"System!" I shouted into the white void, one hand still holding Liam's tightly. "Stop hiding!"

THUD

Adonis had fallen to the ground, released from my power that had bound him. He stood up shakily, wiping a small amount of blood from the corner of his mouth. "Where did you take me?" He demanded angrily. "Where is this place?"

"This?" I looked around with a slight smile. "This place is the End."

"The End?"

I thought for a moment. "Or perhaps the Beginning? It depends on your point of view, I suppose." I gestured around at the blank whiteness around us "This is the void between, outside of the lower and higher realms, outside of stories. There is nothing here... nothing except memories."

Liam stood protectively near me. "Where is the System?"

"It's here. It's watching. It just doesn't want to admit that it lost. It views me as weak, pointless..."

Blue flames streaked out from out of sight towards my head. Sensing the magical attack, I dodged and waved a hand, countering it with my own power.

"YOU MUST ACCEPT YOUR FATE" The bright blue words briefly appeared in the void, then disappeared just as fast, leaving nothing but an afterimage behind.

"BEL!" Liam had fallen when I dodged, and reached towards me, panicked.

"It's okay. That was just a test." With a grunt of pain, I stood back up again. "REALLY?" I spoke out again. "A sneak attack? Are you really that pathetic?" There was no answer, the System was hiding again.

"Hey!" Adonis had recovered from his shock, and resumed being a pest. "Bel! Tell me what's going on, now!"

I didn't even look in his direction. "No."

"What?! What do you mean, no?!"

"I mean: 'No'." Still looking for any trace of the System, I cast a sympathetic glance towards Liam. "Poor guy."

Liam caught on quick. "Don't worry, Bel, I'll help him!" He cleared his throat, turning towards the enraged hero. "'No' is an English word used to give a negative response. In this case, the word 'no' would indicate a refusal to your request for more information. Similar sounding words, such as 'know' with a 'k' can sometimes be confused depending on the context clues, but that word is generally used to indicate knowledge rather than refusal. So if she had said 'I know' instead..."

"SHUT UP!" Adonis screamed, swinging at fist at Liam, who let him punch him in the chest without any apparent pain. Adonis instead withdrew his hand with a screech, one of his fingers clearly bent at a weird angle.

"Your chest breaks fingers?" I asked with a raised brow.

Liam pulled his collar down, showing off a coat of black scales with a grin. "Dragon skin is tough. Also known as the 'idiot-tax'."

During this exchange, I continued searching with my power, trying to feel the system's presence. "Seems fair."

"Why is it hiding?" Liam asked quietly.

"It doesn't want to face the truth." At my answer, Adonis stopped groaning and looked insulted.

"Why do you answer HIS questions and not MINE?"

"Because he's my husband... and you're annoying." I turned to Liam. "Are you curious?"

Liam smiled at my question. "Very."

"Then I'll explain it to you as we go." I looked around again, sensing that the System had hid itself. "It's hiding within this space, and so I'll need to force it out. Since it wants to hide the truth, I'll show exactly that: the truth."

My power swept around us, filling everything.

"It all started here. In this void."

The world around us changed, showing infinite portals, each leading to a new world, glowing with various degrees of golden light.

"There are infinite stories, and therefore infinite lower realms. Some are stable, filled with energy... some are unstable, collapsing, draining energy from the realms around it." As I spoke, some of the weaker portals flickered and died. "Each time a world collapsed, the entirety of the lower realms was at risk, a collapse of a universe of worlds and people."

The golden light of the portals coalesced, forming a vague being of bright blue light. "The System came into being. It's exact origin is unclear. Was it created, another product of the authors or gods beyond our existence that write the stories? Was it just a random event, too much energy organizing into a sentient being?" I stepped closer to the glowing blue figure, staring up at it. "It's impossible to know. But I do know one thing:"

The figure peered into a portal as it flickered and disappeared. It stared at the empty space for a few moments before shrugging and moving on to the next. "The System isn't human. It has no understanding of human emotions, motivations, or relationships. It can read the stories, it can see the unfulfilled wishes of the author, but it cannot truly understand why some stories worked and others collapsed."

Adonis stared at the figure I showed them, a look of frustration and anger creeping across his face. Liam watched with curiosity. They both stayed silent, however, and the System stayed in hiding, so I continued the story.

"The system depends on the survival of the lower realms, but it could not figure out how to save the stories that were disappearing. So it looked for a human partner, someone who could help it figure out what to do."

The world around us changed again, and we were standing on a college campus. It was a bright sunny day, with students milling about, chatting, laughing, carrying books. We stood in the midst of everything, unseen by the people around us, unable to touch or affect anything we could see. Adonis, recognizing the area, turned pale, trembling as he stood rooted in place. "No." He whispered. "This is impossible. This isn't real."

I smiled at him, but it wasn't a pleasant expression. "Of course it isn't real. This is a memory of the System. No one can travel to this lower realm anymore. It's destroyed... thanks to you."

"NO."

As I searched the memory around us, I could sense the memory... and the System... nearby. "Let's go." I grabbed Liam's hand and ran forward, rushing through the crowds, following the lead that only I could feel. After a brief hesitation, Adonis ran after us.

"The system sensed that someone had broken free from the confines of a story." I spoke as we moved. All around us there were college students milling about, talking laughing with carefree attitudes. "What had been stable, had become broken, and it was all because of a single individual."

I pulled Liam to a stop in front of two people, studying both of the figures in the memory with interest.

One was a handsome young man with a playful grin and long hair pulled back with a cord. He was facing another young man, who looked extremely angry.

The other young man was Adonis.

As we looked back and forth between the Adonis in the memory and the one that had followed us through the void, the Adonis next to Liam and I stepped closer, staring at his doppelganger with a weary, contemptuous expression.

"She loves me!" The memory Adonis spoke out. "Stop getting in the way!"

"You know that isn't right, Adler." The young man answered with a sigh. "Just because you two grew up together, doesn't give you 'dibs' on her. You two are friends. Ara is my girlfriend."

Liam raised an eyebrow as we watched the scene around us play out. "Adler?"

"His real name." I glanced over at Adonis, who looked away. "He changed it to Adonis after he left this lower realm."

"He CHOSE Adonis?"

"He thought it sounded more heroic."

"Poor guy."

"Save your pity." I pointed back to the memory around us, where Adonis continued to argue with the other college student. Eventually, a young woman walked up, giving a hug to the other man and eyeing Adonis warily.

"Bel...?" Liam sounded concerned and confused, and I didn't' blame him.

After all, the woman looked just like me.

It wasn't exact. There was a bright cheery innocence that this girl carried around her. A naivete, as if she would believe whatever someone told her. Nice, but gullible. She very much lacked my distrustful glares and heavy sarcasm. But the face, body, hair.... All of the outer features were the same.

"It's not me." I reassured Liam, who watched the girl with my appearance kiss the college student with a low disgruntled growl. "It's Arabella. The heroine of this lower realm."

Adonis stared intently at the woman, obsession in his eyes. "MY heroine."

"Nope. Not yours. Because you weren't the hero of your story, were you, Adonis?"

The argument between the three in the memory grew heated. Adonis... Adler... tried to grab Arabella's hand, and she pulled away with a frustrated expression.

"You were the friend, the side character, the witness to the main romance of the story. But you were unwilling to play that role... to accept your fate."

"IT WAS NOT MY FATE!" Adonis reached out, but his hand passed through the memory of Arabella. "I WAS THE HERO! I WAS THE ONE SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO LOVE!"

The Adonis in the memory had gone quiet. He reached into his coat, and pulled out a long knife, lunging forward, stabbing the young man and woman in front of him. Only when they were still on the ground, their bodies soaking in the blood pooling beneath them did he seem to recognize what he had done. He fell to his knees, screaming, as the world around his began to distort.

"You broke the story, killed the hero and heroine... and this caught the attention of the System."

A glowing blue figure appeared in front of the blood-stained Adonis, words appearing around him.

"YOU HAVE THE POWER TO CHANGE THE STORY."

I looked down at the dead body on the ground with the same face as me, letting out a quiet sigh. "The two of them made a deal. Adonis would be pulled out of the lower realm, become a higher being. He would help the System in fixing the broken lower realms."

The Adonis in the memory considered for a brief moment, and nodded. As he and the System disappeared, the world they had left behind began to collapse.

"There's always a cost, though. If you take someone out of a lower realm... the realm is destroyed as a result." My eyes met Adonis' as he watched the memory of the deal he made with a dispassionate gaze. All the emotion that had boiled over at the sight of Arabella had faded, and there was nothing, not even remorse. "You knew you were destroying the world if you left. And you did it anyways."

"They did nothing for me." His voice was quiet, but vitriol in it was clear. "I should have been the hero of that world... they didn't deserve survival."

"Just like Arabella deserved death for not loving you?" At my question his eyes flickered, but he quickly regained calm. "She didn't die. After all, you're here, aren't you?"

"I'm not Arabella, Adonis. No matter the physical resemblance." I smiled. "I'm something much more..."

Another blast of blue flames again came towards me. I pushed back with my own power, defending myself. My magic swept through from the direction the blast had came from, trying to strike back, but it had already disappeared once again.

"Oh you didn't like that, did you? Are you mad enough to stop hiding, or should I keep talking?"

There was only silence in response. I chuckled grimly, continuing the story.

"Adonis was the one who thought of binding the lower realms to the higher realms. By having the heroes of the lower realms be connected to Adonis, by having him control them and their endings through these ties he called fate, he thought he could influence all of the stories at once, helping them reach a happy ending." I paused. "How funny that the man who was chosen because he broke free of his fate, chose to bind everyone else even tighter."

The portals showed up around us again, losing their glow and flickering out at a noticeable pace. "But it didn't work. The lower realms were failing faster than ever. You contaminated all of the heroes with a part of you, they took on a part of your personality, your obsessive desire with being the center of the universe."

I thought of all the heroes I had met in the lower realms, how they reacted with the story around them changed. Even kinder heroes like K'lliean in the elven world had shown signs... he almost cracked and tried to force me to be with him when he sensed me pulling away. They all had pieces of Adonis forced on them, tying them to an even worse fate then the broken stories once had.

"Out of desperation, Adonis suggested a new plan. It wasn't enough to have a prototype 'hero' to bind everyone to. They needed a new prototype, a second higher level being." I hesitated, seeing the realization and pain on Liam's face but forcing myself to continue. "They needed a villain."

The world around us changed again, and now we were in a beautiful green world with bright open skies. The System remained hidden, so I continued talking, hoping to goad it into showing itself once again.

"Adonis had always been a fan of fairy tales. Knights, princesses, and the evil monster that kidnapped her: the dragon."

Dragons flew overhead with roars that shook the earth below. The world was filled with the mighty creatures, flying, fighting, sleeping. Simply existing in this beautiful realm. And right next to us was a large silver dragon, patiently teaching a smaller black one.

Liam stepped closer, tears running down his face. "Grandfather." His hand passed through the larger form, his hand tightening into a fist.

"They searched though all of the lower realms with dragons, and within one found a young black coated dragon that they felt could be molded into what they needed." I continued to speak, watching Liam closely. "The System tried to offer a deal, promising power and domination over all the lower realms."

A blue figure pulled the small dragon away, obviously trying to convince it of something. The young dragon shook his head in response.

"But the dragon said no. He loved his world, his family. He didn't want to leave, no matter what was offered to him."

The dragon was enveloped in blue fiery light, disappearing with an inhuman screech of terror. The world around us, similar to Adonis' world before it, crumpled into itself, fading away into nothing.

My voice dropped to a whisper. "The price of removing someone from the lower realms is always the same, whether they want to leave or not. The young dragon's world... his family... was destroyed." I reached out and hugged Liam, who was wracked with silent sobs as he watched his home realm disappear.

"I'm sorry." I tightened my arms around him, feeling a deep pain within as he slowly composed himself. I was using this story to push the System, to make it angry enough to appear. But I had another motive as well. I wanted Liam to understand everything. To see this. He had the right to know the full truth.

The truth of what I was.

The picture around us faded, showing the young black dragon now in the Villain's realm, surrounded by forest. He looked around, obviously lost and confused. Words appeared in the sky before him.

YOU ARE THE VILLAIN.

The dragon shook his head no.

YOU MUST ACCEPT YOUR FATE.

A portal appeared and chains shot out, binding the dragon and dragging it into a lower realm. The sight was heartrendingly familiar, and I had to take a deep breath, steadying myself to continue.

"They tried to mold the dragon into the villain they needed. The plan was to force the dragon into multiple realms, placing him as the villain of the story. If he refused to play his part? The realm would be destroyed. The dragon was too kind hearted, and eventually became resigned to sacrificing himself, story after story, realm after realm. Saving the realms but losing himself. The system tied the dragon to the villains of the lower realms, in the bonds of fate, but if anything, that made things even worse."

The portals in the void reappeared, now most of them becoming unstable and flickering, even previously brightly glowing ones were slowly becoming dim.

"Your plans had brought this whole universe to the brink of destruction, and still Adonis refused to believe that his strategy was wrong. It's just that the prototype story... the higher realm story... was incomplete."

I turned towards Adonis, who was glaring at me with unbridled rage. "The knight, the dragon... and now you needed the princess. You were a hero missing your heroine. And so, you told the System to bring you your heroine."

"Don't..." Adonis finally spoke up again, but the word was forced out between clenched teeth.

"What? Don't tell the truth?" I shook my head. "It's not your secret to hide. It's my truth to tell."

"Stop!" He rushed forward, but my dark power wrapped around him again, holding him in place.

"Shush. I'm trying to explain my mysterious origins here." I sat him down on the ground with my magic, and turned to Liam. I felt nervous, a desperation welling up within me. I wondered as I started to speak again if this is how he felt when I found out he was a dragon. It turned out he didn't need to worry.

I wasn't human either.

"Adonis would only accept one heroine."

"Arabella." Liam added, watching me carefully.

"Exactly. But that left the system with a problem. Arabella was dead. Even if she survived the stabbing, the entire lower realm had been destroyed by bringing Adonis out. It tried to convince him, but he grew only more desperate. He couldn't accept the truth."

I paused, taking a deep breath. "So the system did the only thing it could: it tried to make a new Arabella."

"But that means..." Liam looked confused, but as realization started to dawn, I ran forward and tackled him.

"GET DOWN!"

The entire space imploded. There was nothing but blue fire, drowning everything. There was no noise, no heat. There was only magic destructive power. It lasted for what seemed like an eternity, and then slowly faded.

I lifted my head. An enormous being was wrapped around me, protecting me. Liam, who had shifted to his dragon form, continued to shield me, his dark blue eyes looking over me carefully, filled with concern, checking for injuries. I withdrew the magic I had used to protect us both, but I still saw a few burned spots in his scales here and there. Touching his scales with a regretful expression, I whispered. "Sorry."

I had been goading the system, waiting for it to make its move, but as I told Liam the truth, my attention had shifted for a short moment. And in that moment, the System who had been biding its time, made its move.

"As long as you are safe." Liam's reply made me smile. We stared at each other for a few moments, both happy the other was okay.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU DESTROY HIM?!" Adonis' voice destroyed the special moment. At least he's consistently annoying.

Liam rolled his eyes, the expression a bit strange on a dragon. "How did he survive the fire?" He asked me.

I thought it over, and winced. "My bad, my power was already wrapped around him to hold him down when the System attacked... I must have accidentally protected him."

"It's okay, we all make mistakes." Liam nodded solemnly and comforted me.

"Yeah, maybe next time he'll get burned to a crisp."

"You know... I am a dragon... I could help us achieve that goal."

"Tempting..." I started to respond, but Adonis started shouting again.

"System! Now's your chance! Destroy the monster!" He pointed at Liam, his face triumphant as he commanded him. "And then we can fix Arabella, and start over with a new villain. We will make the story right, correct everything that is wrong, and retie the strings of Fate to save the universe!"

"..." There was something new that had joined us in this space between realms. A vaguely human shaped being made of blue flames. As it spoke, its voice was neither young or old, soft or deep, it was deeply disturbingly inhuman. The words it spoke appeared in front of us, scrawled across the sky, a reminder of its power.

"YOU MUST ACCEPT YOUR FATE."

"System! Destroy it!" Adonis screamed impatiently.

"..." There was no response.

"It can't." I finally spoke up, calmly. "It doesn't want to risk attacking Liam anymore. It had its only chance with that sneak attack and it failed. Facing me head on... there's no way it can win easily."

"I don't understand. The System... it creates fate... it's a god!"

"You are the one that doesn't understand. I know what the System is, Adonis, much better than you do." I took a deep breath.

"After all... I'm a part of it."

In the silence that followed I heard the soft sound of Liam's sigh as understanding dawned. My heart beat nervously, but I continued to explain.

"The system couldn't resurrect Arabella, so it split off some of its own power, a new entity that remained only with a limited connection. It used Adonis' memories of Arabella as a template, but it could never be exact. From the moment of its creation, the created being would grow and change based on new experiences, meetings... to become something new, beyond the confines of what others wanted."

"YOU WERE AN ERROR." The system's inhuman voice was cold.

"I was the only effective thing you've ever done to save the lower realms." Was my even colder response.

"No... you're Arabella." Adonis was stuttering, staring at me with horror.

"You always knew I wasn't her, Adonis." I sighed. "The only thing I can thank you for was that when the system used your memories of a template, it used data, rather than your perception of her. Rather than a perfect heroine deeply in love with you, it created a young woman with a thirst for adventure and learning... and no romantic interest in you whatsoever."

The system stepped closer, and Liam's wings spread out widely, protectively.

"THE DEAL IS INVALID. YOU MUST ACCEPT YOUR FATE."

"The deal is already done, System. You lost." I waved my hand, and my power formed into the shape of a sword. It always was my preferred weapon. "If you won't concede that I won willingly... Then I'll make you by force."

As I circled closer, the System stood still, confident. "YOU CANNOT KILL ME. YOU ARE ME!"

I smiled. "That's where you're wrong."

My sword swung, and a limb fell to the ground, disintegrating into blue flame. I held my blade at its neck and it froze.

"I WAS you. But the deals we made changed everything."

The world around us changed again. The System buzzed with energy, trying to fight it, but I pushed through.

It was time to finish the story.

Liam continued to stand guard, watching Adonis and the System carefully. As my power took over, the world I was showing became clear:

It was me. I was in the villain world, laying on the ground pale and sweating. I was dying.

"After I was created, I only tried to save the lower realms one by one. I refused to listen to Adonis' plans. In his frustration, he tossed me into the villain realm to force me to submit. It was his way of continuing the prototype story. The dragon keeping the princess captive. But Adonis and the System didn't count on one thing:"

In the vision I showed, Liam in his human form knelt beside me, his expression despairing as he gently wiped the sweat from my forehead. I held his hand, my eyes focused on him and no one else. Adonis stood nearby, ignored by both of us in the memory, watching with a hateful, weary expression.

"I decided I would rather die in the villain realm, die by my husband's side, rather than submit to the horrible fate you and the System had devised."

The System in the memory appeared next to human Liam, pushing him aside, and approaching the dying Bel. Liam screamed with fear and rage, trying to return to his dragon form, but was frozen into place half-transformed.

"YOU CANNOT DIE." The system's inhuman voice was quiet, but deafening at the same time.

The memory Bel forced a smile. "Better dead and free than trapped by your chains."

"I CANNOT LET YOU DIE. IT WOULD DESTROY ME, DESTROY EVERYTHING. BUT YOU REFUSE TO LIVE... WE ARE AT AN IMPASSE."

"Then how about we make a wager?" The weakness in her voice couldn't hide the determination of her words.

I looked at the System, still held in place at the point of my sword. "So, we made a deal. I would travel the realms, save them, gather the energy from each of the recovered worlds."

In the memory, blocks of text appeared in front of the dying Bel. She read through the deal with a frown. I watched the vision, shaking my head in frustration.

"The stakes were clear. If I could save enough worlds... could build enough power, separate from the System, I would be able to break free from the ending of this prototype story. To write my own fate. But... if I failed even one... the System would take all the energy I gathered, and I would be forced to submit to the fate designed to me. To be a mindless, soulless heroine, playing her role and nothing else."

"Foolish." Adonis was standing, glaring at me with blood shot eyes. Liam growled in response, placing his enormous form between us, but Adonis ignored him, continuing to speak. "You just had to agree to be a heroine, and we could have saved everyone together. Instead, you risked everything, left an unstable universe to try to save it world by world."

"I chose to remain free. To not enslave these worlds to fate." The System sensed my distraction and tried to strike, and so I pressed my sword of magic forward, dripping flames from the cut in its shapeless neck.

"The deal was designed for me to fail." Again the picture around us changed. It was still me, but in many different forms. A student. An assassin. An elf. World after world, flipping faster and faster until it was a visual blur. "You chose miserable roles for me. I had no memories, no knowledge of the story except what was provided for me. I was alone... or I was supposed to be."

Another change. Now the System in the memory was talking with Liam. As he watched the memory, Liam beside me shook his head, as if trying to clear it.

"Liam had nothing the system wanted but his status as a villain. If I lost, he would play the perfect villain. No shortcuts, no mercy for the weak...become a puppet for the system. But the system wanted more."

Text appeared in front of Liam in the memory. As the nature of the deal became clear, the real Liam beside me let out a moan.

"A sacrifice." His voice was filled with pain, barely audible. "Every lower realm I had saved in the past by playing my role. How many worlds would that be? Countless lives. Innocents."

"The System would absorb them for energy if we lost."

"It asked for my soul. Saving those worlds by letting myself be defeated or killed in those realms was all that I could cling to when I was despairing. If I sacrificed them... " He paused, his dragon eyes showing despair. "It wouldn't have to brainwash me to become a villain. I would have already taken that step myself."

"Liam would be given the chance to follow me. His memories wiped each time. He would have no idea who I was or how to help me. He would as always be the villain in the story. A bad deal." The Liam in the memory agreed, and disappeared. " I glanced at Liam beside me. "But you took it anyways, desperate to help me, to stay by my side. Even though you would more likely end up a mindless, soulless slave."

"I would never abandon you, Bel. Not if there was any chance I could help you."

"You did." I reassured him. "I had nearly given into despair by the time you joined me. You gave me purpose, helped me forward. I would have been lost, along with everything else." I glanced over at Adonis who was shaking in rage.

"Adonis made a deal too, of course, but much different from ours. He wanted to follow, but wanted his memories, wanted to know the full story. The System only allowed him limited access, into a few worlds. It worried that if Adonis followed me everywhere I would be motivated to resist longer, as I had in the higher realms before."

Adonis in the memory accepted a deal, and disappeared as well. There was only the system left.

"You thought I would give up, or that I would fail to fix a world. I was supposed to accept my fate. Instead, I refused. I resisted. I fixed every single world I went to. I won. Which brought us back to the higher realm."

"NO." The system beside me pushed back with all of its power, erasing the memory I had shown around us. I tried my best to shield Liam and I, but as I concentrated on my own dark magic, I heard someone running up behind me.

"You ruined everything!" Adonis had a knife, trying to slash at my back as he drew closer. The System kept attacking, forcing all of my attention on it. I was helpless to stop the attack from the hero.

Fortunately I wasn't alone.

A dragon tail swung out, knocking Adonis a fair distance where he fell to the ground with a crunch. He lay still, his hand grabbing at the hilt of his knife where it protruded from his side after he landed on it.

"How...?" He touched the blood spilling from the wound, shocked.

"You brought it on yourself." Liam growled. "Also, why is your only response to rejection stabbing? You seriously need better coping mechanisms."

I laughed, but couldn't lose focus on the battle at hand. I turned to the system, who had stopped attacking "Now that this story is done, all bets are complete." I waved a hand, a wave of dark power covering the void around us.

Liam's eyes blinked, and then cleared, a sense of timelessness within them. He rubbed his head against me. "Bel. You did it."

I smiled. "Thanks to you."

Adonis had changed as well. His face was pale, then red with anger, then pale again as he continued to lose blood from his side. "You cheated, System! You promised I would keep my memories! How did..."

"It wasn't the system, Adonis." I interrupted. "This last story, us repeating the Higher Realm... it was me. I gained power because I wanted a different ending to OUR story, and this is the ending I chose. Not one with me dying in the villain realm, with Liam and I accepting a terrible deal in a desperate attempt to save one another. A better ending."

Adonis struggled to his feet, sneering. "So what? THIS is it? Your so-called happy ending? You become a villainess instead of a heroine and get to stay in the villain realm with that monster? Big deal." He spat on the ground, the spit mixed with blood from the wounds on his mouth. "The System and I will find a real heroine. Not a FAKE one like you. We'll restart the story, and fate will save us all, with the villain and villainess being destroyed!"

I laughed. A true, villainess cackle. It echoed in the vast emptiness of the Void, seeming to go on for ages.

"Why are you laughing?"

"Who told you my goal was to be the villainess?"

The System began flickering, like a candle going out.

"YOU MUST ACCEPT..."

"My goal was to be the new System." I swung the sword in my hand, and the already fading system fell to pieces. "To destroy fate itself."

The last of the blue flames fizzled out with a soft sound. If an inhuman machine-like existence could sigh with relief, I would have sworn that is what I heard. The System was gone.

There was only me left.

Adonis screamed at my actions. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"

"I gained enough power in my travels to be fully independent of the System. That is why it feared me. Why it tried to destroy me in the end. But now its gone. As is your foolish fate."

"Every realm will be destroyed! Without a prototype... without a guide... all of those worlds will be lost!"

"No Adonis." I stepped closer to him, and he shuddered in fear at the power I wielded, moving backwards. "Those worlds will be free. Some strong, some broken and needing help. But I'd rather spend the rest of my existence helping worlds one by one then ever attempting what you and the System tried to do."

"It's impossible to save them all!" He hissed, his voice cracking with pain and terror.

"Doesn't mean I won't keep trying." I shrugged, looking over at Liam. "I hope you don't mind, dear. He's not wrong when he says it's an impossible task."

"Traveling with you to different realms for all eternity? How horrible for me." Liam laughed. "Now there's fate I can get behind."

I turned back to Adonis. "You see... he's fine with it."

"I'll have to make a sling to carry future eggs if we're always going to be traveling..." Liam muttered to himself. I ignored him, continuing to stare at the former hero.

"So what now, Bel?" He scowled. "Are you going to kill me? Torture me? Your villainous plans don't scare me!"

"I don't have to do any of that, Adonis... or should I say Adler?" A villain laugh sounded out again. "You have much to answer for: How many have you killed in your quest to be a 'hero'? How many have lives have you destroyed in your desire to impose fate on the lower realms?" He shook his head, trying to deny my words, but it was too late.

"Killing you? No. I have a much better 'fate' in store for you:" Reaching out, my dark power curled around him, healing his wound from his side and lifting him up in the air

"You will be banished to a lower realm. To live out your days as an insignificant side character."

His eyes widened with shock. "NO! YOU CAN'T!!!"

"By day, you will remember nothing... but every night, your memories of the higher realms will be returned to you, just enough so you can always live in regret for what you have done."

"NO!"

I looked at the man I had once thought of as a friend.

"You always told me to accept my fate. Well now, you must accept YOUR fate, Adonis. Goodbye." My power covered him, and he disappeared, forever.

Only Liam and I were left.

"Soo..." I looked up at the dragon. "No issues with me being a multidimensional being, whose origin comes from a homicidal fate-obsessed system?"

Liam's serpentine face grinned, and with a brief covering of smoke he turned back into a human. "No problems here!" He reached out and hugged me. "So what now? We travel the lower realms? Save worlds?"

"Yeah, but Liam..."

"So many different weddings to plan..." He rested his chin on the top of my head. "I wonder if we can visit old worlds? I'd love to let the Blood Wolves celebrate with us."

"I think that could be arranged... Liam..."

"Yes, Bel." his deep blue eyes shining with joy as they met my own.

"Can you put on clothes, first?"

He looked down at his naked human form, and then back up at me, hugging me tighter. "Sorry, I don't have extra clothes in the void."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Where did my shy and modest dragon go?"

"He remembers at least four different weddings we've had in different worlds." His smile widened. "Now that we're finally alone, no spying system, or stalking heroes... I feel like we have very important things to discuss."

I raised an eyebrow. "Like dragon eggs?"

"Bel!" He gave me a fake shocked expression. "I was going to discuss the weather! But now that you've brought it up..."

I laughed again at the evil villain dragon. The villainous minion. The support spouse. My husband the dragon.

"Sure, Liam. Then when we're ready... we'll go travel the realms. Visit some old friends. Save some worlds."

No more heroes.

No more villains.

No more Fate.

Just us.

________________________________

In a lower realm...

"Are you ready?" Adam, his tall form dressed up in a fancy suit, held out a hand towards me. He didn't look too different to how he had seemed in high school, his features more mature, his eyes wiser. The look of brotherly affection hadn't changed at all, however.

"Of course!" I grinned and took his hand, looking at his face. "Are you crying?"

"What? No!" He wiped his eyes quickly. "Just shocked at how much my little sister has grown up! Seems like yesterday you were a goofy highschooler chasing that bozo Jake around."

"You grew up too." I smiled. "When is Jessica due?"

His expression grew soft. "Just 2 more months. I told her she should take time off, but she likes running the café. Says people watching is her pleasure in life." He glanced back at me. "Speaking of which, are they going to hire a substitute to teach calculus while you're gone?"

"They're going to have to. I'm not spending my honeymoon teaching math, that's for sure."

"I can't believe you became a teacher... and a calculus teacher of all things... I thought you hated it."

"I'm somewhat of an expert on the topic. Plus, I feel the need to spread the... joy... of learning calculus to others."

"I feel sorry for your students." he shuddered. "At least you don't spray them."

"Nope, that's only for brother behavior modification." I laughed out loud, and Adam shook his head at my signature villainess sound.

"Good thing Liam likes your craziness."

I shrugged. "He wouldn't have me be any other way."

We walked forward, stepping up to the beginning of the aisle. I grabbed the white skirt of my wedding gown in one hand, holding Adam's hand with my other, as the wedding march played.

At the front of the church, Liam, dressed in a suit and looking slightly nervous waited. As I moved towards him, our eyes met. His dark blue eyes, the same in every world, lit up with joy, despite the countless weddings we've had before.

Different realms. Different bodies. The same souls. The same love.

Well... not everything was the same.

Wait until he finds out about my surprise. I laughed silently. The egg sling is finally going to be of use.

I took Liam's outstretched hand, and we spoke our vows once more, surrounded by our friends and family of this realm.

Promising to stay by each other's side.

Forever.