Xanthy opened her eyes due to the light shining through the ceiling. Initially, she thought that she somehow fell asleep while she was talking to the being and that the light was from the Arbotro. Then, as she wrenched her eyelids open, she realized that one—she was lying down and two—she was inside a tent.

She stared up at the flaps swaying with the wind. Has everything just been a bad, bad dream? It couldn't be. She wiggled her toes and realized she had no shoes on. She brought her hands to her face and flexed her fingers. Her body was covered with a loose smock and some stuff underneath. There was also a slight stiffness on her hips as if she has been in this position for long.

Then, like a balloon being slowly filled with air, her memories of the recent events flowed back to her head. She was here and not in the Realm of the Lost. She was back on the island. Someone gave up their soul for her.

Xanthy groaned, covering her face with her hands as she wondered who in hell would have done that for her. The fact that she couldn't remember much about getting out of the Realm of the Lost and entering this world ate away at her mind. There's only a blank gap in her memory. Why did she feel so tired?

"Thank the gods you're awake," a familiar voice made her slide her hands away from her eyes. Slowly, she turned her head to its source. Her heartbeat halted.

There was June, sitting on the floor, cross-legged, looking at her with no sickness anywhere on him. Despite the fading bruise on his jaw and his arm on a sling, he looked fine. She missed that glow on his skin and the smile on his face.

"I'm awake," she said, her voice sounding weird in her ears. Perhaps, she spent too much time inside the Realm that she had to get used to the sound of her voice in this world. "How long was I gone?"

June scooted closer to her. Apparently, she was laid on a long fabric that didn't even aim to hide the hardness of the earth underneath her. So that's why her hips hurt. How long had she been lying here? "That doesn't matter, doesn't it?" June said softly, tearing her attention back to him. "What matters is that you're alive."

Xanthy raised her hands to examine it. "I'm alive," she whispered to no one. She was here. That didn't necessarily mean she was alive. She faced June. "Who did it?" she asked.

Confusion marred June's features. "Did what?"

Xanthy dropped her hands to her sides and turned her head towards June. He was looking at her like she was speaking the Ancient language. "The trade," Xanthy said. "Who sacrificed their soul to the chalice?"

June's face darkened. Xanthy prayed to all the gods that it wasn't the person she was thinking of. "Ravalee," June said. "Ravalee did it."

Xanthy sat up so suddenly her head swirled with air. She clutched her head and June was there, chiding her for moving around too much. It was sort of sweet if only there wasn't that thing in her heart telling her that they still needed to talk about something.

Besides, that wasn't the point. She sat up because her suspicion had been right and it was really Ravalee who chose to throw away her life for Xanthy. What about Cyrdel? There's no way Cyrdel would allow it. Why and how?

June shook his head upon seeing Xanthy pondering things. "You don't have to think about these things yet, Xanthy," he laid a hand on her shoulder. The warmth of it was enough to bring tears to her eyes after a countless amount of time in the cold. "You should rest."

Xanthy stared at June, though. "We both know that rest is the last thing on my mind right now," she said. She had to do something about the things that happened with her gone.

"That's just it, Xanthy," June exhaled through his nose. "You don't have to fix everything because you're the Virtakios."

Xanthy snorted. "My job is to fix things."

"Well, you shouldn't be doing your job right now," June clicked his tongue. "Seriously, you should rest."

Xanthy frowned. "I have to go and talk to Cyrdel," she braced her weight in preparation to haul herself up. "He must have been devastated. I should go and apologize."

June stopped Xanthy by her shoulders. "He doesn't remember."

Xanthy froze. "What?"

"He doesn't remember," June repeated. "Ravalee made him forget. I recently just found out when I noticed that he's acting weirdly for someone who has just lost someone as significant as Ravalee was to him."

Xanthy sagged. Gods. Ravalee had given up so much for Xanthy to be here. Why...

Why did people need to be hurt, to sacrifice something? Why did they have to die because and for her? It's the same question she had been asking since the day she realized who the world saw her as. It's the question that made her trade her soul to the chalice, that unwittingly circled back to her after everything.

The thing was that she still didn't know the answer and hasn't come close to finding it. She didn't think she'd ever be. She didn't realize that she had rested her head on June's shoulder like all the times they did back in the Temple of Souls. Those were the most blissful weeks of her life—just her and June without worlds or souls to worry about. She didn't realize how much she wished for that to happen again and for that to be the only thing that happened between them.

June's arm circled around her shoulders as he sat beside her to further accommodate her. She pressed her cheek to his chest and closed her eyes as she listened to his heartbeat. It had been so long since she last heard it this loud. "What really happened when I was gone?" she asked. "Why did you need to bring me back?"

June told her. She was grateful for June's warm embrace as she slowly got the full picture of what happened. There were many times where she just wanted to sob just because they have to experience what they just went through.

Kymalin, Marin, and April pursued June and almost succeeded in killing him when Cyrdel and Ravalee rescued him. Then, they went to the Ice Capital to seek shelter. Cardovia and Synketros teamed up to stage an attack against the underground city. With the use of weapons that none of them had ever seen before, Cardovia and Synketros succeeded in driving the ice sprites into near defeat. That's why they had no choice but to revive her.

In order to fight off the people that have the tendency to enslave their race and capture their territory, they had to bring the Virtakios back. At what cost?

June finished his story and drew away to look at her face. "None of this is your fault," he said when he saw Xanthy's expression. "Stop thinking that it ever was."

"But it kind of is," Xanthy looked away from his kind dark eyes. Nowhere in those lay the assassin she knew him to have been. "If I didn't exist, we wouldn't be in this mess."

June slid his hand to cup her cheek. The gesture shocked the breathing heavens out of Xanthy and it had taken all of her control to avoid slapping his hand away. Her heart thundered in her ears as June smiled down at her with their face merely inches apart.

"If you didn't exist," June's voice was the very one he used whenever he was feeling poetic and inspirational. "The Heiress and the Sovereign would just find other ways to fulfill their goals. If you didn't exist, perhaps all of us would probably be enslaved, captured, or dead already."

Realization flashed across June's face. "That's what Airese told me back at the Ice Capital. You've done something good even though things have turned out this way. You've saved us."

"But I destroyed the Ice Capital. I let Erin kill Jarvik. I drove Marin to Cardovia because of that. I let the pixies down. I almost got you killed because of that damn destiny of yours. I let Nyxis fall against the Heiress," Everything poured off her in a gushing torrent that she had to look away again. "All of those happened because of who I am, of what I am."

"But I'm here, right?" June brushed a thumb over her cheek. "We are all here, Xanthy. All of the things that happened are the result of a lot of choices that happened. Not all of them are yours nor should you blame yourself for things that you have no control on."

Xanthy didn't speak. She wished with all her heart she could believe what June was saying. Her heart told her to but her mind refused to accept it. "Besides," June drew her closer to plant a kiss on her scalp. "If you didn't exist, then I wouldn't be free from my curse."

"What do you mean?"

"The High Queen sent me on a quest to retrieve a certain person called the Virtakios," June explained. "To ensure that I wouldn't run or abandon the mission, she placed a curse upon me that would make me feel pain whenever I'm away from you."

Xanthy pursed her lips. That wasn't entirely his choice. He was...forced to do it. What Nevrin said to Xanthy rang true, after all.

"I've spent years looking for you, Xanthy," June continued. "I endured that pain for years until I crashed at your house after being spotted in one of the purges. Then I found you."

Xanthy remembered that day all too well. She had accused June of being a thief. Then, a purge caught up to her. Everything was history from there. "So that's why you insisted on staying with me," she whispered. "Even when I'm going to Alkara."

June hummed. "That and I found you adorable."

Blood rushed to Xanthy's face with a flush of heat. Calm. She must be calm. Despite their distance from each other. Certainly, despite June's warmth seeping into her skin. "Do you really mean it?" she asked.

"Mean what?"

"What you said that night in Diven," Xanthy's tongue didn't want to work. "That y-you..." she trailed off.

Liked me.

She didn't need to finish. June tilted her head using her chin so that she was staring up at the dark eyes that she had come to memorize. They were always the sweet shade of the moonless night sky. It was so rare Xanthy only ever saw it suspended in the eyes of the person looking at her right now.

June smiled softly, the one that always knocked her out of her senses. "There was a time that I doubted myself but now I'm certain," he leaned closer as if to kiss her. Instead, he just let his breath tickle her lips. "I love you, Xanthy. Always."

Xanthy opened her mouth then closed it again. Her mouth and her brain forgot all the words in the two languages she knew. Should she cry, laugh, or just stare? She did the latter.

June chuckled. "What? No answer for me?"

Xanthy smiled thinly. "When you saw me in the throne room," she began. "When you gazed at me as if you didn't know me, what went through your mind?"

"I never meant to betray you, Xanthy. But I need to sell it so that the High Queen wouldn't suspect that I was planning to free you that night," June said. "I didn't know that the High Queen was under the Heiress's influence all this time and was only looking for the Virtakios just to please Cardovia. It kind of threw my plan into a mess."

"So, all this time..." Xanthy murmured. "All this time you were thinking of a way to get all of us out?"

June slid his hand down her neck. "I'm so sorry if I made you feel bad. I'm so sorry for everything, Xanthy."

As an answer, Xanthy leaned forward and buried her face at the crook of his neck. This warmth...she missed this. It's all just endless cold in the Realm of the Lost. It was one of the things she hadn't accounted for when she thought of running away. She closed her eyes and didn't know how long they stayed like that.

"Shall I get Nyxis and your parents for you?" June asked after some time.

Xanthy's eyes flew open as she drew away from June. "Nyxis?" her forehead creased. "He's dead."

"Him?" June snorted. "He was very much alive when we met. Gave me this."

He tilted his head to give Xanthy the full view of the bruise by his cheek. It must have been days old when it had already turned yellow but that's one hell of a bruise. Nyxis did that? What for?

Xanthy nodded. "I need to know if he's okay."

June kissed her cheek lightly. "Got it."

He left, exiting the tent through a flap by the right corner from Xanthy. While she waited, she drew her knees to her forehead and lay like that for a while, breathing in and out. The air smelled different. It smelled of an ancient and sacred power. It smelled of...blood.

Not the ones that came from the residents of the island. It was from something that none of them knew of but was here, nonetheless. It was the smell of something that lay dormant on this island. Somewhere...

She shook her head. She must have been imagining things. After all, she must have fried half of her brain when she unleashed the full might of the Virtakios upon the plain. She still has to see how much damage she wreaked.

June was right. All of these things, no matter how dire they turned to be, were all brought about by each of their choices. People died for the things they believed in and it just happened to be her and the power inside her.

The people who have been with her, the people she considered her friends, and the people that became her enemy—all of them have something they wanted out of their life and somehow they saw her as a means to do it.

Ravalee. The half of her soul didn't sacrifice herself to the chalice just for Xanthy to slack off and waste this chance. Ravalee saw the state of the world and had been through so much. She must have wanted change. She must have wanted retribution for those who attacked her home, killed Cyrdel's parents, and stole their home from them.

Ravalee knew she couldn't do anything. She knew that she's powerless against someone like the Heiress, the Sovereign, and the organizations they led. She needed someone with the power to do so.

Ravalee, and everyone else on this island, needed the Virtakios.

They needed her.

So why in the world did she even run away?

The being's words flashed back at her mind. You have the power to shine, to protect, and to save. If only you can find something worth fighting for. Maybe this was it.

She has to fight for people who couldn't fight for themselves. For the races that were oppressed, imprisoned, and enslaved. She has to fight for the island because if she didn't, then who would?

For once, that didn't sound like a bad thing.

The tent flap opened once more and Xanthy's eyes widened as her heart skipped a beat. Before she knew it, she had stumbled off the fabric, picked herself up, and ran towards the last person she expected to see.

"Oh, gods," she threw her arms around Nyxis as tears escaped her eyes and streamed down her cheeks. His pained cry when the Heiress's unfinished spell hit him was still fresh in her ears. "You are alive! How could you be alive?" she murmured in her friend's ear. "Oh, gods."

"Nice to see you too, Xanthy," Nyxis chuckled, returning her embrace. It was as warm as ever. Nothing has changed. "How are you feeling?"

Xanthy pulled apart and she got the full view of Nyxis's face. Was that? "Do not worry about me," Xanthy said instead. "How are you? You just fell off a cliff, for the Queen's sake!"

Nyxis exhaled and rubbed the back of his neck. "Ah, that," he said. "I have a lot to tell you when we get the time. But for now, your parents are expecting you outside."

Xanthy blinked. Her...parents? She lowered her arms to her sides and June and Nyxis led her out of the tent. That's when she saw the extent of the damages caused by the Virtakios. The once-sprawling cities of Penleth were reduced to sloping piles of earth and rocks, the structures, trees, and everything that once stood on its surface now buried underneath.

She stood on a more prominent slope so she could see for miles and miles from all known directions, everything was the same brown horizon. There's no telling where Flaron and Diven once were and where one city started and where one ended. They're just...gone.

"A nice afternoon view, right?" Eldan's voice speared through Xanthy's head. She turned to find her father trudging towards her. Xanthy didn't care if she was still angry at him or if her friends were still watching, she went and threw her arms around him. It's about time.

"Careful, darling. Don't squeeze him too hard," Airese's voice flooded her ears. She turned just in time for her mother to join in on the hug. "Hi, Xanthy. It's so nice to meet you."

Xanthy withdrew and wiped the fresh tears that escaped. "Nice to meet you too...Mom," she said, the last word rolling off her tongue in a weird but welcome way. "I'm so sorry about Ravalee."

Airese's eyes misted. "I know," she brought up her sleeve to the sides of her eyes. "She chose to do it. The only thing I could do was to give her a comfortable farewell."

Xanthy exhaled. Ravalee's words flashed back into her mind. If you really wanted my life, then you could have it. Had Xanthy's words to Ravalee back then somehow made an impact on her final decision? Once again, Xanthy's heart turned heavy. This was why she mustn't waste this second chance given to her.

She stared at her parents who gave her a solemn nod, at Nyxis and June who stood behind her by the tent. The sun had begun to set over the slopes of rocks. She wasn't the one to blame for all this. It wasn't the Virtakios. It's the Heiress and the Sovereign who has the power to tear through the entire island just to get to the Arbotros's core.

Xanthy must do everything in her power to stop them.

She took her mother's hand and leaned against her father. Both smiled at her with something Xanthy couldn't explain shining in their eyes. She smiled back at them and turned back to the horizon where the Heiress and the Sovereign enjoyed their days. "Come on, then," Xanthy said, her voice different yet somehow the same. "We've got a war to win."