Corrupted Timelines

Nothing Beside Remains

The blinding light and strong blast of wind forced everyone to close their eyes and look away.

Almost everyone, as Calliope didn't need to adhere to mortal needs.

She watched Amelia and the Ancient Ones become one with the bright light as it shot out from the Droplet. The Ancient Ones shrieked and squealed, trying in vain to escape their fate, while Amelia simply accepted it. After nearly a minute of continuous light and wind, everything began to settle down.

The light faded and the air returned to a light breeze. Nothing remained of the Hatchery, Amelia, or the Ancient Ones. Only the Crystal sat lopsided on the ground with slight amounts of purple swirling within.

"It's over," Calliope said, making the other girls open their eyes. Gura's had faded back to their normal blue.

"We-we did it..." Ina said quietly.

"Where... are they...?" Kiara asked, already knowing the answer. Calliope turned to them all, her expression shaking with sadness.

"She saved us."

And like that, the dams on nearly everyone's eyes finally broke. No one was spared from the anguish, except for one Reaper who still had something to do.

Calliope knelt down next to Kiara and said, "I'll join you in a second," before walking over to the Crystal.

She placed a hand onto its smooth outer surface and watched the purple mist inside dance around. Her hand slipped through into the Crystal with a tiny push. She smiled lightly.

"Never one to leave things unfinished..." she mumbled. With one swift step, she entered the Crystal.

----

The next moments were a blur to her. Visions of darkness with tiny, pinprick flashes of light dancing in her peripheral vision. Any time she tried to focus on them, they vanished back into the darkness. Her perception of time felt sped up, like she was experiencing centuries in mere seconds within this darkness.

Slowly, another shape formed. It was directly in front of her, round in shape, but slightly oblong. Something waved just behind it, like a flag or cape.

The shape came more into focus. It was a ball of shadow with more of it streaking downwards out of her field of vision. It was moving, morphing into new shapes. It almost seemed random to her, but there was structure to it.

A small triangle in the center, two orbs to the left and right as well as slightly above it, a crescent indent below them all...

It was a face...

More details emerged, eyebrows, pores, teeth, bangs of hair...

It wasn't a face...

It was her face...

And it was smiling at her. A wide, toothy grin that held no emotion behind it, stared back at her from the darkness.

Calliope wanted to scream, but found that her voice was trapped in her throat. Her lips were stuck together. When she reached up with her hands to feel her face, the spot her mouth should have been was smooth.

She had no mouth...

She ran her hands over more of her face and felt more smooth skin. Even where her eyes should have been, where she was currently seeing out of, was completely flat.

The face in front of her was stealing her features away from her.

Calliope continued in vain to try to scream. Even the sound in her throat began to become muffled, as more of herself was lost to whatever was in front of her.