Riddick rose like Nemesis, and smashed Kyra down. He raised a booted foot to crush the life out of her.

"Riddick," Jack whispered.

He hesitated, dropped to his knees beside her. Vaako was shouting, but he couldn't understand what he was saying. People were running past them. "Kid. Stay with me, kid."

She blinked up at him. "Won't go far." Started to laugh.

Riddick was dimly aware that Vaako's hands were on Jack's side; the blood bubbling up around them. The young doctor collapsed beside them. "Move," she said, tersely. Shoved him away from the wound. Started doing something.

"Riddick," Jack said, again. "Don't kill her. She's . . . family."

"She tried to kill you."

"If I die, she's all you got. If she dies, I'll never know . . . " Her eyes rolled back and she went limp.

Know why she sent the mercs after you, he finished for her. But he knew why already. And it pissed him off. Pissed him the hell off.

The Necroverse was roaring, collapsing. Time to go.

Jack was dreaming she was a little girl again. Long before she had got on the Hunter-Grazner, long before her foster parents had died, she was playing on the beach next to a roaring sea. Veins of colored clay snaked over the sands, as if left behind by snakes winding their ways back into that great ocean. Jack had mounded the sand into an enormous hemisphere and was sculpting a world, making towns and mountains and rivers and happy families of mud people, making a happy houses for her happy mud people, making happy towns for the houses, running back and forth from the different snaky trails of colored mud for the perfect colors, and then she was dizzy, backing away, and there were giant octopi frolicking in the waves, and she was making things as fast as she could and she was covered in mud and it had gotten onto her face and under her heavy bracelets, and it was raining and her mud world was expanding and –

A beautiful woman walked out of the waves, beautifully, smiled down at her. "Hello, little girl."

Jack stared at her. She was completely dry. "Hi! How did you do that? Where did you come from?"

The woman answered half of the question. "I've always been here. Just waiting. What are you doing?"

"Making things."

"I see. Do you know what you're making?"

Jack shrugged. "Stuff."

"You're making worlds."

Jack giggled. "Making worlds of mud?"

"That's what the better worlds are made of. Would you make something for me?"

"Sure."

"Make me a body?"

Jack concentrated. Found the best clay she could find, molded it carefully into something that looked as much like the woman as she could. Somewhat shyly, she handed it to her. "Here."

The woman took it wonderingly, stroked its clay hair. "Nicely done. I'm Shirah, by the way."

"I'm Jack."

"I know . . . Those are nice bracelets. You should never take them off."

Jack shrugged, suddenly shy under the woman's intense gaze. "Someone gave them to me. I don't remember who."

Shirah smiled, beautifully. "They look good on you." She crouched, looked closely at Jack. "I didn't think it would be you. Maybe it shouldn't have been you." She ruffled Jack's hair affectionately, regretfully. "But he stopped listening to me after he became Emperor. He was always a flawed vessel."

"Huh?"

"Nothing. Maybe it's better that it was you. Better to have an essentially good person instead . . . and you were at the right place at the right time. That has to mean something. Would you do something else for me?"

"Okay."

"There's something buried here a long time ago, up the beach. A door to a . . . cave. Would you help me dig it up?"

"Wouldn't it be full of water?"

"Only when the tide comes in." Shirah led her up the beach and they started to dig through the sand and clay and rocks that later, Jack would recognize as bones. After an eternity, they uncovered a stone disk. With considerable effort, Shirah managed to dislodge it, uncovering a hole that seemed to go all the way down.

Jack knelt at the edge. "It's dark down there."

"Yes." Jack heard the sorrow in Shirah's voice. Then something shoved her, and she was falling.

Jack woke. She was in a bed in a small medical bay. A man was sitting nearby, reading quietly. Vaako. "Hey."

He smiled, tiredly, a soft look in his eyes. "The sleeper awakes."

"How long have I been out?"

"A few days. How do you feel?"

"I feel . . . good. Strong." She looked down at the needle in her arm, again. "I'm in a hospital bed. Again. Is this going to keep happening the rest of my life?"

His voice was warm, but serious. "We're at the cusp of a new world. You . . . you are in a position to help make that world. So it is up to you. My lady."

New worlds of mud. She gestured at the needle. "You, uh, help me with this?"

He looked at her oddly for a moment. Then he shrugged, helped her pull the needle out of her arm and bandage it. She made her way to the bathroom, returned cautiously.

"So, is it just . . . you and me?"

He laughed. "No, my lady. There's a crew. And we are in a fairly sizable flotilla of . . . our ships. And Riddick and Kyra are here."

The words hung in the air. She rubbed her eyes. "Riddick and Kyra? What are they doing?"

"As usual, fighting. The doctor was exhausted; I volunteered to watch over you. You have the only sound proofed room on the ship." It was almost an apology.

"What are they fighting about?"

"You, usually. Me, sometimes. What to do. Where to go. Whether to go together."

"She tried to kill you."

"Yes."

"Do you know why?"

Vaako shrugged. "I think she was angry about the evacuation order."

So it's my fault. Jack rubbed her eyes. Then she fingered the heavy manacles locked on her wrists, half expecting to see them covered in mud. "I still have these on."

"We tried to take them off but they seem to have fused to your flesh. . ."

These words joined the others hanging in the air, pregnant with meaning she did not understand.

"Fused." Great. Metal from beyond the grave. Locked around me. Marking me . . .

Vaako's voice was quiet. "We tried to remove them surgically but you started screaming. Riddick . . . reacts badly when you scream."

"Oh." She thought about that. "Where are we?"

"Still in orbit around the . . . event horizon. The threshold. Whatever it is."

"Why?"

"You don't remember?"

"No."

"Moving away . . .seemed to cause you pain. And what ever is happening . . . stretched out like it was trying to come with us. The Illium gave us this little ship so we could stay near enough that you weren't in pain."

Does that make sense? Figure it out later. Her voice dropped, soft. "How many survived?"

"Millions."

"Out of how many?"

"Many, many millions."

"Do you think many died . . . who didn't want to?"

He sighed. "I don't know. Maybe. Many people thought the Underverse had come. They weren't going to leave at the cusp of their ascension to immortality."

"Oh." But you did. She found that voice was small. "Why are we on an Illium ship?"

"Kyra wouldn't get on a Necromonger ship . . . and Riddick wouldn't leave her."

"Wasn't he about to kill her?"

"Yes. He still might." He hesitated. "My lady."

"Why do you keep calling me that?"

Vaako's gaze was intense. "There are those who say you should be the new . . . spiritual head of our people."

"Good god. Why?"

"You brought a soul back from the dead, clothed it in flesh. And now . . . the threshold. We think it is opening. It seems like a new solar system is coalescing around it, beneath us. And you seem to be tied to it."

A new world. It really happened. I didn't just dream it. "I want to see."

"Riddick will want to know you are awake."

"Let me get my bearings first. I'm getting real tired of this Sleeping Beauty thing that keeps happening to me around him."

Vaako's lips twitched and the intensity of his gaze softened. He helped her out of bed. She was grateful to find she was wearing pajamas and not the bloody dress. Someone had even bathed her. Riddick? Kyra? Vaako? Suddenly she felt uncomfortable again. "Do I have any real clothes?"

He gave her a strange look. "I'll see what I can do." He left quietly, returning almost apologetically with a very simple outfit. She put it on gratefully, let him lead her to the bridge. A woman was piloting. She leapt up, the same look of worship in her eyes that Jack had seen so many times directed at Riddick that she looked around for him. She looked at the co-pilot's seat for a moment, then sat down, for the first time ever in a ship with Riddick or Kyra in it, in a pilot's chair. Even though they both were adamant she should learn to pilot, somehow, neither ever let her drive.

The swirling maelstrom was astonishing. Light crackled across it, and colors, and shapes. Knowing, somehow, it was the right thing to do, she moved the ship through the clouds.

Before too long, they were hailed. Vaako answered. It was Aereon. "Praise the goddess. You did it."

"Yeah. About that. What did I do?"

"Meet me at the threshold. I'll tell you what I know."

"On the third planet?" How do I know there's a third planet?

"That's where you put it, child." She smiled, cut the connection.

Oh god.

The cockpit was silent as Jack thought about whether she was awake. Decided she probably was.

As if reading her mind, Riddick rumbled from behind her, almost accusingly, "You're awake." She spasmed. Turned the chair. Felt the urge to stand up, yield him the position. Resisted it. Gave him a smile, instead.

"Hey."

"Hey." Kyra pushed passed him. "You're awake. God. I thought I killed you."

Jack stared at her. "Yeah. I thought you did too." She turned back to the view screen. Her eyes were prickling, and she was damn tired of crying. Riddick's hand was on her shoulder. She wasn't sure how she felt about that.

The maelstrom parted. A solar system unfolded beneath them, the planet beneath them sparkling like a jewel in the night. "Wow. Did you do that?" Kyra asked, with artificial brightness.

"Someone had to."

She landed the ship without incident. Walked out into a new world, Riddick at her back, Kyra asserting the right to walk at her side. She missed the days she walked with Riddick holding her hand. Repressed the urge to grab for it.

Somehow, Aereon really had known to land at the same place. They exchanged a look, but no words. They walked to a cave, angled sharply down, like a hole she had dug in the sand, like a hole she had fallen down.

"I don't want to go in there," Jack said, her voice small again.

"It's your path, child. The next part of finishing this." New voice. A voice she knew from dreams she wish she had never dreamed. "Shirah?"

The woman smiled at her, beautifully. "Jack. Welcome." She took Jack's hands, warmly, caressing the metal bands in a way that made her very uncomfortable.

"You're real?"

"I was. I am. Thank you. I lived a long time in the secret places, guiding those who would listen." She gave Riddick another beautiful smile. "Hail Lord Marshal."

"I'm getting sick of that name."

"It is a rather nihilistic title for a Furyan." Shirah had not released Jack's hands, though her attention was completely on Riddick. "Still, you fulfilled the prophecy. You killed the last Lord Marshal."

"Aren't I the last Lord Marshal?"

Shirah smiled. "In a way. To be the real Lord Marshal, you must," her voice took on a mock-heroic tone "Cross the Threshold of Death and Return. Which you did, on the sands of Crematoria. But it wasn't their threshold."

"Doesn't that make me the Lord Marshal? Or Jack?" Kyra's voice was acerbic. "We did that."

"No woman--" Vaako started. Took a deep breath. "It is taught that no woman can so serve. That they can not be both the gateway for life to enter the universe, and the conduit for life to leave it for its eternal reward."

"Haven't we always been?" Shirah said, quietly. "Womb and tomb. But you are right. The Necromonger religion cannot accommodate a female Lord Marshal. Let alone two of them. Which brings us to the unexpected problem Jack has given to us."

"What problem?" Riddick's voice was quiet, but there was a beginning of a threat implicit.

"There should not be Necromongers. They should have passed from the universe with the Necropolis, an abomination run its course. But because of Jack --" her beautiful face twisted slightly, "because Jack showed mercy, there are millions of Necromongers in orbit around this world, landing on this world. This world that should be Furya reborn. Thus, we have a problem."

Aereon, who had been quiet all this time, whispered. "'I will give into your hands cities you did not build, vineyards you did not plant, fields you did not sow . . .'" Shirah gave her a sharp look.

"Yes. Something like that."

"You don't want to share this world you did not build with others."

"Not with those people. They killed our people."

"Toal said that he forgave the Furyans." Jack's voice was very distant. She tried, discretely, to pull her hands away. Shirah would not let her. "What did we do?"

Shirah shrugged. "A hundred generations ago, we were one people. We went our own way. They never forgave us."

"They never forgave us, but they didn't do anything until a prophecy said a Furyan would kill a Lord Marshal?"

Shirah gave her a sharp look, this time, as if annoyed that someone else was telling the story. "Some say there was a war. It was a long time ago."

Jack's voice was slow. "Furyans . . . they thought they were a chosen people? And the Necromongers were willing to let anyone in."

"Enough. Child. You have given us a great service. But you also failed us. I pronounce your penance. To walk through the Threshold bring back Furyans trapped in the nightmare of the Underverse. Because you have walked in both worlds, because you have bled on the rock, because you have the bonds of the Underverse around your wrist, you can bring them back. To finish our vengeance."

Because I was there at the right time. Fuck.

Riddick interrupted her thoughts. "Right." The threat implicit in Riddick's voice had become explicit. "I'm going to let her do that."

"It's not your decision, Riddick." The force in Jack's voice surprised her. Shirah even dropped her hands.

He turned on her slowly. "You don't think so?"

"I don't. I might not go. I'm done being anyone's instrument of anything. But it's not your call."

Shirah broke in, seeming a little flustered. "There is no need to decide tonight. Let me show you," she gave Aereon a look "a city you did not build."

She lead them to a beautiful house in a beautiful town, full of food. A very familiar house . . . Ships were beginning to land, to Shirah's obvious annoyance. Vaako was quietly taking command of what appeared to be a growing settlement. A heavily armed settlement. Someone brought them food and wine. They ate at a pavilion. Everything was awkward.

Jack finally took charge. "Okay. Kyra. You're not my sister, are you?"

"Not . . . literally. In a way. We're both Furyan."

"So why do you look like me?"

"No, why do you smell like her?" Riddick's eyes were intense. "That's what got me. You smell like her."

Kyra looked away, staring into a nearby forest. "Had myself altered."

"Why? Why do all this?" Jack's voice broke. "Why . . . send people after me?"

Kyra looked far older, sitting in the shadows. "You know they tried to slaughter our people. Not many survived. My parents were among the few. We've been looking for Furyans, bringing them together. Trying to survive. Trying to find someone who fit the prophecy. Someone like Riddick.

"We found you when you were about eight years old. But you seemed safe and healthy, and we didn't really have a better place to take you, so we left you where you were. Paid someone to keep an eye on you. Then . . . that merc caught Riddick near your planet. A merc who didn't have a ship, for some stupid reason, so he was transporting him by commercial passenger transport. And the solution was so fucking perfect, it was like the gods liked us again.

"We made sure that ship got routed to your world, and that you got on board. We had our guy bribe the captain into reprograming the navigation computer to take the ship slightly out of the shipping lanes to someplace we could extract you both. There should have been an automatic course correction that took the ship back – late, but safe. By the time anyone else woke up from cryo, we'd be months gone.

"But something went wrong. You left the shipping lanes parsecs early, on a different vector than we gave the captain."

Jack closed her eyes.

Kyra was almost pleading. "You should have been safe. Space is so empty; it's amazing you passed through a solar system, let alone fell into the gravity well of a planet. It took us forever to find you.

"By the time we got to the crash site, no one was left alive on that planet. We thought maybe someone had escaped in a shuttle, but we weren't sure.

Kyra took a deep breath. "I'm so sorry."

"Go on." Riddick's voice betrayed nothing.

"Couple of years later, we finally found Jack. Everyone we had was practically on the other side of the galaxy, and we knew enough about you to be worried you might bolt, disappear, and both you and our best link to Riddick would disappear again. We were desperate. The Necros were getting geometrically stronger. So we took a gamble. We tipped off some mercs. Told them to rough you up a bit. Thought he might show up to rescue you. Figured we could arrange it to be rescuing you as he showed up, nice frame to make a case for him to join us. We also figured the Helion Navy would show up eventually to rescue you if we worse came to worse. They take care of their children.

"Only things got out of hand. The mercs figured out that the old guy wasn't looking for you; hadn't even put out a report you were missing. They figured they could do anything to you, and the harsher it was, the more likely it was that Riddick would show.

"By the time we figured it out, got you out . . . you were badly hurt. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Kyra gazed at her longingly, as if she was waiting for Jack to forgive her. Jack wouldn't meet her eyes.

"So we extracted you, patched you up, took you back, kept watch. We figured Riddick would be pulled back; you were almost certainly the only Furyan woman he ever met. But when Riddick didn't show, even after -- I decided to risk myself. Get you someplace safe, take your place. Atonement, I guess. And it worked. Sort of. He found me. Took him long enough." She laughed. No one joined in.

"But it didn't work like I planned. It was too late; the Necros were there. I was sure Riddick was dead on the sands. So I went with them. Thought maybe I could kill the Lord Marshal. I never really believed in prophecies anyway. Well, you know the rest." She trailed off, awkwardly.

There was silence for a long time. Finally, Jack met her eyes. "Now what?"

After a pause, Aereon answered. "There are different ways this can play out. You may stay here, defend this land as your own." Riddick snorted. Aereon gave him a look. "You realize, my son, if you get caught again, you're not just up for murder. You're up on genocide charges. Crimes against humanity. Consider the benefits of sovereign immunity."

He just snorted again.

"You can finish what Kyra's people started. Find the Furyans who survived. Maybe try to create some sort of peace here between two warrior peoples. Someone will be needed to guard the Threshold, after all, since Jack dug it up . . . "

She tried to make eye contact with them, but only Kyra would look at her, a hard look of skepticism. Aereon smiled and shook her head. "Or you could do what Shirah wants. All three of you should be able to walk back and forth through that threshold, though I suspect only Jack can bring people back. It is not a power traditionally given Lord Marshals. Might be the real reason they are male."

"Or you could split up, leave this world to us to guard. Or to the Necromongers, as a base to restart their religion."

Somewhere in all of this, Vaako had come back. He sat down at the table, across from Jack. "It's a good world. It's a sustainable world. We could stay here."

Kyra snorted. "You really think you're part of this? That there will be peace between us?"

Vaako smiled, slowly. "I think that would be the best possible world. But I like fighting too."

"You think it's your call?" Riddick's voice was as gentle as it could be. "Do you want to be in charge here, Vaako?"

"You were a great warrior king, my liege." Vaako's voice was strangely sincere. "But do you want to be king of this world?"

Riddick snorted again, looked away. Aeyron broke in, quietly. "Maybe this world needs a different governmental structure. Maybe a queen." She smiled at Jack.

"Oh, fuck that." Kyra shoved back from the table. "Like she's even remotely qualified. Tomorrow, we're going through that Threshold, we're saving who ever we can save, and then we'll kick some butt. Understand me? Jack, I'll drag you through if I have to. It's the right thing to do."

"You think you're doing that?" Riddick's voice was deadly. "You think you get to take her?"

Vaako stood and walked around the table, positioned himself behind Jack. She found herself turning to look at him, butterflies in her stomach. His eyes and voice full of a strange devotion. Oh god, he's transferring from his wife to me. What do I do about this? "My lady, if you wish to go, I will go with you. If you do not want to go, I will protect you." Vaako's pulse pistol was half drawn. She put a hand on his arm. Shook her head.

"Thank you." She took a deep breath, looked down. "But – all of you -- just – just leave me alone for a while, would you? And don't kill each other while I'm gone. I need – I need to think about all this."

She walked with as much dignity as she could muster into the forest. Then she started running.

She kept running until a tree stopped her dead in her tracks. It looked exactly like the tree Kyra had cut her down from in the Underverse, only . . . more real. Looked an awful lot like the trees in Arden. Oh god, Arden. Has it really only been a month since I was in that tree, watching monsters move my stuff out of my dorm room? Obeying an uncanny urge, she started to climb. Curled up in the crook of a gigantic branch, and tried to think things through.