Читать книгу Universe Aeternov. Book two. The Shadow that Remembers the Light - Группа авторов - Страница 5

“Time does not choose heroes.

It chooses those who are not afraid to be human, even in hell.”

1. A DREAM THAT IS NOT A DREAM.

Andrey did not sleep. He failed.

Not in a dream. Not as a memory. And into the rift, a thin crack between worlds where time does not flow, but groans.

It was cold, and there was the smell of coal, burning, and sweat.

The sounds are kayla’s thuds, screeching, coughing, and muffled fear.

The light is just a dim lantern on his forehead, trembling like a last hope.

He’s not in his body. He is an observer: invisible, disembodied… but feeling everything.

And he knows: it’s 1943. Mines near Rostov. The depth is three hundred meters. There is a war on the surface. And there is another war below: with darkness, with fatigue, with the thought: “Why go upstairs if there is death there?

“And then he sees him.

A young guy about sixteen years old. He was thin, with a face chiseled by hunger and stubbornness. On the chest is a battered tunic with a faded star. In the eyes is not the absence of fear, but stubborn faith.

This is his grandfather. Andrey Semenovich Chronosynthesis.

The one who once said,

“The clock is not ticking… but they remember every second when you were happy.”

2. THE CLOCK IN THE DARK.

The shift is in full swing. Grandfather digs in a narrow hole, where even breathing is painful.

Suddenly – a landslide.

Small, but enough to block up the passage.

He remains alone. The lantern flickers. Oxygen is running out.

In a panic, in the dark, the hand gropes for something hard under a layer of coal.

He pulls out his watch.

Not simple. The case is made of a strange metal, warm, as if alive. The glass is cracked, but not broken. The hands froze at 3:33.

And at that moment, there was a flash.

No light. Memory.

Grandfather sees:

• a boy in the garden, planting a flower for his sick mother;

• a young man who swears to protect his native village;

• the old man who gives this watch to the woman with the galaxy eyes;

And… himself, standing here in the mine, with blood and coal dust on his hands.

He doesn’t understand what’s going on. But he feels: This is not a godsend.

This is the message.

From the future. From someone who hasn’t been born yet… but already remembers him.

3. A VOICE FROM THE FUTURE

Andrey, the observer, tries to shout. But he’s a shadow. He can’t interfere.

And then the clock “wakes up”.

From their mechanism, through a crack in the glass, comes a small voice – his own voice, but from the future.:

“Grandfather… it’s me.” Andrey. You don’t have to die here. This watch is not just time. They are the source of the Chrono-Heart. And they were waiting for you… to pass them on. Through the war. Through the pain. Decades later. One day… I will save the world – with your hands.

Grandfather freezes. Tears roll down his face, mixing with coal dust.

He’s not going crazy.

He believes.

Because there is love in that voice. The one that is stronger than death.

He hides the watch under his shirt, right to his heart.

And he starts digging.

4. THE AWAKENING

Andrey abruptly opens his eyes.

He’s lying in the cabin of the Heart of Tomorrow. His watch is on his chest. And now they’re ticking forward.

Alina stands at the head of the bed. Her eyes are full of tears.

“You saw him, didn’t you?” she whispers. “I saw him find them… in hell.”

– Yes, – Andrei croaks, sitting up. – He did not know that he was holding a weapon in his hands against Absolute Evil. He was thinking… that it’s just a watch.

“But it’s more than a weapon,” says Alina. “It’s a connection. The watch is an anchor that binds the Chrono – Heart to the human world. Without them, evil can be born in the First World, and no one will notice.

– Why 1943? Andrey asks.

“So, then the whole hope of the world hung in the balance, – Alina replies. – It is at such moments that the purest spark of light arises. And it’s her… that Absolute Evil wants to replace.

5. THE PLAN OF DARKNESS IS REVEALED.

At this moment, the “Heart of Tomorrow” flashes with alarm.

Ziggy bursts into the cabin, holding a holographic time map in his hands.

– Andrey! We found his way! Absolute Evil does not want to destroy the First World. It wants to be born into him – like a new Knox, but without tears. Without a choice. Without pain.

“For this, he needs a moment of absolute purity,” he continues, “to flow into him like water into water.

“Such a moment is the birth of the chrono code,” Inna says, following Ziggy in. – When did you rush to the child in 1978, Andrey? … You didn’t just save a life. You created the spark from which all the goodness of the Aeternians grew.

“And if the Darkness enters at that moment,” Alina whispers, “it won’t kill you.” She will become you. And tell the world: “I am a hero. Trust me.”

“But she doesn’t have a body, – Alexei objects.

– Yes,” a voice says from the doorway.

Knox is standing in the doorway. His eyes are black stars, but there is pain in those stars.

“My body,” he says. – It is an ideal guide. Because I was the darkness and became the light. And the Darkness… wants to cancel this path.

6. THE SOLUTION

Andrey gets up. He picks up his grandfather’s watch. He clutches them to his chest.

“Then we won’t give her a chance, – he says softly. “We’re going back to 1978. Not as saviors. And as witnesses.

– But how?” Ziggy objects. “If we interfere, we’ll break the line!”

“We won’t interfere, – Alina replies. “We’ll just be there.” Because at that moment… I have to be born.

Everyone freezes.

“You?” Andrey will ask again.

– Yes, Dad. In 1978, in Rostov, at the very moment when you were saving a child… Inna’s mother was watching you from the shadows. And that’s when… my chrono code began to form. I didn’t come from the future. I am the fruit of that choice.

– So… – Andrey looks at his daughter, – you are not just a hope. You are proof that good is possible.

“Exactly, – Alina smiles. – And if the Darkness tries to enter at that moment… I’ll meet her. Not as a warrior. It’s like a daughter who remembers her father.

THE END OF THE CHAPTER.

At the edge of the Aeterna, the “Heart of Tomorrow” is preparing to jump – not into space, but into the very heart of time.

The ship doesn’t sing.

He prays.

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

but to protect a single moment

when one person chose the good and changed everything.

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

– Wait for me, Andrey. I will not come as Darkness. I’ll come as a warning.