It had never been about winning.
It had been about understanding.
Jude opened his eyes, and for the first time, he truly saw.
The figures around him were no longer just echoes of the past. They were part of the fabric of this place, woven into its existence just as he now was. He could feel them, not just as specters, but as memories, as experiences, as a collective force that stretched beyond time.
And he was among them.
He stepped forward, and the space around him shifted again, but this time, he was in control. No longer reacting, no longer caught in an endless cycle of uncertainty. He moved with purpose, and the world followed.
Ahead of him, the path became clear.
Not in the way of roads or corridors, but in a way that he could feel in his very core.
He was exactly where he was meant to be.
And with that realization, the final barrier dissolved.
