Merging universes had not been a violent idea at first.
Elisa saw it as an act of healing: taking incomplete, fractured, chaotic worlds and bringing them together into a single perfect tapestry. A tapestry that would leave no one behind. One single place where every life could exist together without pain. Where she would have helped everyone.
The brooch glowed against her chest, soft and warm.
"Just unify, just connect, you're doing well."
And Elisa believed it.
The first group of universes merged with ease.
Entire galaxies blended together as though they had been waiting for that moment from the very beginning. Their inhabitants barely noticed the transition: new skies, new constellations, new species. It was not perfect, but it was harmonious.
Elisa smiled.
For an instant, she felt at peace. She felt as though she were finally recovering that spark, that hope she could feel slipping away from her.
"You see?" she told her companions and Isabella. "This is possible. We can save them all."
Isabella, who had accompanied her since the first exploration, watched her with a mixture of love and fear.
"Yes... it's true... Just don't push yourself too hard, all right?" she whispered. "Despite everything, you're still human too."
Elisa answered with a weary smile.
But her eyes no longer held the same light they once had. Although she knew Isabella's words were well-intentioned, she could not help feeling irritated by them.
The problem came with the universes that followed.
Worlds where the structure of existence itself was different.
Whenever she tried to merge them, space twisted.
Stars shattered like glass.
The laws of reality collided with one another like tectonic plates.
The first cataclysms began.
Entire planets folded in on themselves, vanishing in the blink of an eye.
"It's fine" Elisa said, breathing rapidly. "It's only a minor mistake. I just need to change the angle. I can do this. I can...I can fix it."
The brooch trembled.
"That's right, you can do it, don't stop, you cannot stop, if you turn back now, you will lose everything you've accomplished."
The mergers continued, the problems persisted, and the concerns grew.
When Elisa merged certain worlds, the unions could be seen from other universes. And whenever those worlds were destroyed, all the others felt it too. The inhabitants of those worlds noticed.
Everyone began to worry. The tremors throughout all of creation became increasingly frequent, and everyone watched as Elisa, their savior, their goddess, deteriorated more and more. Some had already begun to fear what she was doing, and everyone's perception of her was beginning to change. Their faith in her was fading as well. Her almost divine image had become that of a girl growing increasingly obsessed and that obsession was placing everything else in danger.
During one of her attempts, Elisa was hurled back to Vellhara when one of her mergers failed and caused a gigantic explosion.
Elisa crashed into the planet like an asteroid, her entire body smoking.
A crowd, which included Isabella, rushed to see what had fallen. When Isabella realized it was Elisa and saw that she was already forcing herself back to her feet, preparing to take off again, she hurried over and grabbed her by the arm.
"Elisa, please listen to me. This is getting out of control. You're beginning to destroy worlds, and you're destroying yourself. You have to stop. You need to think this through."
Elisa shoved her away.
"No, not yet!! I'm already close Isabella. I just have to keep trying. It won't be long before I merge the remaining universes. You just have to believe me. I'm their savior, after all... aren't I? "
Everyone present stared at her in silence. They wanted to say something, but none of them could. Elisa could only stand there in disbelief, saying nothing as she received nothing but contemptuous looks and cold silence.
"Why is everyone looking at me like that? Don't you trust me anymore?" Elisa asked, fear and sorrow filling her voice. "Please... I'm begging you, just believe in me. I AM your savior. I truly am. I'm doing this for all of you."
"Ellie, it's time to stop. It's all right. Just stop." Isabella said with compassion and sorrow.
"No! You don't understand! This is the solution! I am the solution! If I stop now, it would be the same as admitting that I'm useless! "
The others silently looked at one another.
It was the first time they had ever heard her say something like that.
Isabella tried to reason with her, but Elisa shot back into the sky like a rocket and continued merging universes one after another, even though some of them screamed as they were forced together.
Even though entire stars lost their shape.
Even though the structure of time began to break down in certain sectors.
The chaos grew.
And yet, Elisa saw only one more step toward perfection.
"Just a little more" she repeated, her voice exhausted and her eyes already beginning to bleed from the strain. "Just a little more, and everything will be all right. Just a little more..."
But it wasn't.
It never had been.
The final moment came without warning.
A universe made of pure antimatter—one where nonexistence was the norm—was forced against another that expanded endlessly.
The two realities were incompatible.
And when Elisa tried to merge them...
The structure of the multiverse collapsed.
A sound that should never have existed could be heard.
As if the multiverse itself were screaming.
Planets twisted into impossible shapes.
Light melted.
Time shattered.
All of creation began crumbling into nonexistence.
The explosion that followed was indescribable—one that irreversibly damaged the entire structure of the multiverse.
Elisa tried to contain it with all her strength, but in the end, the shock wave hurled her into yet another universe, where she left an enormous crater upon impact.
She looked wretched.
Her breathing was ragged.
Her mind had been shattered by exhaustion.
She lay on the ground, gasping for several seconds as she tried to catch her breath. Then, as slowly as she could, she forced herself back to her feet.
"No... no... I can fix it... I still can... I just have to... think... think..."
She reached for the brooch.
But the brooch no longer glowed. For the first time, her artifact did not respond. It looked completely lifeless, as though the exhaustion had affected it too, and it had finally given in.
"No... I'm begging you, don't abandon me..." she whispered, her voice breaking. "Please... Don't abandon me now... I can't be alone... I... I only wanted..."
At that moment, Elisa watched the structure of the multiverse fracture before her eyes like a sphere of glass.
She watched as all of reality began to collapse and every world began to fall before her.
And for the first time...
Elisa understood that she was about to lose everything.
"I... killed them..." her voice broke. "I destroyed everything... I... I only wanted to save them. I only wanted everyone to be all right. I wanted to be useful... I wanted... to have a purpose..."
She clutched her own head, as though trying to hold it together so it would not shatter along with the cosmos.
"Why?... Why am I not enough?... Why do I always... always ruin everything...?"
Her sobs tore their way out of her.
The sobs she had been holding inside from the very beginning. The sobs of someone who finally understood that she had never been in control.
Not of the world.
Not of herself.
That was when Astrid appeared.
Not with light.
Not with power.
Only with presence.
And out of compassion...
She slowly approached her.
Elisa did not recognize her.
She couldn't. Her mind had already been completely shattered, and all the pain she had carried inside was released at once.
She did not even ask who she was.
She simply collapsed against her like an exhausted child.
Astrid embraced her.
"Shhh... I'm here" she whispered. "Don't say those things. You're not useless. You never were."
Elisa trembled.
"I... am a savior... aren't I...? " Elisa spoke those words without being able to stop crying. Astrid could barely understand what she was saying.
There was no pride in the question.
Only fear.
The fear of dying without ever having meant anything.
Astrid closed her eyes.
Her embrace was gentle.
Compassionate.
True.
"Yes, Elisa" she answered. "You are. Now rest. It's all right."
And as the entire multiverse disintegrated around them...
The story of that version came to an end.