One

  The lock clicked.

  With Theo beside her, she opened the box and found a small stack of cream papers that appeared to be torn from a small notebook, one that would have fit in her cloak pocket. It was filled with black, messy scrawl that was just barely legible. On top of the stack of papers was another card penned in red by Darius:

  This is the third and final clue.

  It was preserved from the 15th.

  I trust you will honor your promise.

  When she put the card away, she finally recognized the handwriting and the notebook the papers had been torn from. She had used the same paper and writing every day without fail, after all.

  “These two years were the best years of my life,” she read aloud shakily with no recollection of ever having penned the words. “Every time I close my eyes, I wish I could stay, but it appears that I’ve stuck around for far too long. Too many times. And it cost the lives of all the people I love. Not anymore. I won’t stand by and do nothing anymore. I’ve spent lifetimes with all of you, by your sides, only to watch the world burn and suffer. I can’t imagine life without all of you by my side, having fun like we did all those nights in the common room, or all those peaceful fireside chats when we were on field missions. When time felt like it stood still, when nothing mattered other than us and us alone. When the truth hadn’t yet hit us, or it did but we cared more about each other to tackle fate.

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  “I wish there were a way. I wish there were a way to make this all okay, to make it so that none of us have to fight. If we could just live forever in peace, laughing and joking like we always do. Watch the clouds roll by across a clear blue sky, grow old together and reminisce about when we were just children. Stupid and na?ve. Immune to the greater perils the world wished we could not see. Collecting every puzzle piece of ourselves so we could all say that we knew each other like the backs of our hands. Going on ridiculous journeys together to figure out the shiniest spells, the most potent potions, the most fulgent flowers, or the most bizarre books. Filling our rooms with life and laughter, with only the happiest words and the sweetest memories. Dancing in crystalline flower fields until we drew our last breaths. Happy. Full.

  “Theo, I’m so sorry I left us like that. I’m sorry I didn’t say goodbye to you. I love you. I love you and the class so much. I love this world so much. I don’t want to see anyone suffer anymore. I don’t want to be weak anymore. I don’t want to live in fear, in desperation, always wondering if things will work out if I just stand still. If I just try to trust the world to wait while I collect my puzzle pieces of everyone, of you, of all our time and lives together, all those Circles ago. I don’t want to see my friends and family die. I don’t want to see all their hard work go to waste, all the time they’ve put into trying to right this corrupt world, only to fall short of a person. Me. Me, the halfling. If it’s just me, if it’s just me who has to go, and by doing so I get to save everyone, or come even close to it, then I have to. You understand, right? One life for the world. One.”