After the portal closed, I left. I had to get away from the place that took away my daughter. I moved for days. Going nowhere in particular. Eventually I found myself at the edge of the island. A white shadow was waiting there, gazing up at the full moon.

“Tumble is indeed alive.”

“I…never mentioned her name.”

“You’re in need of an angel. I won’t ask for the details. But…is she safe?”

I nod.

“Annolette is actually not a destined child. Destiny is just a tool used to invigorate heroes and create false hope.”

“You yourself said she was. Isn’t that why you wanted her dead?”

“She’s a powerful child. With the kind of power strong enough to change history, maybe even bring about a new era. But that decision was always up to her.”

“Then why try to kill her?”

“Because I love her. Weakness can’t be permitted when walking my path. So many are counting on me.” Betrayer turns around. “Why haven’t you attacked me?”

“I…I have no will to do anything.”

“Follow me.” Betrayer carves a portal and I enter.

We arrive in a kingdom of water. The buildings themselves come from water bent into structures that outcrop from the ground. The water has a high level of purity. My senses aren’t able to penetrate it to see what lies beyond them.

“Wood Primordials aren’t the only ones who can create villages.”

The air itself has layers of water with fish swimming in it.

I want to show my darling daughter this place someday.

Betrayer stops and releases tears. “So do I.”

I should want to kill him. After all he’s done to me. He deserves to die. But there’s a part of me that just can’t help being there for those in pain.

I embrace him. My nemesis. The one whose death I covet like nothing else. I send him my warmth without a thought. By the time I realize what I’m doing, I decide to continue.

Betrayer sobs in my embrace. “Will the struggle ever end?”

I hold him tightly. “The struggle is what keeps us alive.”

He gently leaves my embrace and leads the way.

A waterfall of stairs becomes solid and we climb it together. Once we reach the top of the mountain, we arrive at a lake filled with minerals.

“What is this place?” I ask in wonder.

“Mages, tired of society, come here to gather materials to create the core for their staffs. The waters here are so pure, that one cannot help but tell the truth when submerged in them.”

I put the tip of my tendril in the lake.

“Do you still wish to kill me?” he asks, entering the lake.

“I…I don’t. Not right now.” The truth flows out from me and I pull my tendril out.

This could be a trap.

“Ask me anything. I know you don’t trust me. It’s why I came here. I feel you deserve an explanation.”

“What was the name of the woman you fell in love with?”

“Archai Prima, the first angel. It was my job to bring her in, subdue her for ISEKAI. But I couldn’t. She was so pure. When I drew out my blade to sever her wings, she looked at me curiously. She asked “what do you like to do for fun?” I had never given it much thought before. She helped me become more than a weapon. With her I discovered my identity as an individual. I thought when I became a RiftRipper and returned to her all those years later that she wouldn’t recognize me…or she’d call me a monster. Instead she just held me in a deep embrace. All my pain was whisked away in an instant. We made love right here, sharing our deepest truths to each other.”

“Is she still alive?”

“The Archai Prima is beyond death. Her children are her and their children are her. She lives through all angels. A part of her sleeps inside Annolette.”

“Is that why she is a Child of Destiny?”

“That’s my understanding.”

My body tenses up.

Do I really want the answer to this next question?

“What did you want from me?” I ask in a whisper.

Betrayer falls silent.

“I deserve to know!”

“I wanted you to be the ultimate monster. To make the other assassins see where the Black Guild’s path ultimately leads.”

“You had me kill WarWolf. Why?”

“I needed you to hate the Black Guild. To turn their own monster against them. What I did for you…it was a gift.”

My cloak becomes like blades. “It’s the greatest loss! It is not a gift!”

The fish in the lake and air turn their attention to me.

They’d only get caught up in it if I tried to kill him here.

Betrayer stands firm. “Sacrifice gives us strength. It’s why I wanted to end Annie. But…I couldn’t do it.”

“You’ve become a monster. Don’t you see that?”

“I’ll become whatever I need to be. The goal is freeing our people. I no longer need your help to achieve it. I’ve found others who share my vision.”

“Did you kill my parents? My parents back on Earth?”

“No. I stole you from them, but I didn’t end them. There’s no going back for us though. We can’t turn back the clock to when we were mortals.”

They’re still alive. I want to see them. Just once.

“Well then you best return to your masters. Good luck creating a cross-over portal without the help of a primordial.”

I enter the pool now. “The next time we meet…I will end you.”

Betrayer nods. “Then we will perish together.”

I can’t kill him. Not until I send Annie’s sister to her.

I point a single blade at Betrayer. “The more you fight ISEKAI, the stronger they become.”

Betrayer emerges from the lake of truth. “You always were special to me. I gave you my wisdom. Why squander it?”

“My loyalties lie with my daughter. Everyone else is expendable.”

“It seems we’re both monsters.” Betrayer carves me a portal back to the Village of Doomed. “History cannot be changed by one individual. Only when those with shared dreams venture together, can they carve the stones of fate and forge a new future.”

“Our future is an empty death.” I enter the portal.

Four years pass before I am reunited with my daughter. Four years of fulfilling the whims of the village chief. Each time I get sent out to bring more heroes I stay as long as possible, searching for information about Annie and my own family. When my body is at it’s limit, I crawl back into the portal and get swept up in darkness.

Hope is a path that leads only to darkness. Even so, it’s all that I have left now.

My memories of Gloom as a friend fade with time and soon I only see him as an enemy. By the end of the first year my memory of her fades away. I become a mindless tool of ISEKAI. But still my purpose guides me, a purpose so strong it has become muscle memory.

After four years, the day arrives when I’m sent back to Earth to bring back the Hero of Destiny. It’s then that I find my daughter.

The warmth of her embrace melts away all my pains, all my guilt. We stay in that embrace till our bodies go numb and our tears run dry.

She looks up at me and smiles. “You didn’t forget me.”

I pat my daughter’s head. “I can feel our history together…even if it is lost in darkness.”

Annie touches my head. Her fingers feel like pure unfiltered light. “Let’s catch up.” She smiles at me with a love I had forgotten existed.

Family is hope that you can touch. It’s hope that can hold you.