“A car crash?” Harvey stammered.

  “Harvey, just forget it,” Hannah urged.

  “No. I need to know,” he replied.

  “What’s going on?” Dean asked.

  “Did you see the car that hit you?” Harvey asked.

  “Not really. It was dark, and they T-boned us after running a red light,” Dean replied. “I think it was a blue…”

  “Camaro,” Harvey interrupted, tears welling up in his eyes as he stared at the people he killed.

  Alice turned to look at her husband, confusion written plainly on her face. Dean reached out his hand to grab hers, a gentle sigh escaping his lips while he wrapped his other arm around his granddaughter.

  Violent sobs shook his entire body, and the tables around theirs grew quiet as everyone turned to look at Harvey. He’d always known that the people inside the car he hit might be in the trial, but that still didn’t prepare him to meet them face to face. Part of him hoped they’d died already. Eaten by a bloodrunn or mauled by a bear. Another part wished they were assholes. Someone like Gary, that way killing them might have been an accidental act of god.

  But they were so nice.

  A kind elderly couple driving their sweet granddaughter home from who knows what. People who had been forced to spend months stuck inside this fortress, praying someone would save them from the undead horde marching towards a portal high in their midst.

  Harvey had come to terms with his Stain. It wouldn’t be gone otherwise. But his heart still hurt knowing that his mistakes had taken the lives of three wonderful people.

  “Harvey,” Hannah sniffled. “Just breathe for me. Please. You can’t let this Stain you again.”

  “I… I’m sorry,” he bawled, struggling to get the words out.

  “Son. I want you to listen to me,” Dean urged.

  Harvey paused, wiping his tears on the napkin wrapped around the rolls of silverware the System provided.

  “Is he ok, grandpa?” Ava squeaked.

  No. I’m not ok.

  “Please, just look at me for a second,” Dean urged.

  Harvey struggled to lift his head, feeling like it was a mountain attached to a rubber neck. His vision swam as tears continued to flow, but he forced himself to meet Dean’s eyes and saw…

  Kindness?

  “We forgive you,” Dean smiled.

  “You… you do?” Harvey stammered.

  “I’m sorry, what’s going on here?” John interjected.

  “I believe Harvey was on the other side of our accident,” Dean explained. “Am I right?”

  “I’m so sorry,” Harvey began.

  “Don’t!” Dean exclaimed. Harvey froze, bowing his head as his words caught in his throat. He felt every muscle in his neck straining as he struggled to hold in his shame, digging his fingers into his palms so hard they almost started to bleed.

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  “Don’t,” Dean whispered. “You don’t need to relive that pain, Harvey. We made our peace a long time ago. Whatever happened. Whatever your reasons for running that light were. It all worked out in the end. We were luckier than most. I’m still here, my dear wife is still here, and it sounds like our granddaughter might get the chance to see her parents again. All because of you.”

  “You wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me,” Harvey shuddered.

  “True. Instead, we’d be stuck in some other trial filled with its own horrors and uncertainty. At least here, we had the opportunity for good people like you, Hannah, and John to help us find a way home,” Dean explained.

  “Aw,” Alice whimpered, staring at his face for a long moment before getting up from her seat and rushing to wrap Harvey in a bear hug. “Please, honey. We’ve all done things we regret. Please don’t let this get you stuck in the mud.”

  His mind and body froze, and in the end, all he could do was choke out a simple “thank you.”

  When Alice let go, Elena took over holding Harvey. He felt himself slowly letting go of a pain he didn’t know he was carrying. Like finally taking off a pair of ankleweights strapped to his soul. He’d overcome his Stain by choosing to fight instead of running after he watched Julian die, but the guilt had remained. Now, it melted away, and with their gift of absolution, he finally felt pure again.

  “Now, what’s the plan for getting home?” Dean asked.

  “It’s going to be a hard journey, but based on the vision, it seems like we need to find a way to move everyone to the other portal at the heart of the necrolords fortress,” John explained.

  “I don’t see how that’s going to happen,” Dean sighed. “A third of us can barely walk more than a few steps at a time. How long did it take you guys to get here?”

  “18 days,” John said.

  “There’s just no way,” Dean muttered.

  “The portal,” Harvey interrupted. “It used to be teal, right?”

  “Aquamarine,” Ava whispered.

  “Exactly,” Hannah smiled. “Boys aren’t very good at colors, are they?”

  “Yes, until about 2 and a half weeks ago, when it suddenly turned grey. What are you thinking?” Dean asked.

  “I wonder if the portal went dormant once there weren’t any undead left to use it. I think the reason the System put our way home inside the Undead fortress was so we’d be forced to fight our way through them to use it. If we could’ve used the one here, I’m sure most people would’ve chosen to run instead of fight,” Harvey explained.

  “Sadly, that’s probably true. Convincing people to risk their lives was hard enough even with the knowledge that escape wasn’t an option,” John said.

  “I still don’t see how a dormant portal helps us,” Dean said.

  “Well, now that the war’s already won, maybe the System will let us use this portal instead,” Harvey replied.

  “We already tried that. Touching it feels like pushing against a solid brick wall,” Dean countered.

  “I want to take a look at it anyway. Couldn’t hurt, right?” Harvey proposed.

  “By all means,” Dean said.

  Harvey believed him when he said previous tests hadn’t worked, but he felt something with his aura that told him things might be different now. The swirling mass of energy was well within reach of his senses now that his Willpower had ballooned all the way up to 720, and he could feel that it was waiting for something. Like a wand patiently waiting to be filled with Essence, or a skill sigil waiting to be activated. Neither Hannah nor anybody else had mentioned a similar sensation, making him wonder if his mind was playing tricks on him. But as he said, it couldn’t hurt to make sure.

  He and Dean walked up the narrow stone steps ringing the tower side by side, the man putting a comforting hand on his shoulder as they ascended. He didn’t say anything, and he didn’t have to. Harvey just smiled.

  Soon, they were standing before the pallid vortex, a 10-by-10-foot circle hovering before them. The Imprint on the back of Harvey’s hand began to itch as he stepped closer, blooming into a radiant burn as he placed it upon the vortex. Golden luster shone from the tattoo of the Guardian of the Gilded Return, infusing the portal as streaks of gold replaced the gray. The energy within began moving faster and faster, and he felt his essence reserves being drained as his body became a battery powering up the portal.

  “How are you doing this?” Dean gasped.

  Harvey struggled to answer through gritted teeth, the strain of powering the portal acting almost like a final test from the System to make sure its champion was worthy of returning home. “When I killed the Prophet, the System gave me an Imprint. This tattoo on the back of my hand? I think it’s the key to opening the portal.”

  Just as he felt like his weave was about to run dry, the last motes of gray turned gold. His hand, firmly pressed against the shimmering vortex, suddenly lurched forward, and he almost stumbled inside. Catching himself, he backed away and was satisfied to see it still glowing strong even without a constant essence infusion.

  “Wow. You really did it? That portal will take us home?” Dean stammered.

  “I think so,” Harvey panted.

  “We just have to walk through?” Dean asked, incredulous.

  “Umm, yes?”

  “Alice! It’s open! We can go home!”