Читать книгу Universe Аeternov. Book three: A Heart in Ashes - - Страница 8

Behind the scenes.

In the dressing room, among sparkling wires, old posters with Elira and holographic recordings of past fights, Alexey took off his flying boots «Star Dog-9». The metal was still warm from jumping over the Cliffs of the Last Breath.

«We’ve passed cliffs… and not so few, – he said, looking at the armor cramped on his left foot. – Although… maybe it’s not that bad.

Leo, curled up on a sofa made of recycled plastic, purred at the frequency of the chronodrive:

– The main thing is that we jumped. And they didn’t just jump… they jumped with laughter.

A step rang out from the shadows where Alina had appeared earlier. It wasn’t Alina.

This is Inna Sandran.

Her eyes are not galaxies today. They are austerity, like a sandy clock before dawn.

In his hands is a Chrono – Heart crystal, flickering with a warning rhythm.

– Alina’s not coming,» she said softly but firmly. «She heard you talking.» I wanted to answer… but I couldn’t stand it.

Alexey looked up:

– why?

Inna paused, turned to the Lion and put her paw on his mane – not as a ruler, but as a mother.

– Alina is… too young. Her transparent chronocode is stronger than her soul is willing to carry. The magic of a Lullaby for Absolute Evil is not a song. It’s a sacrifice. And you can sacrifice only when you understand the price, and not just believe in goodness.

The lion raised his head:

«But she’s… the daughter of Chronos and Sandran.» She is the hope!

– Hope is not age, – Inna replied. – Hope is maturity. Even in the light, there is a weather deadline.

She sat down on the edge of the sofa, next to Leo.

:

«You’re too young. You need at least three more years to walk the Path of Silence, to hear the pain of Darkness not as an enemy, but as a lost self, to learn not to save… but to be close. Only after that, we can return to the conversation.

«Alexey nodded silently. He asked softly:

– And if Knox does not wait for these three years?

«He’s already waiting for seven laps of time, – Inna replied. – Three more years is nothing for someone who cries black tears in the void. But everything is for someone who must come… not as a savior, but as a sister who remembers his childhood.

Lev sighed, weighing his paw from the couch:

«So… a laser pointer the size of the moon is only in three years?»

Inna smiled for the first time in a long time.:

«I promise.» But first, you must learn not to chase the mark… but to become it.

In the shadow of the school of bright paths.

Somewhere far away, in the Dimension of the Lotus, Alina was standing by the mirror in her room.

Her galaxy – like eyes are full of tears-not from resentment, but from understanding.

She put her palm on the glass.

…I wanted to be your first verse.… But first I need to learn how to listen to the silence between notes.

The door creaked slightly behind her. Vladimir the Long was standing in it,

with a book in his hands and a quiet smile:

«Ready to start?» The first lesson: «How to be silent so that you can hear even the Darkness.»

Alina nodded,

«I’m ready.»

The epilogue of silence.

Sometimes the hardest thing is not to jump.

And wait until your heart learns to fly…

Not for the sake of fame, but for the sake of not falling

when someone you love falls next to you.