(Mirabel's POV)
The universe exploded into light.
Not destruction.
Birth.
Not an ending.
A beginning.
Again.
The light spread across existence.
Across timelines.
Across stories.
Across every possible future that had ever been imagined.
And for the first time—
The light wasn't coming from me.
It wasn't coming from the End.
It wasn't coming from the First Dream.
Or the impossible child.
Or the Author.
It was coming from everywhere.
Reality itself was responding.
The End stood motionless.
Still staring at the cracks spreading through certainty.
Still staring at its own hands.
As though seeing them for the first time.
The oldest thing in existence looked lost.
The sight nearly broke my heart.
Because I understood now.
The End had never been allowed to choose.
It had
