At the center of the labyrinth, she found him: the man from the forest, the thread that had called to her heart.


“You found me,” he said.


“I… I had to,” she whispered. “You’re part of me, and I can’t leave you behind.”


He smiled, yet sorrow shadowed his face. “You cannot take me with you. You must choose your own thread.”


Tears welled, but Mara understood. Love did not mean possession. To live fully, she had to honor the infinite selves, the lives she could not inhabit, the people she could not save. She embraced him, feeling his essence merge with her memory, then let go.


The pendant flared, pulling her toward the final thread—the one she had chosen from the beginning.