Grand Duke Marshal was feeling rather smug.

For a moment there, it was as though all his avenues for action had been suddenly cut off. Every one of his well-laid plans and contingencies for those plans and contingencies for those contingencies… Corvina had systematically dismantled them, one by one. And to add insult to injury, she even broke off their engagement, that bitch.

But then, when the Church of Coris realigned itself with the imperial family, the balance of power began to shift… and when the balance of power was shifting, there were always opportunities to maneuver one’s self into a more favorable position.

In this case, it had been almost too easy. The Emperor still didn’t fully trust the church, and with Corvina out of the way, Grand Duke Marshal had become his primary confidant.

As the Emperor worked to consolidate his power and pull his own allies closer, Grand Duke Marshal’s influence was only growing.

When the news of the kidnapping came through (of course that fool of a prince would get himself kidnapped, although Marshall suspected the elves were not working alone on this), the Emperor had initially wanted to stop all military activity in the region altogether. The traditionalist old fool was so concerned with having a blood heir that he wasn’t even willing to risk the possibility of Sebastian being killed.

But Marshal, with careful words, had been able to persuade the Emperor that doing nothing was, in fact, the most dangerous course of action, and that the only way to guarantee his son’s safety was by taking the fight directly to the elves, as quickly as possible.

Bishop Geist had, of course, been strongly opposed to sending a major military detachment to Longren, which was an important church stronghold. But the Bishop’s opposition had only brought the Emperor further onto Marshal’s side.

Duke Marshal actually began to whistle while he tied on his cravat, preparing for a state luncheon with various ministers.

As soon as he was in Longren, Marshal would begin consolidating his military power even further. Marshal had seen Marquess Ormen at the occasional social function, and the man seemed a bit of a pushover. He also had no legitimate heirs, which made his position as Marquess… precarious, at best. It would not be difficult for Marshal to take de facto control of the region and its armies.

And if the increased military activity actually did convince the elves to kill off Sebastian…

Marshal paused briefly, staring into the mirror but not seeing himself at all—instead, the images that ran past his inner vision were all of childhood days spent laughing and playing with one of the few people who ever smiled when they saw him.

Marshal shook his head, dislodging the inconvenient memories. If the elves killed the prince, well, that was for the best, really. That would mean one less person between himself and the imperial throne.

Now, if only he could receive news that the Saintess had been properly taken care of, he would have nothing to worry about.

There was a knock on the window.

Marshal felt a flash of anger that ruined his good mood as he turned to find the assassin waiting for him, glaring through the window.

“What are you doing here in the middle of the day?” Marshal hissed, unlatching the window. “Anyone could have seen you, you fool!”

The assassin didn’t respond and didn’t even bother climbing all the way into the room. Instead, the Unseen Rain merely tossed a bag of coins through the open window and onto the floor. “I’m returning your money,” said Rain. “The contract cannot be fulfilled. Good day.” Rain turned to leave.

“What do you mean it ‘can’t be’ fulfilled?” demanded Marshal. He grabbed Rain’s arm and pulled him into the room, closing the door behind them.

Rain yanked his arm out of Marshal’s grip. “The Saintess is no longer in this world.”

“So you did fulfill your contract,” said Marshal, perking up.

“No,” said Rain. “The Saintess isn’t dead. She just isn’t in this world.”

Marshal had no idea what the strange… man? Woman? In the light of day Marshal suddenly couldn’t tell. Regardless, Marshal had no idea what the assassin meant by that.

“I’m thinking of quitting the business altogether,” admitted Rain, with a small shrug.

“What? You can’t!” said Marshal. “You can’t just break your contract, spout some nonsense, and then quit. It’s entirely unprofessional. I will lodge a complaint with the Assassin’s Guild.”

The assassin stared at him intensely for a moment. “Fine,” said Rain, apparently having come to a conclusion. “What can I do to make it up to you, dear customer?”

Marshal contemplated this, choosing to graciously ignore the assassin’s sarcastic tone.

Perhaps this would be a good time to set certain other plans of his in motion. It was a bit earlier than he’d intended, but… after all, maybe it would be better for him to be out of the city for this.

Marshal kicked the bag of coins back over to the Unseen Rain. “Take that and go after another target for me. Then I will consider our original contract fulfilled.”

“Alright,” said Rain, taking the bag of coins. “But this is my last job. Who’s the target?”

The way Corvina was staring at Anne was making Anne feel uncomfortable. Anne was very certain about this course of action, but Corvina had a way of making you question your convictions…

“What do you mean, you think the Goddess might be your mom?” asked Corvina.

“Oh, well…” said Anne, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly. “It’s just all these bits and pieces. Like, it’s obvious that the Church of Coris is trying to hide the fact that the goddess was originally portrayed as an elf. And Zaos said I’m probably a full-blooded elf, not a half-elf. And then there’s some stuff the Saintess has said, and, like, how she says it. It all just… adds up, you know?”

“I see…” said Corvina, still looking deeply skeptical. “But how are you even certain the Goddess exists?”

“I actually heard her voice recently…”

Corvina’s eyes widened.

“I know it sounds weird!” said Anne. “But I’m very certain that it’s true.”

“I see,” said Corvina, blank-faced. “And you’re very certain that the Goddess lives—“ Corvina gestured in the direction of the stone ruins, “—over there?”

Anne shrugged. “Not really, but… I have a feeling. And if I can hear the voice of a Goddess then maybe it’s okay for me to trust that sort of instinct, I don’t know.”

Corvina sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Alright, let me make sure I have this right… We know that Eva was faking the miracles, right?”

“Right, yeah,” said Anne.

“But you think that, despite that, the Saintess was actually the daughter of the Goddess herself, this whole time? At that point, why would Eva need to bother faking anything?”

“Maybe divine magic isn’t the same as true magic,” said Anne. “Maybe it can’t do those sorts of flashy miracles. That girl, Liza, said there’s some sort of contradiction in the historical records regarding miracles. Maybe it has something to do with that, I don’t know.”

“But you do think you know that the Goddess lives over there, and is your mom?” said Corvina.

Anne shrugged again. “Look, you don’t have to come with me. I really might be wrong about all of this, but there’s a strong enough chance that I could be right that I feel like I have to take the risk. I can’t just wait around hoping that things don’t get any worse. I need to do something.”

“But why this?” asked Corvina, exasperated.

“Because the Goddess is the supreme being of this world!” said Anne. “If she can’t explain to me once and for all what the hell is going on here and how I can fix it, then no one can!”

“This all just seems like too big of a leap to me…” said Corvina.

“I know…” said Anne, staring off towards the stone pillar.

Something about looking at those ruins felt like standing at the edge of a cliff looking down. The call of the void, Anne had once heard it called, back in her original world. It was the strong feeling that you should jump, that you wanted to jump, that you had to jump, despite knowing what a fatal mistake that would be.

Anne took a step forward.

Corvina grabbed her arm, pulling her back. “No, Anne, it’s too dangerous.” Her tone was pleading. “You’re an elf! A full-blooded elf, if you believe Prince Zaos. And you said that’s where elves go when they die. Even if you do meet the Goddess, how do you know you won’t just… be dead, after? How do you know you’ll be able to come back? What if you die for real?”

“I really don’t think that will happen…” Anne thought about it seriously for a moment. “Look, it’s like… despite everything, I don’t think the original Saintess actually wants to die, per say. In my visions she looks so hurt that if she really wanted to die she could have just… sat down and let herself die. But she kept fighting. Every time I see her here, she’s desperately fighting against her own physical limitations just to get to the end of that path. There must be something waiting there other than death, or why would she bother fighting so hard?”

Corvina was also staring at the ruins now, a faraway look in her eyes.

“I don’t want to lose you…” said Corvina, so quietly it was almost a whisper. “Now that I know what it’s like to be with you, I don’t want to go back to the way my life was before.”

“I know…” said Anne, taking Corvina’s hand. “But earlier, when you said there was no point in building a better world if you couldn’t share it with me, that actually scared me a little because… it sounded so much like what Eva was saying about her Anne.”

“Don’t compare me to Eva,” snapped Corvina. “I would never hurt anyone like that… not without good reason.”

Anne smiled wanly. “I know,” she said. “But to Eva she did have a good reason.”

Corvina’s expression was dark, and angry still, but contemplative. She didn’t seem to know what to say. Anne squeezed her hand tighter.

“I don’t want to lose this, either…” Anne blinked away the tears that were starting to form at the corner of her eyes. “I really didn’t think love was a possibility for me in my life, and being with you has made me so happy. But I think… I think here has to be something more important than that.”

“I’m tempted to say that our happiness is the most important thing in the world, and screw everyone else,” said Crovina, laughing bitterly. “But I know you wouldn’t agree with that. I suppose you might have a point, after all.”

Anne smiled a little sadly, taking a moment to put her thoughts together. “Maybe… if this actually was just a story, and you and I were the protagonist and the antagonist, then we actually would be the two most important people in the world,” said Anne. “But this place… it’s too real for me to think like that anymore. Which means, when you get down to it, the two of us are just… people.”

“Well, if we’re just people, then why do we have to take responsibility for the fate of the world?” asked Corvina, miserably.

“Because we’re in the right place at the right time,” said Anne. “It sucks, I know, but I think we’re the only ones who can do it. Or, at least… maybe I’m the only one who can do it. I don’t know what the path might be like for a human trying to cross through it. Maybe it would be better if you waited here.”

“No way in hell,” said Corvina, squeezing Anne’s hand tighter. “Whatever we do next, we do it together.”

“Good,” said Anne, kissing her gently. “Thank you.”

And just like that, hand in hand, Anne and Corvina started down the Path of Ruin together.