The Grey seam tore open in the cold, alien architecture of Alyssara's sanctum, a stable, quiet assertion of my will against a reality that no longer had a master. On the other side, I could sense the familiar, anxious, thrumming energy of the Kagu Ancestral Estate – the place I had designated as "home" for this entire, desperate operation.
I took one last, long look at the still, silent form on the floor, at the face of Emma, now peaceful in death, her tortured existence finally over. I deliberately sealed that memory, that lifetime of pain and grief, away. I had made my choice in that final, agonizing moment. The past was settled. It was done. Now, there was only the cold, heavy, and unfamiliar weight of my new Divinity, and an exhaustion so profound it felt as if it had settled into my very bones, into my soul.
I stepped through the portal.
