Ethan, You are no longer mortal.

The battlefield lay in ruins.

The sky had sealed itself, the rift above them no longer bleeding darkness into the world. The Hollow King's forces had been vanquished, their master erased from existence by the very man she sought to control.

But in the stillness that followed—there was no peace.

Anna sat on the cold, cracked earth, her body barely holding together. She had survived.

Victoria had not.

And Ethan—Ethan had become something else entirely.

She forced herself to look up at him.

He stood at the center of the devastation, his form still humanoid, but his presence—his very existence—was something beyond anything she had ever encountered.

His black eyes burned with an intensity that wasn't human.

Wasn't mortal.

Anna's breath caught. She had saved him from Victoria. But had she lost him in the process?

The Silence Before the Storm

Ethan hadn't moved since Victoria disappeared.

He stood motionless, his head tilted slightly, as if listening to something Anna couldn't hear.

The air around him felt wrong—too still, too charged with power, as though the world itself was holding its breath.

Anna tried to push herself up, ignoring the sharp pain in her ribs. "Ethan."

He didn't respond.

Her fingers curled into the dirt. "Ethan!"

Finally—he turned.

And the moment his eyes met hers, she knew.

He was not the man she had fought beside.

Not anymore.

The Breaking Point

Ethan tilted his head, considering her. His gaze wasn't cold—it was detached.

Like she was something distant.

Something he had once known, but no longer felt bound to.

Anna's stomach twisted. "Talk to me," she said quietly.

Ethan exhaled.

And for a fleeting moment—he hesitated.

But then, slowly, he raised his hand.

Anna's entire body went rigid.

The air shifted.

And then—

Reality bent.

Not just the ground beneath them. Not just the sky.

Everything.

The space between them rippled, the very laws of existence warping beneath his touch. The trees bent, shadows flickered where there were none.

Anna's heartbeat pounded in her ears.

"Ethan," she said, forcing herself to stay still, to not run.

"You're breaking the world."

Ethan blinked. His fingers curled slightly—and the world bent further.

Then, as if realizing what he was doing, he exhaled sharply and withdrew his hand.

Everything snapped back into place.

Anna's chest heaved.

This was bad.

Very, very bad.

Ethan wasn't losing control.

That would have been easier.

He had control.

Too much of it.

And he didn't seem to care.

What Comes After Victory?

Ethan's voice was quiet when he finally spoke. "The war is over."

Anna swallowed hard. "Yeah. We won."

Ethan considered that for a long moment.

Then he asked, "Did we?"

Anna's breath caught.

Something about the way he said it—the calmness in his tone, the weight of his words—unnerved her.

Ethan had always been a fighter. A survivor.

Someone who pushed forward, who clung to purpose.

But now?

Now he sounded untethered.

Like he didn't belong here anymore.

Like he wasn't even sure he wanted to.

Anna clenched her fists. "Ethan, listen to me. You're still here. You're still you."

Ethan's gaze flickered, unreadable.

"I'm not sure that's true," he murmured.

Anna's heart lurched.

"No," she said, stepping forward. "You don't get to say that. You don't get to just—just walk away from this. From me."

Ethan studied her.

And then, for the first time since Victoria's death—

He smiled.

Not the sharp, knowing smile he had worn when battling her.

Not the amused smirk of a man playing a dangerous game.

A soft, almost sad smile.

"You were always the one person I couldn't lie to," he said.

Anna's breath hitched.

Then—Ethan turned away.

And the world split open.

The Choice That Will Define Everything

A new rift appeared before him—not like Victoria's, not dark and filled with corruption.

This one was different.

It was pure. Infinite.

A door to something beyond.

Something not of this world.

Anna moved.

She grabbed his wrist before he could take another step. "Ethan—"

He looked down at her hand.

Then at her.

"You don't belong here anymore," she whispered, voice shaking.

Ethan's jaw tightened. "I know."

A long silence stretched between them.

Then, finally, he spoke.

"Come with me."

Anna's heart stopped.

She had spent so long fighting for him. Fighting for this world.

And now—

Now he was asking her to leave it behind.

To follow him into the unknown.

She stared at him, torn between everything she had ever believed and the one person she had never been able to let go of.

"Ethan," she whispered. "I—"

And then—

The rift pulsed.

Time was running out.