Kira's POV
I was about to lead a war across endless realities when a child started crying, and everything changed.
The merger was beginning—I could see reality layers starting to collapse into each other as the top-level controllers triggered their plan. But through all the cosmic chaos, one small voice cut through everything else.
A little girl, maybe six years old, from what looked like a children's picture book. Her world was dissolving around her as the merger pulled apart the gentle story framework that had kept her safe.
"Where's my happy ending?" she sobbed. "The story promised me a happy ending!"
I shadow-walked toward her without thinking, my heart breaking at her fear. But when I tried to comfort her, she flinched away from me.
"You're one of the bad characters," she said through her tears. "The ones who broke the stories. Now nothing works anymore."
Her words hit me harder than any cosmic entity ever had.
