The world Liquefied. The blue sky ran like wet paint, streaking across his vision in ribbons of muted light. The stone beneath him softened and rippled. The creature’s teeth, inches from his face, stuttered. Its form bled at the edges, fragments of itself peeling away like smoke.

  And Alex… he split.

  *****

  He was on his back. The creature lunged. Teeth closing in as waves of rot and old blood washed over his face. He could not move. This was his end.

  Yet…

  *****

  He was standing ten feet away, watching himself die. The sword was in his hand. He frowned, not remembering when he drew it.

  But then…

  ******

  He was on a frozen cliff, gazing upon a vast white expanse that stretched to beyond. Beside him stood a girl who spoke a question.

  “Alex, do you know what it means to dream?” Her words carried weight. He did not know why.

  “Focus.” His own voice. Too familiar. Coming from somewhere he couldn’t see.

  He was falling from a tower, looking up at a young girl, her hair in pigtails. She grinned down at him.

  *****

  “Al…. Alex”

  He turned.

  Two figures. One, a young man in dark armor, knelt in a crimson pool. He held a woman in his arms, tears running down his cheeks in streams of red.

  Alex stared. The edge of his vision blurred.

  As if noticing his gaze, the young man slowly lifted his head up. It was himself.

  He froze

  A faint voice resonated in his fragmented daze.

  [Fragment Drift Detected]

  [Lucidity: -5%]

  Alex was falling. No, he was above, reaching down as Iris fell. He was too late. He caught her. They both died. They both survived.

  Past? Future? Possibility? Perhaps the present. All at once they overlapped, bleeding into each other like ink in water. Converging.

  The absence was consuming. A hole where something used to be. A name he couldn’t reach. A face he couldn’t see.

  The cold voice cut through the chaos of the fragmented world.

  [Lucidity: -3%]

  The world drifted, The sky fractured.

  He was falling in a swirl of streaks of light and darkness. But then.

  “Alex!”

  The voice was an anchor. The fragmented world receded. Alex blinked, eyes wide as if walking from a coma.

  “Alex!” The voice came again

  The world in front of him slowed. Teeth that were once mere inches away began to pull back as something slammed into the creature’s side.

  Iris.

  Her broken body pushed it toward the edge. She looked at him and smiled. For a moment, just a moment, her face flickered into sadness.

  “Iris.. No!” Alex’s voice trembled.

  She was falling…

  “Got you!”

  The scream tore from his throat. His heart pounded as senses returned, the world snapped back into place. Iris dangled below, her weight pulling at what little strength remained in his hand. She stared up at him, eyes wide.

  “What... Alex?”

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  He grinned through the pain. Blood on his teeth and fire in his shoulder.

  “You really want to sacrifice yourself, huh?” He pulled, inch by torturous inch. “

  I told you… I said I'd protect you.”

  Iris blinked, unsure of what to say. Tears traced her cheeks as a soft smile graced her lips.

  Alex managed to pull them to safety. Breath ragged, every muscle screaming in protest, but he didn't care. She was safe. That's all that mattered.

  They lay silently at the edge, the only motion their lungs fighting for air. The only sound: the faint whisper of wind and the pounding of their hearts.

  "We need… to move," Iris whispered, slowly pushing herself up. "Can you… walk?"

  Alex looked at her, then at his leg. Still there. Just unresponsive. "Yeah… might need some help."

  Slowly and carefully, Iris helped him to his feet. She slid her right arm behind his back, offering support. "We're almost there," she said, looking ahead at a dark, narrow opening in the wall.

  “This is it… huh” Alex swallowed hard. One more push and they would arrive at their destination. The thought lingered… A heavy, unexplainable sense of joy filled his core, only to be poised by some other unknown feeling that itched at the back of his head as the air changed subtly.

  ‘Can this really be it?’ Alex’s heart rate spiked, his gaze drifting from the cave’s mouth to the stone walls, the sky and then to the edge of the cliff where Iris had pushed the creature to its doom.

  The creature… was it really dead. Thinking about it, Alex didn’t check, what if it was still alive, what if…

  "Alex…" Iris's voice snapped him back. "You ready?" Her tired gaze was fixed on him, concern spilling at the edges.

  "Uh… yeah." He let out a shaky breath. "Let's go."

  They pressed on, limping and fighting pain as they entered the cave. It was cold and dark. The only light came from ahead and behind the entrance they'd left. The walls were carved with symbols he didn't recognize, yet somehow they felt familiar. He ran a hand along them as they walked.

  Iris leaned against him, matching his pace. Or maybe he was matching hers. Even though his leg was basically dead weight, Iris was in worse shape. Her missing arm… the cloth wrapped around the wound was soggy with blood and dirt, but the bleeding had long stopped.

  Still, she helped him.

  "Thank you," Iris said.

  Alex turned to face her. "Why are you thanking me? I should be the one thanking you. We're almost there, and if you hadn't been here…" He trailed off.

  Iris stared at him for a long moment. Then she spoke, her voice low. "I promised Elenora I would protect you with my life." She turned forward. The light ahead grew brighter with every slow step.

  "Alex… can you keep a promise?" She still faced forward.

  He watched her. The pale girl was getting paler by the moment, her voice and breathing weaker. "We should rest…"

  "No." She turned to him now. "Can you keep a promise?"

  Alex saw it, the desperation in her expression. What promise did she want him to keep?

  "Yes. What is it?"

  "In my cloak pocket." She gestured.

  Slowly, Alex reached in and pulled something out. A pendant. A half crescent moon, silver in color, stained with blood. In the dim light, it glowed an ethereal pale blue. Looking closely it reminded him of the Weeping Root’s pendant is his possession.

  "If I don't make it," Iris said, her voice grave, "I want you to give this to Lady Elenora. Tell her I kept my promise."

  Alex clenched his teeth. "You'll tell her yourself."

  "Alex… I made a promise."

  "So did I."

  A pause.

  "I said I'd get us there. That I would protect you."

  Iris stared at him. Something shifted in her face, softened, for just a moment. Then it passed. "...Just promise me," she whispered.

  Alex was silent for a long while. He tightened his grip on the pendant. "Fine. But I won't be the one to tell her. When we get there, you will."

  "...Thank you." A soft smile graced her lips.

  After a long, slow, painful walk through the cave, they emerged onto a wide stone plateau.

  The sky was vast and endless. Bruised purple and gold as the sun began to dip. Below, the world unfolded in layers: first the great lake, then the distant shore where the forest swallowed the others, and beyond that, far-off mountains.

  ‘Maybe one of them is where Bastion lies.’ Alex couldn't help but hope. He wondered, when all of this was over, would he return to the castle? Would he meet Elenora there?

  They stood at the edge, the weight of it all sinking in. Iris's one arm was wrapped around him, her face pale but steady, her eyes reflecting the fading light.

  "We made it," she said, turning to look behind her where stairs ascended. "Just at the top… the Sunken Archives." Not triumphant. Just fact.

  Alex nodded. He thought of Roric and Malach. Of the light that swallowed the forest. They thoughts weighed heavy on him. "We made it," he whispered to the wind, as if hoping it would carry his words to the far shore where Roric might still be fighting.

  A moment of silence. Not heavy or hollow. Just… quiet. As if the world itself deserved to breathe.

  Then Alex spoke. "Iris…"

  Before he could finish, Iris pushed him.

  Her eyes were clear and calm. The same eyes that looked at him on the cliff before they entered the forest. The same eyes that studied him in the carriage when Elenora introduced them. The same eyes that carried nothing but determination.

  He was falling. Again.

  Pushed again.

  The world tilted.

  ? Overpowers: Magical Girl Crossover [Grimlight Progression Urban Fantasy/Genre based Power System] ?

  by Moawar

  He, Life, had a simple job.

  His responsibility as an Overpower was to make sure that fiction stories and the characters in them follow their dictated path. He always did his job well enough, not more or less than was needed.

  His latest assignment, however, would, in retrospect, prove to be his most challenging one of all.

  He would find himself in a unfamiliar world. There he'll have to quickly adapt to guide Nozomi.

  The strongest magical girl with the potential to accidentally destroy those she seeks to protect in her fight against evil.

  What to Expect:

  -If you like the psychological aspects of Madoka Magica and the mixing of different genres a crossover story brings then this story is for you