Her day began like every other. A clanking as a guard unlocked her cell door, then screeching from poorly lubricated hinges. Evelyn rolled over on the thin mattress and began to stand before the guard could start yelling at her to get out of bed.

  Inmates within Abyss Penitentiary received drastically different treatment based on their status. There were many who had it much worse than Evelyn, receiving downright abusive behavior that could serve no purpose other than vindictive torture. There were more than a few who were kept in relative comfort, the VIPs of the prison who received frequent favors.

  Evelyn existed in the vast middle-ground between torture and room service. If she had to make assumptions about the rationale for her treatment, then she would say that they wanted her to become accustomed to following orders. The guards dictated when she could do absolutely everything. Every damn thing. She wouldn’t be allowed back on her mattress until they locked her into her room for the night. Her bathroom breaks were determined by the whims of whichever guards was on duty and they would go out of their way to inconvenience her if she brought up her biological needs.

  Even with the casual cruelty of the guards, Evelyn found her existence far less onerous than she once might have. The collar around her neck prevented her mind from connecting to her realm, so she no longer had the ability to see future possibilities. That didn’t prevent her normal human faculties from letting her predict behavior, though, and she had always been good at seeing inevitable outcomes.

  Getting to her feet unsteadily and wincing at the light invading her cell made the guard think Evelyn had already been antagonized. The morning guard that day was Officer Angela. An ironic name. The butch woman would be more accurately called Officer Devil-a. Evelyn kept the smile from her face as she kept the usual joke to herself.

  She was marched to the bathroom, given a measly five minutes for morning essentials, and then placed into the day lounge. It appeared to be a ‘no breakfast’ day. Those were annoying. Not because she didn’t get enough calories. Her captors were meticulous about ensuring the health of the useful prisoners. What Evelyn missed was the structure that the ritual of breakfast provided to her day. As she’d expected, being incarcerated was exceedingly boring.

  Only a few inmates occupied the day lounge with her. Two of them, of the bougie well-treated variety, were playing a game of checkers at a central table. There was a man in the corner that Evelyn recognized as the Sage of Destruction. That individual actually deserved to be here. He wasn’t some political prisoner, he was a lunatic from the nation of Yamato. Though Evelyn didn’t know anything for a fact, she suspected they kept the Sage alive so that he could be deployed as a weapon of mass destruction. All they had to do was plonk him down near a target and remove his collar to create an instant emergency for their enemies.

  Evelyn wanted to watch the mirror that was showing a play. The basic broadcast rituals didn’t send any sound, so she would need to sit close to read the dialog cards. A lot could be understood from the plays just based on context – the man dressed all in black with a curled mustache was obviously the bad guy. The buxom woman with a determined expression was obviously the hero. One was trying to abduct school children. The other was thwarting that nefarious plan. For the convoluted gags to make any more sense, though, she would need to read.

  The real question: was she bored enough to risk sitting next to the Sage of Destruction?

  She really was. Whenever the guards let her have lounge time, these stupid plays were the highlight of her whole day. The prison experience in many ways represented an improvement in her quality of life – no high stakes decisions that would inevitably result in collateral damage, no playing politics, no manipulating friends. Despite the positive of escaping from the never-ending stress, her new lifestyle left a whole lot to be desired. Enough so that she didn’t hesitate more than a few seconds before sitting down next to a man who liked to bite other prisoners and occasionally wiped his own excrement over the walls before the guards could drag him away.

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  The Sage of Destruction glanced at her only briefly before returning his attention to the mirror. Evelyn didn’t let her expression change. She emanated the vibe of ‘uninteresting’ hard. No one was going to deprive her of magic television time. Well, realistically the guards were likely to take her away right before the climax of the show.

  She’d just started to piece together the latest plot of the bad guy to kidnap his would-be victims when the door clanged open. Evelyn glanced from the corner of her eye to ensure the new arrival wasn’t a known problem-maker. Big guy, but not the Titan or the Sage of Muscle.

  Her attention drifted back to the fake candy store, where the heroine was changing the signage to indicate it sold vegetables, extra bitter! The older kids would obviously not be going into that place. Some of the younger ones couldn’t read and began to wander towards the door, causing the villain to rub his hands in excitement.

  Wait.

  Evelyn, eyes wide, turned back around to look at the familiar figure being escorted like a VIP. Her heart began to thunder. After everything she sacrificed, this could not be. She climbed to her feet to study the muscular form striding her way with a smile on his face. If the first words out of his mouth were some sort of quip, she thought she might lose her damn mind.

  She’d failed. After all her efforts, after repeatedly going against her personal values, after sacrificing herself for the cause… she failed. And now the multiverse would die.

  “Bitch!” The Sage of Destruction surged to his feet as she bumped into him, throwing a wild haymaker as he rose. The fist flew towards her face and Evelyn let it come.

  Hector blurred over the distance between them and caught the blow with ease. He shook his head as if disappointed at Destruction.

  “You really don’t want to get on my bad side, buddy.”

  Destruction’s left eyelid twitched. “Fuck you, bracelet boy. You’re restrained in here. I can’t use my abilities, but you can’t hurt me at all.”

  Hector squeezed his hand around Destruction’s fist, causing the Sage to go pale. “I’m a Lord, you dumb punk. Whatever restraints I wear, neither you nor anyone else in here is a threat to me. And I might not be as limited as you assume.”

  Destruction pulled his hand back and rubbed it. The Sage opened his mouth, glanced down at his fist, and slunk away in defeat. Hector turned a smile on her. “Fancy meeting you –”

  “Don’t even start,” she snapped. “Unless you already finished saving Aes, humanity is over.”

  His sigh carried a degree of frustration. “Trust me when I say that this is only a temporary setback. Give it another few days and we’ll be out of here.”

  Her hands came up on their own as if they intended to pummel the source of her anxiety. She held herself back. The fancy restrains Hector wore on his limbs would create cushions of air to stop any physical assault he initiated from causing harm. But if Evelyn punched his smug face, no ritual protections would stop her hand from shattering on his Lord level body.

  “Do you understand where we are, Hector? This is Abyss Penitentiary. The only ways out are in a body bag or with a presidential pardon. We’re trapped here. The multiverse is going to end because I couldn’t get you on the right path.”

  Hector glanced towards where his guards patiently waited. They were giving him the full VIP treatment, it appeared. The Lord Dragonbane couldn’t be mistreated too much if they expected him to deter the next Dragon to appear. Evelyn knew there wouldn’t be enough time for that to be a real concern. If she’d kept track of her days accurately, they had about six months left before the System’s Countdown ended.

  Evelyn deflated. Ever since she learned of the Countdown, she tried to glimpse a time beyond that arbitrary date. Unsuccessfully. Maybe all of her plans were in vain. Maybe there had never been a possibility of a better future. But she had seen Hector emerge from a rapidly shrinking rift on Aes, proclaiming that the world was saved. That had been the target she aimed for, and she missed so hard. Hector here meant that Aes would not be taken back. If that ever even mattered.

  Tears stung her eyes as she sank back into the chair.

  Hector squatted down to put their faces on the same level. “Evelyn, don’t you dare give up hope. We’re only staying here a little while longer.” The utter confidence he projected did not improve her mood. Evelyn knew it would be a bad day when he understood just how impotent he was in this place. No matter how annoying she found his presence in this place, she could not blame Hector. The fault was all hers. She was the seer who failed to place him on the correct path.

  She was the one who had failed all of humanity.