Alfread was just short of the Impwood Landbridge when Zander found him. Alas, Alfread was not alone. Two trolls—one sickly green and the other faded tan—were running toward Workhorse on all fours.

  Paladin charged faithfully toward Impwood redemption. Zander redeemed himself too, his blade slicing through the sickly green monster’s skull, cleaving it in two. From the other end of the wooded path, the faded tan brute stumbled to the ground with Alfread’s arrow lodged in its neck. The tan troll squirmed on the ground for a turn before a second arrow stilled it forever.

  The once best friends nodded at each other, unready to face the void between them. Alfread breathed out his frustration, then stirred Workhorse toward the Landbridge.

  Zander clutched his locket. He didn’t race after Alfread to watch him go. He kicked Paladin into a gallop, cutting off Alfread before he could ascend. Paladin reared up on his legs as if he too didn’t want to see the end of their friendship. Workhouse, stubbornly unintimidated, snorted at them, digging his hooves in.

  Zander wanted to howl at Alfread, that he’d make him bar his path in order to say what needed to be said. Alfread’s clenched jaw, his narrowed eyes, furrowed brow, let him know that they stood on the same terms. For ten turns, they glared at each other, refusing to show weakness or be the first to relent; two wills colliding.

  Try as he might, Zander couldn’t trust himself to be the first to break the silence. He wanted to shout, knew he would cry, struggled to remember why he’d came. It didn’t matter. In the end, Alfread would leave. His heart was destined to be sundered as sure as the green troll’s skull.

  Alfread swung his arm, and Zander flinched fearing that he reached for his quiver. Instead, Alfread’s outstretched finger pointed toward the two slain forest trolls. “The Celegans are coming, Zander. They’re already here. Time is short and I cannot waste it in a place I’m not needed, with a woman who doesn’t want me. I must go where I’m needed, even if I’m not wanted there too.” Alfread sighed, his gaze drifting to the river rushing below the petrified sequoia that spanned it.

  “You were right about me,” Alfread said. “My arrows will not be enough. My shots will miss. I will miss the most important shot of all if I stay here.” He clenched his fists. “I must make for Leverian University and offer my strengths to the king. I must not miss this shot, Zander.”

  Zander’s heart stilled. He’d always known Alfread was destined for the university, that it was his mind and not his body that would be his best weapon. And yet, now that he was going it felt wrong to him.

  Alfread vaulted off his mule and retrieved his arrows. One was irreparably broken, the other salvaged. With great care, he cleaned the troll off it and returned it to the quiver.

  “I was wrong though,” Zander said. “You do belong on the battlefield. I needed you during the battle, and I’ve needed you every day since then. You’re wrong too though. Asa doesn’t just need you, she wants you. She’s been shite at showing it, but she loves you just as much as you love her. She’s been so afraid of losing you and, like every fool in every story you’ve ever read, she’s tried her damnedest to prove that you will jettison her.” Zander wrung his hands, meeting Alfread’s eyes, tears glistening in his own and blurring his vision as he fought to say the last words he might ever say to his best friend.

  Alfread crouched, one hand gripping his stomach as if it were unsettled. He touched the Mirrevar border, his fingers clawing the dirt, sifting it, letting it all fall.

  Zander knew his brilliant mind was rearranging the puzzle pieces and putting together the true story. “Come home, brother.”

  Zander dismounted, leading Paladin aside the path, opening Alfread’s route to the bridge. He delivered the truth to Alfread, now it was up to the smartest person he knew to use it to make the right choice.

  Alfread stood, his feet planted firm beneath him. Had his best friend ever looked this tall and formidable? Zander doubted it. Alfread crossed his arms and grinned at Zander. “Mirrevar is your home, Zander.”

  A part of Zander dreaded those words, knowing where they led, and the other part was proud of his best friend for choosing his own way. Still, it was the half that didn’t want to say goodbye, the part that felt abandoned, that spat out its dying gasp. “You have the woman of your dreams and you’re running away! The Leverian University doesn’t accept fools like you!”

  Alfread laughed, like he did before Asa, before Celegans, before their innocence had been stolen from them. Then he gasped and rubbed frantically at his eyes. He let his attempts at concealment go and Zander saw him nod as he accepted his heart’s pull. “I love you, Zander. For as long as we’ve been able to walk, we’ve walked together, my dearest friend. But it is my time to walk my own path. I cannot be the sidekick in your story any longer.”

  Alfread looked forward, beyond the Landbridge and into the west. “I will be the protagonist of my own story.” Alfread lifted his arms over his head, howling at the sky like a proud wolf to the full moon. “I walked at the crossroads and I chose the path that will set ablaze the fire in my soul. I now make this choice, knowing the truth of all I leave behind, not because I need to escape.” Alfread smiled, liberated.

  Alfread stood tall, not bowed by what he gave up. “I will not end the Gemstone War fighting on a battlefield. I will not help our world with my bow alone. If what you say is true, and,” Alfread shook his head and furrowed his brow, his voice cracked, “I believe it is, then I owe it to Asa to make myself better. For whatever reason, much like for you and Alexia, we were not ready for each other yet. If our stars are crossed, we will meet again. Next time, I will be sure I am the version of myself that is ready for her.”

  Zander knew he must let him go. Knowing didn’t change the hurt. “You can learn from her! You can be my squire!”

  Alfread shook his head. “I will never be an equal if I am but your pupil. Besides, you and I know that it is not enough. I must take this path, Zander. I must go to Rubinia and make the king see what we’ve seen. I’m needed there.”

  “Don’t leave me.” Zander’s hands shook. He lifted them up and felt a scar nearly eight years old rip open and the pus from the wound flood into him. Suddenly, he wasn’t a knight. He was ten years old. Helpless. Weak. Alone. He struggled against the sadness that filled his soul like a cancer; the sadness that he tried to push away, but always lingered just under the surface. The love of others often covered that sadness but it had never destroyed it. The same sadness that every orphan knew well, the same fears that had haunted him since he first understood that his father left him, the same pain that plagued him since his mother died, the very hole Alfread had helped from consuming him when Alexia fled.

  “Don’t leave me too.” Zander closed his eyes. “My father. My mother. Alexia. You.” In that moment, Zander understood Asa’s fear and wished that this pain was just one iota lesser. “Everyone abandons me in the end.”

  Alfread embraced Zander. “This isn’t farewell. This is not ‘never again.’” Alfread’s voice was an echo of Mirielda’s compassion infused with the wisdom of Melody of Mirrevar. “Sometimes, we have to say ‘until next time’ to our loved ones in order to become who we are destined to be. We will be together again. Look forward, Zander.”

  Zander clenched his eyes shut. Look forward! he screamed within.

  Look forward! Look forward! Look forward! The words echoed in many voices. First, they were Alfread’s, then Alexia’s, and finally his mother’s.

  Zander opened his eyes but he didn’t see the Impwood Landbridge, nor could he hear the Bear River. Gone were the colorful mushroom trees of the Impwood and their strong aromas.

  Look forward. It was Alexia’s voice again, but it was unlike before. More mature but more innocent at the same time. Chills reverberated down his spine to every end of his body. His soul expanded as if no longer confined by his body but encompassed the entire world. His eyes lost sight of the Impwood but, Leverith, they saw beyond the closed-in space that composed his reality. They looked forward into existence, into eternity, into everything that would ever come to pass.

  Scenes and sounds fell into his upward palms, sifting through his fingers like sand. Like waking from dreams, the more he grabbed the more quickly they passed. The visions themselves conveyed thoughts that eyes couldn’t see and yet were as real and true as anything his eyes had ever gazed upon.

  Zander saw himself armored brilliantly in crimson and azure, wielding a greatsword crowned with an amethyst and made of the toughest material. He was not alone. The Sunrise was more beautiful than a thousand gentle rivers under a billion radiant stars. Lost love crowned her hair and blue light streamed from where she kept her missing piece. Together, they sang the melodies of life and new seed took root.

  “Behind you!” A young girl’s voice called, a rising melody in his heart.

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  Zander spun backwards. A great tree with a goddess at its roots overlooked the union of two violent forces. Zander saw an abandoned space beneath the tree where the loveliest amethyst lay next to the greatest sapphire. He approached the place and found that it had never been left behind. Blue light streamed from the amethyst and Zander watched as it carried peace and love across the land.

  “One again,” a mighty voice commanded.

  A regal man with eyes of bluest sapphire placed the amethyst in Zander’s hands. For one heartbeat, Zander saw the man’s proud smile before he dissipated into dust. After the dust settled, countless sapphires and rubies glistened where the man had stood. The dust combusted and a gentle flame burned. The flame crackled and scattered words emerged broken apart by shattered glass. “Born a—. Raised a—. Become the—.” The flame flickered out.

  “Look forward!” Alfread shouted.

  Visions flashed past him faster than Zander could process. A great white lion lunged from a vast sea of fog. No, the monster was the fog itself. Alfread shot three arrows at the great white beast. The arrow of ice was a sight of beauty but it was blown away in the wind long before it reached its mark. The arrow of light faded only to return brighter than the stars and to fade again just before the end of its flight. The arrow of fire burned hotter than anything Zander had ever felt, then it went cold, and, at last, reignited. Alas, the monster of fog kept on. The beast lunged at Alfread and the two disappeared, leaving behind a book.

  “Look forward!” bellowed a harsh, masculine voice resounding from a colossal beast with three heads: a lion, a ram, and a serpent. An earthen throne of melded tree and stone stood high over endless water broken by little stacks of land.

  Zander clenched his fist, his whole body tightened. Tears streamed from his farseeing eyes. Yet all he could see was red. His mother called to him, “The father and son of beast and blue. Blood on the Sword. Blood on the Claw.” Her pained gasp reached his ears, shattering his heart. “Blood lives on.”

  “Look forward!” called a young man whose voice seemed to swirl like a tempest around Zander.

  Zander appeared on a balcony overlooking a garden full of snakes. A green snake crowned in honey seeped poison into a pot. The wind gusted into the room and with it came a blast of ice and a soaring boulder. Zander’s mother called out, “Wind liberated! Earth cried! Ice killed! Snake died!” The ice blasted into the snake and the poisoned pot spilt honey onto the ground. The wind rushed beyond the balcony followed by the ice and the earth. Then the scene was gone.

  “The Burning Tower!” echoed more voices than Zander could discern.

  The balcony vanished into darkness and shadow filled the void. The shadow materialized into a beastly man with countless eyes and a corrupt heart as dark as Death. A serpent slithered out of a garden, filling the air with a flowery aroma. An inferno erupted in the darkness until it became a man, a lord of flame outlined in black. Shadow, Serpent, and Flame bound themselves together. A greater form—the dark beast with three heads—loomed over them. All four watched as a tower of flame rose in the distance. The Burning Tower. Two halves of a vibrant red heart screamed as the flames danced over them. Sunrise broke over the eastern horizon bringing a wave of water. The tide swallowed the flames. All light faded, leaving behind naught but darkness.

  “Look forward!” called a young woman’s voice, a voice sharper and more sophisticated than any Zander had ever heard.

  The burning tower faded from sight, but the flames grew hotter than a dragon’s maw. Zander stood in the center of a vast sea of fire. Yet, he was not alone. A young woman, made of fire, held her ground in the center of it all. Her weapon flashed at blinding speed, breaking bindings. She sang a song of freedom. Millions of voices chanted “Freadal! Freadal! Freadal!” Melody crooned, “Blue flame! red flame! broken shackles! All the same!”

  “Look forward!” roared a lion.

  Zander’s mother spoke, as if entranced, her voice broke in and out. “When the sun sets on my life, another sun will rise.” A lance forged of ice was thrust up a sandy shore and swallowed by something golden. Zander gasped for air. Enormous turtles cried such horrible cries. They waddled from the shore. Flecks of dust filled the air. A sea of pearls lined white sands. A shadow loomed over them all.

  “Look forward!” called two aged voices.

  Zander smiled at his reflection on a bright sunlit day. Yet the sun set at its zenith. Two hands locked together, never to be parted again, never to be alone ever again. He clutched at his breast as the pain burned deep inside of him. A monsoon swirled around him but it subsided, leaving Zander’s cheeks wet. A swine squealed and a yellow flower bloomed from the blood. A river flowed into the carnage but there was too much thirst. An owl with clipped wings grasped the river’s offerings in her talons, howling the most heartrending sound as it slipped through

  “Look forward!” Zander cried, begging for silence as the owl howled. “Look forward!” he begged as he drowned in his own tears. Forward he went, but not to a better place.

  Cacophonic laughter grated his soul, shredding his mind into pieces. Zander felt himself being pulled apart as he stood over a depression in the ground beside a glowing cavern. Lighting streaked the angry night sky. In the hole…

  “The sired ward,” his mother whispered, heartbroken. Death laughed, like nails against glass.

  “No!” He never wanted to hear laughter again.

  “LOOK FORWARD!” the hideous voice commanded.

  A crowned giant obscured by blue light battled his shadow. “YOU WILL BE MINE,” the hideous voice promised. “YOU ALWAYS HAVE BEEN!”

  “Never!” Zander shouted, but his will was breaking.

  “Look forward!” His mother urged in a voice as equally beautiful as the hideous voice was terrible. “Don’t give in, child of love!”

  The hideous voice laughed as Zander’s mother appeared. “LEVERIA IS IN YOUR HANDS, MY HEIR,” the terrible voice mocked. A tall figure, cloaked in darkness, with long blackened hair appeared, extended a hand toward him, the bony finger outstretched.

  Zander knew this was the creature the voice belonged to. He knew in his core what this monster was. He couldn’t look away as the creature siphoned blue light out of Melody, draining her spirit until she was a corpse. Zander tried to claw at his own eyes as Melody’s body was severed into many parts, decaying beyond recognition. The monster tore her apart laughing that soul-sundering laugh. When it lowered its hood, Zander recognized its eyes.

  “No!” Zander cried. “Nooooooooooooo!”

  “Look forward!” Alexia called. “You are not alone!”

  A prince sat upon a seat of dreams and his voice was heard. A dragon of flame soared above endless chants of freedom. A ray of light beamed into the sky, banishing the darkness. The sky rumbled and yearned to protect, lightning streaking across the firmament. A lion leapt forth, promising to restore pride. Where once there was naught but cold, a mellow heat emerged. The man whose shape continuously changed finally settled on its form. The bane of beasts pursuing the righteous cause. The little girl hiding in the shadows. The sword determined to fight for love. The lady of the tree and stone set to free the corrupted. The one who brought them all together and bound them as one.

  “Look forward!” Alexia urged.

  The melody of life sang loud, touching thirteen hearts, bringing love where there was once only the taint of hatred. A man wept from the weight of his vow, knowing his doom awaited him and he would never hear the melody again. “Die. Die,” intoned a child’s sweet voice.

  “Look forward!” Alexia demanded.

  Zander looked forward, mustering all his strength. He would never give in to Death! NEVER! Look forward! The heart of the world stopped and he could no longer feel the cold. Everything was numb nothingness, nothing but dust. “Embrace love,” her voice said, just a whisper on the wind. “I embrace love!” Zander shouted. A shooting star flashed across a moonless night sky. The sun and the moon joined beside a fire.

  “Look forward!” Melody beckoned.

  The voices sang together, blending in harmony. Twelve faces flashed before Zander’s eyes and though many were unknown to him, he knew many of them well. The severed pieces of his mother were bound back together as the voices sang. At last, as his eyes gazed into eternity, his locket burst with light and Melody walked forward, restored and whole. She opened her arms and Zander rushed into them.

  He felt the world quaking as he held her.

  “Zander! Zander! Zander! ZANDER!”

  Zander’s eyes returned to reality, to the Impwood. Alfread throttled him.

  Shaking himself awake, Zander bounced to his feet. Alfread looked at him uncertainly, his mouth slightly open. He studied Zander’s eyes closely.

  “You must go to Rubinia,” Zander said, his need urgent. “I will keep Asa safe.” But not alone, Zander knew.

  Alfread sorted out his puzzled expression into one of concern. He spoke slowly, as if not believing the words himself, “Zander, you were just on the ground for the last degree and,” Alfread swallowed, “your eyes had turned purple.”

  “Purple?”

  Alfread nodded. He looked scared? “They’ve turned blue again.”

  “I looked forward, Alfread. I…”

  What could he say? “I cannot begin to explain what I saw.”

  Alfread nodded as if that explanation covered everything.

  “We will meet again, brother,” Zander said, tapping Alfread’s arm. “Keep practicing your aim.”

  Alfread grinned. “I will make my shots.”

  Zander nodded. Except the last, Zander knew. Zander walked forth and embraced his best friend. “Until next time.”

  “Until next time,” Alfread said, returning both the embrace and the promise that they would meet again.

  This is not goodbye, Zander reminded himself as they released. For a moment, he grasped the truth that had eluded him his whole life. There have been no goodbyes. Only until next times.

  For the first time in their lives, they were headed down different roads. They had always done everything together. Alfread had been the person Zander thought would never willingly leave his side. Alas, Alfread had his own story and Zander his. Neither was fit to be the other’s sidekick. Zander tried looking forward to the day their roads merged, but his power of foresight was just as lost to him as his friend’s presence. All he could see was the long road ahead of him and he was determined to walk that path to the finish.

  And finish strong.