Читать книгу Universe Aeternov. Book two. The Shadow that Remembers the Light - Группа авторов - Страница 4

“He’s not an enemy. He’s calling us.”

– Alina

1. A VOICE FROM THE SHADOWS

At night, when the stars fell silent, Alina woke up from a scream – not in the room, but inside herself.

Her double chrono code, which usually rang like a bell of hope, now throbbed with black pain.

– Dad… – she whispered, clutching the crystal around her neck. “It’s not just locked. He’s ready.

At the same moment, in Ziggy’s laboratory, the “Heart of Tomorrow” began to howl – not with an engine, but with Knox’s voice, which broke into crying.

“He’s not crying in pain,” Alexei said, approaching the ship. “He’s warning you.

Elira put her hand on the hull:

“He’s singing… a lullaby.” But on the contrary. Like a birth spell.

Inna Sandran entered the hall. Her eyes were not galaxies, but a crack in time.

“Absolute Evil does not want to escape from the Abyss,” she said. “It wants to enter the cradle.”

“Which cradle?” Andrey asked.

– To the First World, – Inna replied. – To the place where the chrono code originated. The place where you saved a child… and became Chronos. To a place where goodness has not yet learned to doubt.

2. THE PLAN OF THE DEVOURING ONE.

On Mechanos 9, in an Iron Throne made of millions of broken Core Hearts, Absolute Evil whispers to Knox – not as an executioner, but as a mentor.

“Do you think I want to destroy the light?” – says the Darkness, her voice is an echo of all the maternal lullabies that once lulled the dead. – no. I want to become one.

And the Devouring One reveals his plan.

Knox’s body is an ideal vessel not for destruction, but for substitution.

He is a former villain who became a light.

His soul knows both darkness and light.

His heart is a crack between worlds.

His memory is the key to the First World.

Absolute Evil is not going to just invade the First World. It wants to be born into him – like a new Knox: pure, innocent, “saved.”

– Imagine, – the Darkness whispers, – I will enter your body… and return to the day when Elira sang you a lullaby for the first time. But this time, I won’t cry. I’ll smile. And everyone will say, “Here he is, the hero who defeated the darkness.” And I… will become darkness clothed in light.

So, the Devouring One will bypass the Chrono-Heart.

Not from the outside, but from the inside.

Not as an enemy, but as a “savior.”

3. BIRTH IN THE PAST

This requires an anchor – the moment when Knox was most vulnerable.

This is his day of atonement, when he first heard Elira’s song and cried.

Absolute Evil is planning to rewrite this moment.

It uses Knox’s body as a chrono-guide to:

1. Open a portal not to the future, but to the past, to a point where the Chrono – Heart has not yet been assembled.

2. To replace the real Knox at the moment when he stands in front of Elira, trembling in pain.

3. Take the form of a repentant hero, but without a spark of choice – without the very tear that was born not out of fear, but out of love for his mother.

Without this year, there is no spark.

Without a spark, there is no light.

And without light… the First World will accept Darkness as its child.

“Then all the timelines will be rewritten, – the Devouring One whispers. – Andrey won’t run to a child at a construction site – why save a world where goodness is an illusion? Alexey won’t give up His Core Heart – why be human if people lie even in tears? Elira will be silenced forever…

And Alina… Alina will never be born.

4. BLACK TEARS ARE THE LAST WARNING.

But in the depths of Knox’s fallen body, that spark is still alive.

Every night, when the worlds are asleep, he approaches the Mirror of the Destroyed Time, an artifact capable of showing all possible selves.

And there he sees:

• myself smiling at Elira… But without tears;

• myself hugging Andrey… but without warmth;

• myself standing on the Aeternum… but without shadows.

And then he cries black tears – not from despair, but from the betrayal he is preparing to commit.

These tears are the last signal.

They do not fall to the ground, but into the Chrono-Heart and turn into a vision for Alina.

“He didn’t betray the light,” she whispers, looking into the mirror of time. – He allows the Darkness to enter… so that we can see it being born.”

5. THE TEAM’S DECISION

– We have to stop him before he returns to the past, – says Andrey. – But how?” He is the Lord of Darkness. He rules the six worlds of the Abyss!

“No, – Alina shakes her head. “He’s waiting for us to come.” He doesn’t want the Darkness to win. He wants us to save him from himself.

Inna puts her hand on Andrey’s shoulder.

“Then we’ll go where hope hasn’t gone before,” she says. – On Mekhanos-9. To the Forge of the God of Darkness. And we’ll remind Knox.… who he really is.

“And if he doesn’t remember us anymore?” Andrey asks.

“Then we’ll remind him of his mother,” says Elira. “Her lullaby.” Her scent. Her hands.

“And if that’s not enough?” Alexey whispers.

“Then we’ll take his hand, – Alina replies, – and say, “You’re not a vessel of darkness. You’re the door she couldn’t shut.”

THE END OF THE CHAPTER.

On the edge of the Aeterna, the “Heart of Tomorrow” is preparing to leap – not through hope, but through sacrifice.

The ship doesn’t sing.

He prays.

For the first time, the heroes are not flying to save worlds…

but to save someone who has already become their prison and their friend.

And somewhere in the depths of Mechanos-9, Knox looks into the Mirror of the Destroyed Time and whispers:

– Wait for me. I’m still here. As long as you remember, I’m alive.