The heartbeat of purgatory never ceases. Like a living thing, that odd thrumming feeling under the ground that calls you towards the tree keeps pulsing, soft and strong under your paws. You begin to ignore it; nothing has come of it, after all. It is just always there in the background, a mysterious metronome to your daily life.

But something is different today. This time, the heartbeat changes. This time... it grows. It swells like a song, stronger than ever before, and soon, between the cracks of the ever-dry dirt, you see pulses of light. Like veins, the dots of light zip past your feet, all moving towards the tree. The light is all colors; red and blue and green and purple and black. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the patterns; just a jumble of colors, together but distinct.

This pulsing light has an effect on you. It makes your heart soar with a sort of rejuvenation you haven't felt in ages. You feel young again, and with a spring in your step, you follow the pulses of color--ll the way to the tree. There, you gather and watch as the light travels out of the ground around the base of the tree and zips up the bark, weaving and twisting and then spreading out again across the branches before disappearing. Brief crowns of colorful foliage flash and then fade, over and over.

The pulses grow, getting brighter and faster until it seems like the entire tree is illuminated with color. Just when you think it can't get more intense, the light explodes in a flash, blinding you for just a moment. But when you open your eyes again, the tree is no longer glowing. Instead, you see flecks of beautiful colors floating in the air around you like embers. You feel a breeze on your pelt. And up above, the dreary dark clouds that have hung overhead since your arrival begin to produce the most pleasant, soft rainfall you have ever felt in your life.

And standing at the base of the tree is a lanky brown tom.

"Oh!" Chirek says, blinking hard a couple times. His pupils flash with teal light before returning to normal. He is smiling. "You're here! It worked!"

Immediately, everyone erupts into exclamations and chatter. Many of you rush forwards to greet him or whisper excitedly amongst yourselves. Some exchange worried glances, concerned about what this might mean. Chirek himself seems relieved, and regardless of what you may feel, there is some comfort in reuniting with a familiar face for a while. Eventually though, he steps back and waves his tail. "Everyone--please! I know this is a lot, but--I'm here for a reason. There is something I have to try."

You watch him drag a sort of irregular circle in the dirt with a claw, and then step inside of it. His eyes close tight and his jaw sets with concentration for a moment--and then he lifts one paw up into the air over his head, claws outstretched. Each claw, though, is shining with a different color. Red, blue, green, purple, and black. Each soul class. The clouds over the tree suddenly begin to part, and finally you are able to see what they had been hiding: a view into the vast expanse of the universe. Over your head, billions and billions of stars blink and glow from an inky purple backdrop, so bright it feels like you are almost standing among them. Bands of faraway suns paint the backdrop with hazy galaxies; and stars sparkle like frost on a moonlit night. The beauty and the vastness and the closeness of it leaves you speechless.

Chirek's claws glow brighter, reaching up even higher... and as he does, you make out the sudden bright outline of constellations. Five of them, each glowing the same colors as Chirek's five claws.

You feel so open. Your chest sings, and it feels like anyone could see right into your heart itself at this very moment if they tried. For a second, you look around at your trialmates, these cats you have come to know as friends or family or enemies or even still strangers. You feel, for a moment, more drawn to them than you ever have before.

And then they are gone. You are standing by yourself among the stars, alone and in awe of the beauty around you.

Well... not completely alone. Chirek stands before you, his chest puffed out, a look of determination on his face.

"It's time. Are you ready to save everyone? For good, this time?" He gives you a smile, and despite all the hardships and death and monsters and fear you have felt since you first walked into the Valley, you believe him. It is time to save them--every last one. You nod.

"Good. Me, too. But first, you must do one more thing for yourself: answer my question. You know the answer, now. You have to." He leans forward, his gaze intense.

"Who is your soul partner?"

After you've had a bit of time to talk and meet the other half of your soul, or mourn the half that was lost, Chirek calls your attention once more. It takes some time because of how engrossed you are with one another, but eventually you turn your heads to look at him.

And it's odd... from a distance, you notice that the little bit of rain that had fallen when Chirek arrived had left a pool around the base of the tree where Chirek stood. The water was so still, even when Chirek moved, it was like glass. Like a mirror. In the mirror, you can see Chirek's reflection, but in his reflection his eyes are bright, Plague red. The tree in the reflection is lush and healthy, sunlight catching the edges of the leaves in a halo. It looks so peaceful, and for a moment your mind thinks of one word--paradise.

Chirek doesn't seem to notice when he begins speaking. He begins to blabber thoughtfully, as if he's talking more to himself than anyone else. "Dolores and I suspected that soulrooting would be powerful enough for you all to return to your bodies--that's why Helena couldn't infect the Legendaries, right? A whole soul can't be severed the way a halfsoul can. But it seems like you're still here, so here was our other theory--this place is too... heavy. There are too many souls here holding it together. So what's next?"

He leans forward then, his tail twitching eagerly. "You can feel it, right? Don't you feel brighter, sharper, more alive? The mists won't take you when your souls are whole, while your powers are awakened." He's right, you realize. The mists didn't pull at your chest the way they did before. You didn't feel that ache, that yearning to give in and let them swallow you. You look out into them and they don't feel as alive as they once had. The mists did not call you to them... but you get the sense they were still a prison.

You knew thousands, maybe millions of souls wandered those mists. Lost, forgotten, Plagued. Maybe you had once come to Paradise Valley for glory, for power, for revenge. But now, you knew... you'd come to the Valley for them. And you would not leave them here.

"Will you follow me?" Chirek prompts you. "Into the mists?"

You will. And you do.

At the edge of the mist, Chirek hesitates, reaching a paw outwards. The mist reaches back and envelops his foot, and he yanks back. But you notice how the mists pull away from your own presence when you approach. Chirek notices, too, and he steps aside, letting you lead the way. As you step forward, the mists part, giving you a path forward.

You walk as a group for a few minutes, the mists refusing to come in contact with your pelts. Chirek walks safely in the center of the group where the mists can't reach him. Suddenly, he calls out, "Stop! Who's that?"

And he's right--up ahead there is the form of a cat standing still in the mists. You hesitate for a moment. It looks like a ghost. But you know this is just a soul who has lost their way, and you have come to help them.

The cat ahead does not seem to notice as you get closer. Or maybe they don't care. As the mist parts, you recognize the pelt, the mournful gaze. But Aberdeen does not recognize you. She says nothing, and barely even passes you all a glance when you arrive, even though you're sure seeing a hoard of cats traveling like this would be an unusual sight in these mists. She just continues about her eternal wandering, gazing off into nothing.

Chirek seems troubled seeing her. He approaches and, after a pause, pushes his nose against the side of her head. She glances at him before turning back. Chirek looks at you. "She's so lost..." he says sadly, his gaze falling. "I knew the Plague was bad, but..."

You are silent, mourning Aberdeen, mourning all the cats you knew who were wandering Purgatory just like this. After a moment, Chirek opens his mouth as if to say something, but his ears perk up and his head snaps out into the mist. You follow his gaze--another group of cats are shrouded in the mists nearby. When someone goes to them, the mist reveals four more, some of which are familiar to you; Bluebell, the Forest Colony leader. Dandelion and Huckleberry, two of the cats you had managed to temporarily protect from Helena's killing game in Trial Two. And the fourth is the large pale form of Morwen, the leader of the River Colony. They give you the same dead, uncaring stares and glances that Aberdeen had. Some of you gently usher them closer to stand with Aberdeen, and they follow wordlessly.

Five lost souls stand before you.

Chirek's eyes harden with sudden determination, and he turns away from the Plagued to address you once again. "We are going to help them. We are going to save them. They're lost, they don't remember who they are. We are going to wake them up. It's time to awaken their souls."

Chirek closes his eyes and immediately his whole front leg ignites with teal magic. He makes a large sweeping gesture, and in a large area where the mist once was, a bunch of structures form out of nowhere. Chirek is tense with concentration as you take in the scene.

In the center there is a pile of dry wood, arranged in a complex pile, not unlike a pyre. Just beside it is a large flat gray stone, balanced on a pointed rock in the center underneath, and a sheet of ice over the surface. Below the ice you can see a complex maze with a stone ball at the edge. Scattered around the clearing are tall, dark stone structures with deep, black shadows. You can't tell if they are caves or if the shadows are darker than usual. Across the top of all of the structures are interwoven green vines that almost look like a spiderweb. Every so often there is a windchime hanging from the web. And weaving around everything in a long closed loop is a brook with stepping stones interrupting the flow of water.

Chirek steps back, winded from the effort. The five Plagued cats seem unimpressed, but you feel a sense of awe at the sight. You'd only ever seen a god with the power to manifest things like this before.

Chirek smirks. "What do we say? Reminding the lost cats who they are, showing them their soul, it just might create enough energy to break this place open and get back home. Let's help them discover their powers, just like you guys did. Now... what should we have them do?"

You step into your reflection and feel everything inside you turn inside out.

Or maybe you're turning outside in--your body and soul are righting themselves, shifting back into place. You'd thought soulrooting had made everything feel right again, but this made you feel healed in a part of you you didn't realize was broken.

While you shift back to your body, you feel like time stretches on forever and lasts less than a heartbeat all at once. You are falling headfirst and completely still at the same time. You see, again, that horrid, sick red version of yourself standing face to face. The thing that had been taking control over your body for so long does not seem malicious or sad or anything. It is still, emotionless, like a machine. It allows you to step past it just like it had stepped past you once before. It doesn't move, doesn't react. Apathetic to the end of its reign.

Standing behind it is another version of yourself, facing away from you. This one, you know, is your body. You don't look into your own eyes. You know somehow that you cannot. But you step forward and embrace it anyway.

But on your journey back to being whole, back to being you, there is more. Underneath you, a million miles away, you see the world. It is breathtaking--bright and blue and vibrant. But from somewhere in the middle you see a stretch of darkness. It looks like a scorch or an infected wound. A deadzone, you realize. And at the center is Paradise Valley.

Just before it ends, though, you see a glimmer of something else. Streaks of light crisscrossing over the surface of the world, twisting and intertwining. It looks like a net connecting every part of the world you know. But in parts it looks as if the net is being tugged away, Threads of it float off into the nothingness beyond. Your gaze draws outwards to the blackness when you realize it isn't nothing--something sits there, pulling on the net that protects the world. It is something wicked and infinite and malicious, with teeth too sharp and claws too eager.

"How curious to see you here," Kaulu whispers before you find yourself on your own four paws once more. "Welcome back."

There's something unsettling about being back in Helena's world. The yellow flowers are not quite the same as you remember, but they still make your stomach turn. The beauty all around you--from the swaying trees to the luminous and multicolored butterfly-like floating creatures to the soft chuckle of nearby streams--seems designed to bring you peace and happiness, but you find yourself fighting against it. You know this place for what it is, what it was built on. And it does not soothe you.

After a while, Dolores, Baishe, and Snowberry set off to scout ahead for danger, instructing you again to meet them at the peak of the mountain. You continue to follow the red ribbon in the sky, the only red string in this strange new world. And as you journey, neither Dolores nor the serpents return to warn you of an impending attack. No cats or creatures come to challenge you, though you keep suspecting they might. You travel undisturbed. The peak draws ever closer.

You find them as you begin your climb up the peak: The Legendaries.

They are in a small clearing surrounded by birch trees whose leaves flutter in an absent breeze, shimmery and golden in a borderline unnatural way. Under the golden canopy, the Legendaries are much as you remember seeing them last: suspended in red strings, curled in on themselves with their eyes closed, as if in slumber. They appear unhurt. But as you approach them, you realize they are not alone.

Oordeel sits in the middle of the clearing, his back to you. His wings are folded carefully at his back, his smoky tail curled around over his paws. His head is tilted back as he looks up at the sleeping Legendaries, but you cannot see the expression on his face. Though he does not look at you, you see his ears twitch as you approach, and you know he knows you are there.

"Throughout the span of all the trials I held, I never grew attached to my subjects," Oordeel says softly. "After all, why would I? Would a dog care about the fleas on his pelt?" He shifts slightly, his feathers twitching. "But these--these Legendaries. I would not go so far as to say I care for them, but... they were my success. They were the ones that made it, and they were my charges. I protected them from Helena, and delivered them safely to their soulroot. They are what they are because of me, and in a way... so am I, because of them."

He sighs and finally turns to you. His eyes look troubled and pensive, but more than that, he looks... exhausted. His wings droop. His tail drags on the ground behind him. He looks listless and dull; he looks like a cat that has given up. "It doesn't matter. Helena got her wish, in the end. Don't worry," he adds, noticing you glance at the Legendaries with concern. "They're safe, for now. Helena doesn't need them anymore. They're unharmed, but I cannot release them from their sleep while she still holds them."

He is quiet for a moment, a faraway look in his eyes. He seems to return to himself after several beats of silence. "You're like them, in a way. No matter how many times Helena has beaten you down, somehow you still stand here. I suspect you're looking for her now," he says. "I can take you to her, if you wish. But..." the exhaustion and defeat in his gaze deepens. "I'm done fighting. Hate me all you want for it--but I'm done. I suspect I was always destined to lose this war. Helena's destiny was written in the stars, but I created mine from nothing. I was a fool for thinking I could change the course of everything. And I think you are fools, too. But I know you aren't about to give up, not here. You'll fight until your dying breaths, won't you? In any case, she knows you're coming--she felt it, when you awoke. When you soulrooted and escaped her plague. She's expecting you."

Without further comment, he turns and begins leading you on a path up the slope. You follow, weaving for a while through the golden birch trees until they begin to thin. There are less trees at this elevation, just splashes of colorful wildflowers and multicolored lichens against the warm rocks. Eventually, the slope begins to level out, and the path widens. The red string is very close, now. You are almost there.

She is there, when you step into the clearing: waiting for you, as Oordeel said. He steps to the side and keeps his gaze firmly averted as you swarm into the clearing, feeling your powers tingle in your paws. You are alert and ready, prepared for her inevitable attack. Kaulu, you realize, is nowhere to be seen.

"So it's true," Helena rasps. "You have cured my Plague." She stands in the center of the clearing, her wings partially outstretched. The golden light of this world wraps around her, as if drawn to her, as if loving her with every glimmer in her fur and shine on her feathers. It's like this world knew she was its creator.

But she, same as Oordeel, looks different than when you last saw her. Her stance is rigid and stiff, her posture defensive. She eyes you with apprehension and--you think--maybe even an edge of fear. Her gaze sweeps across the assembled group, and there is a look in her eyes you can't quite identify. Desperation? Mania? You have not seen this look on her before.

"It's too late, you know," she says. "Do you see? My world--it is finally complete. Whole. I did it... I fulfilled my purpose. I won." She says the word with emphasis, with conviction. As if reaffirming its truth aloud. "You begrudge me--but does it make a difference anymore? No matter what you do to me, this world remains. My world. And when my suns shed their last Light on this day, yours will be dead, gone for good, no matter what happens. And would you destroy this and all of its life and beauty, in your revenge?" Her eyes flash. "You would doom more than just one world. Would that make you any different than me, who you despise so?"

Some of you look towards Oordeel, halfway wondering if he will speak up. But he remains at the edge of the clearing, his shoulders slumped and gaze on the ground. He seems to believe it just as much as Helena does.

Instead, it is Dolores' voice that speaks up next. "You're right, Helena." You step to the side to let her through as she makes her way through the throng of your trialmates, stepping forward towards the goddess. Her expression is as unreadable as ever as she regards Helena. "You're right. It is over. You did as you promised." Her scarred ears twitch. "And look where it left you."

"It left me a queen," she snarls.

Dolores's eyes narrow. "It left you alone."

Helena pauses. She glares at Dolores, but her eyes flicker up towards her brother. He lifts his head to meet her gaze with hardened eyes, and she realizes: it's true. Doesn't this scene prove it? She stands alone. Dolores, her ally, now stands against her. Her brother refuses to see her side. Even her own creations--the serpents, Baishe and Snowberry--watch her reproachfully from the sidelines. And now her only ally, Kaulu, is nowhere to be found in her defense.

In every sense of the word, she is alone.

Dolores turns back to you. "D'you remember what I said before? About that trick you pulled? I think it's time to find out... if you can tether a god."

Helena's breathing accelerates with her heartbeat, and you see actual panic start to creep into her expression as her pupils dilate. "I've won," she insists again, but you have already started advancing on her, power thrumming in your souls. "No--it's over. Leave me! Leave me alone!"

At her final cry, she slams her paw on the ground. A brilliant white blast of light strikes you all, making you cry out in alarm as you shut your eyes tight against the searing brightness. When you blink your eyes open again, the world slowly comes back into focus. She has separated you--you are with every member of your soul class, but the others are away from you, at different points around the clearing. Helena still stands in the middle, but you are too far from both her and the other soul classes to initiate the five-way alignment. You must get closer.

But before you can, movement floods the clearing. Creatures appear, more than you can count, swarming in the spaces between you and the other teams, and you and Helena. She has called on her world's creatures to defend her, and though some look apprehensive at the idea of battle, they still stand ready to defend their goddess.

This is the battle you had been anticipating all along. At last, it was time to fight.

Returning to your body feels natural, like two halves of a broken rock coming together, every jagged edge fitting into its perfect opposite. It feels simpler than waking up from the Plague--where that had felt like a crash landing, this feels like coming out of a dream. When you open your eyes, you are back in the clearing on Helena's world... with the goddess standing right where you'd last seen her, before you had tethered yourself to her soul. After you take your first deep breath in, you realize that your legs are wobbly, your head spinning.

Helena's gaze sweeps the crowd, her eyes lingering warily on some of you, and warmly on others. Her own legs tremble with exhaustion, her wings sloped weakly at her sides. No one speaks, and it feels like the whole universe is holding its breath, waiting to see what will happen next.

Whether your claws itch to sink into her flesh, or turn your back on her, or speak, no one moves. No one says anything. Finally, you look at one another. You search the gazes of your trialmates, the cats you have loved and loathed and envied and fought. You search with a question--what now?

The answer settles itself over the clearing as a whole, and as your shoulders relax, your fur lies flat, your claws sheath. You lay down your sword and silently declare, no more. Not by your teeth, not today. Perhaps tomorrow, or another day, but today, you would not spill the blood of a god.

Helena does not speak, or ask questions, but she seems to understand. She breathes slow as her wings raise, the light of her suns filtering between the feathers. A warmth envelops you, just for a moment from the tip of your nose to your tail. And while Helena's body stays weak and shaky, you find your own muscles strengthened, your mind clearing.

"So?" Oordeel says. He approaches his sister warily in the center of the clearing. He must have walked up to her while your souls were in the tether. He regards her with a guarded expression, but you can see the hints of apprehension and hope both peeking through. "What'll it be now, sister?"

Helena looks at him, her face carrying all of the words she can't say. Centuries of apologies left unsaid, begging her brother to listen, now, even if it was too late to matter. "I'm done, Oordeel," she says softly. "I'm sorry for everything. But it's over now. I'm not running from this any longer."

Oordeel gives a sharp intake of breath. In a perfect world, they would have had eternity to make up for what they had done. To you, to each other, to the world. But, though Helena tried and tried, a perfect world was not possible, and Oordeel's moment to respond was snatched away by a booming, familiar voice that resonates through every cell of your body.

"Oh, my my. What a sweet, heartfelt ending to it all."

The golden sky vanishes behind a thousand stars. The void, the vast, the infinite, it all swallows Helena's world whole like a great cosmic snake. The world responds, the trees trembling and curling into themselves, the earth beneath your feet quaking, the animals that had not already run fleeing in any direction they can. Where the stars above your head in the tether had been calm, welcoming, and silent, these stars are loud. They vibrate against the emptiness between them and they press at the corners of your vision, begging for you to look back at them. The stars are a million colors, flickering and shooting, entire galaxies colliding within one another, black holes and nebulas reaching for you.

And in the stars you can see the outline of a familiar face. A smile too wide, eyes too bright. Teeth glinting with starlight.

Kaulu cackles."Now, however did you learn a trick like that?" he sneers. His voice is everything, everywhere. "You little cats are so so clever. You cured my Plague, you broke through to this new world, you warmed the cold, hardened heart of a goddess that would have seen you dead. All from that soul trick! How interesting!"

Kaulu's face melts out of the stars, and the coyote steps out of the heavens. He stands wickedly in front of Helena and Oordeel, grinning ear to ear. His eyes are burning.

"You two have done enough," he tells them. The cats bristle, preparing themselves for a fight. "I'll take it from here!" He swings his tail, the wisp of stars and power slamming into the siblings' chests, throwing them backwards and into the crowd. Kaulu stands tall with the universe illuminated behind him. His muzzle is split into a wild grin, but you can see how his shoulders are tense with frustration. With rage.

"I thought it would be fun, y'know, to watch Helena puppeteer her new world into eventual oblivion. It was always doomed to fail. But what fun will it be if you're all frolicking around, loving and forgiving each other? What fun will it be, if chaos has no hand?" He raises a paw. His claws curl in, and the very air of existence around him begins to tremble. Streaks of red, cracks in reality, splinter out in every direction. You can feel the strings hum. You can feel them quake and vibrate as Helena's world begins to get sucked in. You realize with a sickening dread that he is destroying it. "I think I might try my own hand at this world thing," he snarls, absolutely manic. "Cats are too weak, too interested in love and friendship and yuck, all that stuff, to make things truly interesting. Your world is already on its way out, but why don't we speedrun the destruction of this one? And get this--you don't have to lift a claw!"

"Just sit right here, and watch."