Kael lunged forward with his knife raised high.

"If you need more power, take mine!" he shouted, driving the blade toward his own chest.

"NO!" Emma screamed, her silver glow flickering as she spun around.

Marcus caught Kael’s wrist just inches from his heart. Even though the old wizard looked weak and tired, his grip was like iron.

"Stop, you fool!" Marcus gasped. "You’ll kill her!"

"What are you talking about?" Kael struggled against Marcus’s hold. "Emma needs power. I’m giving her mine."

"That’s not how it works," Marcus said, slowly pushing the knife away. "Your connection to Emma is what keeps her human. If you die, she becomes something else entirely."

Emma’s light started pulsing wildly. "What do you mean?"

The Necro-Sovereign watched them with interest, like a cat watching mice fight.

"Your father’s love is an anchor," Marcus explained, breathing hard. "It ties you to your humanity. Without that anchor, your power would grow unlimited, but you’d lose yourself completely."

"Then let me cut the anchor," Kael said desperately. "If unlimited power can stop this thing, Emma should have it."

"Dad, no!" Emma’s voice cracked. "I won’t let you die for me."

"And I won’t let you suffer for me," Kael shot back. "Look at yourself, Emma. You’re breaking apart."

Emma glanced down at her hands. He was right. Her skin was starting to look transparent, like she was becoming a ghost herself.

"The power is too much for a human body," Future Emma said quietly. "In my timeline, I held onto my connections to people. It saved my sanity but limited my strength."

"And in mine," Shadow Emma added grimly, "I let go of everyone I loved. I became powerful enough to reshape reality, but I also became a monster."

"There has to be a third option," Emma said.

"There is," the Necro-Sovereign interrupted with a cruel smile. "Join me. Together we can share the burden of ultimate power."

"Never," Emma snarled.

"Then you’ll have to choose," Marcus said sadly. "Stay human and weak, or become powerful and lose yourself."

Kael raised his knife again. "The choice is simple. I die, Emma gets the power she needs, and everyone else lives."

"It’s not that simple!" Marcus blocked him again. "Emma, tell him. Tell him what you’re really afraid of."

Emma’s glow dimmed. She looked at the ground, tears falling like silver raindrops.

"I’m afraid," she whispered, "that if I let go of my love for Dad, I’ll stop caring about saving anyone."

"What?" Kael lowered his knife, confused.

"My love for you is what makes me want to protect people," Emma explained. "If I give that up to get more power, what if I stop caring about the innocent people dying? What if I become just as bad as the Necro-Sovereign?"

"That won’t happen," Kael said firmly. "You’re too good."

"How do you know?" Emma’s voice got louder. "Shadow Emma was good too, but look what she became!"

"I became that way because I tried to save everyone at once," Shadow Emma said. "The pain drove me crazy, not the power itself."

"Same result," Emma said bitterly.

The space around them shuddered as more cracks appeared in reality. Through them, Emma could see entire cities burning while mad people attacked each other.

"We’re running out of time," Battle-Scarred Emma warned. "The collapse is speeding up."

Kael grabbed Emma’s shoulders. "Listen to me. I’d rather die knowing I helped save the world than live watching it end."

"And I’d rather find another way than lose my father," Emma replied.

"Sometimes there is no other way!"

"There’s always another way!"

They glared at each other, both breathing hard. Emma had never fought with her dad like this before.

"You’re being selfish," Kael said coldly.

Emma’s mouth fell open. "Selfish?"

"Yes. You’re choosing one person over billions."

"That one person is you!"

"So what? My life isn’t worth more than anyone else’s."

"It is to me!" Emma shouted, her power flaring so bright everyone had to shield their eyes.

When the light faded, Emma was floating three feet off the ground. Her hair moved like she was underwater, and her eyes were pure silver.

"Emma," Marcus said carefully, "you need to calm down."

"I am calm," Emma said, but her voice echoed strangely. "I’m just tired of everyone telling me what I should sacrifice."

The Necro-Sovereign clapped its hands slowly. "Excellent. Let the anger flow through you. It makes you stronger."

"Shut up," Emma snapped at it, then turned back to Kael. "Dad, I understand you want to help. But I won’t let you die. End of discussion."

"It’s not your choice to make," Kael said stubbornly.

"Yes, it is. I’m the one with the power here."

"Power doesn’t give you the right to control other people’s decisions."

Emma’s glow got brighter and angrier. "It does when those decisions are stupid."

"Emma!" Marcus warned. "Listen to yourself. You’re starting to sound like—"

"Like what?" Emma whirled on him.

"Like someone who thinks they know better than everyone else," Marcus finished quietly.

The words hit Emma like a slap. She looked around at everyone’s faces. Kael looked hurt. Marcus looked worried. The other versions of herself looked afraid.

Of her.

"I’m not..." Emma started to say, then stopped. Was she becoming the kind of person who forced others to do what she wanted?

"This is exactly what I was talking about," Future Emma said gently. "The power changes how you think. It makes you believe you should make all the decisions."

"But if I don’t make the hard choices, who will?" Emma asked desperately.

"We all will," Kael said. "Together. Like a family."

"Families don’t let each other die needlessly!"

"And they don’t force each other to live in cages either."

Emma stared at him. "A cage?"

"That’s what you’re doing, Emma. You’re so afraid of losing me that you’re trying to lock me up in safety. But that’s not living. That’s just existing."

Emma felt her anger wavering. "I just want to keep you safe."

"I know. And I love you for it. But sometimes keeping someone safe means letting them take risks for things that matter."

"You matter more than anything," Emma whispered.

Kael’s expression softened. "And you matter more to me than my own life. That’s why I’m willing to give it up to save you."

Emma floated down to the ground, her glow fading back to normal. "There has to be another way."

"Maybe there is," Marcus said thoughtfully. "But it would require something none of us have tried yet."

"What?"

"Sharing the power three ways. Between you, Kael, and me."

Emma blinked. "Is that possible?"

"I don’t know. But if it works, you’d keep your humanity through Kael’s connection, get extra strength from my magic, and still be yourself."

"And if it doesn’t work?"

Marcus smiled grimly. "Then we all die together instead of leaving you to face this alone."

"That’s not better!"

"It is to us," Kael said.

The Necro-Sovereign laughed. "How touching. But you’re too late for experiments."

It raised its hand, and the air filled with screaming voices. Thousands of souls appeared around them - all the people it had stolen over the centuries.

"My army is complete," the Necro-Sovereign announced. "Every soul I’ve collected is now under my control. Including..."

Two familiar figures stepped out from the crowd of souls.

Emma’s heart stopped.

It was her parents. But their eyes were glowing red, and they were walking toward her with their hands stretched out like claws.

"Mom? Dad?" Emma backed away in horror.

"They can’t hear you," the Necro-Sovereign said happily. "They belong to me now. Just like you will in about thirty seconds."

Emma’s mother opened her mouth and spoke, but it was the Necro-Sovereign’s voice that came out.

"Hello, daughter. Why don’t you give your mother a hug?"

Emma looked at her possessed parents, at Kael raising his knife again, at Marcus preparing one last spell, at the collapsing realities around them.

She had maybe twenty seconds to decide: try the three-way power sharing, let Kael sacrifice himself, or face her own parents in battle.

But as she opened her mouth to choose, something even worse happened.

The souls of her recently disappeared family members appeared behind the Necro-Sovereign.

Grandma Rose, Thomas, Sarah, David, and little Lucy.

All of them with glowing red eyes.

All of them under the enemy’s control.

"Choose quickly, Emma," the Necro-Sovereign said through her grandmother’s mouth. "Fight us, and destroy everyone you love. Join us, and save them all."

Emma realized with growing horror that every choice led to the same result.

She would have to hurt the people she loved most.

There was no way to win without becoming the villain in someone’s story.

And she had ten seconds to decide which villain she was willing to become.