Anna felt it before she saw it.
A shift in the air.
The ground beneath her boots vibrated—a low, ominous pulse that wasn't from any earthquake, but from something far worse.
The world was reacting.
Fighting.
Trying to correct itself.
Victoria took a slow step back, tilting her head as if listening to something Anna couldn't hear.
Then she smirked.
"Oh, dear," she mused. "Looks like you pissed off something bigger than me."
Anna barely had time to react before the first crack in reality split open beneath her feet.
The World Refuses to Be Defied
Anna leapt back, her body moving on instinct.
The sky fractured—not just with lightning, but with something much worse.
The space around them rippled, twisting like the world itself was coming undone, threads of existence unraveling before her eyes.
She had seen portals open before.
She had seen Ethan walk through them.
But this?
This was not a door.
This was the world breaking.
Victoria remained unfazed, watching as the cracks deepened, as the very ground beneath them groaned in protest.
"This is your fault," Victoria mused, crossing her arms. "You know that, don't you?"
Anna's breath came fast. "What's happening?"
Victoria let out an amused hum. "The world is adjusting."
Anna's pulse pounded.
Adjusting.
Just like it had when Ethan left.
Just like it had when Lucas appeared.
Just like it had when Victoria came back.
And now—
Now it was trying to erase her.
The Abyss Calls for Her Name
Anna clenched her fists. "I won't let it."
Victoria laughed. "Oh, Anna. The world doesn't care what you 'let' happen. It only cares about balance."
Anna gritted her teeth. "Then I'll make my own balance."
Victoria's smirk widened. "That's the problem with you—you don't know when to surrender."
A howl erupted from the fractures in reality.
Anna turned just in time to see something rise from the abyss.
Not shadows. Not soldiers.
Something worse.
Figures—twisted, broken things that had once been human—began crawling out of the fractures, their bodies flickering between existence and something else entirely.
Anna knew them.
They were the ones the world had already erased.
Echoes of those who had been consumed by the shifting rules of fate.
Anna's chest tightened.
And they were coming for her.
Victoria's Gamble
"Think fast," Victoria murmured.
Anna didn't hesitate.
She moved, blade in hand, slashing through the first creature that lunged toward her.
It didn't bleed.
Didn't scream.
It just shattered.
Like glass.
Like something that had never been real to begin with.
Anna exhaled sharply, barely ducking as another figure lashed out at her.
They weren't attacking like monsters.
They were attacking like—
Like the world was using them as a weapon.
And she was the target.
Victoria watched from the sidelines, arms crossed, amused but not helping.
"You should be honored," she mused. "Most people don't get the privilege of fighting against reality itself."
Anna gritted her teeth. "Then why are you still here?"
Victoria arched an eyebrow. "Curiosity. And, well—"
She gestured at the fractures.
"Someone needs to see how this ends."
Anna Refuses to Lose
The creatures kept coming.
More and more, rising from the abyss, their empty eyes locked onto her.
Anna moved with brutal efficiency, cutting them down, dodging, weaving between their attacks.
But she wasn't winning.
Because they weren't dying.
They just kept coming back.
Like the world was testing her.
Anna's breathing grew ragged. She could keep fighting. She could kill them over and over again—
But that wasn't the answer.
Because this wasn't a battle.
This was a purge.
The world wanted her gone.
And unless she found a way to break the cycle—
It was going to get what it wanted.
The Choice That Cannot Be Undone
Anna's mind raced.
She had two options.
1. Fight until the world crushed her completely.
Or—
2. Change the rules.
Victoria was watching her closely now, as if curious to see which path she would take.
Anna clenched her fists.
Then, slowly, deliberately—
She lowered her blade.
The creatures froze.
Victoria's smile flickered.
"Oh?"
Anna took a breath.
If the world wanted her erased—then she wouldn't fight it.
She would force it to accept her.
"I am not a mistake," Anna murmured, her voice steady. "I am not an error to be corrected."
The creatures twitched.
The fractures shuddered.
Anna exhaled.
"And I will not disappear."
The moment the words left her lips—
The world screamed.
The World Breaks Before Her
Victoria stared.
Anna stood her ground.
The cracks in reality shrank—not closing, not healing, but changing.
Adjusting to her.
Victoria let out a slow breath. "You really are impossible."
Anna didn't look at her.
She was focused on the creatures—the fragments of the erased.
They had stopped attacking.
Stopped existing.
Because Anna had done what no one else had ever done.
She had made the world accept her.
Not as a mistake.
Not as something that needed to be erased.
But as something too strong to remove.
The fractures trembled.
And then—one by one—they vanished.
Anna didn't let out a breath until the last one disappeared.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Victoria let out a low laugh.
"Well," she murmured, stepping closer. "That was unexpected."
Anna turned to her, heart still hammering.
Victoria met her gaze.
And then, softly—
She said:
"Maybe you really can bring him back."