Standing at the window, the small group was silent in their contemplation and absolute terror at the sight that was the end of the human world. There seemed to be no reason for it, for them to be there. And yet there they were, lighting up the surrounding landscape as they poured into the world from Faerie.
"Shit indeed," Versalis said slowly and turned to her, his fingers curling around her arm to force her to face him.
Etani met his eyes in silence. She didn't know what to do, nor why they even had the power to come through. Why was she not a Creator?
"What's going on in that head of yours, Etani?" the vampire demanded. It was an excellent question. What was going on in her head?
'Crazy,' the voice said, and cackled at her mental slap.
"Etani, what's wrong with you? You should be the Creator, they shouldn't be able to get through," he was saying, shaking her, but she didn't have an answer for him. She didn't have an answer for any of them, and fear was beginning to bubble up inside her.
"I vote we vacate to Faerie," Uzo said, and she turned her eyes to him. He seemed to read her fear and his face set in a stern line. "You don't want it, do you. After everything we went through, those months tracking down mythicals and you just now decide that you don't want to do it?" he sounded both confused and angry, his reaction only making her more afraid.
Why did it all have to come down to her? Why did she have to be the one to stop it all?
"We can just kill them," she said, motioning to the growing number of Creators in the distance.
"If you would just accept who you are, we won't have to kill anyone!" he cried, and she bit her lip.
The sound of metal clad boots reached them, drawing their attention around. "It appears we have some unwelcome guests," Alaric said as he appeared in the doorway. He was clad in full metal armour, complete with wolf detailing, his enormous sword strapped to his back.
"Etani, come on, we need you to get your act together!" Versalis yelled, but her attention had been pulled from the group to something in the distance with the Creators. She could feel a disturbance, like a tugging at her sleeve, but couldn't have put a name on it.
Turning, she watched in horrified fascination as the sky above the gateway warped sideways, the clouds moving in spasmodic, unnatural patterns.
"What is that?" Kai demanded, but Etani knew.
She could feel it. The changes in the magic that held the human world in place were sawing at the threads that held this world together.
"They're bringing it down," she breathed, feeling their eyes on her. "Everyone needs to get to Faerie. Find Daemon and go." She felt disconnected from herself as she realised after everything, she had failed. After all the death, the promises, the lost time, the lost friendships, she had failed to do one simple task.
Shame filled her, and she was certain there had been some terrible mistake in who they had all put their faith in. She was not a hero; she was just a woman who wanted to run away and hide while someone else dealt with the issue. She was a coward.
More people had joined their fear party in her room, loud voices shouting and people swearing.
There wasn't enough time for her to get to everyone from the human world that she wanted to save, all of those who had willingly helped her. They would all die if they couldn't get out.
For some reason, Tilly caught in her mind: so excited just to be involved, so delighted to be chosen, and she wouldn't give up her cave. The siren wouldn't be able to escape, so few would have a chance.
She turned slowly to the group, and their faces changed even as they saw her fear.
"I'm going to go try and stop them," she murmured, ignoring the sudden outburst. "Daemon, you are going to take everyone to Faerie. You are going to keep them all there, go back and force as many as you can into Faerie. Anyone who helped us."
His face was grim, but he nodded reluctantly as she looked down at her hands and the gem against her chest.
Without a word she pulled on the magic of Winter, drawing it into herself as Queen. She shivered as the changes took effect, her hair turning a soft silver that glittered before binding up into the elaborate braid.
Stepping forward, she curled her fingers around the back of Daemon's head and drew him down to rest his forehead against hers. Ignoring the shocked men around her as they saw her as the queen of Winter.
"Keep them safe. I need you to do this for me," she whispered, and he nodded, his hand finding hers and squeezing it hard.
Moving away from him, she pulled Uzo into a hard hug that made him sob.
"You're in charge of making sure Daemon doesn't kill anyone," she said in his ear, and Uzo nodded.
Glancing between the others, her eyes lingered on Kai's terrified face.
She wanted to stay angry at him, but she couldn't when he was so very afraid. She pulled him into a hard hug, but remained silent, looking up into the stern face of Jaia.
"I love you," Kai whispered. His words burned her like a heated blade.
Releasing him, she reached for Versalis and squeezed him tight, nodded to Alaric before turning to the window.
She had no idea if she would see any of them again, but that didn't matter.
Epharis kicked open the door and stalked inside, looking like he was ready to kill. His robes had been decorated with rarely seen fetishes, his long silver hair falling loose around his shoulders.
"You're not going without me," he snapped, and she felt the first hint of a smile on her face.
"Come on and die then," she said as he shoved his way through the crowd to her at the window.
Stepping out, she extended her hand out to her side. The scythe flowed into being in her hand, her world narrowing down into the lights she could see and feel to be human.
Wings burst free of her back to slow her fall. She landed gently on the soaked grass and setting off at a sprint for the field in the distance.
She didn't need to know that Epharis was following her. His life pulsed in and out of existence as he travelled beside her, using whatever dark magic it was he possessed to allow him to move between two places so quickly.
'You are a Creator,' she told herself as she ran. 'You are a Creator, and everyone is counting on you to keep them safe and this world alive. You need to get over yourself and do it.'
A new voice piped up in the back of her mind that gave both her and her twin a moment of pause.
'No, you're not. You're worthless, and they will all die because they trusted the wrong person. You're a monster and will always be a monster. You don't deserve their love or their trust,'
She brushed tears away.
She had never heard that voice before, nor did she know where it was coming from. But it felt oddly strong compared to her mental lecture, and she felt herself being crushed by it.
'Uzo loves me. Daemon loves me,' she countered inside her head, but the voice was laughing.
'They only love you because they have to. You're a terrible person, and the only thing making them stay is your magic. Think of the vampires. They all ran the second they had the chance.'
She swallowed as the words slid into her mind and settled there like rot on her soul. The voice was right: she didn't deserve love. She didn't need it.
Forcing her attention back to the task at hand, she choked back a sob and stared ahead at the still growing mass of people.
"Why are there so many?" she demanded, but Epharis only shook his head, not sure either. But she had a sinking feeling that it had something to do with her.
It took them only twenty minutes to reach the field and little had changed in the sky above. The rippling looked bizarre. She was oddly confused, trying to take it in before she gave up on it and instead focused on the mass of creatures before them.
There was no rhyme or reason to the mass of people that seemed to have swelled to two hundred or more. All with white eyes and blank faces, peering up at the warping sky with disturbing intent.