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Deep down, Woman knows that Elktaur is still in there, somewhere.
She is not a fool—she knows that the centaur she loved is still a part of Nowhere King, however shattered. Keep the gate closed, she would tell herself. The Nowhere King must not be allowed to leave the rift under any circumstances. Don’t open the door, don’t turn the key.
…There was no reason to keep the Nowhere King alive. There is no reason to keep him imprisoned in the Rift forever, and she knew that she could’ve ended it any time had she used the Key herself. She could’ve come seen him any time, no, not to set him free… at least, not in the way he would’ve preferred. Or maybe the Nowhere King had no preference for which way Woman would want to set him free, only that she do it. The problem is that Woman doesn’t know if she could bring herself to do either.
It’s so selfish.
She can’t kill him. She can’t. The longer the Nowhere King stays trapped in the Rift, the more his hatred festers into something uglier by the day, the more that original Elktaur she fell in love with is slipping out of existence further and further, and Woman feels so… helpless to do anything about it. She wants to save him, but is it possible? Does the Nowhere King even want to be saved at this point?
Woman can’t come up with an easy answer. So, the Nowhere King stays trapped in the Rift, the two worlds remain forever split, and whose fault is it all?
Woman’s. Because she can’t kill the Nowhere King yet the Nowhere King plagues them all, the Nowhere King is the main root of all these problems, all this hatred, and it’s her fault that she can’t end the war because of her stupid, stupid personal feelings…
So, when the portal is opened, the key turned, and Rift open like a flesh wound bared for everyone to see, Woman knows she has to do it. Kill the Nowhere King. Stop putting it off, so that this war can finally end. So that everything could finally end with closure for everyone. For her. So that maybe she can finally stop thinking about the what-ifs, the things she could’ve done to prevent the tragedy that has befallen not just the Nowhere King’s victims, but the Nowhere King as well.
“Once shattered, now whole.”
She steps through the portal. The Nowhere King is there, as expected. The expanse is never-ending darkness.
“Once whole, now united.”
The Nowhere King turns his attention to her. Woman’s stomach twists into a knot. He looks even worse than when she had last seen him. The hatred that festered because of her, because she couldn’t end it, because she had desperately hoped there’d be a way to save him… to get Elktaur back…
“Once united, now eternal.”
The Nowhere King drops the Centaurworld inhabitants. Woman pays them no mind, stepping forward, concentrating her everything into the mantra of words that play on repeat from her mouth.
The key in her hands glows an ominous blue.
“What are you thinking, bring that in here? You can’t have that—” Water baby is interrupted with a calculated swipe of Woman’s hand, shifting all the Centaurworld inhabitants to the left.
“She’s… she’s here,” the Nowhere King says in disbelief.
Was it inevitable?
“She’s come to set me free.”
Woman can’t keep the terror that the statement instills in her off her face. Her clutch on the Key is unsure because every bone in her body is screaming at her to not do it. She doesn’t want to kill him. That is why all those years, she had never even once thought of coming back—because she knew that she would have to kill him should she finally come to visit what has become of him.
Recovering, she continues, “Once shattered, now whole.”
She keeps her gaze on the Key instead.
“Once whole, now united.”
The Key turns from blue to red, the aura around it growing bigger.
“Once united, now eternal.”
She walks towards the Nowhere King.
“I never stopped thinking about you,” the Nowhere King says.
I know, Woman thinks. She’s the exact same way—not a single day has passed where she hadn’t thought about Elktaur, the general, or the Nowhere King. She misses Elktaur.
“Once shattered, now whole,” her voice begins to crack.
“Of what we could have had together,” the Nowhere King adds.
“Once whole, now united.” The Key turns an even brighter red, its shape transforming into that of a staff. “Once united, now eternal.”
She grabs the staff with both hands on deck, pointing the glowing end at Nowhere King. It’s time to end this, for everyone’s sake.
“You made me what I am,” the Nowhere King accuses. “But it’s okay.”
The Nowhere King tips his head down at Woman. “I’ll forgive you.”
Grief strikes Woman’s face almost immediately, soft horror reflecting off her eyes. The staff in her hands shake—no, that’s because her hands are shaking against her own will—she had never been so unconfident in her entire life. All she can keep thinking is how Elktaur is still in there, even after all these years, and how the Nowhere King isn’t completely corrupted yet.
You must do this, Woman closes her eyes and ignores all that’s going on, raising the staff above her head. You must.
She inhales, and then makes the mistake of opening her eyes—
And she can’t stop seeing Elktaur. How is it that when they finally reunite, the Nowhere King knows exactly what to do to make her weak on her knees like this?
She loved him.
It’s unfair. Unjust. Cruel to play her like this.
(You don’t want to kill him. Just admit it to yourself already.)
“I… I can’t,” Woman says.
(I can’t set you free.)
“I can’t do this.”
(But you have to end it somehow, don’t you?)
“I’m sorry,” Woman says, cautiously reaching out her hand to touch the skull. It’s so cold, unlike how Elktaur’s head had felt under her palm.
(Deep down, she knew it wasn’t her fault he had become like this. It’s not her responsibility, yet… if she doesn’t take responsibility, then who will?)
“Please,” Woman continues, “Just let them go. You got what you’ve always wanted, don’t you?”
“Yes,” the Nowhere King murmurs, his voice surprisingly gentle.
In Centaurworld, Woman never did much other than dwell on the past. On her mistakes, on Elktaur’s mistakes, maybe… it was time for a change.
“What are you doing…!” Water Baby yells at her. “Come on! The gate’s falling apart!”
Woman focuses her gaze on the Key, its red aura somewhat calming in the face of all the great chaos in the background.
She turns to face the gate, where all the Centaurworld inhabitants are looking at her with wild and confused eyes from the safety of the other side, all of them outside of the Rift. Good.
No regrets for what she’s about to do next, then.
“I’m not coming,” Woman says. The Key in her hands turn a bright blue, a slight wind from the magic picking up around her. Her hair moves with the breeze. “After all, one woman is a small price to pay. It’s time to finally end this once and for all.”
“You’re not—” Water Baby stumbles upon her words, the mere thought of what Woman is proposing horrifying.
“It must’ve been lonely trapped in here all these years,” Woman says aloud, ignoring Water Baby. “It’s okay. You don’t have to be alone anymore.”
The black expanse drips off from the imaginary ceiling, revealing white splotches of the Rift from before.
“Hey—!” Water Baby shouts once again, but her voice goes unheard.
The last thing that Water Baby, Horse, Rider, and the rest of the Centaurworld inhabitants see of Woman is a haunting vision of the black expanse falling apart, and in the center of it all is Woman and the Nowhere King, standing side by side, Woman’s hand on top of Nowhere King’s skull, the Key in Woman’s other hand glowing brighter and brighter—
The Key explodes, shattering into a million pieces. The gate collapses in on itself, before finally sealing away the two for all of eternity, forever.
.
.
.
.
.
Years later, Beartaur’s collection welcomes a new addition of special section depicting a tar pit with fake black ooze that hangs off the edge of the table, and in the center was the plastic figurine of a human woman dressed in a white wedding gown holding onto a hideous eldritch creature, who was bowing his head to her.
(They call her the Nowhere Queen.)