Chapter 32: The Hour Too Late
Eliza
It was as if she were suspended in time her arms reaching out to her sister, an invisible force holding her back. Just a moment too slow, a distance the length of a hair out of reach.
Then the red light shone brightly.
The deadly beam, the only color that dared shine in this colorless, dull place And she was gone again.
Eliza fell to her knees, feeling the pain of that day as if it were happening for the first time all over again. Like a scar once healed, now ripped open and stabbed.
She cried, staring at the crater—the only evidence her sister had ever existed.
Then, like magic, time began to rewind—pulling her back to the moment El had first landed on this cursed land.
"What is going on?" she whispered, wiping her tears. Like before, she scanned the area—the colorless cherry tree, the black-and-white aesthetic of the Witherwinds. Like before, she walked to the edge of the hilltop and looked out into the violent winds. Then, again, like before, she turned...
And there she was.
Ola. On her knees.
This time, El didn't leap toward her. She crawled slowly. She knew what this was.
The events played out the same as before.
And moments later, all that remained—was the crater.
Then, like before—the land reset.
"Why am I here?" she cried as tears slipped from her eyes.
Over.
And over.
And over again.
She watched Ola be eviscerated.
Over and over again, Eliza watched her sister die.
In one loop, she ran toward the place —but her sister appeared elsewhere, just out of reach.
Again, the beam of red.
Again, the crater.
Gone.
Another time, she tried teleporting to Ola the moment she appeared—
And again, the land was two steps ahead.
Just out of reach.
Over and over.
One, two—no—one hundred times.
One hundred times over, the red beam.
One thousand times, the crater.
One million times, El was just too late.
But El didn't give up.
She couldn't.
She refused.
Hours turned to days.
Days to weeks.
Weeks to months.
The loop began to shift—but no matter how the pieces changed, she was always just a minute too late. A second. Sometimes just… a single breath.
She tried everything.
She prayed.
"God, please help me. Tell me what I'm supposed to do."
She tried her powers.
She tried every strategy she could think of—every last one ended the same.
"What am I meant to do? Why am I here?"
She fell to her knees in pain beyond description.She cried—but her tears had long since run dry.
Nothing stopped it.
And in every single instance, he was there.
Magnus.
With that disgusting smile.
He looked her in the eyes—each time—before delivering the final blow.
Until it changed.
In this loop—it wasn't Magnus.
It was Eliza.
She stood in his place—And she was the one who delivered the final blow.
"No… no… no!!" El screamed in agony.
"Maddox! Please help me! Why is this happening to me?!"
After all the loops—this one didn't reset.
It was frozen.
And El was forced to watch.
She could not move.
She could not leave.
A moment suspended—where she, Eliza, was the one who killed her own sister.
"I get it! I see it now! Is that what you wanted to show me? Huh?"
"I killed her, right? Is that what you want to hear? My stupid self stuck her nose where it didn't belong and now because of that my sister is dead! Is that it?! Is that what you want? Well, there! I said it!"
"I killed her!"
Her scream cracked and echoed through the Witherwinds.
"I KILLED MY OWN SISTER!"
And in that moment—the skinless spiders appeared.
Crawling on the transparent border that separated her twisted reality from the rest of the Witherwinds.
"Yes…" they hissed, as they crept and loomed above the skies.
Murderer.
Killer.
Scum.
They said.
El couldn't move.
She couldn't cover her ears.
She couldn't curl into a ball.
She couldn't run.
She was trapped in hell.
And there was nothing she could do to stop it.
Then, it came to her.
That day—so long ago.
A loud bang echoed through the orphanage.
"owwww!!"
She was shaken awake.
"What the hell are you guys doing?!" she shouted.
Maddox laid on the ground, rubbing his head, looking up at the fan.
"Damn it. Why didn't it come down?" he said, pouting.
Ren dangled from one of the three blades of the ceiling fan that hung in their room.
"Maddox! Ren! Why are you trying to murder the fan?! What is wrong with you two?!" Ola screamed as she ran in to check on Maddox.
"We wanna play swords!" Ren said, wiggling in the air.
"The hell does that have to do with the fan blades—" El stopped. Connecting the dots.
"Let go, you idiot! I can't believe how stupid you are!"
Ren just kept swinging, grinning.
"Just a little more!" he shouted.
"Trust me, I know work!"
"You're gonna break your neck!"
"No! I'm gonna bring it down! If I hold on long enough, it'll pop loose! I know it will! Then me and Maddox can turn it into a sword and duel!"
He really believed it.
He clung so hard to that dumb idea—refusing to let go, even as the fan groaned under his weight.
El remembered thinking how stupid it was.
Then—suddenly—Ren slipped.
He fell hard to the ground, letting out a loud thud.
El shook.
And then—CLANG!
One of the fan blades snapped loose and dropped, clattering beside him.
Everyone went quiet.
Ren blinked, grinning through the pain.
"See?" he mumbled. "Told you it'd come off…"
In the present, Eliza's eyes widened.
The memory hit her harder than she expected.
All this time, she'd been clinging—just like Ren.
Fighting the loop.
Fighting the truth.
Fighting the pain.
Refusing to let go.
Just like that dumb kid hanging off a fan, hoping something impossible would happen if he just held on long enough.
But it didn't fall while he held on.
It only fell… when he let go.
Her breath caught in her throat.
All this time—she thought she could fight it.
Change it.
Save her sister.
But Ola was gone.
And no matter how many loops, how many tries, how much pain—
She couldn't change that.
Eliza finally whispered,
"…I have to let go."
And just like that—The loop didn't restart?
Well, it did.
Just not like before.
It was different this time.
Only… El didn't fight it.
She stood and watched the events play out.
But she didn't react.
Then again.
Then once more.
Again, Ola was lost.
Again, the beam of red.
And yet—El didn't scream.
She didn't cry.
She didn't run.
She simply watched.
Then…..
With a loud, terrifying hiss
The skinless spiders scattered.
The illusion cracked.
And then it shattered.
From his chamber, Good groaned.
"No. No, what the hell is this?"
He rose from his iron throne, his voice thick with venom.
"Why are they learning lessons? What do they think this is? Closure?! To hell with that!"
"I am despair! They should be groveling in it! Drowning in it! Screaming for death, clawing at their skin, BEGGING me to end it!"
"Then—and only then—would I grant them the sweet release of death!"
He slammed his fist down onto the rusted arm of his throne, a sickening clang echoing through the void.
"What the hell do they think I am?! A therapist? A shrink?!"
He spat. His voice roared through the darkness.
"Suffer. Then die. Damn it!"
Another crash. Another blow to his throne. The metal groaned under the weight of his rage.
Then he paused.
His voice dropped. Bitter. Confused.
"…And him. What the hell is his deal?"
"Maddox… What are you?"