Number one

I hold Nadia and Laila tight in my arms, feeling their trembling bodies. Even though worry gnaws at me, I can’t stop my heart from swelling with emotion—Nadia just called me ‘papa’.

«You’ve been very brave. I’m proud of you.» I murmur with a soft smile. She lays a hand on my chest, healing my wounds. «Don’t heal them completely; leave the scars.»

«Why?» she asks, puzzled.

«They’re lessons I must never forget.»

«You miserable human, who do you think you are?!» Stoyan roars.

«A better father, that much is clear.» I reply, opening my freshly regenerated left eye. «That’s enough, Nadia, thank you.» I stroke her head. «I entrust Laila and the others to you.» Rubbing my nose gently against Laila’s, still frozen in shock, I rise to my feet and take a few steps forward. «I’ll handle him.»

«You? And what do you think you can do? You’re nothing—» I cut him short, planting a hand on his face and dragging him with me across miles, hurling him against a mountain. I land a few meters away, watching him climb out of the crater. «You… You’ve taken everything from me. Now I’ll take what’s yours!» An aura of icy blue fire engulfs him. With an explosive step that shatters the rock wall, he lunges; I draw my sword just in time to block the strike.

I can’t let him reach the others. Drawing my dagger, I dash forward. He parries, his power vaporizing the forest around us. Blow after blow, the earth trembles harder, until the entire mountain vanishes. As we fall, I release a beam of energy from the tip of my sword. He answers with a blast of frost. The light is so intense the night turns into day.

Realizing we can’t keep fighting here, I thrust upward, headbutting him under the chin, and in a fraction of a second, we burst out of the atmosphere.

We hurl each other across planets of distant star systems. Goran kicks a moon free of its orbit and flings it at me; I smash it apart with a headbutt, the shockwave driving its fragments into him. In one sweep he reduces them to dust.

I spear a red giant star and launch it at him. He counters with a supergiant of his own. I dash past his sun, the collision behind us birthing a supernova. Riding its force, I strike him full in the chest.

We’re flung beyond the galaxy. «I’LL KILL YOU!» he bellows—and an entire galaxy hurtles toward me. With a single slash I cleave the black hole at its heart, making it erupt.

Nothing stops us. We fight on, tearing galaxies apart, until we cross the borders of the universe itself. We float in the Void, amid Existence and Hope, where universes drift like soap bubbles.

Clashing once more, we shake the multiverse. With each strike, worlds die and new ones are born. «Surrender!» I cry.

«Never! All shall be mine!» Goran seizes the Void and bends it to his will. I am no less: I grasp Existence and Hope, letting them flow through me.

He descends with a crushing blow. I meet it with my blade; my arms scream, muscles tearing. But if it is so for me, it must be the same for him. I pour pure Existence and Hope into my dagger and slash upward, severing his left arm and part of his face. My hand closes around the ring on his finger.

But Goran does not die. His hunger is too great, and the power of the Void regrows his missing parts as black mass wrapped in a pulsing icy-blue aura.

I slip the ring on. It erupts with a deep sapphire light. Time halts—though for Goran, it only slows.

Even though I’ve seen the Haab-shu in the monstrous form Goran forced upon it, my heart clings to the memory of the gentle mother who once helped Nadia as a child.

The Haab-shu emerges, standing behind me, her hands curling softly around my neck. «M-Mommy?» I whisper, my voice still taut from battle.

I can feel her presence without turning: a towering figure with tangled hair crowned in roses, lips painted crimson, butterfly wings of scarlet, and a wedding dress—red above, white below.

«Thank you, my brave darling,» the Haab-shu whispers, her voice warm and maternal. My heart quickens at the sound.

«Will you form a contract with me?» I ask. She nods at my ear, her tone tender. «Good. I’ll choose the default one.»

Time flows again. In Goran’s new hand a dark blade forms, and he charges. «I wish for Goran to become a normal human, stripped of all divine connection.»

«NOOOOOO!!!» The wish is fulfilled. The Void’s energy returns to its course. His aura collapses, and he is on the brink of death. I craft a protective sphere around him, saving his life.

The three of us return to Nadia’s world, landing among the ruins of the castle, where everyone else has already been healed by her. «Søren!» she cries, eyes glistening, rushing to embrace me.

«Søren!», «Renren!» They come up to embrace me: Laila presses a kiss to my lips, and Lili to my cheek.

«Good thing you’re in one piece! Otherwise, I’d have given you a proper scolding!» Thyra laughs, ruffling my hair.

Vlahar claps my shoulder. «Well done, you did it in the end!»

Akanke simply smiles.

«Hey, Søren, didn’t you kill that bastard?» Dakarai asks, glaring at the man. Everyone stiffens; Thyra charges, Dakarai right behind her.

«Stop!» I shout.

«Why?» Dakarai snarls. «He wouldn’t have spared us!»

«Because of him, my people—my son—are dead!» Thyra’s voice cracks.

«Mjinga,» Akanke mutters, resting a hand on Dakarai’s sword. «It’s over. He can’t hurt anyone anymore.»

«How can you be sure?!»

«Because I stripped him of every power.» rispondo.

«IT’S NOT FAIR!» Thyra screams, hammering the ground until she collapses. «If you’d left him his divine blessing, we could have killed him. Now what sense does this make?»

Lili steps toward the fallen tyrant. «He’s a prisoner of war now. As such, he’ll be judged. I’ll convince my father to call a special council with every kingdom Goran has wronged, and together they’ll decide his fate.»

«Thank you, Lili.» I tell her. She turns to me with a smile. «Mommy, I wish for everything Goran changed to return to normal.»

She nods with a vulpine smile. «Wish granted.» At once, everything transforms. Grass and trees turn green, soil returns to brown, the sky fills with clouds. Even the strange creatures driven extinct by the altered climate return to delight our eyes.

«What’s happening?» Laila asks. We all turn to Nadia—she glows brightly for a moment.

«I took her immortality away. After all, that was something Goran changed, wasn’t it?» Mommy replies slyly.

«Hmph, true enough.» I answer with a grin.

«Ah, um, guys.» Vlahar calls, drawing our attention. «How about we go celebrate at a tavern? I’ll bring my domra if you’d like.» For a heartbeat we all stare at him in silence—then burst into laughter.