The End

A scream splits the night as darkness falls over the Magnificent North. Observed by the story curse, Jacks cradles Evangeline’s lifeless body while Chaos—revealed as Castor—flees the scene. Red tears streak Jacks’s face as immortals stir from sleep, but Evangeline remains dead in his arms.

The newly awakened queen approaches, remorseful yet resolute. Jacks demands she bring Evangeline back. The queen refuses, recalling how reviving Castor led to monstrosity and vowing never to use such magic again. Jacks argues Evangeline would be different; the queen insists resurrection would damn Evangeline, and that letting her die human is kinder.

Clinging to the word sacrifice, Jacks’s grief hardens into resolve. He carries Evangeline to the arch guarded by weeping stone angels and begins wrenching its stones free. The queen warns the arch stones allow only a single return and that Time will take something equally valuable in exchange.

Jacks rejects the warning, declaring nothing equals Evangeline’s worth to him. Determined to undo her death by preventing Castor’s attack, he prepares to go back, defying the queen and setting the stage for a costly collision with Time.