Chapter 360

Daphne

I look at the tiny steps leading up the cliff face and start to run.

My heart races. Please, please, please.

I’m too slow.

I use the ability,Panther’s Grace and suddenly the world sharpens, my muscles coil, and I’m jumping, climbing, moving at inhuman speed. The rocks blur beneath my hands. The wind screams in my ears.

But when I get to the top—

It’s too late.

I make eye contact with the love of my life.

There’s a knife in her chest.

Her pretty yellow dress,the one I helped her pick this morning, the one that matches her eyes—stains red immediately. Spreading. Blooming. Drowning.

My whole world collapses.

I don’t think. I just move.

I shove Elliot. Hard. He flies sideways, his head cracking against the cliff wall. He crumples. Doesn’t move.

I catch Vivienne before she falls.

Her body is heavy in my arms. Too heavy. Wrong.

"Daphne." Her voice is small. Wet.

"Don’t talk." I press my hand against the wound. Blood pours between my fingers. Hot. Slick. Everywhere. "Don’t talk, don’t move, just—"

"It’s okay."

"It’s not okay."

I don’t know what to hold. The knife is still there—blaring, accusing, there. A stupid kitchen knife.

System!

I mentally scream, my eyes blurry, my hands shaking.

The world freezes. Color drains to black and white. The waterfall stops mid-fall. The birds hang in the air. Vivienne’s blood is suspended on my hands, dark and glistening.

The purple orb appears in front of me, pulsing slowly in the monochrome silence.

What can I do?! Anything I can buy!

The System doesn’t respond.

TELL ME!!!

I scream. My voice is raw. Broken. The sound echoes in the frozen world.

[Host.] The System’s voice is quiet. Careful. [The wound is fatal. There is nothing in the store that can—]

There has to be something! A healing potion! A time reversal! Anything!

[Host—]

I don’t care what it costs! I don’t care about the points! I don’t care about the mission! I don’t care about anything except her!

The System is silent for a long moment.

[Nothing can be done, Host.]

No!

[Host, this is the first mid-tier world. I cannot go against the world seed.]

No! There has to be something!

I think about it. Desperate. Grasping.

That’s right! The time reversal scroll!

[Even if we used it, time can only be turned back five seconds.] It says.

Let’s upgrade it.

I’m pleading now.

[Host, the do-over scroll can turn back time five seconds at tier one. You would still be too late. The knife is already in her chest. The damage is already done.]

I stare at the frozen world. At Vivienne’s blood suspended in the air. At the knife, still buried in her chest.

[Host, it costs 25,000 SP to reach tier two. You cannot afford that. You cannot borrow or credit enough system points. Since this is the first mid-tier world you have tackled, your credit limit only goes up to 10,000 SP.]

You’re telling me to watch my wife and child die?

The System doesn’t respond.

I open the store myself. Scroll through it frantically. My fingers tremble. My vision blurs.

Look—there’s a teleportation scroll here. I could turn back time and teleport her to a hospital—

[It won’t work.]

Why not?!

[Abilities that work against the nature of the world cannot be expressed.]

I scroll faster. Healing potions. Resurrection stones. I scan the prices, the requirements, the limitations. Nothing I can afford. Nothing that would change the situation.

Nothing.

"Am I supposed to watch her die?" I speak out loud. My voice cracks. Breaks. Shatters.

The System is silent for a long moment.

[...I’m sorry, Host.]

I close my eyes.

I open my eyes.

Color returns. The world rushes back—the waterfall, the birds,Vivienne is in my arms.

Her blood is on my hands.

Her eyes are open, barely, looking up at me.

"Daphne."

"Shh." I press my hand harder against the wound. It doesn’t help. Nothing helps. "Don’t talk."

She raises her hand. Her fingers are trembling, weak, but she reaches up and holds my cheek. Wipes away my tears.

I didn’t even notice I was crying.

"Of course." She smiles. It’s faint, fading, but real. "Even when you’re crying, you’re so pretty."

I lean my head into her palm. Her skin is cold. Too cold.

"I’m sorry." The words tumble out, broken, desperate. "I never should have left you alone. I should have been here with you. I should have—"

"Stop." Her thumb brushes my cheekbone.

"If I hadn’t gone to that meeting—"

"It’s okay." Her voice is barely a whisper. Her hand falls from my cheek.

No.

No.

No.

"It’s not okay." My voice cracks. Splinters. Falls apart.

"I love you." Her eyes are blinking slowly. Too slowly. Like she’s fighting to keep them open. "I love you, Daphne."

"I love you too, baby." I hold her tighter. "I love you. I love you. I love you."

The words fall from my lips like a prayer, like a plea, like the only truth I’ve ever known.

"I don’t want to die, Daphne." Tears slip down her cheeks, mixing with the blood on her dress, on my hands, on everything.

"I’m so scared."

My tears fall onto her face. I don’t know what to do. I can’t fix this. I can’t save her. I can’t do anything but hold her.

"I’m sorry." It’s all I can say. "I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry."

"You remember what we said." Her voice is barely audible now. "About other lives."

I nod. My throat is too tight to speak.

"I’ll search for you." Her fingers twitch against my chest. "This can’t possibly be the end."

"It’s not." I press my lips to her forehead. Feel how cold her skin has become. "It’s not the end."

"Promise me."

"I promise."

"You’ll find me?"

"Always." I hold her closer. "In every life. In every world. I will always find you."

She smiles. It’s the smallest thing. The most beautiful thing.

"I’ll wait for you," she says.

"I love you, Daphne." She says it again, like she’s afraid I’ll forget. Like she’s trying to make sure the words are the last thing I hear.

"I love you, Viv." My voice breaks. "I love you so much."

But she doesn’t respond.

Her chest doesn’t rise. Her eyes don’t open. Her hand doesn’t squeeze mine.

I realize then that she’s gone cold.

I can’t help the scream that tears out of me.I hold her body close. The pain is absolute. Destroying.

"Don’t leave me," I whisper into her hair. "Please. Don’t leave me."