There was a flash of an image showing a woman and child, both dead on the ground. The scene looked so horrific that even someone who could stomach gore on a regular basis would shrink back in fear.

In the next moment, both the woman and child were alive and well.

Larissa stopped.

"This is it."

Ning nodded. As the reversed images came to a stop, time seemed to flow in the correct direction once again. Except, they were both in the past now.

It was a strange feeling for Ning to see this, as this was not his only source of vision. With him being able to see in all directions from any point on his body, he could still see the regular, destroyed room they were standing in. It was only their minds that were seeing this.

It wasn’t time travel as much as it was simply playing back a movie taken from real life.

Valen’s wife was a beautiful woman with long, lustrous golden hair. Her fair skin made her look practically ethereal, like a princess from a fairy tale.

She sat on the bed, her fair hands gently combing the somewhat long, dirty-blond hair of her young son, who was no more than five years old.

"I had heard she was beautiful, but this..." Larissa couldn’t find the words to describe the woman’s beauty.

"Alya was a High-Elf who ran away from her home," Ning said. "I helped her on the way back from work and gave her shelter. I could never really determine the reason she ran away."

The world around them was muffled to some degree, with the colors lacking somewhat in saturation.

"You did?" Larissa asked with a surprised look.

"Hmm? Oh, sorry. Not me. Valen did," Ning quickly corrected himself.

"Then why did you say you did?" she asked.

"I have all of his memories and emotions," Ning said in a small voice. "I care for this woman the same way he did as a result. These are fake emotions, I know, but I can’t help it."

Larissa didn’t know what to say. "You have his memories?"

"Yes," Ning said. "If I was going to take over his life, I was going to do it completely."

Larissa remained silent and continued watching.

A knock came from the front door inside the vision.

The young boy’s head immediately rose from where he sat before his mother, his dirty-blond hair still only half-combed as he slipped away from her hands and turned toward the other room with a bright smile spreading across his small face.

"Daddy’s home!"

Alya’s expression changed slightly as she looked toward the nearby clock, because Valen was supposed to be working for another few hours and had never been the sort of man to abandon an investigation halfway through without first calling her to explain what had happened.

Alya left the bedroom and walked through the small hallway, while her son followed a few steps behind despite the hand she kept using to motion for him to remain where he was.

Ning and Larissa moved with them, their bodies passing through the walls of the vision as if they were ghosts caught inside a memory that had already reached its conclusion, unable to touch anything, unable to warn anyone, and unable to change even the smallest detail of what was about to happen.

Alya reached the front door and stopped before it, her pale hand hovering above the handle while she tried to listen for the person on the other side.

Then, before she could step away, the entire door exploded inward beneath a blast of green energy.

Wood shattered through the hallway as the hinges tore out of the wall, and Alya threw herself backward, twisting around at the same time so that her body stood between the fragments and her child.

The broken door struck the opposite wall hard enough to crack it, while splinters scattered across the floor and embedded themselves in the furniture.

Three people walked through the smoke and dust.

All three were High-Elves.

Their golden hair, fair skin, pointed ears, and elegant features made them look enough like Alya that they could have been distant relatives, but the armor they wore was unlike anything in New Limaro. It was shaped from polished white metal, with narrow golden markings running across the chest and shoulders.

The two in the back carried thin blades at their waists, while the one standing before them wore no weapon at all, as though he did not believe there was anything inside the house that could threaten him.

Alya froze the moment she saw his face.

"Leamor."

The man smiled.

It was a soft and handsome smile that would have appeared kind on anyone who did not know him, but Alya appeared to know the thoughts that hid behind it, and the sight of him inside the home she had built with Valen made the blood drain from her face.

"Who is he?" Larissa asked. "A High-Elf in this city?"

Ning watched the man but could only shake his head. He hadn’t the faintest clue. None of the memories he had inherited included this man named Leamor.

Leamor stepped forward. "I searched for you for years, and I have finally found you."

Alya took another step backward, keeping herself between the three men and her son, even though the small movement brought her no closer to an escape.

"How... how did you find me?" she asked, horror flashing across her face.

"I have been searching for you ever since you left," the man said, scoffing at the sight of the house she was living in. "Look at this place. For someone who is used to living in palaces, I’m surprised you made a home in this filthy place."

He turned.

"But don’t worry. I’ll take you back with me. You can live like the royalty you are."

Alya breathed in and out quickly, realizing what the man must have come here for.

"I won’t go back."

Leamor’s smile remained unchanged, but the satisfaction in his eyes vanished now that he had heard her refusal, as if this was the answer he had expected but not the one he hoped to receive.