Annee couldn't believe what she was seeing. The boy must have immense power to command the elements to kill! As Annee continued to watch, she saw Griffin getting weaker. The storm was not as powerful as it had once been and the tear between their worlds was growing smaller.
There was no one in her world who needed her, who cared if she existed, who even noticed if she existed. And the boy in that world clearly needed her. With that final thought, she made her decision and she squeezed her way through the opening from her world into his world.
Annee placed her hand on Griffin's shoulder and closed her eyes, allowing her power flow out of her and into him, giving him the strength he needed. As the storm grew more fierce and more powerful than before, lightning flashed and streaked across the sky, illuminating the darkened forest. The wind had reached torrential strength and Gwendolyn's killers knew their time was up. One man purposefully fell on his sword, prefering to take his own life than be killed by Griffin's wrath. Another man was picked up by the heavy wind and impaled on a broken tree branch. The final man ran for his life, shouting curses and prayers just before the the lightning struck, shaking the ground with its stength and setting fire to a bush near the fleeing man. The fire sprang from bush to shrub, encircling the terrified man, devouring his body even after his screams of pain had fallen silent with his death.
Griffin fell prostrate on the ground, too weak to move. Annee knelt next to him, placing her hand upon his back. Annee felt the darkness creeping into her conscious as the last remaining energy she carried flowed into his body. Annee wondered if this is what it felt like to die just before the darkness consumed her in its entirety. Griffin gently lifted up Annee's lifeless body and carried it into the cottage. He didn't know who she was or where she had come from, but he was indebted to her. As he nursed her back to health, he made a promise to always protect her and never allow such a fate to befall her as it had Gwendolyn.
As the years passed, Annee and Griffin became very powerful magi. They studied the old books that Gwendolyn had left Griffin and they experimented and practiced and listened to Gaia. Griffin had made Annee his mate, enabling them to tap into each other's powers whenever they might need it. There was still much to learn as they did not have the opportunity to exchange information with others as Griffin and Annee were isolated. They had no need or desire to leave their home until Annee discovered that when she stepped through the rift on that fateful day, it had set in motion an ancient prophecy that foretold the end of their world.