Khan glanced at Merlina "I'm talking about her long life, the source of her immortality. She draws power from the Dark Dimension to stay alive". Merlina stares at Khan "That's not true" "I've seen the rituals. Worked them out. I know how she does it". Ebony glared at Khan but remained calm "The Zealots will be back. You'll need reinforcements" she walks away. Merlina watches her with a look of betrayal on her face. Khan sighs "She's not what you think she is" "You don't have the right to say that. You have no idea the responsibility that rests upon her shoulders" "No, and I don't want to know". Merlin turns to him "You're a coward" "Because I'm not a killer?" "These Zealots will snuff us all out and you can't muster the strength to snuff them first?". Khan pointed in the direction of the zealot body "What do you think I just did!?" "You saved your own life! And then whined about it like a wounded dog" "Oh, because you would have done it so easily?". Merlina got right in his face "You've no idea the things I've done. And the answer is yes. Without hesitation" "Even if there's another way?" "There is no other way. You lack the will".
They both hear a noise "They're back". They run into the foyer and see the zealots doing some sort of spell "We have to end this". Merlina jumped down and fought the zealots, but there were too many that she was unable to reach Omen "Khan, get down here now!". Khan however stayed where he was and raised his hands. There was a flash and Omen stopped conjuring the spell and glared up at Khan who smirked "The Special Zone. You can't affect the real world in here. Who's laughing now, asshole?". Omen smirks "I am". Multiple parts of the room begin to shift. Khan flies down on a cloud, grabs Omen's warp ring and he runs out of the sanctum with Merlina "If I have his warp ring he can't escape, right?". Merlina looks back and sees Omen and his Zealots chasing them "Just keep running". Khan had no idea where to go. The streets had turned into a labyrinth with gravity going in different directions. Parts of the road started to seperate. Khan jumped to avoid a car and then desperately looked around for a way to go. Merlina catches up with him "Their connection to the Dark Dimension makes them more powerful in the Special Zone. They can't affect the real world, but they can kill us. This wasn't clever. It was suicide!". They run and Khan opens a portal, back to the real world. Just before they can reach it the gravity suddenly throws them sideways. They hit a bus and see an Asian man laughing and reading a book "Sore wa yōkidesu".
Khan and Merlina jump onto the side of a building. Khan tries to open another portal but Omen lands on it and sends a shockwave that ripples through the building stopping him. The ground underneath the building begins to sink splitting the building in half. More buildings fall into the sink hole as Khan and Merlina land on the side of another.. Khan watches the chaos of the mirror dimension barely able to comprehend it "This was a mistake". They're both thrown off and land on different walkways as the world morphs around them like the insides of a machine. Khan runs from the zealots but is inable to keep up with the constantly changing terrain and falls of. He slides down a subway train and finds himself in the middle of a road. He jumps onto another walkway but Omen appears and grabs Khan by the throat. He takes back his warp ring. He attempts to stab Khan, but something suddenly separates the two. Merlina suddenly joins Khan as the Zealots are separated from Omen. A platform is formed underneath the group and Ebony appears. Merlina watches shocked as Ebony morphs the world around her "It's true". Ebony glances at her before looking back to Omen "Omen" "I came to you broken, lost, in need. I trusted you to be my teacher, and you fed me lies" "I tried to protect you". Omen scoffed "From the truth?" "From yourself" "I have a new teacher now". Ebony formed energy fans in her hands "His eternal life is not paradise, it is torment" "Liar". He and the Zealots attack but she fends them off effortlessly. Omen however steps back and allows his zealots to do the fighting. He slowly walks up behind on who is in front of Ebony and stabs through both of their stomachs. Omen then opens another portal and pushes her through it. Khan and Merlina jump through after her. They watch her fall out of the sky and hit a glass awning. People on the street recoil in fear and stare at her body lying motionless on the ground.
Perci was in the hospital working when "Perci!". She sighed "Are you kidding me?" she turns but sees Khan running next to a hospital bed carrying the dying Ebony "It's not a fibrillation. She has a stunned myocardium" "Neurogenic?" "Yes".
In the operating room Khan picks up a scalpel but his handshakes "Nic". Nic walks over to him and Khan hands him the scalpel "We need to relieve the pressure on her brain" "We're losing her!" Perci said. Khan sees the heart monitor flashes and Khan realises what's happening. He fires his astral form out and time freezes around him. He sees Ebony's astral form leave the room "What're you doing?". He follows her "Come on, you're dying!". She flies outside onto a balcony and looks out to the city. Khan moves next to her "You have to return to your body now. You don't have time" "Time is relative. Your body hasn't even hit the floor yet". She watches a lightening strike slowly form in the sky. She admires its beauty "I've spent so many years peering through time looking at this exact moment. But I can't see past it. I've prevented countless, terrible futures and after each one, there's always another. And they all lead here but never further". Khan understood "You think this is where you die" "You wonder what I see in your future?" "No". Ebony smiled and Khan sighed "Yes" "I never saw your future. Only its possibilities. You have such a capacity for goodness. You always excelled but not because you craved success but because of your fear of failure" "That's what made me a great doctor".
She smiled "It's precisely what kept you from greatness. Arrogance and fear still keep you from learning the simplest and most significant lesson of all" "Which is". She turns to him "It's not about you. When you first came to me you asked me how I was able to heal Cliff. I didn't. He channels dimensional energy directly into his own body" "He uses magic to walk?" "Constantly. He had a choice to return to his own life or to serve something greater than himself". Khan looked hopeful "So I could have my hands back again? My old life?" "You could. And the world would be all the lesser for it… I've hated drawing power from the Dark Dimension. But as you well know sometimes one must break the rules in order to serve the greater good" "Merlina won't see it that way". Ebony nodded "Merlina's soul is rigid and unmovable forged by the fires of her youth. She needs your flexibility just as you need her strength. Only together do you stand a chance of stopping Feist" "I'm not ready". She smiled warmly "No one ever is. We don't get to choose our time". She takes his hand "Death is what gives life meaning. To know your days are numbered. Your time is short. You'd think after all this time, I'd be ready. But look at me. Stretching one moment out into a thousand just so I can watch the snow". Khan stares out as the snow falls and he feels Ebony's grip loosen. He looks and sees that she is gone.