The Last Journey Novels & Stories

ONE LAST CHASE *** Fantastic! That was the last word Charleigh heard from her brother and boss, Tripp, after her presentation before him and Kayden Braxton, the COO, and co-founder. She’d been working her ass off for the past three years at Braxton and Wrylee Associates as an associate architect, and she just spent four weeks on her desk to make a good impression. She deserved more than just the word fantastic.

Back on the desolate road. Still on her new journey of finding Levi, Kimberly trudged along the desolate road, the scorching sun beat down on her. After what felt like an eternity of halting cars for lift, a truck finally pulled up beside her. She suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu wash over her. It was as if she had been here before, in this exact same situation. She remembered it was the last time she had run away, fleeing from her parents and from the suffocating town, when a truck had pulled up beside her, offering a ride that had nearly ended in disaster.

It was just that this time, I was leaving their world for good. Jason looked like he was about to ask where I was going, but Kat eagerly pulled him into the cab before he could speak. The cab then sped away, leaving a trail of smoke behind as it slowly disappeared from my sight. I looked in the direction it had gone and said to myself quietly, "This time, you're the one who left me. You're forever gone from my world from this point forward."

The dawn was clean, the sky blue, the city ours. I kissed Marco’s forehead, Mamá’s cheek, Alexander’s lips, Lila’s scarred hand. “It’s over,” I whispered, voice breaking. “We’re free.” But the subway grate hissed one final time. A single red thread drifted out. It landed in the ash. And wrote, in Javier’s handwriting: VOLUME V: THE FINAL HEART. My chest burned. I looked down. A red vein pulsed beneath my skin, right over my heart.

"It was someone who loved you, Elara. Someone the world forgot so we could live." The Last-Stand Valor had won the day, but at the cost of the family’s foundation. The sky was still cracked, and the Exterminator Fleet was still out there, but the Internal-Invasion had failed. The Haven was quiet, save for the sound of the waterfall and the soft, grieving hum of an Anchor who had lost a part of her soul she couldn't even name.

"Now the pattern's broken." The Daughters arrive, their starlight scalding. The Last Wolf's gaze hardens. "Run. And don't look back." He dissolves into a storm, shielding us as we leap through the gate. --- **The Landing** We fall into a desert of black sand, twin suns scorching the sky. The air reeks of salt and endings. Eden's scars have stabilized, but his eyes are haunted. "Was any of it real?" he asks. The mirror shard reflects our faces-mine streaked with Other Kelly's stormfire, his with the Crown's void. "Does it matter?" Lila's laughter carried on the wind. Some games don't end. We walk.

"She can die out there for all I care." The call ended. *** My body still lay at the intersection. The crowd was gone. Only the driver stayed beside me. My lips had turned purple. So had my fingers, curled stiff against the frozen ground. Dirt and ice were packed under my nails.

The moment the servants scattered, the last wisp of air left my lungs. My soul drifted weightlessly out of my body. I hovered in a daze, half-transparent, and softly asked the system in my mind, 'Can you transmit me now? I want to go home.' But the system's mechanical voice was flat and unyielding: [Only once the male and female leads acknowledge your death can you exit this world.] I paused for a moment, then let it go. I'd survived decades—what was a little more waiting?

"Hop in, Mr. Crowe! If we leave now, you'll still make it to the airport in time." Very soon, I left the base behind in their car. As I looked at the place where I had spent the last five years, I realized there was not even the slightest trace of attachment left in my heart anymore. The wind outside the window still blew relentlessly across the desert. But somehow, against my face, it no longer felt so cold. Leaning back against the seat, I watched the lights of the base grow farther and farther away in the rearview mirror. The corners of my lips slowly curled upward. 'June, for the rest of our lives, let's never see each other again.'

And cried with him. Because she finally understood. The tragedy was not that Aurel had been forgotten. The tragedy was that, eventually, Aurel had forgotten himself. The Witness's voice drifted softly across the Sea. At last. No triumph. No celebration. Only relief. The relief of someone who had waited longer than worlds. The darkness trembled again. But something had changed. The consuming emptiness was fading. Not disappearing. Transforming. The Last Dreamer stared in disbelief. “It worked.” The Keeper shook its head.