It was beautiful. Tempting.
And absolutely terrifying in its perfection.
"The alternative," the center Harbinger continued, "is chaos. Release the stolen power, and watch as vengeful gods tear apart everything you've tried to protect. Your world, your people, your precious companions, all consumed by divine rage that has been building for millennia."
More visions, these ones darker. Cities burning under the wrath of returned deities. Humanity enslaved or worse, sacrificed on altars to gods who remembered when mortals knew their place. My four Keys dying horribly, their last words accusations of my selfishness.
The competing futures crashed against my mind like waves against a cliff, each one more convincing than the last. The responsible choice was obvious, take the power, become the Oracle, save everyone from the consequences of true freedom.
But then I felt it. The bonds connecting me to Rook, Zane, Milo, and Fenric pulsed with golden light, cutting through the Harbingers' manipulations like blades. Their love, their trust, their absolute faith in my ability to choose correctly. It all flowed through those connections, reminding me who I really was beneath the cosmic power.
I was Winter Greene. Messy, stubborn, occasionally reckless Winter Greene who'd rather fail trying to do the right thing than succeed by taking the easy path.
"You're right about one thing," I looked directly at the center Harbinger, letting them see the determination in my eyes. "The choice is approaching fast. But you're wrong about there being only one ending."
I stepped toward the empty pedestal at the center of the circle, feeling my companions move with me. The Oracle's mark on my forehead blazed brighter with each step, the stolen power in my veins singing with anticipation.
"There's always a third option," I continued, my voice growing stronger as I approached the moment of truth. "Always another way, if you're brave enough to take it."
The Harbingers remained motionless, but I could feel their attention intensifying. They knew, just as I did, that we were approaching the crocendo point. The moment when everything would change.
The temple around us began to tremble, reality itself holding its breath as the final confrontation approached.
The choice was coming.
They weren't going to like it.
Chapter
Sixty-Six
Winter
The Harbingers attacked without warning.
Not physically. They struck at something deeper, more fundamental. Reality itself became their weapon as they unleashed power that dwarfed everything I'd encountered before.
The temple chamber exploded into chaos. The weeping statues cracked and bled silver light. The floor beneath our feet buckled and writhed like living flesh. The air itself screamed as the Harbingers' stolen divinity lashed out in waves of pure destruction.
I looked at my four Keys, knowing what I had to do.
"I love you," I whispered, and with a thought, wrapped them in protective barriers of blue light and sent them flying backward, out of the chamber, away from what was about to happen.
Their shouts of protest echoed behind them as they tumbled through corridors that suddenly stretched like taffy, distance becoming meaningless under my will. Only Horrace remainedbeside me, my power unable to touch him, sliding off his interdimensional nature like water off stone.
He planted himself between me and the Harbingers, wings spread wide, twelve eyes blazing with defiant silver fire.
The center Harbinger raised one pale hand toward me. "You make this more difficult than necessary."
I dodged, instinctively calling upon powers I didn't fully understand. Time bent around my fingers as I reached out and grabbed hold of possibility itself. The Harbinger's attack slowed, then reversed, then scattered into probability dust.
But the left Harbinger was already moving, its form blurring as it closed the distance between us. Its fingers brushed against my arm.
The touch burned like acid through my veins. Not physical pain, something worse. I felt centuries pile onto my bones in an instant. My skin wrinkled, my hair went white, my joints seized with the weight of millennia. The Harbinger was aging me, trying to compress my entire lifespan into a heartbeat.
I screamed.
The sound shattered every statue in the chamber simultaneously. Fragments of starlight exploded outward like shrapnel as my voice tore through dimensions. The aging effect reversed violently, snapping me back to my proper age with enough force to send the Harbinger stumbling backward.
