give up. We could still make it, but my body was working against me. Sobbing, I looked back at the encroaching darkness. It showed no mercy, gobbling up everything in its path. Roots dropped from the tunnel’s ceiling, shriveled and black. Everything disappeared. Soon, so would we.
My desire to save Tristan had already faded—much to my shame—as my survival instincts kicked back in. I looked at Kalon and realized he was the only one I could do something for, if only my legs would hold me. Black blood trickled from his nose, but he refused to leave me.
“You know I love you, right?” I whispered. “We have to move, Kalon. Either we both leave, or we both die in this place. There’s no in-between.”.
“It’s hard to move—” He doubled over with a violent cough, spraying more black blood onto the ground. He couldn’t get back up. His body gave out, and his knees buckled and bent. I lost him for a moment, but I pulled him into a standing position. His head lolled back and forth, his blue eyes rolling around with no ability to focus. It was definitely hitting him harder and more intensely than before.
I gathered what was left of my strength and threw him over my shoulder. He’d taken great risks to protect me, and this was the least I could do for him. My only hope was that my brother might survive, after all.
I looked back once more, unable to see anything except the dark energy that was hurtling toward us. It was death in its purest form, and it wouldn’t take any prisoners. I could feel it in my bones.
My options became clear. Either Kalon and I died here, or we tried to survive this. My brother would want me to choose the latter. I knew that. I wasn’t sure if Tristan was still alive somehow—by the grace of whatever forces powered this universe—but I knew he would want me to fight, to keep going, to relish every single breath of air I had left. He would want me to leave him.
And so I ran, once more. With my soulmate bearing down on my shoulder, I ran as though my heels were on fire. Mom and Dad came to mind, for some reason. Perhaps they’d be my last thought before dying… I could almost hear them cheering me on, telling me to keep going, to stop at nothing. I could almost see Grandpa Kyle and Grandma Anna smiling at us, though most of what I knew of them came from distant memories and pictures from family albums. Despite that, they felt closer to me than ever before.
As my legs moved and my muscles ached, I saw The Shade open up ahead. With its redwood giants and evergreen canopy. With its night sky and pearly moon. With its narrow paths and the colorful Vale. My home. My haven. It had seemed so far until this moment, yet now it felt within my reach. Maybe this was all part of the process, just before the last breath—seeing everything I wanted, everything I’d been through, both good and bad. A selection of the greatest hits, the moments I’d cherish long after I’d be gone.
But I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to anyone. Not yet. I wasn’t done living! I wasn’t done loving or fighting, either. The Shade dissolved like a tiny drop of ink in a sea of clear water, and the tunnel opened ahead instead. The Vision horses neighed frantically. I could see the others—Sofia, Thayen, Trev… the Visentis boys… Rudolph, Seeley—so I kept running.
I kept running for our lives while the darkness chased us.
Up until now, we’d been the ones to chase darkness. This time, the hunted was more powerful than anything we had to throw at it, so it hunted us back. If only one of us could reach out to Valaine. If only one of us could snap her out of her current state.
Maybe then we wouldn’t all have to die in this wretched tunnel.
Tristan
I kept staring at them. All of Valaine’s past lives were on display from left to right, going on forever in both directions. They stood before me, smiling, dressed in white silk, the void at their feet and above their heads.
“Why me?” I asked. “Why does it have to be me?”
“Because you love with all your heart,” they said in unison. The strange voice of the Unending didn’t come from just one entity. It came from all of them at