The Judge was drowning in the fathomless depths of Nebula's gaze. He hadn't seen his partner for almost a million years, but she hadn't changed one bit. The Judge could have looked upon his beloved for an eternity, but...

"...She will perish, sink into oblivion. It is written in the book of fate, and so it shall be..."

He gently touched her shoulder and inhaled deeply, feeling a little dizzy. Nebula leaned forward and embraced him.

"...She shall die by your hand, Judge. You are chaos, and she? She is order. There is no escaping it: one day, you will have to do what you are destined to. Such is your path. It would be better to break this vicious cycle now, while it is within your power."

The Judge's armor fogged up from the girl's warm breath. He felt as if his heart had stopped, as if in fear of scaring away this precious moment with even the slightest movement.

"...Yes, I am a god, but I am neither good nor evil. I do not determine fates, but merely guide them. You must simply accept it."

His breath faltered, and the lovers' lips found each other. And yet, even in their moments of deepest intimacy, the Judge's bitter memories continued to haunt him.

"You're not listening to me, Judge. Well, I must do as you request and fulfill your Last Word. You only have three attempts, remember. Alas, this will only prolong your torment...

The Judge cast one last glance at the sleeping Nebula, gently stroking her shoulder. Then, jerking his hand back as if burned, he made up his mind, and hastily left their cozy nest. However, he couldn't escape his own thoughts.

"Curse cruel fate, and all that is destined to pass! Curse the gods and their cunning speeches!" thought the Judge as he stepped outside. "What use is there in their revelations? They only complicate things!"

Within a couple of minutes, he had left the planet's orbit. In his heart burned a desperate longing to forget it all, ignore all the warnings, and return to Nebula. And all this because in reality, she had already died multiple times...

Few people know that the Keepers themselves are mere pawns in the great game of fate. The Judge might be a divine guardian, but his role in the grand spectacle was far from pleasant: it was his destiny to be the murderer of his own beloved. For her part, Nebula was blissfully unaware of what was going on. Yet she should have figured it out... Last time, an Ion Cyclone cast by the Judge carelessly in the heat of a battle missed its target and struck her down. The time before that, she was killed by a shot that ricocheted off the Judge's armor, and on yet another occasion, she fell off a cliff on Ganoda while trying to save her partner. One way or another, the Judge was connected to all three deaths. Each time, he used the Last Word — the right granted to every Keeper to ask for one wish from the god he or she protects — to bring Nebula back to life. However, each Keeper was only granted three wishes, and alas, the Judge had now used them all up.

So now he literally fled from Nebula, so as not to leave fate another chance to deal the final blow. Faster than light, he raced towards the Cradle of Beginnings, hoping to bargain, to beg Him for one last wish... But when he arrived, he discovered to his great astonishment that the god had disappeared! The Judge's mouth twisted into a bitter grimace, as he realized what must be done: he must signal for Nebula to come here so the pair could go in search of their lost ward.

"Fate, are you having a laugh at my expense? Are you making me suffer for your own enjoyment?" he reprimanded his constant, invisible nemesis. "Well, I won't let you! Not this time, do you hear me?" With these words, the Judge sent the signal and flew towards his beloved.

And again, constant fighting, endless searching... For days, weeks, endless months, the two followed in hot pursuit of the lost god, but found nobody but themselves, losing control in those rare moments of intimacy snatched in the midst of their breathless chase.

Finally, the fatal hour came. A wayward laser beam fired by the Judge was refracted a thousandfold by the crystals on the planet Palan, and one of the laser fragments pierced Nebula's armor like paper. Blood, blue and thick, gushed from the Keeper's wound onto the gray sand. Her eyes rolled back, and her breathing became shallow and hoarse. "Nebula!" The Judge grabbed the girl's limp body and held her close. "So it has come to pass... I could not thwart my destiny... My only wish in this world was to not be your killer! But alas, all my wishes now are like paper candles, meaningless and futile..."

Lowering his head, he let himself drift into bittersweet reminiscence. A series of memories flashed before his mind's eye: the two of them racing through asteroid clouds... The time when the Judge accidentally bumped into Krookkul's ancient remains, turning the rare discovery into dust... Dancing in the glow of Arathan's many moons, escaping in the nick of time from Goll's dungeons... So many experiences, a million years of adventures! Could it really be at an end?

"Nobody can escape from fate, Judge. Don't even try..."

Suddenly, the girl in his arms stirred. She opened her eyes and flashed a sly smile up at him. "I have my Last Words too, you know..." Nebula stroked her armor, which showed no signs of damage or blood. "I wished for your deepest desire to come true! And it seems like this time you were really honest!" Nebula's gleeful laughter snapped the Judge out of his shock. He laughed too, and hugged his beloved tightly as never before.

An hour later, as they left the galaxy hand in hand, the same words repeated themselves over and over in the Judge's love-drunk mind: "Well, fate — shall we play another round?"