text: Lilia gasped and rolled over onto a cold floor, right next to a gaping hole that dropped into a chamber beneath her. Light flickered from below, illuminating the tangled roots that stuffed the chamber. The basements? The temple of Tira? Or Oma? Were they the same?
  
  She felt a weight around her, a heavy… Roh?
  
  Lilia shook him. "Roh, are we –" He did not move. His body was cool. Blood continued to ooze from his wounds.
  
  "No, no, no," Lilia. "No, no."
  
  She panicked. Her wound throbbed. She crawled across the floor, working her way toward the tangled roots. They would be looking for her, and for Roh, that other Kirana and her strange soldiers. Lilia needed to hide, needed to get away, needed to tend her wound. How long could she hide here?
  
  She took hold of one of the tree roots and heaved herself up. Blood gushed through her fingers. She felt light-headed, light enough to fly.
  
  Lilia stumbled through the darkness. She got painfully to her feet and hobbled across the floor, winding her way through twining roots. Blood continued to escape her fingers. I'm going to die down here, she thought, I'm going to die here with Roh and Gian and all the rest of them.
  
  A cry came from behind her. The sound of boots on stones. They were looking for her. How had they known where she was? They must have felt the surge of power when they came through from the fifth temple.
  
  This had to be Oma's Temple, didn't it? Why had the temple deposited them here instead of back in the Assembly Chamber where they had come through?
  
  She leaned against a massive root, spitting blood. She tried to ball up her tunic and stem the flow of blood, and her hand wrapped around something, what was… The blood. The little vial of muddy blood from the child, the one Ahkio had raised to Li Kai.
  
  Some old memory tugged at her as she pulled herself under and around root after root. Ahkio had… lost time here. Here, he had said, roots… A stone. Placing his hands against it to call the temple keeper, only to find himself pushed forward in time… while another version of him… went back.
  
  Her breathing came loud and fast in her ears. Ahkio had… lost weeks of time, one Ahkio. But another Ahkio had lost only a day. He had gone back a full day.
  
  He had made different choices.
  
  It was at the very bottom of the temple, Ahkio had told them, the obelisk, tangling among heavy roots. Would it work the same way if she placed her hands on it? Push some version of her forward and another, please, Oma, perhaps another version… back? To start again?
  
  To make better choices.
  
  Lilia choked on a desperate sob. How foolish to even consider some future, when she was very likely to die in a few minutes.
  
  All she had now, as her life dripped along the floor, was this. Ahkio could have been lying about everything. He was probably an impostor. But as she bled out, the story he had told kept her moving, kept her breathing, kept her searching for the broken stone of time.
  
  It is hope that keeps us going, she thought, sliding around in the darkness in her own blood. Everything looked the same. So many shadows.
  
  The shouting grew closer. She saw the light of a flame-fly lantern. They must have found the trail of blood. Black spots danced before her vision. She caught herself on one of the roots, leaned over it with all her weight, trying to stem the flow of blood. One foot. Another foot.
  
  We are all stories, she thought dimly, moved by stories, pushed forward. We have to believe we can live. We have to believe there are choices. May your… what was the old Dhai proverb? May your choices be shaped by your hopes, not your fears. She felt the rage and despair bubble up in her again. She had been ruled by fear. She had murdered everyone she ever loved. Roh was right. She had not fought monsters. She had become one.
  
  The lights behind her gave her enough light to see just ahead.
  
  A large broken stone lay on its side; it had settled there in the twisting mass of rocks. If nothing else, she thought it looked like a nice grave marker. A good place to rest. She was sweating heavily. Her palms were slick.
  
  She pushed herself through the tangle of roots. Lilia crawled the rest of the distance to the stone, watching the blood leave her body. Nausea overcame her. She dry heaved.
  
  I put my hands on the stone, Ahkio had said. I went back a day. What a stupid story. What a mad thing.
  
  But he was Kai, had been Kai.
  
  Lilia pressed her hands to the cold stone. It stayed firm. She laughed, and coughed up a little blood. She set her cheek against the stone. Blood.
  
  More shouting, nearer now. Again. Someone was hacking at the tree roots. She lay on her back as the blood pumped from her body.
  
  Lilia dug into her pocket. Fumbled at the little vial of blood. She twisted at the cap. Her hands were so weak. So very weak. The cap popped off. Rolled next to her.
  
  Lilia pressed two fingers into the gooey blood.
  
  A lantern swung overhead.
  
  "Here she is!" someone cried, in Dhai.
  
  Lilia pressed her fingers to the stone.
  
  A chill went through her bones.
  
  The floor rumbled.
  
  I need to go back, Lilia thought, please, Oma, give me one more chance, like you gave Ahkio.
  
  And then the world was filled with light.