There was no time for their lives to flash before their own eyes. There was no time at all, like it had frozen over and this moment, this terrifying and awestruck moment, was all that was left of anything. This moment and nothing more.

Before Gwenda could come to terms with what appeared to be certain death, Kenta stepped in and worked his own magic. His quick thinking created a platform of rock, extending outward from their position on the mountain. It did not necessarily ease their fall, but it most definitely spared them for at least another moment longer.

Everyone gasped and reached for one another, helping to gather their bearings and hoping the fall had been the last of their worries. A blue flame swirled down toward them, guiding her host to recognize where he was and explain the unfortunate reality of what had just occurred prior.

While it seemed all were spared of serious injuries, the absence of one was too evidently clear to ignore.

"Calcifer." His name was a stain on Gwenda's tongue. She couldn't believe it; she'd lost him again. This wasn't the same as her walking away in anger or him running off in sacrifice. Perseus had done this. He'd snatched him, body and soul, without a single moment of hesitation. He swallowed him whole and forced some strange, new corruption onto Calcifer.

To look into his eyes and not see her beloved; to watch his sinister smile resemble that of her love's - it was beyond horrendous.

And none of it would have happened if not for one person.

"Markl!" Gwenda and Xarx shouted his name in an unplanned unison. She turned to them, watching as the boy sat crouched in the farthest corner in a fearful huddle against the rocky wall, the teacher in wild pursuit of his pupil, and the pigtailed witch in a hellbent rage toward them.

"You idiot child!" Noe's strategic style had lost all focus as she sent her magic forward in a rampage. At first, her spells were light and easy to defend against. Even Markl in his shaken state was alert enough to hold her back.

However, a witch with nothing left to lose but her own life was willing to go the distance for revenge.

She roiled spell after spell in violent pangs - rock and shadow and cosmic energy - and finally an electrical current. Her aim was chaotic, but Xarx was nimble and precise.

He assessed. He acted. And in a single instant, a quick change in fate, that current which would have pierced Markl's heart had instead done the damage to Xarx.

Kenta and Howl cast responsive spells to hold Noe in place, cursing themselves for reacting too late. A rock prison held her wrists to the ground and a shadow cloud blackened her eyesight from casting anything else at anyone else. She was no longer a threat.

And yet, the damage was already done.

Xarx knelt forcefully, a hand pressed firmly against the wound on his chest. The sparks, which all his life he'd felt in a systematic order coming from his own fingertips, spurred erratically within his own being. He knew what this feeling was without having ever felt it before. It was something, he thought, that everyone would understand when their time came. This was an end.

He didn't want to curse Noe. He didn't want to berate Markl. He didn't even want to take back his own choice.

Instead, he thought of Martha Hatter. She was right.

"Xarx." Markl caught him as he fell backward, hardly any strength left in his brittle bones. The tears spilled recklessly from the pupil onto the teacher. "Why would you do that?"

Xarx sucked in labored breaths, unsure which would be his last. But those little, insignificant breaths meant nothing to him now. He had done what he was always meant to do. He believed in Markl. Martha believed in him. And if this fate meant saving him, he would do the same in a heartbeat.

Markl was meant for greatness - if he only knew his potential.

As he opened his mouth to speak, the golden light in his eyes faded into a dark void, leaving him frozen in time - frozen forever in this one moment.

All eyes watched as the prestigious wizard took the fatal blow. They watched this hermit, a man so seemingly selfish and wrapped up in his own world, commit the most selfless act anyone could ever try to attempt. Like the blink of an eye or a flash of lightning, it happened faster than they could comprehend.

Most were still trying to come to terms with this new reality. Yet no one more than Markl.

Xarx is gone. Markl repeated that same line over and over and over again in his mind. He couldn't believe it. Not as Sophie rested his lifeless body in her lap, gently closing his eyes for his finality. Not as Gwenda shouted at him, reminding him of his faults that led up to this moment. Not as Noe fought tirelessly against the prisons that resisted her actions.

He couldn't believe that Xarx would think to sacrifice himself in this way.

Like a child, Markl curled his legs to his chest. He held them tightly as he shut his eyes, wishing it all would disappear. This horrible day - his birthday, nonetheless - he wished never existed. Why couldn't he go back to the days where making mistakes with magic didn't create permanent damage? Why couldn't he go back to the earliest parts of his life, those erased memories he could never find?

Why did he have to grow up this way?

Their voices echoed around him like the aftermath of an explosion. He was half present in the moment, half stuck in his own mind. He hardly noticed Sophie resting Xarx's body gently on the ground as she turned to Gwenda, disheveled and erratic, transferring her comfort to one who was still alive. He hardly saw Kenta and Howl pay a small tribute to their fallen comrade, their classmate, an atonement of utmost respect for someone they may have even considered friend.

The only ones he noticed staring at him were - oddly enough - Ben and Vega.

He remembered them from his initial departure. He remembered their little quirky shop in Kingsbury and the way they seemed to know so much about him and his plans. How strange that they would also be here on this day, this night, when all his questions were supposed to have answers.

Now, Markl felt more clueless and immature than ever.

"This is all my fault." he whispered.

"Damn right it is." Markl looked up. Gwenda, with her face red with sadness and fury, glared at him with a rage he had never seen her wear. "I warned you who Lily really was. I told you not to trust her, and you still did it anyway! Like a fucking child!"

"Gwenda-"

"No, Sophie." She swatted her hand away. "He is the very reason everything happened. He cast that spell and Calcifer and Xarx took the hit for him. And for what? What was it all for, Markl?"

"Gwenda, enough!" Sophie shouted. She held her wrists tightly in-between them, both their arms shaking. "It is perfectly fine to be upset, but do not take it out on him."

"She's right, though." Markl trembled his words. "I did everything. I'm the one to blame. I thought I was finding myself and as a result I caused you all so much pain. I can't go back and change the past, just as much as I can't see it. Everything I do is wrong."

Howl stood still. While he knew he could hold his grip on Noe's newfound prison even from afar, he worried taking a step too close to Markl might trigger something he wasn't ready for. He didn't expect the boy to attack him again, yet he feared something greater than combat.

Howl wasn't the best at expressing his thoughts and emotions; even with Sophie, he usually let action do the talking for him. When it came to Markl, however, this child he'd known since youth, he hadn't realized the lifechanging power of just being upfront and honest with him.

If anyone was to blame for this, Howl thought, Gwenda should have blamed him.

Sophie dropped to one knee, lifting Markl's chin upward. "You understand the decisions you made were wrong. You see the consequences of your own actions. You are not the only one who has learned from their mistakes, Markl. We all have - countless times over. But no matter how far you've fallen, you can always come back to who you truly are. I know it."

Markl shook his head, covering his ears and turning away from Sophie. "I almost killed Howl. Xarx is dead because of me and Calcifer... I can't come back from all of that."

Sophie tenderly pushed his hands down to his side, holding them softly in hers. "You have demons inside of you; that's no different than any of us. Everyone here, I guarantee they've lost count of the mistakes they've made in their lives. We all have our shortcomings, Markl. It's what you do afterward that defines who you are."

Kenta took a step forward. "Don't forget, kid, I worked for Suliman's army. At the time, I didn't know her plans, but I knew enough of her character to see that it was a bad choice. If I could go back and change anything, it would be that. But I can't; I just have to keep moving forward knowing what I know now."

Gwenda inhaled a long breath, slowly exhaling before speaking. "My past is nothing to be proud of, Markl. Nightmares haunt me every night because of what I've done or failed to do. Yet even with those moments that come to torment me, I know have a future I haven't screwed up yet. Sometimes, it's the only thing that Calcifer can use just to get me out of bed in the morning."

Markl shuddered in the wind, miserably failing to withhold tears. "I'm so sorry about Calcifer. I don't expect you to ever forgive me for this."

"We love you, Markl." Gwenda said, her voice firm and steadfast. "I'm sorry I yelled at you and said those terrible things. Of course, I'm angry and furious and just defeated right now, but nothing you do could make us feel differently. I know that if you knew what that spell would have done, you never would have cast it."

Markl turned to Ben and Vega, their watchful gaze having never left him. And yet, they remained stoic and silent. "Why aren't either of you saying anything?"

Vega gently nudged Ben from the tip of his staff. He stood straight and his voice resonated with deep concern. "My contract with you forbids me to steer you one way or the other. I must remain neutral. But it doesn't forbid others from finally telling you the truth of who you are."

"Contract?" Markl replied, taken aback. "What... what do you mean contract? I never signed anything in your shop that day."

Vega floated her blue flames closer to the boy, a soft sense of warmth comforting him. "You did make a contract with him, Markl. On this very night, twenty years ago, when Ben saved your life."

"Twenty years ago? The day I was born? You... you were both there?"

"Yes, Markl." Vega said. "You, like many other stars that night, fell to your death. It was Ben who spared you of that fate."

Markl creased his eyebrows at first, unsure what she meant. Usually, fire demons spoke in riddles or rhymes to get their point across. This time, however, she was speaking plainly and objectively. He widened his eyes upon realization. "No..."

"You are, in every essence, a star like me, Calcifer, and even Perseus." Vega continued. "That's why you were able to instinctually cast the transformation curse we created. At the time, we three were selfish stars hoping for a scapegoat when our time came to an end and we would fall from the sky. However, we needed a star to grant their power so that we might enact our own wishes. That's why he used you, Markl. No star with full recollection of their time in the sky would ever dare cast our curse. He needed one who never even knew they were a star."

Markl's body shook - out of fear or confirmation or just plain shock, he did not know. All he did know was that Vega was not a deceptive creature. Perseus, however, had every reason to deceive him.

"He lied to me," Markl whispered, "Perseus lied." He had created this fabrication to cover up his own history. He needed him to believe that Howl was, and forever would be, the definition of his enemy so his true enemy could work quietly in the shadows of his own hearth.

Perseus took advantage of his desperation, and cultivated his own scheme in a matter of simple words.

Vega sighed. "Perseus has a knack for being quite dishonest."

Markl turned to Howl. "Yeah, well, so were many other people in my life. I guess I got used to it."

Howl met his gaze. Pain, sorrow, anger, desperation - whatever he saw in the boy was enough to push him to finally share his peace with him. "You're right. You're absolutely right, Markl. Over and over again, I lied to you. And you knew from a pretty young age I was prone to hiding the truth and using lies and disguise to get my way. It's all I ever knew, but you never deserved that. Not from me. Not from anyone."

Markl scowled at him. Not the same as before, hellbent on destroying him to ruins, but still enough to show his dissatisfaction with this response. Howl cleared his throat. "But I want to hear from you. I want to hear what you have to say."

Markl scoffed as he stood tall. "Oh, so now that the world has gone to shit, now you actually want to listen to me?"

"Markl-"

"You know what I've been waiting to say? What I've waited my whole life to finally get off my chest? I finally work up the courage to ask, and you toss me aside like garbage. You hardly acknowledged my questions or why I ever had them in the first place."

"I know, Markl, I-"

"No, you don't know!" Markl interrupted. "You don't get it. You have a family in Wales. You have parents and a sister and her kids. I had no one I was related to, no bloodline or family to call my own. And you shot down every chance I had to learn the truth until I learned some made-up version from someone who just wanted to abuse me."

Markl extended his arm toward Sophie. "I miss the family I thought I had. I miss the days when I wasn't afraid of anything, when being tossed aside hadn't even crossed my mind. We were fine until Morgan was born. And I'm not saying I don't want him around because I love the kid, but everything changed when you got your own son. You can't pretend that you were a different father to him than you were for me."

Markl sucked in a few breaths, waiting for Howl to interrupt or defend himself or weasel in some comment of justification as he had done countless times before. Instead, to Markl's surprise, Howl stayed silent. He nodded, as if waiting for Markl to continue.

"For the last seven years, it has been hell to live with you." he continued, pressing a palm against Howl's chest periodically amidst speaking. "I tried having my guard up to protect myself from the inevitable, but all I wanted was to be part of a family and you put a divide between us. You made it so obvious to everyone but yourself. I hate you. I hate you, Howl. I hate you and I hate-"

Before Markl could finish, Howl grabbed his shirt and forced him into an embrace. Markl tried to fight it, but Howl held onto him as if he would disappear if he released him. He couldn't live with himself if he let the boy go now. "Let it out, kid. Let it all out."

"I just wanted to know who I was." Markl whimpered into Howl's shoulder, his voice pained and muffled. "What I was. And you took that away from me. You hurt me and ruined my life. Why?"

Howl's voice shook with overwhelming grief and remorse. "You deserved the truth and I failed you. I know I can't reverse the pain I've caused you. My intention was never to hurt you. I was selfish to think if you didn't know who Ben was to you, then maybe my own past wouldn't have caught up to me."

He held Markl out, still clinging to the boy who may have fallen if he wasn't there to keep him steady. Markl looked up, eyes welled with tears and lips quivering. Howl held him firmly. "But I promise you, I never knew all that you were. And what you are is truly spectacular."

Markl breathed in shaky breaths. So much information in such a short span of time, and yet it was all he wanted for so long. He held the truth of his past; he knew the workings of his creation. While they were nowhere near his expectation or his idea of reality, he could not change what he was.

A fallen star. Like Calcifer. Like Vega.

Like Perseus.

He looked up to the sky. The clouds, while covering the sight of his now known brothers and sisters, did not shield the triumph Perseus flaunted on the peak of Seren Saethu. Bolts of green blasted in a crazy symphony all around the atmosphere. In the guise of his friend, Perseus aimed to take the sky.

"It's your choice, Markl." Ben said. "Tonight marks the course you take for yourself."

Markl shook his head. "It won't end with Perseus on top. I will make sure of that."

A crumble in their platform sent everyone fleeing for solid ground, however the only rock that disintegrated was that of Noe's pseudo prison. Her hand reached quickly for her disheveled broomstick, and she aimed her spellcasting at her enemies. "That's nice and all, but you won't get that chance. I have a traitor to murder."

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He had lived a thousand years and then some. He spent his days in freedom and power, untroubled by the finality of his own life. Centuries, a millennium away - he had nothing to worry about until that fateful day.

He had his second chance at life - he could at least thank Noe for that much. Yet now, at the closest point on Earth to the stars above, he was going to have much more than a second chance.

He would be infinite.

"Well, old man." Perseus chuckled, absorbing every moment possible in his former comrade's human form. "It's just you and me and the stars tonight."

He knew the human body would be different, something he would adjust to over time, but this felt so wonderfully foreign to him. He understood why humans felt like they had all the power in the world. The only real difference was that very soon, he truly would.

He cast another smoky, green flame out from the palm of his hand - his hand - when the light jolted sporadically and poofed into nothing. Perseus creased his eyebrows. He wasn't surprised by this, but rather that in such a short time, the old sap was able to hold some restraint against him.

How amusing, Perseus thought to not only himself, that you think you could overpower me even now.

His leg extended forward in a cybernated movement, almost robotic in motion. Perseus held his knee abruptly to keep it steady, cursing the pesky irritant who lay impatient within. From the depths of his inner being, a silent yet present soul refused to lay waiting.

Calcifer had enough life in him to fight back, but only slightly.

"Look at you, old Cal." Perseus laughed, taking over his physical movements once again. "Still fighting even to the last minute."

Calcifer tried hijacking his footwork again, but Perseus had caught on quickly to the feeling. He pushed in the opposite direction, keeping his stance steady and firm. No matter what Calcifer tried to puppeteer, Perseus immediately strategized against him.

He straightened his coat with a sigh of victory. "Hope it's all right if it's not just your body I take. That girl is something else, isn't she?"

A burning feeling boiled inside, like the essence of rage unleashed within himself. It wasn't easy to simmer the poor sap down, especially amping him up the way he had, but Perseus was the primary soul in this body.

What he wanted, he did. What he chose became the result. And Calcifer's pathetic attempts at recovering what he lost was futile in the end.

"You can fight all you want, buddy oh pal, but the stars are out of time." Perseus said. "Once they're mine, so is this soon-to-be infinite body. Permanently."

Perseus glanced at the shimmers above, basking in their beauty and all that they had to offer. Their fading lights didn't need to be wasted in death. They could experience a rebirth within him, a fresh beginning like he and Calcifer and Vega had after their first deaths. They didn't need to die in vain when they could be used for eternal glory.

They would become the very definition of immortality - and he was to be their divinity.