Читать книгу Universe Aeternov. Book two. The Shadow that Remembers the Light - Группа авторов - Страница 9

“You don’t control time.

You’re asking him… as long as you save someone.”

1. THE FIRST LESSON: SILENCE TO THE PULSE.

Alina stood in the “Hall Without Time” – a circular space where the clock did not tick, the sand did not crumble, and breathing slowed down almost to a complete stop.

In front of her is the Master of Chronos, a gray – haired man in a cloak of shadows and stars. His eyes were empty, just like before the beginning of time.

– Do you think you came here to learn how to travel? “What is it?” he asked without turning around.

“No, – Alina replied. – I came to learn how to listen.

The master smiled for the first time in three hundred years.

“Then sit down.” “And shut up,” he said. “Not for a minute. Not for an hour. And until it speaks to you on its own.

Alina closed her eyes, sank to the floor of the frozen Sand of Time, and waited.

2. THE VOICE OF TIME

The hours passed. But not the days.

First – the emptiness.

Then – the noise in my head: fears, fragments of phrases, echoes of the Chrono-Shadow:

“You’re a mistake. You shouldn’t be here.”

Alina almost gave up.

But she remembered her father’s voice:

“Even a broken clock shows the correct time twice a day.”

And then she stopped listening to herself.

And I started listening to the world.

First, a distant thud. Like a heart.

Then the rhythm. Deeper than breathing. Wider than galaxies.

It was the pulse of time.

Not mechanical.

Not linear.

Alive.

He was singing. He was crying. He was laughing. He was screaming.

“That’s how you are… – she whispered. “You’re… alive.”

And at that moment, the Sand beneath her trembled.

3. THE FIRST MOVE: NOT INTO THE PAST, BUT INTO THE PAIN.

The Master of Chronos opened his eyes.

“You heard a pulse,” he said. – Now – ask for it.

– Ask for… what? – asked Alina, confused.

– Ask time to stop. But not for myself,” the Master replied. “For someone who’s not ready to die yet.”

He led her to the Hall of Broken Moments, a place where temporary wounds were kept.: the seconds when someone leaves too early, and time doesn’t have time to say goodbye.

Alina saw an image of a boy falling from a roof in Rostov. The year is 2007.

He’s screaming. But the scream is drowned out by the noise of the city.

“You can save him,” the Master said. “But not by force. You have to step in at his last second… and give him a chance.

Alina did not “jerk” around. She asked for it.

– Please… – she whispered against his pulse. “Give him another moment.” Let him feel loved. Let him know that he is not alone.

She stretched out her hand, not in space, but in rhythm.

And time slowed down.

Not before the bus stop. But so much so that the boy managed to see a boy with white hair and galaxy – like eyes standing on the balcony of a neighboring house… and smiling at him.

That was enough.

He didn’t snap. He grabbed the ledge.

Time passed on.

But a new branch branched off from it.

4. RULES OF CHRONOMAGIC

After the lesson, the Master called Alina to his place.

“You passed the test,” he said. – Now remember the three laws of chronomagic.

He held up three fingers.

1. You don’t manage time. You’re asking.

Time is not a servant. It’s a friend.

A friend does not obey orders. He responds to the request.

2. You don’t change the past. You’re healing him.

You can’t erase the pain. But you can give it a meaning.

You can’t bring back the deceased. But you can make him leave knowing that he was loved.

3. You don’t use knowledge for the sake of power. You’re using the force to save yourself.

Every jump is a duty. Every second is a responsibility.

If you use the chrono code for yourself… time will forget you.

Alina lowered her gaze.

“And if… I want to save her?” “What is it?” she asked faintly. “The Chrono Shadow?”

The master was silent for a long time.

“Then you’ll have to step into the darkest second of the universe,” he said softly, “and tell her.”: “I remember you. You are not a mistake. You are my pain. And I forgive you.”

– And if she doesn’t believe it?” Alina whispered.

“Then you will stay, – the Master replied. – Even if time stops. Even if the world forgets your name. Because real Chronomagic is not about moving. It’s about loyalty.

5. PRACTICE: A PULSE IN EVERY MOMENT.

In the following classes, Alina learned:

• to feel the pulse in every moment:

– in the laughter of a child – the rhythm of hope,

– in the tears of an old man – the echo of loss,

– in the beat of two hearts – the melody of the future;

• synchronize with someone else’s time code:

to save a person, you need to weave into his time like a thread into a cloth;

• create “time bubbles”:

not to escape,

but to give the wounded a moment of peace,

the mother a last “I love you”,

the hero a moment before choosing.

One day she asked:

– Is it possible… to stop time altogether?

The master looked at her sadly.

– Just once, – he replied. – When you’re ready to stop yourself. Forever. Give everyone else their “tomorrow”.

Alina realized that

this was a victim of Chronos.

Her father’s sacrifice.

Grandfather’s sacrifice.

The sacrifice of all who carry time within themselves.

6. EVENING IN THE “GARDEN OF PULSES”.

At night, Alina came to the “Garden of Pulses”, a place where trees grew out of frozen moments.

She sat under the tree that grew out of the second her father saved the child in 1978,

and listened.

In that silence, she heard the Chrono Shadow’s voice for the first time-not as a threat, but as a cry.

“You feel her too, don’t you?” The Master asked, emerging from the shadows.

– Yes, – Alina replied. – She’s… calling me.”

“Because you’re her last hope, – the Master nodded. “Not as an enemy. Like a sister.

Alina closed her eyes, put her palm on the rough trunk of a tree and whispered:

“I’m coming.” Wait for me. I’ll bring you… mom’s lullabies.

The branches of the tree rustled in response.

And somewhere in the cracked time… the Chrono-Shadow stopped shaking for the first time.