head until his golden eyes were level with hers.
"I know."
She shook violently.
"I tried to stop."
"I know."
"They wouldn't listen."
"I know."
Her hands pressed against her chest.
"And then the people started disappearing."
Goro went still.
She remembered.
Not everything.
But enough.
"I couldn't save them."
His voice became quiet.
"That was not your choice."
"But they're gone."
"Yes."
She looked at him.
"Are you going to leave?"
The question caught him off guard.
"What?"
"Because I hurt you."
Goro stared.
Xheavend lowered her gaze.
"Yzer said you would."
The chamber became very quiet.
Goro's twenty golden eyes narrowed.
"What did he say?"
She swallowed.
"He said you were afraid of me."
Goro said nothing.
"He said everyone would be."
Her lips trembled.
"He said you were trying to destroy me because I was dangerous."
The commander's expression became unreadable.
Xheavend continued.
"And I thought he was lying."
She looked at his wounds.
"But then I saw what I did."
Tears ran down her cheeks.
"Maybe he was right."
Goro lowered his head.
"No."
She flinched.
"No?"
"He was not right."
"But I hurt you."
"Yes."
"I almost killed you."
"That remains to be seen."
She stared at him.
He sighed.
"Xheavend, I have been injured by considerably less impressive opponents."
She gave a weak, disbelieving laugh.
Then began crying again.
"Why didn't you leave?"
Goro went still.
The question echoed through him.
Why didn't you leave?
For a heartbeat, he remembered another chamber.
Six commanders.
Two sovereigns.
A promise made before the universes fell.
Even if she no longer recognizes you?
Yes.
Even if she tries to kill you?
Then I shall endeavor to be difficult to kill.
Goro looked at the child before him.
Her body was falling apart.
Her eyes were frightened.
Her hands trembled.
And despite everything she had endured, she was still worried about the pain she had caused him.
His expression softened.
"Because you would have been alone."
Xheavend stared.
"What?"
"Had I left, you would have been alone."
Her lips parted.
Goro continued.
"And I have no intention of allowing that."
She began crying harder.
"But I hurt you."
"Yes."
"I could do it again."
"Quite possibly."
"Then you should go!"
Goro raised an eyebrow.
"Absolutely not."
"Goro!"
"Xheavend."
His voice became firm.
"Listen carefully."
She froze.
"I am not protecting you because you are harmless."
Her breathing faltered.
"I am not protecting you because you are easy to manage."
He lowered his head.
"And I am certainly not protecting you because you have been particularly well-behaved."
A tiny, broken laugh escaped her.
Goro's expression softened.
"I am protecting you because you are a child who needs help."
He paused.
"And because I promised that I would."
Xheavend blinked.
"Promised?"
"Yes."
"To who?"
Goro's smile became faint.
"Someone very important."
She looked at him.
"Do I know them?"
His expression changed.
For a moment, something ancient and sorrowful passed through his golden eyes.
"Perhaps one day."
Xheavend lowered her gaze.
Then whispered:
"I'm tired."
Goro's chest tightened.
"I know."
"Everything hurts."
"I know."
"I can't make them stop."
He watched the blood running down her arms.
The broken bones.
The trembling muscles.
The terrible exhaustion in her eyes.
Then he lowered his head.
"I believe I can help."
She looked up.
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Will it hurt?"
Goro hesitated.
He would not lie to her.
"Probably."
Her face crumpled.
He continued.
"But I will be careful."
She stared at him.
"Promise?"
Goro's expression softened.
"Promise."
For a moment, she looked almost relieved.
Then her body convulsed.
Her spine arched.
A thousand voices erupted from her throat.
"NO!"
Goro recoiled.
Xheavend clutched her head.
"Stop!"
The armies began reforming.
"THE VESSEL MUST ENDURE."
She screamed.
"No!"
Her eyes found Goro.
For one brief moment, she was herself.
"Goro!"
He moved toward her.
"Little one!"
"Please!"
Her voice broke.
"Make it stop!"
Goro lowered his head.
"I will."
The armies seized her body.
Her expression vanished beneath a terrible smile.
And she attacked.
Goro caught her.
His twenty golden eyes opened.
"Forgive me."
He bit her.
His fangs pierced her shoulder.
The venom entered her bloodstream.
Xheavend screamed.
Black lines spread beneath her skin.
The poison raced through her veins.
It passed through her damaged organs without destroying them.
It reached the spiritual connections surrounding her soul.
And stopped.
Goro's twenty golden eyes narrowed.
The venom recognized the countless memories bound to her existence.
It did not attack them.
It did not consume them.
It did not attempt to sever their connection to her.
Instead, it moved between them.
Searching.
Not for the dead.
For the commands compelling her body to fight.
For the curse forcing her regeneration beyond its limits.
For the apocalyptic mechanisms that had learned to sacrifice civilizations in exchange for survival.
The venom spread through those commands.
One by one, they began falling silent.
Goro watched carefully.
He could feel every connection.
Every memory.
Every civilization still sheltered within her.
None disappeared.
Not one.
For the moment, the new venom was working.
Then it reached her heart.
And stopped.
Goro's eyes widened.
The venom had encountered a force that did not recognize death as an absolute conclusion.
But Xheavend was something else.
The poison reached her heart.
And stopped.
Goro's eyes widened.
The venom had encountered a force that did not recognize death as an absolute conclusion.
It recoiled.
Then changed.
The black veins spread farther.
Xheavend collapsed to her knees.
Her skin turned gray.
Her eyes clouded.
Her breathing became shallow.
Goro released her immediately.
"Little one?"
She looked at him.
And smiled.
Not happily.
Not cruelly.
Just tiredly.
"Thank you."
Then she fell.
Goro caught her before her head struck the floor.
For a moment, the armies vanished.
The labyrinth became silent.
And Xheavend lost consciousness.
Day Twenty-Six
The curse awakened.
Goro felt it before he saw it.
Something beneath Xheavend's skin moved.
Her spine arched.
Her fingers curled.
Her heartbeat stopped.
Then began again.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Her body lifted from his arms.
Goro stepped backward.
"Oh, you wretched thing."
Xheavend's eyes opened.
They were empty.
Her mouth stretched into a smile.
And something laughed.
The sound came from everywhere.
The walls.
The floor.
The space between breaths.
Her body twisted.
Bones snapped.
Her limbs lengthened, then contracted.
The remaining skin on her arms peeled away.
Goro's twenty eyes opened across his transformed face.
Every one of them burned gold.
"Enough."
He raised his hand.
The labyrinth darkened.
First Division Authority — The Twentyfold Gaze.
All twenty eyes focused upon Xheavend.
The air hardened.
Her feet turned gray.
Stone spread up her legs.
Across her knees.
Over her hips.
Her fingers stiffened.
Her arms froze.
Goro stepped closer.
"I apologize, little one."
The petrification climbed her throat.
"But I would rather you hate me for this than die."
Her face became stone.
For one heartbeat, she was still.
Then a crack appeared.
Another.
Another.
The statue shattered.
Xheavend emerged from the fragments.
Her curse had consumed the petrification and rebuilt her body around it.
Goro stared.
"That is profoundly unfair."
The curse laughed.
And attacked.
Day Twenty-Eight
Yzer entered her body on the twenty-eighth day.
He had been waiting.
Waiting for the venom.
Waiting for the curse.
Waiting for Xheavend's soul to weaken enough that her body could no longer reject him.
Now he stepped into the space between her consciousness and her flesh.
Her body stopped.
Goro watched.
The change was immediate.
Her shoulders straightened.
Her breathing became controlled.
Her head tilted.
And she smiled.
"Hello, Commander."
Goro's eyes narrowed.
"Yzer."
The smile upon Xheavend's face widened.
"Before you consider using that particular venom again, Commander, I suggest you remember whose body I'm wearing."
Goro went still.
Yzer laughed.
"Yes. I saw what happened when you almost released it. You could have reached me. You could have poisoned this entire miserable labyrinth."
He spread Xheavend's small arms.
"But you couldn't bear to hurt her."
Goro's expression did not change.
"Be very careful what you mistake for mercy."
Yzer leaned forward.
"Oh, I understand your mercy perfectly."
His smile sharpened.
"That's why I chose her."
Goro's eyes narrowed.
"Yzer."
The girl's hands rose toward her face.
Goro moved.
Too late.
Her fingers plunged into her own eye sockets.
Blood spilled between them.
With two terrible movements, Yzer tore out her eyes.
The empty sockets bled.
He dropped the ruined eyes onto the floor.
Goro's entire body went still.
"That," he said softly, "was a mistake."
Yzer laughed through Xheavend's mouth.
"Why? They grow back."
He tilted her head.
"Look."
New tissue began forming inside the sockets.
"Such a remarkable little creature."
Goro's scales rose.
"You are speaking through a child."
"An extraordinarily valuable child."
Yzer examined her hands.
"Do you know how much power she possesses?"
"More than you can understand."
"Precisely!"
Yzer smiled.
"Which brings me to a question."
Goro said nothing.
"Who is she?"
Silence.
"Her power predates this universe. It may even be connected to the very beginning."
Yzer stepped closer.
"To the First Universe."
Goro's expression remained unreadable.
Yzer watched him carefully.
"Your loyalty is fascinating."
"Is it?"
"You have nearly died protecting her."
"I have nearly died doing many things."
"But never without purpose."
Yzer smiled.
"Tell me, Commander. Is she the reincarnation of Eon's beloved?"
The chamber became silent.
Goro stared.
Then—
He laughed.
Not a chuckle.
Not a polite expression of amusement.
A deep, delighted laugh that shook his enormous body.
Yzer frowned.
"What's so amusing?"
Goro continued laughing.
"Oh, you magnificent fool."
Yzer's smile thinned.
"Answer me."
"You truly believe that?"
"Her power—"
"Her power has made you desperate."
Goro lowered his head.
"And desperation has made you stupid."
Yzer's eyes darkened.
"Careful."
"Why? Will you punish me?"
Goro's twenty golden eyes narrowed.
"You Fragments are all the same."
Yzer stiffened.
"You gather power. You imitate authority. You steal names and titles that were never yours."
"Watch your tongue."
"And then you convince yourselves that, with enough stolen strength, you might become something resembling Eon."
Yzer's expression twisted.
Goro smiled.
"You never will."
"YOU KNOW NOTHING OF WHAT I AM!"
"Oh, I know exactly what you are."
Goro moved closer.
"A parasite wearing a child's face."
Yzer's hands clenched.
"She is my pet."
The smile vanished from Goro's face.
"No."
"She belongs to me."
"No."
"I have shaped her. Trained her. Broken her. I know every weakness she possesses."
Goro's voice became quiet.
"And you believe that makes you her master?"
"It makes me the only one who truly understands her."
Goro stared at him.
Then lowered his head until his golden eyes were level with Xheavend's empty, regenerating sockets.
"Listen carefully, Fragment."
Yzer smiled.
"I'm listening."
"You may spend eternity trying to become my king."
Goro's fangs emerged.
"You may steal every power this universe possesses."
Purple venom dripped onto the floor.
"You may even convince yourself that hurting a child makes you powerful."
His voice deepened.
"But you will never understand the difference between being feared and being worthy of loyalty."
Yzer lunged.
Goro struck.
His jaws closed around Xheavend's neck.
The bite was precise.
Deep enough to deliver venom.
Not deep enough to sever anything vital.
Yzer screamed.
Black veins spread across the girl's throat.
Across her chest.
Down her arms.
Her regenerating eyes opened.
They were entirely black.
Yzer staggered.
"What—what have you done?"
Goro released her.
"Something I should have done sooner."
The venom entered the connection between Yzer's projection and Xheavend's body.
It began devouring the path he had used to possess her.
Yzer screamed.
His presence was torn loose.
For one instant, his true astral form appeared behind the child.
Goro's twenty eyes focused.
First Division Art — Sovereign's Rejection.
The venom ignited.
Yzer's projection split apart.
His scream echoed through the labyrinth.
And he vanished.
Goro caught Xheavend as she fell.
Her eyes regenerated completely.
Then closed.
For the second time, she lost consciousness.
But the curse remained.
And the battle was not finished.
Day Twenty-Nine
Xheavend's body began falling apart.
Not metaphorically.
Not gradually.
Her flesh loosened from her bones.
Her skin turned to ash.
Her muscles dissolved.
Goro held her in his enormous coils as the curse attempted to rebuild what the venom continued destroying.
The two forces fought inside her.
Goro's venom continued suppressing the commands that had forced her body to fight.
But the curse had begun treating that suppression as an attack upon Xheavend's existence.
It responded by accelerating her regeneration.
The venom suppressed the command.
The curse issued another.
The venom silenced it.
The curse rebuilt the mechanism that had produced it.
Neither force could surrender.
And neither understood that the body caught between them belonged to a twelve-year-old child.
Goro watched the conflict spread through her veins.
His carefully refined venom was preserving the memories inside her.
But it could not prevent the curse from destroying her flesh in its desperate attempt to overcome the suppression.
The dead remained protected.
Xheavend did not.
And Xheavend was trapped between them.
Goro withdrew the venom.
The curse immediately followed the retreating poison through its connection to him.
Violet fractures spread beneath his scales.
He severed the connection before the curse could reach his heart.
He suppressed Xheavend's regeneration.
Her heartbeat stopped.
Goro released the suppression.
The heart began beating again.
He attempted petrification.
For three precious seconds, her body remained intact.
Then something inside the stone began moving.
The petrified flesh split apart.
He tried separating the curse from her soul.
Xheavend screamed.
The curse had woven itself so deeply into her body that removing it tore pieces of her flesh away.
Goro stopped immediately.
His twenty golden eyes examined every remaining possibility.
Each offered the same terrible conclusion.
He could stop the curse.
He could preserve the dead.
He could prevent her body from collapsing.
But he had not found a way to accomplish all three at once.
For twenty-nine days, Goro had fought to keep her alive.
Now he was watching her disappear in his arms.
"Come now," he whispered.
Her fingers crumbled.
"Enough of this."
Her legs dissolved.
"Xheavend."
Her face collapsed.
Goro's eyes widened.
"No."
The curse surged.
The remaining flesh vanished.
And Goro found himself holding a skeleton.
Small.
Fragile.
Barely recognizable.
Inside its rib cage, a heart continued beating.
A single, stubborn heart.
Goro stared at it.
The sound filled the chamber.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
His enormous body trembled.
"Little one."
The heart beat again.
Goro lowered his enormous head.
The skeleton rested within his coils.
So small.
So terribly small.
He could remember when Xheavend had complained about lessons.
When she had argued with him over things that barely mattered.
When she had insisted she could accomplish something without his assistance.
He had found her stubbornness exhausting.
Now he would have surrendered anything to hear her complain again.
The heart beat.
Goro closed his eyes.
And a voice reached him from somewhere impossibly distant.
If she becomes lost, what will you do?
He remembered the chamber.
The six commanders kneeling.
Eon standing beside his beloved.
He remembered Vaelrith asking whether the child would recognize them.
Krsangawi questioning what would happen if she became dangerous.
Aslvyr promising to teach her survival.
Nhalyros offering loyalty that would not depend upon blind obedience.
Hly'Zouun wondering whether she would ever know happiness.
And himself.
If she becomes lost, I will find her.
The heart beat again.
If she forgets who she is, I will remind her.
Goro's coils tightened slightly around the skeleton.
Not enough to harm it.
Only enough to keep it from slipping.
And if she loses herself completely, I will bring her home.
He opened his eyes.
Twenty golden irises illuminated the ruined chamber.
"Well."
His voice was hoarse.
"You have certainly made that difficult."
He lowered his head until his snout nearly touched the small skull.
"Do you remember what I promised?"
The skeleton did not move.
"I imagine not."
His lips curved faintly.
"You weren't even born."
The heart continued beating.
Goro watched it.
"I told them I would bring you home."
His expression changed.
"And I intend to do exactly that."
For several moments, he remained silent.
Then his voice softened.
"Even if I must carry you there myself."
A faint sound came from within the skeleton.
Goro went still.
Not a voice.
Not a breath.
Something smaller.
A scraping noise.
He lowered his head.
"What—"
Then insects began crawling from the cracks in her bones.
One.
Ten.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
Black insects with translucent wings and pale, hungry mouths.
They poured over her skeleton.
Covered her ribs.
Her skull.
Her limbs.
They formed a writhing cocoon around the beating heart.
Goro recoiled.
"What in the—"
The swarm expanded.
His venom struck it.
The insects died.
More appeared.
His petrification hardened them.
They broke free.
His jaws closed around the swarm.
It scattered.
Then reassembled.
Goro stopped.
He understood.
The insects were not attacking her.
They were rebuilding her.
The curse had found another way.
It was consuming the remains of her body and reconstructing them from within.
Goro watched in horrified silence.
The swarm thickened.
Bones disappeared beneath it.
The heart continued beating.
And somewhere inside the writhing mass—
Xheavend began to breathe.
Day Thirty
The final day began without a sound.
No armies.
No screaming.
No collapsing floors.
Only the steady breathing of a child.
Goro lay across the ruined chamber.
His enormous body was covered in wounds.
Several of his eyes remained closed.
One fang had broken.
His scales were cracked and stained with dried blood.
He had spent thirty days fighting.
Thirty days without rest.
Thirty days holding back something that could have destroyed the labyrinth, Yrtana, and everything beyond them.
And now—
Xheavend lay unconscious before him.
Her body had been restored.
Not perfectly.
There were dark veins beneath her skin.
Her breathing was shallow.
Her heartbeat was weak.
But she was alive.
The insects had vanished.
The armies were gone.
Yzer's projection had been expelled.
The curse had retreated.
Goro lowered his head.
"Xheavend?"
No answer.
He nudged her gently.
"Little one?"
Nothing.
He watched her chest rise.
Fall.
Rise again.
For the first time in thirty days, he allowed himself to breathe.
Then he heard footsteps.
Q emerged from the ruined corridor.
He was barely standing.
His clothes were torn.
Blood stained his face.
One arm hung against his side.
He had been injured badly enough that every step required effort.
But when he saw Xheavend—
He stopped.
His eyes widened.
"Xheavend."
He stumbled forward.
"Xheavend!"
Goro lifted his head.
Q barely noticed.
He was looking at the small figure lying between the serpent's coils.
Her face.
Her hair.
The faint movement of her chest.
Alive.
She was alive.
Q dropped to his knees.
"Oh, thank the—"
His voice broke.
He reached toward her.
Goro's tail moved.
Not violently.
Not threateningly.
But firmly.
It settled between Q and the child.
Q froze.
He looked up.
"Goro?"
The serpent said nothing.
"Give her to me."
Goro's twenty eyes studied him.
Q swallowed.
"Please."
For a moment, Goro seemed very far away.
His eyes remained open.
But he was remembering something.
Something older than the labyrinth.
Older than Xheavend.
Older than the universe surrounding them.
Before the Fall — The First Universe
A rocking chair creaked softly.
Eon sat beside a window.
In his arms slept a newborn child.
His firstborn.
The infant's tiny hand was curled around one of his fingers.
Eon looked down with an expression Goro had rarely seen.
Not the First Evil.
Not the sovereign whose name made entire civilizations tremble.
Simply a father.
Goro stood near the doorway.
Eon glanced up.
"There you are."
"My king."
"Come closer."
Goro approached.
The infant stirred.
Eon immediately lowered his voice.
"Careful. I've only just managed to get this one to sleep."
Goro looked at the child.
"An impressive achievement."
Eon smiled.
"More difficult than conquering a universe."
"I shall take your word for it."
The rocking chair creaked.
Eon studied him.
"Are you certain it's wise to arrange a meeting with your son now?"
Goro's expression tightened.
"My duties—"
"Will survive without you for an afternoon."
"My king—"
"Goro."
Eon's tone softened.
"My beloved has given me more than I ever imagined I could possess."
He looked down at the sleeping infant.
"A family."
The child shifted.
Eon adjusted the blanket.
"The least I can do is be present for it."
Goro said nothing.
"And Gawi should be born soon."
The name brought a faint change to Goro's face.
Eon noticed.
"As a father, you'll need to step up."
Goro sighed.
"I assumed this was a meeting concerning the divisions."
"It is."
"Then why are we discussing my family?"
"Because you keep pretending your duties are more important than the people waiting for you at home."
Goro looked away.
Eon chuckled.
"But I'm not here to lecture you about fatherhood."
"An unexpected mercy."
"Don't sound so relieved."
Goro bowed his head.
"I would never, my king."
Eon smiled.
The rocking chair creaked.
Then he looked at Goro more seriously.
"There may come a day when I ask something of you that no commander should have to bear."
Goro straightened.
"Anything."
"You haven't heard the request."
"I don't need to."
Eon's expression softened.
"That's what worries me about you."
Goro smiled faintly.
"My loyalty is not a burden."
"No."
Eon looked down at his child.
"But one day, it may become one."
The room began to blur.
The edges of the memory dissolved.
Eon's face grew indistinct.
His voice became distant.
"Goro, if that day comes—"
The rocking chair creaked.
"—promise me—"
The memory fractured.
Goro reached for the words.
But they were gone.
The labyrinth returned.
Q was still kneeling before him.
"Please," he whispered.
"She's my Friend."
Goro looked down at Xheavend.
Her chest rose.
Fell.
Rose again.
He had promised to bring her home.
He had not promised to surrender her before she was safe.
He could smell the curse beneath her skin.
Dormant.
Waiting.
His venom had stopped the immediate catastrophe.
But it had not cured her.
If he surrendered her now, without understanding what had happened inside her body, the next awakening might kill her.
Or worse.
Goro lowered his enormous head.
"I know."
Q stared.
"Then give her to me."
"No."
The word was quiet.
Absolute.
Q's expression changed.
"Goro."
"She cannot be moved carelessly."
"I can heal her."
"Not this."
"You don't know what I can do."
Goro's eyes narrowed.
"And you do not know what has happened to her."
Q rose unsteadily.
"Move."
Goro did not.
For several moments, neither moved.
Q stared at the enormous serpent.
At the blood coating his scales.
At the missing eyes.
At the broken fang.
Q looked down at Xheavend.
Her body lay motionless within the serpent's enormous coils.
Dark veins remained visible beneath her skin.
Her breathing was shallow.
And there was a smell.
Something sweet.
Something metallic.
Something rotten.
Q recognized it.
Poison.
His expression changed.
"What did you do to her?"
Goro slowly lowered his head.
"Q."
"What did you do?"
"She is alive."
"That wasn't my question."
Q stepped forward.
The Void stirred beneath his feet.
"Did you poison Xheavend?"
Goro did not look away.
"Yes."
The chamber became silent.
Q stared at him.
"What?"
"I poisoned her."
Something terrible moved behind Q's eyes.
The darkness surrounding him deepened.
The floor began disappearing beneath his feet.
Not breaking.
Not collapsing.
Disappearing.
The Void had begun answering its Ascendant.
"You poisoned her."
"To save her."
"Look at her!"
Q's voice thundered through the chamber.
"LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO HER!"
Goro remained still.
Q raised his trembling hand.
A black blade formed within his grasp.
Its edge consumed the light surrounding it.
"Give her to me."
"No."
"She's my friend!"
"I know."
"THEN MOVE!"
Goro's golden eyes narrowed.
"Put that away."
Q attacked.
The blade crossed the distance between them.
Goro could have avoided it.
He could have poisoned the Void.
He could have petrified Q before the blade reached him.
Instead, he moved his enormous body around Xheavend.
His coils tightened protectively.
The blade struck his scales.
Blackness erupted.
A deep wound opened along the commander's side.
Violet blood splashed across the floor.
Goro grunted.
But he did not retaliate.
Q froze.
His blade remained embedded in the serpent's body.
Goro looked down at him.
"Are you finished?"
Q stared.
"Why didn't you dodge?"
"Because the little lady is behind me."
The words struck harder than any attack.
Q looked toward Xheavend.
Her chest rose.
Fell.
Then hesitated.
Goro noticed immediately.
"Withdraw your authority."
Q did not move.
"Now."
The commander's voice shook the chamber.
Q released the blade.
The Void retreated.
Goro lowered his head beside Xheavend.
His remaining golden eyes examined the veins beneath her skin.
He waited.
One heartbeat.
Two.
Three.
Her breathing steadied.
Only then did he look toward Q.
"Do not do that again."
Q stared at the blood running down Goro's scales.
The commander had not defended himself.
He had protected her.
Even from someone who cared about her enough to lose control.
"What happened to her?"
Goro's expression changed.
"Thirty days."
Q frowned.
"What?"
"She fought for thirty days."
Goro looked toward Xheavend.
"Her body was broken and reconstructed more times than I could count. The curse forced her to regenerate beyond what even her existence could endure."
Q shook his head.
"No."
"Her soul was imprisoned. Her memories were threatened. The dead she carried were turned against her."
Goro paused.
"Yesterday, I held her skeleton."
Q stopped breathing.
"What?"
"Her flesh was gone."
The commander's voice remained steady.
"Her organs. Her skin. Her muscles."
He lowered his gaze.
"Only her heart remained."
Q looked at Xheavend.
Her face had regained its shape.
Her hands were small.
Her chest moved beneath her clothing.
He could not imagine what Goro had described.
"You're lying."
Goro said nothing.
"You're lying."
"I wish I were."
Q staggered backward.
His knees struck the floor.
"Where was I?"
The words escaped before he could stop them.
"Where was I while she was suffering?"
Goro watched him.
"Q—"
"She's my Friend."
"I know."
"I was supposed to protect her."
Goro lowered his head.
"So was I."
Q looked up.
The serpent's expression had become terribly tired.
"I made that promise before she was born."
For a long moment, Q said nothing.
Then he looked at the enormous serpent.
"What promise?"
Goro's expression changed.
"A very old one."
"To whom?"
"Someone I once served."
Q frowned.
"Someone who knew Xheavend?"
Goro looked down at the unconscious girl.
"Someone who knew there would come a day when a child like her would need protecting."
He paused.
"And who trusted six foolish commanders to accomplish the task."
Q studied him.
"Six?"
"Indeed."
Goro's lips curved faintly.
"Although I seem to be the only one presently enjoying the privilege of being stabbed."
Q did not smile.
"You could have killed her."
"Yes."
The answer came without hesitation.
Q stared.
Goro continued.
"I could have ended this battle many times."
"Then why didn't you?"
"Because ending the battle and saving Xheavend were not the same thing."
Q looked toward the girl.
Goro's voice became quieter.
"The armies attacking me were not merely soldiers. They were the last remnants of civilizations that no longer exist. Their histories. Their names. Their memories."
He lowered his head.
"She was protecting them."
"Even while they were hurting her?"
"Especially then."
Q swallowed.
Goro continued.
"On the twenty-third day, I discovered what happened when my venom forced her power to adapt."
His expression darkened.
"She sacrificed memories to survive it."
"Memories?"
"Entire civilizations."
Q went still.
"People who had already died once were forgotten again. Their names, their families, their histories. Everything that remained of them."
Goro looked at his own damaged scales.
"That was when I understood what my strongest poison would cost her."
"Then you stopped using it?"
"Yes."
"Even though she kept attacking you?"
"Yes."
Q looked at the enormous wounds covering Goro's body.
"Thirty days."
Goro nodded.
"Thirty days."
"You could have ended your suffering."
"At the expense of hers."
The commander looked toward Xheavend.
"I made a promise that if she ever became lost, I would find her. If she forgot herself, I would remind her. And if the rest of existence decided she was too dangerous to survive..."
His remaining golden eyes opened.
"I would stand between her and those who came to destroy her."
Q stared at him.
"Even if she was the one trying to kill you?"
Goro gave a tired smile.
"That possibility was specifically discussed."
For a moment, Q almost laughed.
But his expression faltered.
"Why would you promise something like that?"
Goro remained silent.
Then he looked toward the ruined chamber.
"Because someone believed she deserved to be protected before she had ever done anything to earn it."
Q lowered his gaze.
Goro continued.
"And because I have already lost people I promised to protect."
The words were quiet.
But Q heard the grief beneath them.
For the first time, he considered that the commander's refusal to surrender Xheavend might not have come from arrogance.
It might have come from fear.
"You thought she would die if you let her go."
"I still think she might."
Q looked up sharply.
Goro did not soften the answer.
"My venom is suppressing the curse. Her body has survived things it should not have survived. I do not yet know what will happen when she awakens."
He looked at Q.
"That is why I would not move."
Q glanced at the wound he had inflicted.
"You let me stab you."
"An exceptionally unpleasant experience."
"You could have stopped me."
"Yes."
"Then why didn't you?"
Goro looked at Xheavend.
"Because she was behind me."
Q closed his eyes.
For several moments, neither spoke.
Then he lowered his head.
"I'm sorry."
Goro studied him.
"For the stabbing, I presume?"
"For not listening."
The commander's expression softened.
"Understandable."
"No. It wasn't."
Q looked toward Xheavend.
"She's my friend. I saw her lying there, and I thought..."
His voice broke.
"I thought I'd lost her."
Goro lowered his enormous head.
"So did I."
Q looked at him.
The commander continued.
"More times than I care to remember."
The two remained silent.
Between them, Xheavend breathed.
Q finally spoke.
"Then neither of us wants to lose her."
"No."
"Then we should be helping each other."
Goro regarded him.
"That would certainly be preferable to attempting to murder one another."
A faint smile crossed Q's face.
"Agreed."
For a long time, Q remained silent.
Then he slowly approached Goro.
The serpent watched him.
This time, Q summoned no weapon.
No Void.
He simply stopped beside the enormous coil.
"Thank you."
Goro blinked.
"Whatever for?"
"For not giving up on her."
Goro's expression softened.
"I never intended to."
A broken laugh escaped Q.
It disappeared almost immediately.
He looked toward Xheavend.
"Can I touch her?"
Goro studied him.
Then lowered his tail.
"Carefully."
Q approached Xheavend.
He knelt beside her.
His hand hovered above her face.
For one terrible moment, he was afraid to touch her.
Afraid she would break.
Afraid the fragile rhythm of her breathing would stop.
Then he gently brushed her hair away from her forehead.
"Hello, sweetheart."
His voice broke.
Xheavend did not respond.
Q took her hand.
It was warm.
He bowed his head.
"I'm here."
A tear fell onto her fingers.
"I'm sorry I wasn't."
Goro remained silent.
Q sat beside her for a long time.
Eventually, he looked up.
"Will she wake up?"
Goro did not answer immediately.
Then he lowered his head beside her.
"I intend to make certain of it."
Q closed his eyes.
"That's not an answer."
"No."
Goro watched her breathe.
"It isn't."
Q tightened his hold on Xheavend's hand.
"Then we'll find one."
Goro's golden eyes shifted toward him.
Q looked up.
"Together."
For a long moment, the commander said nothing.
Then his expression softened.
"Very well."
He settled beside them.
"But I must insist upon one condition."
Q frowned.
"What?"
"No more stabbing me while I am trying to save Xheavend."
Q stared.
Then a tired laugh escaped him.
"I'll try."
Goro sighed.
"How reassuring."
Neither smiled for very long.
Between them, Xheavend continued breathing.
And for that moment, it was enough.
The labyrinth repaired itself around them.
Slowly.
Reluctantly.
Walls rose from the ruins.
Broken bridges reformed.
The shattered floors returned.
The entrance to Yrtana remained buried.
Goro made certain of that.
No one would enter through it.
No one would disturb the child.
No one would reach her without passing through him.
And he had already demonstrated what that meant.
Two days later, Xheavend had not awakened.
Her body remained warm.
Her heart continued beating.
The black veins beneath her skin had begun fading.
But her eyes stayed closed.
Goro remained beside her.
He monitored her breathing.
Her pulse.
The movement of the curse.
The lingering venom.
He refused to leave.
Q visited.
He spoke to her.
Held her hand.
Told her about the people waiting for her.
She did not respond.
A week passed.
Then two.
Then a month.
Her injuries healed.
The marks of the battle disappeared.
Her hair grew.
Her breathing steadied.
But Xheavend did not open her eyes.
Goro watched over her through every passing day.
Sometimes he spoke.
Sometimes he read from the journals she had written.
Sometimes he simply sat beside her and listened to her heart.
He had heard that heartbeat through a skeleton.
Through a swarm of insects.
Through thirty days of impossible destruction.
He would not mistake its silence now.
Two Months After the Battle
The chamber was quiet.
Xheavend lay beneath a blanket.
Her face had regained its color.
Her body showed no outward sign of the violence it had endured.
She looked like an ordinary twelve-year-old girl sleeping after a long day.
Goro sat beside her in his humanoid form.
His waistcoat had been repaired.
His hair was neatly arranged.
The wounds across his body had finally closed.
He held one of her journals.
Its pages were filled with names.
Names of people who had died in worlds no one remembered.
Names she had refused to forget.
Goro turned a page.
Then another.
He stopped.
Something was wrong.
He recognized the entry before him.
A scholar from a civilization that had vanished beneath a dying star.
Xheavend had spent three evenings attempting to pronounce the scholar's name.
Goro remembered her frustration.
Her determination.
The little drawing she had made beside the name because she thought the scholar's ceremonial clothing looked ridiculous.
But the name was no longer there.
In its place stood a series of unfamiliar symbols.
Goro frowned.
"How peculiar."
He leaned closer.
The symbols shifted.
A curved line straightened.
Two characters joined.
A third divided into something resembling a constellation.
Goro's expression changed.
He had encountered languages from universes that no longer existed.
He had read inscriptions older than the Third Universe.
Yet he did not recognize this writing.
He touched the page.
The ink was dry.
Ordinary.
He turned backward.
Another name had changed.
Then another.
Goro slowly opened his twenty golden eyes.
The journal shimmered beneath his gaze.
No illusion.
No foreign spell.
No trace of Yzer's authority.
And yet the names continued changing.
"Little one?"
He looked toward Xheavend.
She remained unconscious.
Her breathing was steady.
Her expression peaceful.
Goro returned his attention to the journal.
A page turned by itself.
Then another.
It stopped at an entry he had never seen.
The handwriting was unmistakably Xheavend's.
The uneven letters.
The small illustrations.
The occasional word written larger than the others.
But the entry described a place she had never visited.
A city beneath an ocean of black glass.
A thousand towers suspended upside down.
People whose shadows moved independently of their bodies.
And a child standing beneath a sky filled with enormous, motionless eyes.
Goro examined the date.
His expression darkened.
The entry had been written three days ago.
While Xheavend was unconscious.
"Impossible."
He touched the writing.
The ink stained his fingertip.
Fresh.
Goro went still.
Then he heard something.
A whisper.
Faint.
Distant.
He raised his head.
The sound came again.
Not from the journal.
Not from the labyrinth.
From Xheavend.
He approached her bed.
Placed two fingers against her wrist.
Her pulse was steady.
Then he heard it.
Thump.
A whisper followed her heartbeat.
Remember.
Goro froze.
Another heartbeat.
Thump.
We were here.
Another.
Thump.
Do not forget us.
The voices multiplied.
Ten.
A hundred.
A thousand.
Languages that had disappeared before the Third Universe existed.
Songs without living singers.
Prayers to gods whose names had vanished.
Children calling for their parents.
Soldiers reciting the names of their fallen companions.
Scholars speaking of discoveries no surviving world remembered.
Goro listened.
These were not the armies.
They were not demanding obedience.
They were not issuing commands.
They were remembering.
Or trying to.
He lowered his head.
"Xheavend?"
No response.
Her heartbeat continued.
And beneath the voices, he heard something else.
A rhythm moving between the beats.
Not a second heart.
Something he could not identify.
Goro slowly straightened.
His gaze returned to the journal.
He remembered Day Twenty-Three.
The soldier who had forgotten his family.
The civilizations whose memories had been consumed when Xheavend's power adapted to his venom.
The terrible empty spaces left behind.
Those losses had been permanent.
He had seen them disappear.
And yet—
One of the unfamiliar symbols now resembled part of a name he remembered from that day.
Only part.
A few characters.
Not enough to prove anything.
Goro stared at it.
"Are you trying to remember them?"
The journal did not answer.
Neither did Xheavend.
Then the whispers stopped.
Her heartbeat returned to its ordinary rhythm.
The pages became still.
Goro waited.
Nothing happened.
He examined the journal once more.
Beneath the unfamiliar names, a sentence had appeared.
In Xheavend's handwriting.
If nobody remembers them, does that mean they were never here?
Goro stared.
He remembered that question.
She had asked it once after reading about a civilization that had vanished so completely that even its enemies had forgotten its existence.
He had promised to discuss it with her later.
There had always been another lesson.
Another problem.
Another battle.
Now she lay before him, unconscious, while her journal filled with names neither of them understood.
Goro slowly closed the book.
"No, little one."
His voice was quiet.
"They were here."
He placed the journal beside her bed.
"And so are you."
For several moments, he watched her.
He did not know whether the changing names were a sign of healing.
He did not know whether the dead were attempting to communicate.
He did not know whether something had awakened inside her inheritance.
And he did not know whether any of it was dangerous.
That uncertainty troubled him more than he cared to admit.
He had spent thirty days fighting enemies he could see.
Armies.
Curses.
A Fragment who believed himself untouchable.
But whatever was happening now—
It was happening somewhere he could not follow.
Not yet.
Goro looked toward the journal.
Its cover trembled.
A single page lifted.
Then settled.
He sighed.
"Whatever you are doing in there, little one..."
His expression softened.
"Please be careful."
The journal remained still.
Xheavend continued sleeping.
And Goro continued watching.
Goro reached over and adjusted her blanket.
"I'll be counting on you six."
He remembered the smile.
The trust.
The promise.
His twenty golden eyes briefly opened.
Then faded back to two.
"Well," he murmured, "I have never been particularly fond of breaking promises."
He settled into his chair.
The child slept.
The commander kept watch.
And after two months—
Xheavend still had not awakened.