Emma lunged at the insane version of herself, but Marcus grabbed her arm and yanked her backward.

"Don’t touch her!" he shouted. "If two versions of the same person make contact, both realities will collapse!"

The crazy Emma giggled and clapped her hands. "Oh, Marcus remembers his time-walking rules! Too bad he’s too late to save anyone."

"What do you mean too late?" Emma demanded, struggling against Marcus’s grip.

"Because I already told the Necro-Sovereign how to win," the insane Emma sang. "I gave it the one piece of information it needed to destroy everything!"

The Necro-Sovereign’s bony face split into a terrible grin. "Thank you for that, my broken little puppet."

Emma felt her heart racing. "What did she tell you?"

"The location of the Original Death," the monster whispered. "The very first death that ever happened in any universe."

Marcus went pale. "No. That’s impossible. The Original Death was hidden—"

"In the center of the first star that ever died," the Necro-Sovereign finished. "And now I’m going to resurrect it."

Before anyone could react, the monster opened a portal and vanished, taking the insane Emma with it.

"We have to stop it!" Emma started to follow, but Marcus grabbed her again.

"Wait. You need to understand what we’re really fighting." He held up his hand, and suddenly the space around them filled with moving pictures.

"These are memories from the Necro-Sovereign’s original universe," Marcus explained. "I’ve been collecting them during my time travels."

Emma watched in horror as the visions unfolded.

She saw a world that looked almost like Earth, except nobody ever got old. Children stayed children forever. Adults never aged past their prime. Nobody ever died from sickness or accidents.

At first, it seemed wonderful.

"It looks perfect," Kael said, confused.

"Keep watching," Emma’s mother warned sadly.

The vision changed. Now Emma could see the same people, but thousands of years later. The children were still children, but their eyes were empty and cold. They had learned everything there was to learn, played every game that existed, and now they just sat around staring at nothing.

The adults were worse. Some were screaming and hitting their heads against walls. Others had gone completely silent, like living statues.

"When people can’t die," Marcus explained, "life stops having meaning. These people had been alive for millions of years. They remembered every single day of their endless lives."

Emma shivered. "That sounds like torture."

"It was. They begged their leaders to find a way to let them die. But nobody knew how. Death had never existed in their universe."

The vision showed scientists working desperately to create something they had never seen before. They built machines designed to end life permanently. They tested poisons and weapons, but nothing worked. Their bodies just healed instantly.

"So they made the Necro-Sovereign," Emma’s mother said quietly.

"Not made," Marcus corrected. "They fed all their pain and desperation to a single volunteer. That person absorbed every bit of suffering from billions of immortal souls."

The vision showed a normal-looking person walking into a giant machine. When they came out, they had become the star-skeleton monster Emma now feared.

"The Necro-Sovereign gained the power to create death," Marcus continued. "But the process drove it completely insane. Instead of giving people peaceful endings, it began torturing them with horrible deaths."

Emma watched as the monster rampaged through its own universe. It didn’t just kill people - it made them experience dying over and over again, trapping their souls in endless loops of agony.

"The people fought back," Kael observed, watching armies try to battle the Necro-Sovereign.

"But they couldn’t win," Marcus said sadly. "The monster had become too powerful. So they made a terrible choice."

The vision showed the survivors of that universe gathering together. They looked exhausted and broken.

"They decided to destroy everything," Emma whispered, understanding.

"Their entire reality. Every star, every planet, every living thing. They thought if they destroyed the universe completely, the Necro-Sovereign would die with it."

Emma watched as the people worked together to create the biggest explosion she could imagine. Their universe folded in on itself and vanished.

"But the Necro-Sovereign survived," Emma guessed.

"It hid in the space between universes, feeding on the dying thoughts of its victims. For billions of years, it planned its revenge."

"Revenge against who?" Kael asked.

"Against life itself," Emma’s mother answered. "It blames all living things for creating it. Now it wants to turn every universe into the same nightmare its home became."

Emma felt sick. "So when it resurrects everyone who ever died..."

"They won’t be able to die again," Marcus nodded. "Just like in the original universe. Everyone will be trapped in eternal life, slowly going insane."

"And I’m the key to making it happen," Emma realized. "My power can bring back the dead on a massive scale."

"That’s why it needed your bloodline," her mother explained. "Ordinary resurrection magic can only bring back a few people at a time. But your family’s genes were altered over generations to handle unlimited power."

Emma sank to her knees. Everything made horrible sense now. Her entire life had been planned by a monster that wanted to torture every living being in existence. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"I can’t do this," she whispered. "How can I fight something that powerful?"

"You’re stronger than you think," Kael said, kneeling beside her. "You brought me back from death. You broke free from that bubble prison. You can do this."

"But what if I become like the insane version of me? What if trying to save everyone just makes things worse?"

That’s when the trapped souls started speaking in her mind again:

The Original Death isn’t just the first death.

It’s also the first peace.

If you can reach it before the Necro-Sovereign does...

You can learn how to give people the choice between life and death.

True choice, not forced immortality.

Emma looked up at Marcus. "The Original Death - where exactly is it?"

"Inside the first star that ever died. But Emma, that star is in the center of a black hole. Nothing can survive getting close to it."

"Nothing alive," Emma said slowly. "But what about someone who’s already died?"

Her mother’s eyes widened. "Emma, no. You can’t seriously be thinking—"

"If I die and then resurrect myself near the Original Death, maybe I can reach it before the Necro-Sovereign does."

"That’s suicide!" Kael shouted.

"It’s the only way to stop billions of people from suffering forever."

Emma stood up, silver light beginning to flow from her hands again. She had made her choice.

But before she could act, the space around them started shaking violently.

"It’s too late," Marcus said in horror, checking his time-walking devices. "The Necro-Sovereign reached the Original Death first."

Through the trembling air, they could hear the monster’s terrible laughter echoing across dimensions.

"I have it!" the Necro-Sovereign’s voice boomed everywhere at once. "The power to make death meaningless forever!"

Emma felt the change instantly. Her resurrection power began draining away, flowing toward the monster like water down a drain.

"What’s happening to me?" she gasped, falling to her knees as weakness flooded her body.

"It’s absorbing your abilities," her mother cried. "The Necro-Sovereign is stealing your power!"

Emma tried to hold onto her abilities, but they slipped away like sand through her fingers. Within seconds, she felt completely normal - no more silver light, no more connection to the dead, no more strength.

She was just a regular girl again.

"I’m powerless," she whispered in disbelief.

The Necro-Sovereign’s laughter grew louder. "Thank you for your service, little Emma. Now watch as I use your stolen power to resurrect everyone who has ever lived!"

The sky above them began to crack open. Through the holes, Emma could see countless souls pouring back into reality.

But something was wrong with them. They all had the same empty, tortured look as the people from the monster’s original universe.

"They’re already going insane," Marcus breathed.

Emma stared helplessly as billions of confused, suffering souls filled the space around them.

She had lost her power at the worst possible moment.

The Necro-Sovereign had won.

But then, just when all hope seemed lost, Emma heard a familiar voice behind her.

"Hey sis. Miss me?"

Emma spun around and gasped.

It was Shadow Emma, somehow alive again.

But she wasn’t alone.

Standing next to her were dozens of other Emmas from different timelines - some successful, some failed, some completely different from her.

"Surprise," Shadow Emma grinned. "Turns out when the Necro-Sovereign messes with the Original Death, it accidentally opens doorways between every timeline that ever existed."

One of the other Emmas stepped forward. This one was older and wore clothes that looked like they came from the future.

"We’re here to help," Future Emma said. "Because in my timeline, I learned something the Necro-Sovereign doesn’t know."

"What?" Emma asked desperately.

Future Emma smiled. "The Original Death isn’t just a source of power. It’s also a trap. And the monster just walked right into it."