Well, we know who Endless is, how will this affect the Vaanti and the following course of the book. Let's find out.
Yvonne and Taylor starts running and are soon found out by Estela, Jake and the Shaman, oh by the way, his name is Uquazaal. Did I tell you that?, oh well. The volcano erupts and they enter a time rift for some time to evade it. After it's passing they come out and surprise surprise Endless shows himself again. This time Jake, Estela and Uquazaal also finds out. Uquazaal lashes out at Endless in anger and ran away (intense foreshadowing). The rest of the group plans to find the others and start over. They go to a market and after spending a night, helping people with some trade and knowing about their friends location who have camped nearby. They meet with Diego, Raj, Varynn and Michelle. We cheer Raj up and he is about get the foods up, just at that time Bad guys aka Pirates attack the town. We come to know that it's Yvonne's former partner Malatesta. Yvonne has a bet with him. We win and we get his ship. On the ship, Taylor finds Quinn. And he hugs he passionately both melting in each other's embrace. After a few moments that felt like eternity, they reluctantly let each other go. Quinn informs them that the island's heart hasn't been responding ever since the incident and Malatesta was the one who saved her. Taylor is so greatful towards him that he lets her keep Yvonne's Cutlass which was his to begin with by the way. Soon on the journey, the group spots Arachnids' speedboat. On it, are Sean and Craig captured and Aleister is over them keeping an eye. Along with Mike as his bodyguard. They decide to raid the speedboat (I don't know how they can keep up with a speedboat and a ship since I've never been in any of them but being a reader I've long thrown logic away). After some action, they are able to rescue Sean and Craig and even drag Aleister to their ship. Mike comes to his rescue after a huffle between Mike and Jake, it seemed like Mike remembered something but is quickly gone. He shakes off Jake. Aleister commands him to stay and is about to leave when Sean talks to him and tries to make him rethink his actions. It seemed like it will work but Aleister decides otherwise. Though he will remember this conversation.
After Mike and Aleister leave, the group meets properly but there are still missing people. After this, some of them go on a little excursion on the lifeboats and danger arrives again. Cetus Strikes Back (I'm telling you, this guy is a sore loser. This is third time for god's sake). But this time, things were different. Taylor had no weapons, no plan, no backup and really nothing at his disposal to escape this situation alive but. Malatesta noticed that Cetus was searching for Raj's bag. He quickly pick out the Island's heart and threw it towards him. And Cetus went away after devouring it. Well, they did escape with there life but they lost the thing that they fought to protect in last book altogether. After this, they returned to the ships and land somewhere on a shore near forest. On further exploration, they find a person set up a camp there. On talking to him, his name's Kele and he is a World War 2 veteran, who is supposedly still in year 1940 (since Island is a patchwork of timelines). They also discover a ruin. A tomb of sort and decides to explore it. And it had clear signs that Zahra was dead. Blood splattered on the wall. Her hair stuck on one side and traps that told how she died. Discovering this, Craig breaks down. Just then (this has happened before, it happens once for each character except MC but 2 are especially important to plot so I'll only tell those or maybe Quinn too since she's my favorite) a ghost like creature appears holding a ring. The group mistakes it for Zahra's spirit and Craig starts talking to it which doesn't go anywhere. Finally, it lends him a ring which gives him a vision of a probable future and he gains his fighting spirit back (Like I said it happens to each character). Just then Zahra appers and informs us that this was all a setup to fool Arachnids to think she died so they don't find her. Just after this, Endless appears again and informs the group about his identity also that there next stop should be Quartell. It's a place settled by the Vaanti's that were sent to the future in the first book as they can lead them to Rourke's lab and steal the other half of the heart from him so he cannot take over La Huerta's time energy. Before leaving, Taylor asks Endless if he is okay. For living this long and seeing all the friends die. He smiles and just says that he thought nothing could surprise him anymore. Anyway, they pick her and Kele up (I know Taylor is cursing the guy from very bottom of his heart because Quinn keeps hitting on him... Playfully, well I don't know). They reach Quartel soon and meet a person who gives them a test and asks them to find the place. Varynn stays outside, Taylor with his amazing precognition finds the place. They go in, somethings happen, Taylor has a drink offered by someone and Uquazaal shows up. Now, he made it pretty clear that he hates the Catalysts and starts to influence the entire Quartel against them. Before he could say anything in his defence, Taylor feels his vision blur and gathers that his drink was spiked (To be honest, he is a light drinker, probably that's why. And yeah, he never drinks in the story. This was a first). After he wakes up. He finds himself with a person called the Clockmaker. She is the supposed leader of Quartel and informs him to not worry about his friends. They already know the truth and Uquazaal's influencing doesn't bother them. Also she informs him that his friends are safe. He meets them and they are shooed out. Now, the Clockmaker informs him that she will help him (That was easy, I thought there would be some game or something, like a quiz cometition). But before that, he has to answer one of her question ( Ahh darn it. I really shouldn't say anything). The question she asks is what does Time mean to Taylor. This has my favorite quote regarding time. "Time is a story we tell ourselves". Clockmaker is satisfied and opens a portel for them to enter, next morning. They go to Rourke's lab and enter the main chamber. And they are greeted by Iris. She threten to shoot them but Jake tells her of she dares to they will kill Rourke right now. Remember they are currently hiding and Iris can only check in CCTV as she is just and AI. She claims that Rourke was not seen entering and Jake's asks her to call his bluff. She deems the situation too dangerous and leaves but not before informing the security about their location. They save Varynn from the main room who was captured while waiting outside the Quartel and he informs them that Grace is on the next floor. They reach for her while evading the security and find her in a prison cell closed from inside. Grace has lost all hope but after some convincing and supernatural help she joins them back. They reach for the time rift again, but this time Mike is already guarding it. They also witness the machine that Rourke has made to utilize the power of the Island, they also find Aleister and takes him with them though they are still distrustful. Rourke powers the Omega mech and uses it to attack them. After some action, they escape taking Varynn, Grace, Mike, Aleister and the Island's heart but before they could reach Rourke hits them with time gun rays and sends them to other timeline. There they witness the birth of Vaangi creation. Long story short, they had to break a certain marraige, the part is boring so I'll skip it. They managed to do that and at the same time they are summoned back by the Clockmaker. They have a little celebration. They even find Poly here, the little blue fox if I haven't mentioned. And then the reality dawns on them. They need to beat Cetus... Again. With the help of Grace, Aleister and Clockmaker, they come up with a plan to build a Faraday's Cage around the Ship to protect themselves from Cetus' electricity and use all of their firepower, including the cannons on the ship, the weapons they have with themselves as well as the laser cannon to deal damage. They make preparations and Clockmaker also let them have some coms for communication. Sean who was injured was placed on Watchout to let the group know whenever Cetus approaches. And finally they do it. They use the other part of Island's heart to lure Cetus out but what they witness in front of them left them in Shambles. After devoring the Island's heart Cetus had grown to roughly twice his size along with two extra heads. He looks like a proper Hydra at this point. Cetus began it's assault and the group is in chaos. There planning has started to fail them but Taylor has something else up his sleeve. He rallys the group together and decides to pick each of Cetus' head one by one. They destroyed the first one by concentrating all the firepower from the cannon. Then they used the helicopter of the Quartell to battle the other head and destroyed it using a full powered attack from the Laser Cannon and finally Malatesta pulled one end of the Faraday's Cage and climbed atop Cetus' head and Directs it's own electricity to itself. Though he gets blown away, he survives. Finally, lying in the ruins of the ship, Estela dig out the Island's heart from Cetus' antenna. But rather than staying with her it flies over to Quinn and both the pieces merge together to form the complete sphere. It's spirit starts to arise in her and take over her actions completely. No matter what she tries, she cannot control. Everyone steps back except Taylor. He reaches out her, ignoring her plea for him to escape. He slowly takes her hand and hugs her but no matter what it doesn't subside just then (Here, the ghost appear again and hands Quinn something of her past and she gains control back). Controlling her actions and the Island's heart, Quinn falls unconscious in Taylor's arms. Afterwards, they decide to take the Heart where it belongs, to the core of Mount Atropo. The Clockmaker sends them to the furthest location she can (Mount Atropo cannot be accessed directly by no other being except the Endless because of string time currents). The place they reach to is a small Cabin. They use the pillows and blankets they can find to make a makeshift bed. They group suggests many ideas to spend the night together like playing various party games and all but as soon as they lay in the bed they all fell asleep (Guess killing a Frankenstein Sea Monster does have its side effects).
(This next part is Fan Fic and didn't actually happen).
Taylor prepares some cold coffee and hot chocolate and is standing in the balcony wearing nothing but a single T-shirt and jeans, looking at the aurora filled sky covering the ice filled scenery. When he feels a hand over his shoulder and Quinn standing beside him with a look of concern on her face. He gives a charming smile and hugs her lovingly. She notices that his hands have gone cold. She tries to lift up his T-shirt which he doesn't let her to do, rather he hugs her from behind but when he was doing so, Quinn notices the a gasp escape Taylor's mouth and realises sometging is wrong. She turned around and forcefully lifts up his T-shirt and notices a deep gash across his torso. Just as she saw it, she realises where that wound came from. It was from the time he stopped her. She was overwhelmed with remorse and broke out crying for hurting the person she loves the most and begrudgingly turned around to leave. When Taylor held her hand. "Don't leave Quinn. Not like this." He said. "But I was the reason you have that wound. It was because I lost control. I did this to you. I'm nothing but... But a Monster." She said while crying. Taylor pulled her close and hugged her again. He continued while holding her, "It wasn't your fault, I decided to protect you myself. It was my decision to make, even if I get hurt in the process, I won't leave your hand . I won't let you go astray. You are and always will be my Queen." Hearing those words, Quinn began to cry more frivolously, but Taylor didn't move a muscle, he knew what those tears symbolises, it was a promise of a bond that won't be broken. Not here, not anywhere. After that, both of them went inside to have a well deserved rest, together.
Amidst the darkness, just before breaking of dawn, Taylor woke up and in the distance just out of the cottage saw a bright light going away. He knew what it was, Fiddler stole the heart. He woke everyone up and they ran behind her, somehow they caught her at an edge of a cliff. After a bit of talking she was filled with remorse on betraying Jake in the past and warned the group about their enemies before jumping over the cliff. Jake and Mike are sad but accepting. They plan to go down the cliff using an elevator which is conveniently put their but it will require some time to charge up using Solar energy. So while they are waiting, Diego drags Taylor a little further from the cottage and the place left his eyes stunned. A frozen lake, decorations, music and most importantly friends. The group wanted to show their gratitude to him for always holding the group together and never cracking under pressure. This is also the time when Quinn proposes to him and he accepts. After this, they go down the elevator and into the mine where fiddler's body is lying. They decide to give her a proper burial and take her suit (because it has invisibility tech). There they find a dinosaur. Not a T-Rex. They one which a little over 7 feet and runs very fast . Yeah, that one. He was holding onto an orb, they notice an engraving in the wall and theorize that they need the orb. Taylor gets the orb using invisibility and they use it to open a path and went in. There Uquazal was trying to kill the Endless. After some useless attempts to convince him, he hits Endless with his staff (Dude's not dead yet but he will be). Just then Rourke enters the place in the Omega Mech while tracking the energy signatures and sends away Uquzal and his group through a portal. And takes away the Island's heart. In a futile attempt to stop him, Bannu tells Taylor that Rourke cannot complete the project because he still doesn't have the final piece and that he must be the one to find it first. And boom, Rourke goes away. Endless with his final words tells Taylor to not trust Rourke no matter what and kicks the bucket. The group goes back to Elystal and have a last party before doom. A festival called handfasting, something like a marraige festival where couples promise to love for a year and a day together and if they still love each other, they are married. Taylor and Quinn and Aleister and Grace are also Handfasted in the ceremony. After the festival, it's time to confront the truth, the time to go stop Rourke, the place where it all begin. Toward the Celestial. The group goes towards it, no army, nothing just the 12 catalyst and Varynn. At the Roof of Celestial, Rourke is harvesting the power of the heart which is unstoppable by conventional means. Even after pulling him out of the cockpit and threatening him on his life the dude just said that it cannot be overdone, Iris agrees, btw after getting released from Rourke's command. But Zahra is not giving in, she tries to hack the Mech but after many attempts is unsuccessful and ready to give up just when she sees the Vannu's spirit holding her Tablet from the past. Taylor hands it to her and she gets a glimpse of her future which is enough to motivate her and she finishes hacking the system just in the nick of time. Taylor walks forward to retrieve the heart and his consciousness is pulled away on another planet. There, he talks to Vannu face to face. And the biggest bombshell is dropped on us. Taylor is not human. He is someone who was never supposed to exist. The reason why Rourke cannot complete his project was because the Island's heart heart was incomplete and Taylor was the missing piece. The spirit residing in Quinn was looking for him all along, after knowing this, he had three ways to go. He can either Destroy the Omega Mech and stay on the island with Vaanti and his friends and the World is destroyed. He can either drain the heart into Omega Mech and take up Rourke's deal (He will get a family and all of them will be at the start of their first year in college). Or he can return himself to Vannu, The island won't exist anymore, nor will the rifts in time. Everything that happened including the destruction of the world will be reversed but he wouldn't be there to witness it. What option will you choose?
Before Taylor decides, he finds his consciousness again in the depth of Mount Atropo. Endless lying in front of him, bearly alive. He has a last gift for Taylor, Endless offers him his memories of all the 2139 lives he had lived. Of all the time he witnessed his friends. Of all of their deaths. And Taylor accepts.
Suddenly, unknown information starts to flood his mind. The group playing together in the celestial. Having a picnic at the beach, relationships forming, breaking, the group fighting with each other, surviving, etc. In one future, Jake saves Taylor from a storage room but is sacrificed in the process. In another, the spirit resides in Craig rather than Quinn. In another, Fiddler joined their side. In ther forat one again, Taylor finds the place where Aleister is staying, wearing Quinn's bracelet and Jake's dogtags, goes go kill the guy but in all of the different futures one moments always remains the same. The background changes, the time changes but the words and people always remain the same. The moment when Quinn proposes to him. Watching these scenes over and over, Taylor's eyes are filled with tears and Endless looks with concern but Taylor just thanks him and smiles, ready to go back. Back on Celestial, knowing the possible futures from here, the group is equally divided into staying here and going back to the world not armed with the knowledge what Taylor had so the final decision rests on him because no one else knows what he knows. Well no one else except one. Quinn walks over to Taylor and hugs him one last time and asks him to make a decision himself. She tells him that the spirit inside her made her guess what Taylor actually was and that he shouldn't be so cruel to ask her to return him because she can never give him up. Time freezes as it's time to make a decision.
In the Endless ending, we stop the Omega Mech, Rourke dies and the group lives on the island for the rest of their lives while harbouring sadness that the world is destroyed. Definitely not the best ending.
In the Vannu ending, Taylor sacrificed himself to restore the world and left his friends with a final goodbye message to remember him by. All the friend acheived the dreams that they saw in their visions and Rourke goes Insane. The most suitable ending but feels kinda unfair to Quinn.
And finally the Rourke ending, where we drain the heart in Omega Mech and Rourke alters the timeline according to his will. Yes, he fullfilled his promise but left a very little detail out. The entire world has a single monarch. That he is the world president and the group except Taylor has no idea of what happened on the other timeline. (This is the ending this fanfic is all about).