Soft evening light filtered through the tall windows, but it did little to warm the atmosphere.

The usual cozy glow of the house felt muted.

Florence and Ravene sat side by side on the large sectional couch with gloomy faces.

Florence’s hands were clasped tightly in her lap, fingers twisting together nervously.

Her face was pale, and dark circles had begun to form under her eyes from restless nights.

She turned to Ravene, "It’s already been a week since Husband, Elize, and Charlotte went missing..."

Her words trembled "I am getting even more scared as time goes."

Ravene was sitting with her knees drawn up to her chest, arms wrapped around her legs.

She tried to force a reassuring smile onto her lips, "Don’t worry, Florence," she said, reaching over to gently squeeze Florence’s hand.

"Both Elize and Charlotte are incredibly strong. Nothing can harm them."

Florence turned her head to look at her, "B-But what if it has something to do with those gods?"

"They can’t fight those... They’re on a completely different level."

"W-What if-"

Ravene’s pulled Florence into her arms, holding her tightly as Florence buried her face against her shoulder.

"Shhh... don’t say that," Ravene murmured, stroking Florence’s hair with trembling fingers.

"Brandon is too stubborn to disappear on us. And Elize... she’s one of the strongest people I know. Charlotte too. They will come back."

Ravene was trying to be strong for Florence, but the fear was eating at her too.

A whole week with no words, it was terrifying.

Eira walked into the room quietly, carrying a tray with steaming mugs of herbal tea.

She had been trying to keep busy, but her eyes were red-rimmed from crying earlier.

She set the tray down gently on the coffee table and sat on Florence’s other side, wrapping an arm around her.

"Mom... we have to believe they’re okay," she said softly. "Brandon wouldn’t leave us."

Florence nodded weakly, but fresh tears slipped down her cheeks.

"I know... I know he wouldn’t."

She took a shaky breath "I just... I miss him so much already."

*swoosh* At this time, a space tear appeared in the living room and Eliza and Charlotte stepped out, covered fully in sand.

Their clothes were torn and stained while their faces were streaked with exhaustion and grief.

Charlotte’s legs gave out the moment she fully materialized and dropped to her knees on the rug. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Tears welled up in her eyes "K-Kael..." she choked out.

Elize stood beside her, looking utterly devastated.

Her usual calm composure had shattered and she took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to hold herself together.

Charlotte’s head hung low, "I failed in protecting him... I-I failed as a big sister."

Florence, Eira, and Ravene stared in horror, their faces draining of color as Charlotte’s words sank in.

Florence shot up from the couch as she lunged forward and grabbed Elize’s collar with both hands.

"Where is Brandon?" she demanded. "Where is he?!"

Elize’s gaze quivered as she simply looked at Florence with eyes full of pain and guilt.

"He is missing..." she whispered. "We tried... we tried so hard. We searched every layer we could reach. But we couldn’t find him."

Florence’s grip on Elize’s collar loosened and her legs gave out.

She stumbled backward and fell to her knees on the rug, a heart-wrenching cry tearing from her throat.

"Ahhhhhhh-!"

Ravene closed her mouth with her palm, silently sobbing as fresh tears ran down her cheeks.

Eira’s gaze trembled and she forgot to breathe for a second.

The stress that has been accumulating for a week finally caught up and the intense emotional shock... Her vulnerable heart couldn’t handle it.

Her chest seized and her vision blurred.

*thud* She collapsed backward onto the rug and gasped, clutching at her chest as a sudden cardiac arrest gripped her.

"Eira!" Elize yelled and rushed forward.

"Eira!" Ravene dropped to her knees beside the girl.

Both women reached her at the same time.

Elize quickly turned Eira onto her back, checking her pulse while Ravene cradled her head, stroking her hair with trembling hands.

"Eira, breathe! Stay with us!"

Ravene’s tears fell onto Eira’s face as she whispered desperately, "Come on, sweetheart... breathe..."

Florence quickly crawled to her "I-Is she getting cardiac arrest again?"

Eira placed the heel of one hand on the center of Eira’s chest, the other on top, and began CPR.

"One... two... three..."

Florence reached them and grabbed Eira’s hand, squeezing it tightly.

Elize continued the compressions but her own hands were shaking slightly.

After thirty compressions, she tilted Eira’s head back, pinched her nose, and blew two steady breaths into her mouth, watching the chest rise.

"Come on, Eira."

Elize continued the CPR cycle while Ravene and Florence kept talking to her to keep her anchored.

After what felt like an eternity, Eira’s body jerked.

She gasped sharply and her eyes fluttered open as she clutched at her chest.

Elize immediately stopped the compressions and supported her head as golden healing ether flowed steadily from her palms into Eira’s body to stabilize her heart.

"There you are... breathe slowly... that’s it..."

Eira gasped again, "B-Brandon..."

Florence leaned down and pressed her forehead to Eira’s "Eiraaaa."

Ravene wiped Eira’s tears with trembling fingers.

Charlotte remained on her knees, head bowed, tears falling onto the rug and mixing with the sand still clinging to her clothes.

"I failed..." she repeated under her breath. "I was right there..."

Eira’s breathing slowly evened out "He... is really gone?"

Elize took a deep breath and muttered "No, h-he is just missing. We will surely find him."

As she spoke, she turned her head and saw Charlotte was missing ’Huh, where is Charlotte.’

---

It was already night in the desert.

If it’s smoking hot in the morning, it’s chilling cold now at night.

The night air was crisp and sharp, carrying a chill that seeped through his torn clothes and made his skin prickle.

Sitting on a dune, Brandon stared at the sky.

He exhaled slowly, watching his breath turn into faint white mist in the cold air ’I keep thinking about it...’

His mind refused to let go of the realization that had struck him earlier.

In a Bootstrap paradox, the events are self-causing. There is no original timeline... the future creates the past, which creates the future. A closed loop with no beginning.

If he was the "second awakener" that future Rheanne had spoken of... then his presence here wasn’t changing anything.

It was fulfilling it.

He was always meant to be here.

’If I am really in a Bootstrap paradox, anything I do in the past won’t ’affect’ the future, because it’s already predetermined...’

He rubbed his hands together to fight off the growing numbness from the cold.

’If that’s the case, the future Rheanne knows me before she even met me in the Church.’

’But she acted as if she didn’t know me...’

’No, no, there was that one time, she was talking in riddles... saying that I gave her hope.’

His eyes narrowed as the pieces slowly clicked into place ’So, she already knows me from the past, and she knows that I will time-travel here.’

’She’s been waiting for this exact moment for centuries.’

His frown deepened ’But wait, if I time-traveled, what happened to my present self in 2051, who time-traveled to the past to 1502? ’

’Am I dead or is my body somewhere else?’

If it is really a Bootstrap paradox, then nothing he does here could break the future he knew.

Florence, Elize, Charlotte, Eira, Ravene, Yverine, Dhayun, and Jiyeon. Everyone he loved back home... they would still exist.

He would still return to them.

Somehow.

He exhaled slowly, watching the mist of his breath disappear into the cold night air.

’This is insane... I’m literally sitting here, 550 years in the past, talking to the woman who will one day wait for me in a church centuries from now.’

He ran a hand through his sand-filled hair, shaking his head ’And I have no idea how to get back.’

The cold was starting to bite deeper now.

He glanced at the tent Rheanne was setting up, and his gaze lowered ’Rheanne...’

He stood up from the dune ’I hope my theory is correct, and it’s actually a bootstrap paradox. Because with that, anything I do in the past won’t affect the already predetermined future.’

’Or... maybe I am just overthinking the whole situation.’

’...Everything will be clear once I leave the tower.’