It was always quiet on X3, save for the occasional howling solar winds. But when Isolde’s cries had roused him from his nap—and the previous weeks of worsening melancholy—Zethar could swear he heard a choir of singing stars.


    “Isolde,” he called, running to the portal window.


    The air around him felt charged; dense with static pressing against him, as though he were wading through an invisible current.


    “Zethar?” her voice rang out. “Oh, Zethar, is it really you?”


    The anomaly’s light refracted around her, breaking into shimmering hues that blurred her face and softened her outline; wavering like heat on sunbaked tarmac. Zethar could scarcely see her but he could feel her presence intensely.


    “Oh, Isolde, thank the Gods,” he cried, blinking back tears. “I’ve been so worried about you.”


    “It was Aurelian,” Isolde said. “He forbade me from coming back.”


    “Are you alright? “Has he hurt you?”


    “No. But he will if he catches me again.”


    “Isolde, you must get out. For your own safety.”


    “I’ll be alright Zethar, but I must forget we ever met before losing you becomes too much for me to bear.”


    “And I never see you again?” he asked, glitching in and out turbulently as he spoke. “What if it’s already too much for me? What then, Isolde?”


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    “I’m so sorry, Zethar. You know this isn’t what I want.”


    “I know it’s complicated, but there must be some other way. The portal! I’ve been working on it while you were away—I have ideas! Experiments we could try to test the anomaly’s capabilities. It’s possible you could transport here. Or I could come to you. Whatever you want.


    “Don’t marry him, Isolde. I see how miserable you are, always looking over your shoulder. You deserve so much more. Adventure. Romance. To choose your own destiny. You deserve it all.”


    “I can’t. He’ll kill me.”


    “I’ll protect you.”


    “How?”


    “I will find a way.”


    “We don’t have time. The wedding is in five days. Aurelian says he has spies keeping watch on me. I’ve risked everything to tell you goodbye.”


    “Just a little more time,” Zethar said, struggling to hold their connection as the portal’s energy levels began indicating volatility. “Can you return tomorrow? Please, Isolde. There’s just one thing I want to try. If it works, I may be able to solve all our problems.”


    “And if it doesn’t?”


    “Then come back for me. Give me one more night to memorize your face. You might want to forget, Isolde. But I want to remember it all and remember it forever. What it was like meeting you across the impossible.”