Oh and double upload because why not?

Have a great day. :)

Ninten awoke to the sight of the glowing stones in the Cave of the Dark Dragon. An ominous noise sounded from deeper within the cave, and its echoes almost sounded like a low laugh. Ninten looked back over at the dragon-and-islands sprite floating above the glowing stones, casting a dark silhouette on the ceiling.

What started as an adventure to understand a town and stop a forest fire had quickly become a story about rapid industrialist expansion. Finding a single terrorist and stopping a forest fire sounded feasible; quelling an entire fascist movement did not. How was Ninten supposed to stop the cycle of suffering if the pigmask army had started spinning the gears of its war machine long before the forest fire?

Ana appeared next to Ninten a moment later, her expression distant. She stared into the endless abyss next to the glowing stones, brushing aside a few stands of hair as she looked wordlessly into the pit of darkness.

"No progress?" Ninten said.

"Ness just called me," Ana said, her voice strained. "His father has lung cancer."

Ninten's heart skipped a beat. He opened his mouth, but words refused to come out.

"I feel terrible about telling him not to go back," Ana said.

A pause. The silence lasted for what felt like minutes. Ninten gulped and was able to finally find his voice.

"Well, his mom should have told him about what was going on," Ninten said. "Besides, you couldn't have known."

Ana sighed. "Yeah, that's what I told myself. This must be so hard for Ness."

"And for his father, of course."

Ana hesitated before nodding. "Yes, of course. I just wish…"

"Wish what?"

"Well, Ness told me that never really knew his father that well. Apparently, his father was at work so often that sometimes wouldn't even come home for Christmas. He would sometimes talk to Ness on the phone, but Ness told me he sometimes couldn't even remember what his dad looked like."

"And now…" Ninten said, afraid to finish his thought.

"His father's is die before they ever got a chance to know each other," Ana said. "And that's it. No chance to turn back time and make things right."

Ninten's mind wandered to the 4th-D slip power that had been granted to him by the Masked Man inside the Nowhere Islands V-game. If Ninten could use that power in real life, what would he do with it? Could Ness' relationship with his father be mended by turning back the hands of time?

Because with the power to travel through time, Ninten couldn't even save a fictional universe. He didn't think that he could save the real one.

"Is there no chance that his father will live?" Ninten asked.

"Ness said that the cancer had already spread to other parts of the body."

A chill ran down Ninten's spine. With a diagnosis like that, he really couldn't blame Ana for writing Ness' father off as already being dead.

"I looked up the five-year survival rate for someone with lung cancer that's metastasized," Ana said. "Do you want to guess what it is?"

Ninten looked into Ana's eyes and shied away. He looked down into his hands, counting all of the blue veins pressed against his white skin. The reminder of how fragile the human body truly was made Ninten want to hold onto each blood vessel buried beneath his skin body and never let them go.

"One percent," Ana said. "In five years, the chance of Ness' father being alive is a single fucking percent."

Ninten squeezed his eyes shut and forced himself to take a deep breath. When the whole world was crashing down around him, at least the darkness stayed the same.

"Ninten?" Ana's voice turned concerned. "Are you all right? Did I say something wrong?"

"No, I'm fine."

Ninten opened his eyes and forced himself to look at Ana as the floor lighting illuminated her from below. Ana hesitated, and then stepped forward to embrace Ninten in a hug.

Ninten was too shocked to feel Ana's hands wrapping around his back to react. After a moment, Ana started laughing.

"You really do freeze when you feel threatened," she said.

"I…" Ninten gulped and hugged Ana back. "I don't feel threatened. Just surprised."

Ana laughed again. "I know, Ninten. I'm just teasing."

"I'm sorry," Ninten said.

"Sorry for what? I'm the one teasing you."

"I'm sorry that I couldn't be more of a help. To you, to Ness, to everyone."

"Ninten." Ana released him from the hug and shot him a stern look. "You're plenty helpful."

"Yeah, in what situation? You're trying to bust me out of this cave, and you've found out more about Lucas than I have. I'm just a liability in here."

"You know that's not true."

"Then tell me one way I've helped find Lucas so far."

Ana opened her mouth, and then closed it and bit her lip.

"Exactly," Ninten said. "I always need to be helped. I always need to be saved. And I can't do anything in return. Not for you, who helped me through physics and might be saving my life right now. And not for Ness, who really needs it."

"You don't need to judge yourself harshly. You're an awesome friend, you know. I always have fun studying physics together."

"But I don't do anything helpful."

Ana sighed. "Well, if you want to keep talking it through we can, but I don't have much else to say."

"So you're admitting defeat."

"Well, really you are." Ana frowned. "I just hope you know that I do value you for who you are, not just as someone to save. But if you want, we can move on to practical matters."

"What practical matters are there to discuss?"

"Well, Ness isn't coming back to campus anytime soon. So unless I want to leave you alone and unconscious, I'm kind of stuck here for the night."

"Oh. That's pretty awkward."

"I hope that Ness doesn't mind if I sleep in his bed. And I also hope that he washes his sheets regularly."

"Honestly, he probably doesn't," Ninten said. "My roommate last year would sometimes sleep on his bed without sheets entirely. I never figured out why, but I don't think that keeping a clean bed would be a high priority for most college guys."

"Well, Lucas seems organized." Ana wrinkled his nose. "His bed might be cleaner. Or I can just sleep on the rug. I do feel like I could seriously pass out on the floor right now."

"Don't feel like you have to bust me out of here right this moment," Ninten said. "You'll probably perform better after a full night's sleep."

"Nah, I got…" Ana yawned, "I got this. Just you wait and see."

Ninten raised an eyebrow.

"Hey." Ana placed her hands on her hips. "I'm still perfectly functional, you know. A bit of fatigue isn't going to stop me from getting you out of this dingy cave."

"If you insist." Ninten frowned. "Did you find anything out about Lucas?"

"Oh, right." Ana cocked her head. "I forgot when Ness messaged me. There are passages in the data file that strongly imply that Lucas isn't here legally."

"Like… here in America?"

"Yeah, nobody questions him because he's White, but he's definitely an illegal immigrant."

"And yet he's enrolled in a college."

"It happens," Ana said, "Although it's not exactly common."

"He also speaks English without an accent. Why would he need to come here illegally? I would guess that any country he comes from would be pretty developed."

"Yeah, it's strange." Ana shrugged. "But what isn't strange about this whole mess? Honestly, I'm starting to think he might have gotten captured and deported. If you told me that yesterday I would have been furious, but if it means he's alive…"

"But all of his stuff is still here," Ninten said. "Well, not here, but in his room."

"Maybe he's working things out with law enforcement and he'll come back and get his stuff later. It wouldn't be the first time that the police detained someone without cause."

Ninten frowned. He didn't think that the situation was all that likely, but he didn't want to crush Ana's hope.

"Look, I get that it's a stretch," Ana said. "But it's not like people really get murdered all that often here, either. I'm still trying to look into Lucas' past, but what I'm finding is that it's all in the past. He hardly has records of anything before he moved to America; I can't even tell where he immigrated from. There's nothing in here that would make him a target for a murderer."

Not all murders were thought out. Ninten thought about saying those words, but decided against it.

"What about you?" Ana said. "Did you learn anything about Lucas from the V-game?"

Ninten recounted his most recent playthrough. Ana listened, nodding along at the mundane details and sneering when Ninten talked about Fassad and the pigmasks.

"Whoever made that V-game needs to fucking chill," Ana said. "I don't really see how any of that will lead us to Lucas, and his psyspace keeps getting stranger and stranger each time we look. Are you going to play the game another time?"

Ninten nodded. "I should probably try to tease more information out of the Masked Man. I know he's scared of letting his secrets slip. One of them might help us understand the circumstances surrounding Lucas' disappearance. At this point, it's my best shot."

"All right. I don't know if I trust the Masked Man, but it does sound like whatever you do in the game won't make you a target in real life. I hope you come back with useful information, but it's okay if you don't."

The concern in Ana's eyes echoed their earlier conversation about not wanting Ninten to feel useless. She knew that exploring the V-game was Ninten's one way of feeling useful. And she probably guessed that if he didn't come back with any information, he would blame himself again.

And frankly, she was probably right about all of it.

"All right," Ninten said. "I'll keep that in mind, and I'll try not to judge myself based on my results. If the V-game ends up being nothing more than a V-game, then it's hardly my fault."

A relieved smile crossed over Ana's face. It amazed Ninten that even though he could travel through time in the Nowhere Islands V-game, Ana seemed to have a much firmer grasp on their own futures in real life.

"And I'll also keep in mind," Ninten said. "That I have a wonderful, supportive friend cheering for me as she tries to rush in like a knight in shining armor and save me."

Ninten took a deep breath, walked over to the dragon-and-islands sprite, and placed his hand on the dragon's head. He looked back to see Ana giving him a nod of approval. A moment later, she smiled and waved goodbye.

Ninten closed his eyes and transferred his consciousness into the V-game for a fourth time.

THE YEAR IS 20XX. WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE IS THE LAST REMNANT OF HUMAN CIVILIZATION.

THE PEOPLE YOU WILL MEET DO NOT KNOW WHY THE REST OF THE WORLD WAS DESTROYED, OR EVEN HOW. THEY NEVER KNEW THAT A REAL "WORLD" EVEN EXISTED.

THE NOWHERE ISLANDS ARE THE ONLY OASIS IN THE MIDDLE OF AN INFINITE DESERT.

AND THEY ARE ABOUT TO BE DESTROYED.

WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE IS REAL. IT IS THE FUTURE.

AND IT IS THE PAST.

YOU WILL SEE THE SAME TRAGEDIES REPEAT THEMSELVES AGAIN AND AGAIN.

YOU WILL COME ACROSS PEOPLE WHO ARE DOOMED TO REPEAT THE CYCLE OF SUFFERING.

YOU ARE THEIR ONLY HOPE.

SAVE ONE PERSON, AND BREAK THE CYCLE.

THAT IS YOUR QUEST.

…

…

…

WELCOME TO THE NOWHERE ISLANDS.

This time, Ninten took a breath of fresh air when he entered the world of the Nowhere Islands.

He stood inside the same glass cube as before, the stars shimmering around him in all directions. Ninten pressed his hands against the glass and looked at the clusters of lights twinkling off in the direction of infinity. It amazed Ninten how a universe so vast and empty could have so much light coming from a few beacons in a sea of darkness.

"I'll never get old of the sight," came the Masked Man's voice from behind him.

Ninten turned around to see the boy staring down at the stars through the glass floor, his expression unreadable behind his mask.

"I assume you're not going to try and kill me?" Ninten said.

"The person you saw last playthrough was a different version of me that's stuck inside the timeline of the game. The person you see in front of you right now is a little more… real. Although I do wonder how different I really am from the mindless robot you saw at the Thunder Tower."

"Why do you say that?"

The Masked Man paused, and then cocked his head. "Again, I really shouldn't be giving away more information than I need to. But, well… how do you know that you're real?"

"I don't usually think about it," Ninten said.

"Let's say you were trapped in this game forever," The Masked Man said, "And another version of you started running around the Nowhere Islands, unaware that the entire thing was a simulation. Does that other version of you… have a claim to being you?"

"I don't think so, but he still might be Ninten."

"There's a distinction?"

"In my mind, there is. He can be Ninten. I can be Ninten. That doesn't make us the same. That doesn't make him me."

"And is the other Ninten… real?"

"In a way, I think so." Ninten shrugged. "I mean, he's programmed with code, and we're programmed with DNA. I don't see much of a difference."

"What makes you so sure that 'we' are? How do you know that I exist in flesh and blood?"

"A hunch. I could be wrong."

"Hmm." The Masked Man frowned. "You are a strange person. This is just a game, after all. But games can have real consequences. If you manage to beat the game and stop the cycle of suffering…" The Masked Man cocked his head. "Yes, I think I can promise this. If you beat the game, I'll tell you where Lucas is."

Ninten froze in place, his eyes glued to the Masked Man.

"That's what you're looking for, isn't it?" the Masked Man said. "That's why you hacked into Lucas' Magicant in the first place."

"Well, Ana was the one to hack into the psyspace," Ninten said, "But yeah. You know for sure that Lucas is alive?"

The Masked Man hesitated, and Ninten's heart sank into his stomach.

"What is it?" Ninten said.

"Well, I knew that he was two days ago, a few hours after he disappeared," The Masked Man said. "He built a portal to his Magicant, several miles away from where he normally uses it."

"He… built a portal? By himself?"

"I think so, yeah." The Masked Man looked up at Ninten. "Why is that so surprising?"

"It's just not possible."

"And why do you say that?

"Well, making a portal to the psyspace is dangerous unless a professional does it. And only someone with years of PSI experience can make portals in the first place. What you're telling me is like saying that Lucas was able to perform heart surgery on a patient with the knowledge of a few months in undergrad." Ninten paused. "And Lucas can't even use PSI. So it's physically impossible."

The Masked Man frowned. "What makes you think Lucas can't use PSI?"

"He failed the PSI test at the university. I mean…" Ninten sighed. "I know everyone can use PSI, but Lucas' psychic ability evidently aren't that powerful."

"Huh." The Masked Man shook his head. "Well, I'm just telling you what happened. Maybe someone else did help him, but the signature looked like his. I don't know where he's been since then, but if I can direct you to where he accessed his Magicant then you'll get a pretty big head start."

"Did he access his psyspace more than once from the location?"

"No. He just came in a single time to drop off a giant data file."

Ninten made a "hmph" sound, closing his eyes to try and keep himself from getting a headache. Every time he looked at Lucas' disappearance, the circumstances made less and less sense. If the Masked Man was telling the truth, then Lucas hadn't been murdered—at least, not right away. But maybe Lucas had been whisked away by law enforcement like Ana thought. That would give him time to download a file to his psyspace like the Masked Man said.

"Would you be willing to tell me what the file was?" Ninten said.

Instead of outright saying "no" like Ninten expected, the Masked Man bit his lip. "I can't really see too far outside of the V-game. We were able to piece together that Lucas downloaded a large file, but we don't know where it is or what it looks like."

Well, the Masked Man had no reason to lie when he could have rejected Ninten outright. Ninten made a mental note to mention the file to Ana. If she could find the file by its last modified date, maybe she would be able to figure out what Lucas was doing when he disappeared.

"Anyways," Ninten said, looking at the four colored doors around him. "I should probably go back to exploring the Nowhere Islands, right? I need to figure out Lucas' location before something bad happens to him. For all I know, he could be in danger this exact moment."

Ninten looked into the Masked Man's eyes as he spoke those words. The Masked Man moved his head in an almost imperceptible shake.

"It is not my decision to require you to beat the game, and I apologize for that condition," the Masked Man said. "If it were up to me, I would tell you where Lucas is right now. I care about his safety just as much as you do. But I don't actually know where Lucas built the portal to his Magicant. I just know someone who does."

"Well, thanks for trying to help me out anyway," Ninten said. "I do hope that this person you know is cooperative, though."

"That's always the hope." The Masked Man sighed. "Either way, I'll be sad to see you go. And I'll be sad that I…" he trailed off, frowning.

"You'll be sorry about what?"

"Nothing," The Masked Man said. "But… I do wish that things could be different. I'm just not sure I know how to be anything other than a pawn in someone else's game."

"You always lived that way?"

The Masked Man looked away, his gaze directed at the twinkling stars in the distance. "It's hard to remember a time before. The mindless robot who tried to kill you in the Thunder Tower isn't so different from how I was. And maybe it's not that different from how I still am."

"Well, you said that you care about Lucas. That seems like a pretty big change to me."

"And is it enough to care if I don't do anything?"

The Masked Man placed his hands over his chest, leaning over as if crying silently. When Ninten looked at the Masked Man's cheeks, though, he didn't see any tears running down.

"Sometimes, we can't do anything," Ninten said. "You know, I was always did well in school and made nice friends, but I'm starting to realize only now that it was through no merit of my own. I came from a rich family, and I was set up for success ever since I was adopted. On the flip side, society sets some people up for failure. If I had stayed in the orphanage, I don't think I would ever have learned how to love. The fact that you still care about Lucas tells me that you're trying to fight back. And really, that's all we can do."

The Masked Man didn't respond for several moments, and Ninten was starting to wonder if the boy had heard him.

"This is making my head hurt," the Masked Man finally said. "I was never good at thinking. Only doing. And now my actions mean nothing. The Nowhere Islands are doomed, no matter what I do."

"But we should still try to save them," Ninten said.

"I admire your spirit." The Masked Man looked back over at Ninten. "I recommend going into the purple door next. I think it will give you an idea of exactly what's at stake."

"So I shouldn't go back into the green door and see what happened right after the fire?"

"I think you've probably pieced together what happened. First, the pigmasks came with gold for the adults and toys for the children. Fassad was everyone's best friend. But the pigmasks inserted themselves more and more into Tazmily, until eventually they brought in their military and ruled the town with an iron fist."

"That sounds like the stories I heard about the terrorist and religious extremist groups running around," Ninten said.

"Even when the world changes, people do not." The Masked Man looked up through the glass ceiling at the stars above. "It's a common strategy among authoritarian regimes. Bring the carrot out first, and brandish the stick once they have people too close to run away."

"And in the V-game, it tore apart so many lives."

The Masked Man nodded. "It always amazes me how much evil a single regime can accomplish. I think that most people in the moment focus on their own situations so much that they can't see how authorities like the pigmask regime are tearing apart society itself. I only really understood the pain and suffering of Tazmily when I was able to travel through time and see its descent into darkness."

"But we're going to stop it," Ninten said.

"You can certainly try. I'm not really supposed to help you. But…"

"But what?"

"Well, I think that you deserve to know who I am. Maybe that will help, in its own way."

The Masked Man took off his helmet, revealing a face with blue eyes and red hair that bounced straight up the moment the helmet was removed. Ninten felt his body stiffen.

"Claus," Ninten said. "What happened to you?"

"The person you saw at the Thunder Tower was brainwashed by the pigmask army," Claus said, tossing his helmet aside. "He doesn't remember his own name, and he certainly doesn't remember you or Lucas."

"Claus…" tears blurred Ninten's vision. "And you said you're not so different from him."

"Yes. But I'm in a better place now."

"You say that like you're already dead."

Claus looked away. "Ninten, please go into the purple door. See what we're trying to avoid. And see what cannot be stopped."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ninten said. "But I'll find a way to stop it from hurting people. I'll visit the same place again and again if I have to, until I make things right."

"I wish it were that easy." Claus looked down through the glass floor. "Please, go. Before I say something I'll regret later."

Ninten nodded and walked over to the purple door. He turned the glass doorknob and thrust open the door, looking back at Claus as light started to engulf his vision.

He saw a single tear rolling down each of Claus' cheeks before the glass box faded away from existence.

Mountain ranges did their best to blot out the sky on either side of Ninten. In the tiny valley between the steep slopes, Ninten spotted a number of cylindrical white houses surrounding a crystal-blue pond. Ninten closed his eyes and took a moment to check where he was on the map.

Saturn Valley.

Ninten frowned, opening his eyes and walking towards the white houses. Almost immediately, he spotted a pigmask exiting one of the houses and hid behind a rock formation. Further in the distance, the same large airship with the cannon that destroyed the Thunder Tower landed on a higher ledge.

Ninten knew nothing about this place or its original inhabitants. But seeing the same pieces fall into place gave Ninten a sense of déjà vu. He didn't know if the airship was used for transportation along with combat, but he figured it was quite likely that the airship was brought in as military support.

Which begged the question of who the pigmasks were fighting.

Ninten walked out from behind the stone formation where he was hiding. In the pigmasks' eyes he was just a civilian, so long as he acted casually. He could probably get the run-down from them and figure out what Claus had meant when he said that Ninten would discover what he was trying to avoid.

"Hey." A gruff voice came from behind. "What are you doing here?"

Ninten whirled around to see a pigmask pointing its laser gun straight at him. Ninten hesitated, and then slowly raised his hands.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't shoot you right now," the pigmask said.

"I'm just a regular person. I didn't mean to cause any trouble."

"If that were the case, then you wouldn't be in Saturn Valley."

Ninten frowned, trying to ignore the voices in his head screaming for him to run away. He got the sensation that any further talk would dig himself into an even deeper hole. Ninten might have to fight his way out of this situation before it got out of hand.

"He's with me," came a woman's voice.

Ninten looked over to see another pigmask marching towards the first. She walked over to Ninten and examined him for a few moments. With a sigh, she grabbed onto his arm.

"Come on," she said. "Let's go. I promise that it won't be painful if you just do what you're told."

Every instinct in Ninten's body told him that something was wrong here, but he didn't make any sudden movements. The first pigmask lowered his gun, and the woman pigmask started to leave him away. Why would she lie about having seen Ninten before?

"You're too soft," the first pigmask said. "If you just give your subjects a little more… encouragement, they'll do whatever you want them to."

"I want the truth," the woman pigmask said, "Rather than whatever false confessions torture would give me. This could be vital information that King P. would want me to get right."

The first pigmask snorted. "Like King P. would ever bother with you."

The woman shrugged, still holding Ninten in her iron grip. "One can only hope, soldier. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an interrogation to continue. A humane interrogation, I might add."

The woman pigmask gave Ninten's arm a yank, and led him off towards a nearby cave. The male pigmask shrugged and walked off, putting his laser gun back into his holster. After he left, the woman's grip relaxed ever so slightly.

"Just a little further," she whispered, "And then I'll explain everything."

The pigmask led Ninten into the cave and through a maze of twisting tunnels.

"The pigmasks used this to mine for coal," the woman said, "But they stopped a while ago."

"Because they found another place to get coal from?"

"Yeah, you could say so. They discovered it's easier to blast mountains apart and collect the coal than it is to send miners in. It turns the rivers black, but I doubt the people of New Pork City will even be able to tell at this point."

So the pigmasks were "they," not "we."

"Do I know you?" Ninten asked.

The pigmask stiffened. "Just a bit further."

That was about as conclusive of a "yes" as Ninten could think of.

After a few more minutes, the pigmask and Ninten hit a dead end. The pigmask released a sigh, her posture relaxing as she released Ninten's hand. She grunted and pulled the pig mask off of her head to reveal a face marked by a curious expression and signature pink hair.

"Long time no see, Ninten," Kumatora said. "I thought you were dead."

"I thought I was as well. But sometimes, life has a way to keep on going."

"Tell that to Duster. Tell that to Boney."

"They were the ones who died in the Thunder tower, Right? I'm sorry I couldn't save them."

"I don't blame you." Kumatora's eyes narrowed. "But I also don't think that life just keeps on going and everything turns out well in the end. We all just got lucky and they didn't."

"I guess that's fair."

"And even Lucas' luck ran out."

Ninten raised an eyebrow. "You don't mean…"

"Dead." Kumatora waved a hand. "Saw it happen years ago."

"Oh." Ninten looked down at his feet. "I'm sorry."

"Again, not really your fault." Kumatora paused. "How much do you know about what's happening?"

"Nothing at all."

Kumatora shot Ninten a skeptical glance. After a moment, she sighed and crossed her arms. "You're not joking."

"Dead serious."

"Well." Kumatora walked over to the cavern wall and sat down. "I have a lot to tell you, then."

Ninten nodded and sat down next to Kumatora. "Talk away. I don't have anything better to do."

"The first think you should know is that we're not going to win this. We either lose, or we lose spectacularly. I'm still not entirely sure which one I want to happen."

"Surely there's still some hope."

"There's always hope." Kumatora flashed a wry smile. "But the hope now is less about redemption and more about and end."

"An end to what?"

"Depends who you ask." Kumatora looked up at the ceiling. "Have you ever heard the myth about the Seven Needles and the Dark Dragon?"

Ninten shook his head.

"I didn't think so," Kumatora said. "Lucas told me you weren't from here. You probably don't know, then, that many people worship the Dark Dragon as a god. Well, they used to. Not so much anymore, since the pigmasks showed up. But while we speak of the Dark Dragon as one entity, it's always depicted as a pair of dragons, intertwined in a circle."

"So a little like Yin and Yang?"

Kumatora raised an eyebrow. "I don't know what those mean, so sure. But the Dark Dragon is real, and it was held dormant by seven Needles in the ground. Its body makes up the islands. And once those needles are pulled, whoever pulled the most passes their heart onto the Dark Dragon."

Ninten frowned. "What does that mean?"

"The Dark Dragon gave us life on these islands. But the Needles were necessary to keep it asleep since it also had the capacity to destroy the entire world. Maybe even the part of the world that you're from."

Ninten paused, and for a moment the only sound in the caves was the dripping of water.

"And this is all real?" Ninten said.

"Yes. Whoever pulls the needles becomes the dragon, in a way. And depending on the nature of their heart, they can destroy the world and remake it in their own image. Or destroy the world and not remake it at all." Kumatora shrugged. "At least, that's what the Magypsies told us."

"And you're trying to pull those needles?"

Kumatora chuckled. "My heart would only lead us to destruction, Ninten. Besides, it's all too late."

"Hmm?"

"The only people who can pull the needles are those with access to the PK Love ability, which was only two people in the world. Fortunately, one of them was Lucas. Unfortunately, the other one was the Masked Man we saw at the Thunder Tower."

"Claus." Ninten stood up. "That makes sense."

"You knew?" Kumatora snorted. "You could have told us."

"I… figured it out afterwards. But you said Lucas is dead, right? So the Masked Man is the only one who can pull the Needles?"

"He already did." Kumatora offered a helpless shrug. "We fought him over the last Needle. Lucas knew who he was and couldn't bring himself to fight his own brother. So Claus killed him and pulled the last Needle."

Ninten inhaled sharply. Lucas' death shouldn't have been spoken about so casually.

"And then?" Ninten said.

"Well, and then nothing. Claus pulled the last Needle, passed his heart onto the Dark Dragon, and nothing happened."

"So the myth wasn't real after all."

"That's what I told myself at first. But Claus' heart did pass on. He lay limp for minutes, not breathing or speaking. His heart never returned to his body, and he died soon after Lucas. I think…" Kumatora looked up at the ceiling. "I think that Claus' heart wasn't really good or evil. It was just empty. So the Dark Dragon didn't destroy the world, and it didn't save the world. It just did nothing."

"Oh."

"I wish it had done either," Kumatora said. "At this point, I don't even care which. I said that these days, people were only hoping for an end. The kind of end that I hope for is the end of the world."

Ninten recoiled back. He stared at Kumatora wordlessly, wondering if he had heard her correctly.

"You haven't seen all the pain and suffering, so I don't expect you to understand," Kumatora said, "But at some point, it just has to end. The pigmasks keep taking things from us. They tear apart our families, tear apart our passions, tear apart the very air that we breathe, and eventually even our memories of a better life wear out. There are thousands of kids right now who only ever knew the polluted air and soulless labor of New Pork City. They'll think that what they're living through is normal. I don't think the pigmasks can take anything else from them, Ninten. What's the point of living if you never even learned how to love?"

"That's a question I ask myself often," Ninten said, thinking back to his orphanage. "And I wonder if I would have been like the people you describe if my life had gone a little differently."

"Then you know what it's like to grow hard and cold, to watch the colors fade around you until everything looks the same dull hue."

"I'm not sure if I do. But I think I can imagine it."

Kumatora stood up and closed her eyes. "I want to die, Ninten. I want all of this to be over. For me, and for everyone. It will be a mercy."

Ninten gulped. What could he tell her? That life was worth living, even during its rough patches? Kumatora had made it clear that he didn't know what she had seen, so his words would sound ignorant.

"Do you still know love, Kumatora?" Ninten asked.

"Everyone and everything I loved is gone."

"And you can't make new ones?"

"I think the world has beaten it out of me," Kumatora said. "I don't think I understand what it means to care. I'm sorry if you do, and you still want to save the world. But the best I can do is help it burn. The fire is warm, you know. I would rather burn at the stake than live with this coldness in my heart."

"And what are you going to do," Ninten said, slowly, "To help the world burn?"

"I'm going to kill every single pigmask in Saturn Valley," Kumatora said, "And then I'll go from there. Are you with me?"

Ninten looked at Kumatora, unable to stare past the icy fire in her eyes. She was dead serious about slaughtering every single pigmask she could get her hands on, and her stare was daring Ninten to challenge her.

"I'll help you fight pigmasks for now," Ninten said, choosing his words carefully, "And then I'll go from there."