[Pendra's View]

I was being consumed, but not by the Lichtar; that was the stuff that climbed over me. It was the same stuff that tried to snuff out my existence, but it was the hopelessness of it all that consumed me.

What was the point of even trying? I had already hit walls at every turn, so maybe this was better; let it all end now and not have to feel anymore.

Even if I did try, I would just be going back to a world that hated me and gave me everything raw. I was only doing what I was supposed to, and then she came out and changed everything!

Ashia! That Queen was the reason that I was in this spot! There could only be one, but she prevented me from killing our sister and then did something to her, then I lost one of my arms.

From there, I gorged myself and refused to do my duties, but I wasn't even able to do that job even in the end. After my army was wiped out, I was captured by that giant Predator, Rena, and then taken to Trent, their leader.

That was where I found out just how useless it actually was. Something had happened to me, and now all my eggs were sterile, and I couldn't have children, meaning that I could never be a Queen.

That had been the final straw. Maybe I deserve this, but knowing that I would never serve my purpose took all the fight from me.

"It doesn't have to be this way, my child," a man's voice called to me, and then I was in a weird body, standing in the middle of a grassy field with the wind blowing.

I had no tail, wings, and only two arms, but there was a man in a flowing white robe in front of me. I felt warmth coming from him, but like a heat, not a feeling; he was also smiling, but that also was only him shaping his face that way.

"I can offer you a chance you become a Timeduss. You can live any life that you want, as many times as you want. You will never be slighted again, and destiny will always be by your side!" The man announced to me like he was speaking to a crowd.

There was something wrong with him, but the words he was saying did sound tempting. The chance to live how I wanted to, but there would have to be some kind of catch.

"What do you need from me?" I asked, and the man smiled brightly.

"Take the place of a Fallen that has just perished, complete the cycle, and the position of Timeduss is yours! I am Tyler or A1 of the Ten, and I am the highest authority!" Tyler, Leader of the Risen of the Everclock, declared with a flourish of his hands.

Fireworks exploded behind him as the sky turned from day to night in a blink. I stepped back in awe; I had never seen anything so beautiful, but then I was standing on a beach, and I looked down at my feet.

"Every one of those is a different reality in the FIRE, and you will have access to all of them if you complete the Cycle," Tyler explained to me, and I looked at the endless multicolored pearls covering the island for as far as I could see.

"What is this Cycle you keep talking about?" I asked after looking up to Tyler, but there was something wrong with him; he was flickering like he wasn't really there.

"The Cycle is the life of the world you are in. Once this world, Kadeon, ends, then you will receive your place as a Timeduss," The flickering image of Tyler said, but then the world around me started to flicker.

Suddenly, I was thrown back into the world of despair that I was drowning in before, but my mind was racing. This person asked me to destroy the world, killing everything on it, along with the people, but was that so bad?

What has this world ever done for me? I was being killed by it right now, so what would be the difference if I acted for my own benefit?

"...She will fight, I am sure of it. Even though we aren't blood-related, I don't think that she is the type to give up. I believe that when she comes out of this, she will become one of my strongest fighters, even if she is a bit rough around the edges…."

That voice… that was her, but what was she talking about? Didn't she hate me? I would become one of her strongest fighters? Hers?

"Don't… let A1... fool you! B1 will be... the true authority; trust in your... Queen!" A broken female voice called to me, but then it was gone.

I felt something, it was small at first, but as I settled into my choice, it started to grow. It was a warmth that spread through my body, and I suddenly knew that this was not the end for me.

What Tyler had said to me did sound tempting, but there was no glory in that. Whatever A1 was trying to do, it had to involve Ashia, and if she was to be B1, that meant it was B2 that had called me.

I had heard a brief story from the Bee Sage but had taken her words for nothing but delusional raving of a madwoman, but now I could see the truth in them. Kimdi had told me about A1 and B2 escaping from the world long ago, right before the Fallen tried to destroy the world.

The thing was, something had stopped it just as fast as the cataclysm had happened, the crisis averted. There had been a second hero, or as he called himself.

He had claimed this till death, and now it looks like he might have been the real hero. But then who was this Tyler person, and where did he come from?

I had to find the answers to these questions, and Ashia was my only chance to do so. I had to break free!