For several seconds, Vahn could not move.
Leslie stood less than ten feet away.
Alive.
Not an illusion.
Not a memory.
Not a projection from the pendant.
Alive.
She looked older than Vahn remembered. Her once-dark hair now carried streaks of silver, tied loosely behind her neck. A thin scar crossed her jaw. Another disappeared beneath the collar of her black coat.
But her eyes were the same.
Those eyes that had once watched him train.
Those eyes that had laughed when he failed.
Those eyes that had looked at him the night before she disappeared.
Vahn whispered her name.
"Leslie."
She smiled.
"You got taller."
His face hardened.
"Don't."
The smile vanished.
"I know."
"You died."
"I know."
"I buried you."
"I know."
"You left me a pendant."
"I know."
Vahn's hands began trembling.
Lightning crawled across his fingers.
"Then tell me how you're standing here."
Leslie looked down.
"Because I'm not your Leslie."
The words hurt more than he expected.
World Two
Leslie walked toward the edge of the chamber.
The remnants of Axiom Null hovered behind her like broken pieces of a mirror.
"Your world calls this place the Eleventh Seat."
Vahn nodded.
"Mine called it the Null Chamber."
"Same structure?"
"Almost."
Leslie touched one of the floating fragments.
A projection appeared.
Vahn saw another Mystara.
It was magnificent.
And dead.
The Academy's towers had been shattered. Source storms tore across the sky. Entire sections of reality flickered in and out of existence.
"This happened seven years ago," Leslie said.
"Seven?"
"The Axiom activated."
Vahn stared at the ruined world.
"What happened?"
"The Circle tried to control it."
His jaw tightened.
"They failed."
"No."
Leslie looked at him.
"They succeeded."
Vahn frowned.
"Then why is your world destroyed?"
"Because controlling Axiom Null was never the objective."
Leslie pointed toward the sky.
"They wanted access."
"Access to what?"
She looked directly at him.
"Other worlds."
The First Breach
Leslie explained everything.
Axiom Null wasn't merely a failsafe.
It was an ancient inter-world mechanism.
Every awakened civilization eventually discovered the Source.
Every civilization eventually created its own version of the Source Weave.
And eventually—
they discovered the existence of other worlds.
"How many?" Vahn asked.
"We don't know."
"Ten?"
"Possibly."
"Eleven?"
Leslie shook her head.
"More."
She activated another projection.
Thousands of lights appeared in the darkness.
Some bright.
Some fading.
Some completely black.
"Every light is a world."
Vahn stared.
"And the black ones?"
"Worlds that failed."
His expression changed.
"Failed because of Axiom Null?"
"Not always."
Leslie hesitated.
"Some destroyed themselves."
"Some were consumed."
"And some..."
She looked away.
"Some were harvested."
Vahn's voice became quiet.
"Harvested by who?"
Leslie didn't answer.
She didn't need to.
A shadow moved behind the projection.
A massive silhouette.
Something that looked almost human.
But far too large.
Vahn felt the Source inside him recoil.
"What is that?"
Leslie shut the projection down immediately.
"Something we should never attract."
"That wasn't an answer."
"It was the only one you're getting."
Vahn stepped closer.
"You crossed worlds to find me."
"No."
Leslie looked at him.
"I crossed worlds because I was looking for you."
The Romanoff Paradox
Leslie reached into her coat and removed a small metal disk.
The symbol on it made Vahn freeze.
The Romanoff family crest.
But different.
The familiar storm symbol had been surrounded by eleven circles.
"You've seen this."
Vahn nodded.
"It's our family crest."
Leslie shook her head.
"No."
She turned the disk over.
There was another inscription.
ROMANOFF — FIRST THREAD.
Vahn's eyes narrowed.
"What does that mean?"
Leslie sat against the edge of the broken platform.
"Your family wasn't founded in this world."
Silence.
"What?"
"The first Romanoff crossed through Axiom Null."
Vahn stared at her.
"When?"
"Before Mystara existed."
"That's impossible."
"That's what the Academy wants you to believe."
Leslie looked at him.
"Your ancestors were not ordinary Awakeners."
She paused.
"They were travelers."
Vahn felt something cold settle in his chest.
"Between worlds?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because they were running."
"From what?"
Leslie's expression darkened.
"The same thing that destroyed my world."
The Other Vahn
Vahn suddenly felt the pendant heat.
Leslie noticed.
"Don't."
He looked down.
The pendant had begun projecting an image.
Another person.
Another Vahn.
He stood inside a ruined laboratory.
His body was covered in glowing Source scars.
His right eye was completely violet.
His left eye was black.
He was holding a broken version of the Source Weave.
Vahn stared at himself.
"Who is that?"
Leslie's expression became unreadable.
"That is the reason I found you."
The projection spoke.
"If you're seeing this, I'm already dead."
Vahn's stomach tightened.
The other Vahn continued.
"The Eleventh isn't a person."
"I discovered that too late."
"The Seat is a selection mechanism."
"Every world produces one candidate."
"Every candidate eventually reaches the same decision."
Vahn watched in silence.
"Accept Axiom Null..."
The other Vahn looked directly toward the recording crystal.
"...or destroy the world trying to escape it."
The recording ended.
Vahn looked at Leslie.
"What happened to him?"
"He chose neither."
"Then what?"
"He created a third option."
Vahn's eyes narrowed.
"What?"
Leslie looked toward the broken Axiom.
"He created the Source Weave."
Vahn froze.
"No."
"Yes."
"My work..."
"Wasn't yours."
She stepped closer.
"You inherited it."
The Betrayal
Vahn's mind raced.
The failed prototypes.
The resonance stabilizer.
The Heart Loom.
The Eleventh Seat.
The Source Weave.
Everything suddenly connected.
"Leslie."
She looked at him.
"Why did you die in my world?"
Leslie's expression changed.
For the first time, genuine fear appeared in her eyes.
"I didn't."
Vahn's breathing stopped.
"What?"
"Your Leslie didn't die."
He stared at her.
"Then who did I bury?"
Leslie shook her head.
"I don't know."
Vahn felt the world tilt.
"I saw her."
"You saw someone."
"Her body."
"Did you see her face?"
Silence.
Vahn remembered.
The fire.
The explosion.
The storm.
The impossible light.
The body had been burned beyond recognition.
But the pendant had been found beside it.
He had assumed.
Leslie stepped closer.
"The Circle wanted you to believe she was dead."
Vahn's lightning exploded.
The chamber shook.
"They lied."
"Yes."
"They knew she survived."
"Probably."
"Where is she?"
Leslie didn't answer.
Vahn grabbed her coat.
"Where is my sister?"
Leslie looked into his eyes.
"That's the wrong question."
Vahn froze.
"The right question is..."
She pointed toward the darkness.
"...who has been pretending to be her?"
The Voice
The lights went out.
Every crystal.
Every rune.
Every Source thread.
Darkness swallowed the chamber.
Vahn immediately summoned lightning.
Leslie drew her weapon.
A sound came from behind them.
A soft laugh.
Familiar.
Painfully familiar.
Vahn slowly turned.
A woman's silhouette stood at the far end of the chamber.
Long hair.
Thin frame.
The Romanoff pendant.
Vahn's heart stopped.
The woman stepped into the light.
"Hello, little brother."
Vahn couldn't breathe.
Leslie raised her weapon.
"No."
The woman smiled.
She looked exactly like his sister.
Exactly.
Except her eyes were completely violet.
"Did you miss me?"
Vahn whispered:
"Leslie?"
The woman smiled wider.
"Not quite."
The chamber exploded with Source energy.
The figure raised her hand.
And Vahn felt something he had never felt before.
His own Source—
bowing.
The stranger looked toward the broken Eleventh Seat.
"Axiom Null has awakened."
Then she looked at Vahn.
"And now..."
Her violet eyes burned brighter.
"...the Romanoff bloodline comes home."
The floor beneath them split open.
Something enormous moved beneath Mystara.
And from somewhere beyond the world—
thousands of voices whispered the same word.
"Awaken."