***Grant***

“Oh gods,” Grant groaned, slumping over, his shoulder screaming in pain.

I think he cracked my shoulder blade with that hit.

It was a coin-toss now that Tom was out of danger and had the opportunity to calm down. Once he was calm, he would (hopefully) seek out the most logical solution.

In the vague, blurry future that Grant had seen, any situation where Ella died resulted in Tom becoming The Endless. Any situation in which Tom died resulted in Ella becoming The Endless.

Any situation in which they both died resulted in a Hollow Raze who slaughtered a significant portion of Orsoth singlehandedly.

Any situation where they compromised and sent Tom and his daughter back to Earth eventually ended with Raze going Hollow all the same.

Killing Raze wasn’t even an option, and even if they succeeded, there was no one remaining who stood a good chance of killing Tom.

In short, a Death-spiral.

The best outcome had already long-since passed them by, as Marida, blinded by spite for her younger sister, had killed Hanameh’s grand-daughter.

Now Grant, inspired by Hanameh, was desperately throwing his entire body to the winds of fate in order to bring about the next best outcome he could find. Something that was merely awful, and not genocidal.

“Ah. The last of the Cursemark has burned away,” Raze said, his gaze landing on Grant and Vendrith, neither of whom was in any condition to move. “I’m no longer compelled not to kill you.”

“B-Before you go about acting on your decision,” Grant stammered as Death began stalking towards him. “I was hoping I could talk to you for a moment.”

“Nothing an En’hol does is without purpose. You wish to stall,” Raze said, lifting his hand, finger poised to snap and tear Grant into chunks.

“Yes, but! Did you know there are extradimensional Alia?” Grant said, his voice breaking as he powered through the visions of being dismembered. He didn’t even listen to what he was saying, just letting the words flow off his tongue that lead down that narrow path where the Deraan empire survived.

Come on, Tom, what are you waiting for?

“How can you kill all the Alia when there are Kinzena outposts across the multiverse?”

“I’ll go there, kill them.” Raze said.

“Yes, but what about the ones you don’t know about?” There’s a nearly infinite number of them out there, because over the last few thousand years, those outposts surely made their own secret outposts. What about Earth? Its people have uncovered the secret of creating Alia -really!?- what are you going to do about them? If Alia can just be created, they can always just come back. Seems to me like your task might be impo-urk!”

Grant’s yammering was cut off as Raze’s huge fist clamped down around his neck, lifting him off the ground.

He peered into Grant’s eyes. “The only thing I can do is to try my best.”

“Your best is quite a lot.” Grant croaked.

“Indeed.” Raze said, lifting his hand. Grant tensed, his eyes closed. Moment of truth. Please, please, please….

Raze froze in place, his fingers slackening around Grant’s neck.

“Hanameh,” Grant heard the giant whisper, before he vanished, allowing Grant to slump to the ground.

“Oh, thank all the gods in every constellation and the emperor and mommy!” Grant groaned, collapsing into a formless puddle on the ground as the adrenaline began leaving his body.

Can’t rest now. We might be on a better path, but it isn’t over. Rally, Grant RALLY!!

Grant stifled a girlish scream as he climbed to his feet, accidentally moving his broken shoulder blade. He began staggering towards the door to the hall, pausing when he heard some wretched coughing behind him.

He glanced over his shoulder and spotted Vendrith climbing to his hands and knees, spitting out blood and fragments of teeth as he did so.

Vendrith glanced up at Grant.

“The Omnipresent thanks you, boy.” He said, his voice hoarse.

“The Omnipresent isn’t here right now,” Grant spat, unable to hide the scorn he felt for the power-hungry coward. “You should start running before he gets back.”

Vendrith paled, then blinked out of existence.

Good riddance, Grant thought, turning away. Now he had to convince The Butcher of the Dinamore Stretch to be lenient.

Being the Omniscient sucks, Grant thought with a scowl as he saw himself being torn apart by the vengeful demon a dozen different ways.

He turned his feet toward the danger, and began limping forward.

***Tom Graves****

Tom cursed and stalked the woods in mindless fury, and gradually his rage began to fade, allowing him to actually see the forest for the trees.

What can I do now? He thought, collapsing onto the ground, his back resting against the rough surface of an evergreen. What can I do right NOW?

Tom’s heart skipped a beat as a thought occurred to him. Before it had only been a hypothetical, but now, he was seriously considering it.

Can I duplicate a human being?

22.7 soul pulses to the pound.

Ellie weighs 20 pounds.

That’s only four hundred and fifty four!

Tom withdrew the Soul Engine from his pocket.

It practically sizzled with power. It’d likely been overflowing for some time now, as the wratz’got had been rather enthusiastic.

Tom knew its capacity was somewhere around 700 SP.

Could this actually work? Tom could scarcely believe it was a possibility, but…he had to try.

Thump!

Tom drew the soul pulses into his body, his heart staggering under the strain, entire body sizzling and burning from the inside as he drew in more soul pulses than he’d ever held in his entire life.

I’ve been exercising my capacity this entire time. It better freaking pay off.

Tom could taste blood and smell smoke when the Soul Engine was empty. The instant the hefty golden disc was empty, Tom’s eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped to the ground.

…

The wind rolled gently through the forest, ruffling the ragged hair on the sunburnt man’s head.

A few minutes went by, and a bear followed its nose to the sleeping human. The creature’s nose twitched as it sniffed the sleeping meal. A moment later, it froze, then turned and bolted away as it felt the dangerous power coursing inside the tasty meal.

****DREAM***

Tom had plenty of time to think about what he was going to do, as Ellie had been killed at the end of nearly twenty-four hours of Tom being awake.

His first instinct was to ride Carol’s shoulder and storm the En’hol mansion the instant they let the ‘morkels’ into the city, but he dismissed that idea when he realized it was not the quickest way to get to Ellie.

Not even close.

Tom didn’t have to worry about Raze’s inevitable homicidal killing spree in his dream. Not as long as it didn’t happen until after he got what he wanted out of the giant.

With that in mind, Tom changed the script of the previous day. Shortly after waking, he prepared himself, then pulled out Raze’s business card and jotted down a quick message.

Less than a minute later, Raze appeared in front of him.

“Took you long e-“

“Don’t act.” Tom spoke, circulating his power through the cursemark.

Raze froze in place.

“You are forbidden from harming me or my daughter, or by inaction allowing us to be harmed.” Thanks Asimov.

“Take me to the En’hol mansion, second floor, west wing, second room on the right from the main staircase. Once we have arrived, stay there.

Once that was done, Tom revoked his first command.

“This is irritating,” Raze muttered, grasping Tom’s shoulder.

“Tell me about it,” Tom replied, limbering up his revolver.

In the blink of an eye, Tom and Raze arrived in the wet-nurse’s room.

In the corner of the room, the wet nurse was crawling away with a bleeding split lip. The young woman was clutching her face, watching the center of the room with wide eyes.

In the center of Ellie’s room was Marida En’hol. The old crone was holding his daughter in her lap, glock pressed tight against the wiggling baby’s chest.

Tom rubbed his temples.

Fucking En’hols.

“Do you have to continue being a pain in my ass?” Tom demanded, his ire beginning to grow. “You already escaped in the real world. What more do you want?”

“I might have escaped in the real world.” Marida said with a shrug. “The way I saw it was a fifty-fifty, for some reason.

Marida leaned back in her seat, looking Tom up and down.

“So you’re the past reader? That wretched failure spawned from Hanameh’s pride and Raze’s stupidity. A potentially valuable biological curiosity, but hardly dangerous, is what we decided. You’ve done well for yourself.”

“Hardly dangerous?” Tom asked, cocking his head. “You’re the one who ran away from me. Like a bitch.”

The Omniscient’s eyes narrowed.

“Yes, there’s more to your ability, isn’t there? You can pull things out of the past and into the present.” she said, her eyes widening as she listened to herself speak. “Otherwise, why would you have engaged in such a desperate bid to reach your girl if I’d already killed her? To say goodbye? Few would torture themselves like that.”

She glanced over at where the giant stood motionlessly beside Tom.

“You must’ve duplicated Raze’s Cursemark somehow. I know for a fact Vendrith still has his, and its effectiveness has long since diminished. You’re treating Raze like a puppet.”

Tom didn’t bother to dignify the woman with a response.

“Alright, boy,” Marida said. “I’ve got a deal for you.”

“Go on.” Tom said.

“Pull me and your daughter into your present, and I’ll give her back to you.”

“Okay,” Tom lied, shrugging. As soon as he made physical contact with Ellie, he’d won. There was no fucking way he’d bring The Omniscient along, and how would she stop him from only taking the baby? She couldn’t dictate what he selected with his power.

“But you’re going to have to give me some kind of guarantee that you’re not going to shoot me the instant we arrive in the present.” Tom said, so he didn’t appear suspiciously agreeable.

“I don’t see how you have a choice.” Marida responded.

“Listen, if you think I’m going to trust someone who killed their brother, lobotomized their sister and murdered a defenseless baby, you’re dead wrong. Give me something to work with, here.”

“You want something to work with?” Marida asked, adjusting the glock to Ellie’s temple. “How about a countdown before you see your daughter’s brains on the floor?”

“Okay, okay!” Tom said, raising his hands. “I’ll take you now, okay?” Tom said, hoping he came across as desperate enough. He was pretty desperate.

Excellent, now she’ll let me get close enough to rip Ella out.

Tom edged forward and put his hand on Marida’s shoulder, blocking her peripheral vision.

With the other, he grabbed the glock and yanked the slide back, twisting as he did, breaking the old woman’s finger.

Marida gave a wordless howl as Tom moved his hand from her shoulder to Ellie’s crown.

Come back to me, Ellie!

RIIIIPPP!

A gnarled hand clamped around his wrist, and Tom saw the old woman’s victorious sneer an instant before he was injected with more power than he could ever hope to contain, spilling out of him in every direction.

The ripping sensation became a deafening howl as spacetime was torn with all the subtlety of a nuclear strike.

RIIIIP!

***AWAKE***

BOOM!

Tom and Ellie were flung across the clearing by violent eddies of spacetime. Tom barely had enough time to wrap himself around the bawling infant before his back impacted against a tree knocking the wind out of him.

Ellie bawled, crying at the top of her lungs as Tom hit the ground, cradling her head and torso as best he could.

A wood flooring, a chair, part of the wet-nurse, a couple books and baby toys rained down over the forest.

Across the tiny clearing, Marida En’hol pushed herself to her feet, her eyes following a glimmer of light in the air, flickering in the moonlight, which buried itself under the leaf cover beside a tree.

The glock!

Tom set Ellie down and scrambled forward, hitting the little old lady across the chest with a flying tackle. They tumbled across the forest floor in a thrashing heap, sending dirt and leaves scattering in every direction. Gunn knew every dirty trick in the book, but Tom was pretty sure Marida came up with some new ones on the spot.

His aunt kicked like a mule and bit like a crocodile, aiming for every sensitive part of his body with total abandon.

She managed to dislodge him when her teeth tore off a piece of his ear, causing Tom to stagger away, clutching his shredded ear as blood dribbled down the side of his face.

When Tom blinked through the haze of tears, he spotted Marida already ten feet away, diving forward, her arm sinking under the leaf covering.

Tom staggered forward, intending to tackle the evil bitch again.

Before he made it three steps forward, her arm whipped up, bearing the leaf-plastered pistol in her hand.

She’d known exactly where it was, because of course she did.

Tom froze. He was completely dry of soul-pulses to power his ring of protection. She had him dead to rights.

“This is what it means to face the Omniscient,” she sneered, pulling the trigger.

Click.

Marida paled, her jaw hanging slack.

“You didn’t notice Raze stealing the bullets out of the gun, did you?” Tom asked as he stalked forward, leaning over and picking up a big rock. “That’s okay, I didn’t the first time, either.”

Marida tried to stand. “Wai-“

And so it was that The Omniscient was beat to death in the middle of an alien forest with a big fucking rock.

Once he was sure she wasn’t getting back up, Tom limped back to his baby, picking her up and holding her until she calmed down.

“Come on, Ellie.” Tom said, limping away from the scene of carnage. “Let’s see if we can’t find a highway.”