The Infinite Door

Caspian sat in the silence of the broken clocktower for a long time.

He held her body until it grew cold. He held her until the baker arrived, panting and wet, and fell to his knees screaming.

Caspian stood up. He felt hollowed out. Scraped empty.

He didn't say a word to the baker. There were no words.

He walked to the edge of the balcony. He took out the Compass of Souls.

The needle was spinning again. Searching.

Searching for Sector 5.

"I can fix it," Caspian whispered. The madness was creeping back in. The denial. "I just did it wrong. I moved too fast. I didn't wait long enough."

He opened a portal to the Void.

He stepped through, leaving the Sunken City, leaving the dead girl, leaving the baker weeping over the ruin he had caused.

The cold of the Void embraced him.

He looked at the doors. Infinite doors. Infinite Lyras.

"Next time," Caspian told himself, wiping the tears from his face. "Next time, I’ll save her."

He walked toward a door made of iron and glass. He reached for the handle.

His hand didn't shake. His regret was a fuel that would never burn out. He was a monster who believed he was a hero, and that was the greatest tragedy of all.

He opened the door.

"I'm here, Lyra," he whispered into the dark. "I'm going to fix it."