“Eternally Bound”

It ends the way it always does. With Merick kneeling over the body of his dead brother, while the ashes of the burning skyport drift down around us like snow. With Merick looking up at me, tears streaming down his face. With Merick saying in that shattered voice I’ve heard too many times, “It’s not your fault. You did your best.”

The genesis of this story was, of all things, playing Fire Emblem: Three Houses during the covid-19 lockdown. I got to thinking about the protagonist’s ability to rewind time in battle, and then my subconscious jumped up with the image of a character looping for a particular reason . . .

. . . and then, in my typical fashion, it took me six years to get around to writing it. But the resulting piece has sold to Lightspeed, and I will update here when it’s out!