Universe Aeternov. Book two
The Shadow that Remembers the Light
Andrey Sopelnik

© Andrey Sopelnik, 2025

ISBN 978-5-0068-8894-4 (т. 2)

ISBN 978-5-0068-7869-3

Created with Ridero smart publishing system

Universe

Aeternov

Book two:

“The Shadow that Remembers the Light.”

Andrey Yurievich Sopelnik.

Creative pseudonym: Andrey S.

Rostov-on-Don.

2025

For everyone who loves Fiction, the Russian heroes of the Universe.

THE SECOND BOOK: “THE SHADOW THAT REMEMBERS THE LIGHT.”

Chapter 1. The first. A VESSEL OF DARKNESS

“He did not betray the light. He let me in… to figure out how to heal her.”

1. THE HERO’S LAST SIGH

At the end of the first book, when the Chrono-Heart flashed with the light of hope, Knox took a step forward.

“I’ll go with her,” he said, looking at the shadow of the Chrono Shadow receding into the depths of the Black Abyss. “She’s a part of me. And if anyone has to stay with her… it’s me.

– Knox, no!” Elira shouted. “You don’t have to!”

– But I want to, – he replied. – It means that only those who know her from the inside… can find light in her.

He hugged Andrey. He nodded to Alexei. He looked at Alina and smiled:

– Take care of tomorrow.

And stepped into the portal of Darkness.

The team thought he had sacrificed himself. That his choice had allowed Absolute Evil to be put to sleep. A monument of sand and song was erected to him on the Aeternum.

But they were wrong.

Knox is not dead.

He woke up.

2. MECHANOS-9 – FORGE OF THE GOD OF DARKNESS.

He woke up on Mechanos 9, a planet where technology hates all living things.

The sky is made of rust and screams.

Cities are made of pulsating metal that feeds on pain.

Rivers are made of molten oaths.

And at the center of everything is an Iron Throne forged from a million broken Core Hearts.

And there’s a Shadow on it, older than time itself.

– Welcome home, vessel, – Absolute Evil whispered. “Did you think you were sacrificing yourself for the good?” No. You’ve matured. And now… I’m going to enter you.

Knox tries to resist. But there was always a crack in his soul, the one from which tears flowed when Elira sang him a lullaby for the first time. And through that crack… darkness entered.

3. CHILDHOOD, WHICH WAS PREPARED FOR DARKNESS.

Absolute Evil did not choose Knox by accident.

Even before he was born, in one of the first timelines, the Devouring One sowed the seed of pain in his family.

His mother died because the world didn’t have time to save her.

His father went crazy because no one heard him scream.

His village was wiped off the face of reality because it was not considered worthy of protection.

Every tear of the boy fed the Darkness.

Every night without sleep strengthened the bond.

His childish “why”? it became a prayer that was heard not by the light… but by the void.

When Knox became a Chrono-Shadow, it was the first stage of the vessel’s awakening.

When he became Knox again, the second one.

And now the third one has arrived.

4. THE BIRTH OF THE LORD OF DARKNESS.

The process lasted seven laps of time.

Knox’s body was being melted into a vessel of ancient pain and cruel will.

His eyes have become black stars in which hopes are extinguished.

His voice is the echo of all the screams that went unanswered.

His heart is an empty throne on which sits Absolute Evil.

But… not completely.

Somewhere deep, under the layers of darkness, there was a spark – the one that cried after hearing the unique lullaby. And Absolute Evil cannot destroy it.

Because she is not a part of the Darkness.

She’s Knox’s choice.

And that’s why the Devouring One didn’t kill his mind. He left him alive, as a torment for the sake of light.

Let Aeternov know that their hero sees everything that the Darkness does… but he can’t stop himself.

5. THE NEW ORDER

Now Knox is the Lord of Darkness, the second most powerful after the most Absolute Evil.

He rules Mechanos 9, Necros, Daemonium, Nocturna, Morgrad, and Chaos Prima, all six worlds of the Black Abyss.

His army is the Shadows of Fate, distorted reflections of fallen heroes.

His weapon is the Spear of Oblivion, capable of erasing not the body, but the memory of goodness.

He doesn’t scream.

He whispers.

And in this whisper, there is a conviction:

“Goodness is an illusion. Love is a weakness. Hope is a lie.”

But one night, when all the worlds are asleep, he goes to the mirror of the destroyed time… and cries black tears.

He remembers:

– how I held a flower made of light in my hands,

– as I said for the first time: “I’ve been through this,

“As I laughed with a couple on a rooftop in Chicago.

And in these moments… The darkness is trembling.

THE END OF THE CHAPTER.

Knox did not become evil.

He became a prison for evil.

And as long as he is alive, Absolute Evil cannot enter the worlds completely. Because the vessel has not yet allowed itself to be sealed.

And somewhere in the depths of his fallen soul… a little sprout is still waiting to be heard.

Chapter 2. The second one. The first world is the cradle of darkness

“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.

Chapter 3. The third. A CLOCK MADE OF ASHES

“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.

Chapter 4. The fourth. STUDENT LIGHT

“We didn’t know we were going to become a legend.

We just believed that the world could be made kinder.

And that was enough.”

1. JUMP INTO THE PAST

After the team collected the “Seed of Eternity”, the “Heart of Tomorrow” did not fly forward.

It looked back.

“Why are we here?” Alexey asked, looking at the streets of Rostov-on-Don, bathed in the sun in August 1995.

There are cracks on the asphalt from the heat.

There is a smell of fried seeds, dust and the first tomatoes in the air.

From the open windows comes the band “Cinema” – the song “A star named the Sun”.

“Because the Chrono – Heart is looking for the beginning of a connection,” Alina said, leaning against a lamppost with peeling paint. – Not 1978. Not 1943. And 1995. The year you first gathered… not as heroes, but as students with dreams.

Inna came closer, her eyes were not galaxies, just warm, sunny ones.

“We didn’t know then that our paths would be intertwined forever, – she said softly. “But the universe already knew.

2. INSTITUTE OF RAILWAY WORKERS – FACULTY OF DREAMERS.

Andrey Khronosynthez is a third – year student at the Rostov Institute of Railway Transport.

Specialty: “Road construction machinery, DSM”.

In fact, he fixes everything.:

from semaphores to dorm showers.

His dream is not to become a road boss, but to make sure that trains carry not only goods… but also hope.

There are two people in his group whom he has become friends with since his first philosophy seminar.:

Vladimir is Long and thin as a reed, with glasses on the tip of his nose and a notebook filled with formulas that look like poetry. He believes that knowledge is seeds: plant them at the right time and the forest of the future will grow. His dream is to open a university where science and kindness go hand in hand.

Vladimir is a Big Kind Man – tall, broad-shouldered, with a loud, kind laugh and hands that can lift the railing along with the flight of stairs. He is the grandson of a blacksmith from the Don, with fire and steel in his blood. He dreams of a world in which no one will be left alone at a broken trough.

The three of them are “The Three Vladimirs” (although one of them is Andrey, but the joke stuck).

They read Brodsky under the bridge, argue about the future on the roof of the dorm, and every Friday they go to Dumpling House No. 1, where they have long been known by their first names.

3. THE LOVE THAT STARTS WITH A TICKET.

Inna Sandran studies at the same institute, but at a different faculty: Economics and Logistics of Transport.

She is not from Rostov – from a small town near Kamensk, Rostov region, Russia.

She is smart and reserved, but there is a fire in her eyes that is just waiting for its spark.

They meet on the train.

Andrey is a couple of hours late. Inna is sitting by the window and reading “The Master and Margarita”.

He fits, crumples:

– I’m sorry… I still have a ticket to Rostov-Glavny at home. Can you borrow yours? I’ll return it later.

She looks up, looks at him intently, as if she sees right through him.

“Take it, – she says calmly, and holds out the ticket.

– why? – He’s surprised. “You don’t even know who I am.” What if I’m lying?

“ – You’re not lying,” she says. “You’re just in a hurry.” To save someone. I can see that.

He laughs. She is too.

The train enters the tunnel, and for a second everything is lost in darkness.

When the light returns, both already know that

this is the beginning of something more.

4. ALEXEY IS A SOLDIER OF PEACE.

Alexey studies at the Don State University, Faculty of Physics and Mathematics.

A former conscript. He returned from the Caucasus with a medal… and a scar on his soul.

He doesn’t talk about the war.

He fixes old alarm clocks at night so that someone can wake up in peace again.

They get to know Andrey at the interuniversity Olympiad in mechanics.

Andrey solves the problem by intuition.

Alexey – by all the rules, through hard calculations.

They argue until they are hoarse, proving each other right… and then they go to the Coffee Grinder for tea and there they discuss how to arrange peace so that war is never needed again.

“You’re too kind for an engineer,” Alexey says.

“And you’re too kind for a soldier, – Andrei replies.

They’re laughing.

And in this laughter, the first sprout of a future solution is born.

5. DREAMS ON THE ROOF

One night, in June 1995, they all gather on the roof of the dormitory of the Institute of Railway Workers.

• Andrey – with his grandfather’s guitar.

• Vladimir Long – with a notebook.

• Vladimir the Big Kind – hearted – with a thermos of tea.

• Inna – with a blanket.

• Alexey – with a notebook on astrophysics.

They look at the stars and dream.

“I want everyone who raises their head to the sky to know that their dream is not stupidity,” says Vladimir Long.

“I want fire to forge bridges, not swords,” says the Big, Kind Man.

“I don’t want machines to replace people… but to help them stay human, – Alexey says quietly.

– And I… – Inna hugs the plaid, – I want to see all the ways and choose those where no one cries alone.

– And I, – Andrey smiles, – I want tomorrow to be better than today. Just because we decided to do it together.

At this moment, the Chrono-Heart pulsates for the first time.

Not in Aeternov, but in their breasts.

They don’t hear him.

But the universe is already celebrating: something has begun.

6. RETURN TO THE PRESENT

“We didn’t know then that we would become Avatars of Light,” says Andrey, standing in 1995 as a mature Chronos, next to his young friends. “We were just people.

“But that’s exactly where the power lies, – Alina replies. “It’s not that you’re the chosen ones. The point is that you chose each other even before the world demanded a feat from you.

Inna takes Andrey’s hand.

– Do you think I fell in love with the hero? “What is it?” she asks softly. – no. I fell in love with the student who gave the last piece of bread to the mutt at the train station. It is he who… saves the universe.

At this moment, the “Heart of Tomorrow” gently calls them back.

But before leaving, Alina approaches herself, a little girl of about five playing in the yard with a stuffed dog.

She bends down and whispers:

“You’ll do everything right. Dad won’t leave you. He just… chooses a world where you can be born again.

The girl looks at her and smiles as if she recognizes her.

THE END OF THE CHAPTER.

The crew returns to the ship.

The ship sings softly, the same melody that sounded on the roof in 1995.

“Now I understand,” Knox says without a trace in his voice for the first time in a long time. – You have not defeated the Darkness by force. You defeated her… with friendship.

– Yes, – Andrey smiles. – Because evil doesn’t know what to do with those who laugh under the same sky.

And somewhere in the depths of Mechanos-9, Knox takes a step forward… not as the Lord of Darkness, but as the same student who also once dreamed of a bright future.

Chapter 5. The fifth. THE ORIGINS OF THE SHADOW

“We thought that the Darkness came from outside.

But she was born in a place where no one heard the baby crying.”

1. THE VISION FROM THE CRACK.

After the team returned from 1995, the “Heart of Tomorrow” suddenly went quiet.

It didn’t break.

Not tired.

But it was hiding, as if it had seen something.

“What’s going on?” Andrey asked, putting his palm on the case.

The ship responded not with a voice, but with a memory.

Not to everyone individually.

Everyone at once.

The characters simultaneously fell into the chrono gap, a place between the lines where time does not flow, but groans with loss.

And there they saw her.

Not Alina.

And the Chrono Shadow is in its original form.

A tall figure with blurred features, wearing a cloak made of ashes and a broken watch. The eyes are empty, but Knox is reflected in their depths.

“Is that… him?” Elira whispered.

– No, – Alina replied, trembling. “That’s who he was… until no one loved him.”

2. THE BIRTH OF THE SHADOW.

The vision unfolded.

Before Aeternov.

See you with the team.

Young Knox is neither a hero nor a villain. A lost boy whose village was wiped off the map because it “had no strategic value.” His mother died in the fire, screaming, “Someone help!”

No one came.

He survived. But the soul was not healed.

It’s festering.

Years later, as an adult, he learns about the Chrono-Heart. And he thinks,

“If time can be stopped… maybe I can bring her back”?

He doesn’t want power.

He wants a mom.

But the Sand of Time does not obey. Then he begins to tear the fabric of reality, trying to get closer to the moment before the fire.

And the second he tears out a piece of time, a Shadow bursts out of a wound in the fabric of the world.

Not An Absolute Evil.

And his pain, taking shape.

The Chrono-Shadow is not born out of malice.

She is born out of desperation.

“I’m not a villain, – Knox whispers in the vision, looking at his reflection in the mirror of cracked time. “I’m just… too lonely.”

And at that moment, the Shadow embraces him.

Not to destroy it.

But to become one.

3. THE FIRST MEETING

The vision is changing.

The team sees the first meeting – what happened in the first Book, when they were not yet united.

Andrey is Odin, the newly awakened Chronos.

Alexey is a soldier who lost his daughter.

Elira is a singer who is afraid of her own voice.

Inna is a ruler who sees all the ways, but does not know which one to choose.

And in front of them is Knox in the guise of a Chrono Shadow.

He doesn’t attack.

He says:

“Do you think I want to destroy the world?” No. I want my world back. And if it can’t be returned… let no one be happy. Because this happiness is a lie for those who have lost everything.

Andrey doesn’t understand then. He tries to separate the Darkness and Knox with a sword.

But the blade cuts through the Shadow – and cuts his own childhood memory.

Elira sings. Her voice flies to the Shadow… and is reflected, erasing the name of her first teacher.

“She’s not an enemy, – Inna whispers then. “She’s a wound. And a wound cannot be killed. It can only be healed.

But no one knows how yet.

Until one day Elira remembers:

“Everyone who cries in the dark… had a mother who once sang a lullaby.”

4. THE TRUTH ABOUT KNOX

The vision ends.

The crew returns to the ship. There are tears in everyone’s eyes.

“So, he was always a Shadow?” Alexey asks quietly.

“No, – Alina shakes her head. “He gave birth to a Shadow… but he didn’t become one. He continues to carry her around in order to understand her pain. And that is why Absolute Evil cannot possess him completely. Because Knox remembers where she came from.

“He didn’t betray us,” says Andrey, clutching his watch in his hands like fragments of the past. “He accepted it. How a father accepts a sick son.

– And now… – Inna whispers, – Absolute Evil wants to use his body to be born in the First World… as a new Knox, but without tears. Without pain. Without a choice.

“Then we have to stop this, – Elira says firmly. “Not as warriors. And those who remember his mother.

5. THE SOLUTION

The team gathers in the ship’s control center.

“We are flying to 1978,” says Andrey. “Not to change the past. And to protect the moment when I chose the child… and when Knox first felt that good was possible.

– And if the Darkness is already there? Ziggy asks.

“Then we’ll remind her,” Alina smiles, “that even the Shadow had a mother. And her lullaby… has not been forgotten yet.

The “Heart of Tomorrow” lights up with a soft light. Not military, but domestic.

Because this time they’re not going to war.

They fly to save the one who once created a Shadow… so that they can heal it.

Chapter 6. The sixth. THE SCHOOL OF THOSE WHO CHOOSE THE LIGHT

“They didn’t teach her how to be a warrior.

They taught her to be human, even in battle.”

1. AN INVITATION FROM THE STARS.

Alina stood at the edge of the Aeternum, holding in her hands a letter made of light and sand.

It didn’t arrive in the mail.

It grew out of her own chrono-code, like a flower from a crack in time.

“Alina Chronosandran, the daughter of Chronos and Sandran,

the bearer of the double code,

the keeper of hopes who do not yet know their name…

you are invited to the School of Bright Paths.

Not to get stronger.

And to understand: power is in choice.”

– Is this… a school?” “What is it?” she asked, turning to her parents.

Andrey smiled – the same smile with which he rushed to the child in 1978.

Inna looked at her daughter with eyes in which galaxies were mixed with simple earthly pride.

“This is not just a school, daughter,” said Andrey. – This is a place where they teach not to win… but to save. Even an enemy.

“They teach you to be a Super – Magician, a Soldier, a Kind-hearted and Affectionate Negotiator at the same time,” Inna added, and there was a slight irony in her voice. – In this universe, the strongest is not the one who knows how to kill… but the one who knows how to speak so that even the darkness listens.

2. ENTERING THE DIMENSION OF YOUTH.

The Source School was located in the Lotus Dimension, a space accessible only to those whose hearts had not yet been petrified by cynicism.

The entrance is through the Age Mirror.

• Teenagers (16—21 years old) – pass.

• Adults who are sure that they “already understand everything” hear only a whisper:

“You already know everything. And they’re still learning to believe.”

Alina took a step and found herself in a world where:

• the sky shimmered with sunrises and sunsets at the same time;

• The trees grew with their roots up, feeding on the dreams of the students;

• rivers did not flow with water, but with streams of knowledge and other people’s experience;

• The school building changed shape depending on what you are studying today.

An inscription made of living stars twinkled on the gate:

“They don’t make weapons here.

People who don’t need guns anymore are being made here.”

3. CURRICULUM: NOT JUST COMBAT

Alina quickly realized that this was not a superhero academy.

It is a garden of the soul, where every object is a path to understanding oneself and others.

Main disciplines:

• Chrono magic is not just moving through time, but the ability to hear its pulse.

“You don’t control time. You’re asking for it… until you save someone.”

• The martial arts of the universe – from hand-to-hand combat to the dance of Shaolin monks.

The main principle is: “Inflict a minimum of pain. Leave maximum dignity.”

• The art of reincarnation is not for deception, but to feel someone else’s pain.

“Become an enemy for a moment, and you’ll understand why he’s crying in the dark.”

• Invisibility is not for espionage, but for unobtrusive support.

“Sometimes the best help is not to interfere. Just to be around.”

• High Dialogue Courses (what were jokingly called “geisha of the universe”) are not about flirting, but about the art of conversation, which can:

o forces the enemy to lower his sword,

o reminds the tyrant of his childhood,

o forces the darkness to whisper: “Tell me more…”.

• Space policy and ethics of power – that saving worlds means hearing their pain, and not imposing your “salvation” on them.

• Super Mage, Kind – hearted Soldier, Affectionate Negotiator – the final comprehensive course, where:

o magic = empathy,

o strength = protection,

o words = bridges,

o victory = when no one remains the enemy.

4. THE FIRST LESSON: “WHY AREN’T YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK?

““At the first lesson in chronoetics, the teacher is an elderly Mechanic with eyes glowing with soft lamps,” asked:

– Alina, you are the daughter of Chronos and Sandran. You can erase the Chrono Shadow with a single gesture. Why don’t you do it?

She froze.

“I think, – Alina said softly, – that she’s not an enemy. She’s me… if no one loved me. If I just destroy her, I will destroy a part of myself. And I don’t want to kill. I want to heal.

There was silence in the classroom. Even the wind had stopped rustling in the overturned trees.

The teacher smiled.

“You’ve already passed the first exam,” she said. – Welcome to the School of Bright Paths.

5. TRAINING IN THE “GARDEN OF SILENCE”.

One night, Alina was training in the Garden of Silence, a place where time slowed down tenfold.

She practiced moving to any point in the galaxy using only the rhythm of her own heart.

But instead of distant stars… I found myself in 1978, on Budennovsky Street.

Young Andrey was standing there at the construction site, looking at the darkness ahead.

“Do you… see me?” “What is it?” she whispered.

– No, – he replied without turning around. “But I feel… that someone believes in me.” And that’s enough.

Alina began to cry.

And for the first time, she truly realized that

her strength wasn’t in a unique code.

Her strength lies in faith.

Chapter 7. The seventh. THE PULSE OF TIME

“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.

Chapter 8. The eighth. DANCE TO SAVE

“A true martial artist does not defeat the enemy.

He gives him back his self-confidence.”

1. A HALL WITHOUT SHADOWS

Alina entered the Shadowless Hall, a circular space where the walls were not made of stone, but of frozen movement.

Every figure on the walls is not a statue.

This is a captured moment of a battle in which no one fell, no one screamed, no one hated.

They didn’t teach you how to kill here.

They learned how to stop pain here.

“Welcome to the first Martial Arts lesson of the Universe,” said the teacher, coming out of the semi – darkness.

He was tall, powerfully built, with a simple, calm face without signs of rank.

The face is smooth, like the surface of a lake before the first wind.

“My name is Master Li Jiang,” he introduced himself. “I’m not a warrior. I am the mediator between anger and peace.

– And if the enemy does not want peace? Alina asked.

“Then your task is to make him remember what he wants, – the Master replied.

2. DOWNLOAD: NOT DATA – BUT EXPERIENCE.

The students did not master the technique for “years”.

They uploaded knowledge, but not as files to a computer.

In the center of the room was a Chrono, a Memory crystal grown from:

• Tears of the Shaolin monks,

• Songs of the Etherean warriors,

• and the ashes of the Pyrolia blacksmiths.

“Put your hand on the crystal,” Master Li said. – But remember: you are not just learning techniques. You accept understanding.

Alina touched the crystal.

Consciousness opened up like a flower in the rain.

She didn’t just “remember” – she survived:

• the hand – to-hand fight of street masters in 2084 – not for the sake of victory, but to protect the child from the gang. Each blow was aimed not at the face, but at the certainty: “You are not the owner of the street. You’re a lost boy who’s afraid of being weak.”;

• The dance of the Sand Wind warriors from the planet of the Sands, where fighting is a prayer and avoiding a blow is a bow to the universe;

• The Shaolin monks’ martial dance is not for destruction, but for awakening. Their punches don’t break bones – they talk to illusions.: “You’re not mad at me. Are you angry that you weren’t heard as a child?”;

• The art of silent resistance by Ferronia’s Mechanicals – one glance is enough to stop an army: steel, having seen a soul, cannot strike.

Alina pulled her hand away, trembling but beaming.

– I… know everything,” she whispered. – But not as a movement. Like the truth.

“Exactly, – Master Li nodded. – You didn’t become a martial artist. You’ve become a guardian of dignity.

3. THE FIRST BATTLE: NOT AGAINST – CLOSE.

At the next lesson, the students were divided into pairs.

Alina got Kieron – the son of a warrior from Daemonium, who ran away from his father in order not to become an executioner.

His movements were sharp, jerky, full of anger.

He didn’t fight to win, but to prove that he was dangerous.

“You can’t do this, – he hissed. – You’re the girl with the galaxy eyes. What do you know about pain?

– I know it doesn’t make you stronger, – Alina replied. “She makes you lonely.”

The battle has begun.

Kieron attacked like a storm: punches, throws, grapples – everything was aimed at humiliation.

But Alina didn’t hit back.

She started dancing.

Not by leaving cowardly, but by accepting, redirecting, sliding past so that his power would shatter not against her body, but against the void.

When Kieron grabbed her by the throat, she didn’t pull away.

She put her hand on his chest, where his heart was pounding, and whispered:

“You’re not mad at me. You’re angry at your father, who told you that kindness is weakness.

Kieron froze.

And for the first time in many years… he began to cry.

There was silence in the hall.

– Is this… a victory?” “What is it?” he asked, lowering his arms.

“No, – Alina smiled. – It’s a homecoming.

Master Li came closer.

“You didn’t hurt him.” You didn’t knock him to the floor. “You haven’t proved your superiority,” he said. “You left him dignity.”

– And that,’ he added, ‘is the whole point of the Aeternian martial art.

4. THE PRINCIPLE OF THREE LEVELS.

Later, over a cup of herbal tea, Master Li explained:

– Martial arts develop on three levels.

He raised his finger.

1. The body is a technique.

Hit, block, leave.

Every soldier knows that.

The second finger.

2. Intelligence is a tactic.

Foresight, adaptation, control of space.

Every strategist knows this.

The third finger.

3. The soul is empathy.

Understanding why the enemy is hitting.

Only those who see themselves as lost in the enemy know this.

“The real master works at the third level,” said Master Li. “He doesn’t break the body. He heals the cause of fear.

– And if the enemy is a Chrono Shadow? Alina asked. “She’s not human. She’s a pain.

“Even more so, – the Master replied. – Because the pain awaits the one who says the most.: “I’m here. You’re not alone.”

5. NIGHT TRAINING: SHADOW DANCE

Alina practiced alone at night.

In the “Shadowless Hall,” she activated the projection of the Chrono Shadow-not as a target, but as a dance partner.

She didn’t attack.

She invited me.

– Go, – Alina whispered. “Show me your pain.” I’m not afraid.

The shadow hesitated.

Sometimes she rushed forward like an animal.

Sometimes she froze, like a child afraid of being touched.

One day, Alina reached out and took the Shadow by the palm.

And they danced.

Don’t be afraid.

Not a fight.

A dialogue without words.

At that moment, Alina understood:

Chrono-Shadow doesn’t want to destroy the world.

She wants someone to finally… hug her.

THE END OF THE CHAPTER.

In the next lesson, Master Li asked:

– Who is ready to take the test?

Alina raised her hand.

– Do you know what awaits you? – He clarified.

– Yes, – she replied. “She’s waiting for me.” And I won’t fight her. I will dance with her… until she remembers that she was once a child.

Master Li smiled.

“Then you’ve already passed the test,” he said. – Because a real warrior is someone who knows how not to hit… but to be close.

Chapter 9. The Ninth. A DEFEAT THAT TEACHES

“The real strength is not in not falling.

It’s about falling down and hearing the earth whisper…

and realizing that it hasn’t betrayed you.

She was just waiting for you to learn how to listen.”

1. THE TEST OF FAITH

Alina has been studying at the School of Bright Paths for three months now.

She knew all the basic forms of Shaolin styles.

She could disappear into thin air like an exhalation.

She was able to stop a punch from a distance without touching the opponent.

But Master Li Jiang still wouldn’t let her go on real missions.

“You can move,” he said. – But you don’t feel fear. A fight is not a dance for the audience. Combat is a dialogue with pain. And you still haven’t learned how to listen to someone else’s pain… without hiding your own.

Alina said nothing. There’s resentment in my chest.

“Why does everyone believe in me as a hope… but not as a warrior”?

That night, she made a decision.

2. THE SHADOW AT THE GATE.

At the edge of the Lotus Dimension, a crack appeared where reality was thinning.

The Shadow of Fate crawled out of her – not just a monster, but a reflection of the fallen Chronos from one of the alternate lines.

She didn’t scream.

She was calling:

– Alina… You know you’re not welcome here. You’re a mistake. Your world was erased because it was weak. And you… you’re just a shadow. The shadow of a shadow.

Alina froze.

Those words weren’t a threat.

These were her own fears, clothed in flesh.

But she came out to meet me anyway.

“I’m not afraid of you,” she said, taking up a Shaolin-style stance. – I came to show that even a shadow can choose light.

The shadow smiled and attacked.

3. THE FIGHT THAT DID NOT BECOME A VICTORY.

Alina threw everything she had learned into the fight.:

• Wind Dance – escapes from blows, light as a leaf in a hurricane;

• Fist of the Heart – blows aimed not at the body, but at pain;

• Embrace of Silence – attempts to stop the enemy without destroying.

But the Shadow of Fate was not human.

She was a void clothed in memory.

Each of her blows is a question:

“Why do you exist at all”?

“Who loves you, even if your father chose another world”?

“Will you save them? Or will you just postpone the fall a little?

“Alina continued to move, the technique remained impeccable, but her soul was trembling.

And when she tried to apply the final technique, “Homecoming,” in which the opponent stops himself, remembering his childhood, the Shadow laughed.

“I don’t have a childhood, – she whispered. “I only have your fault.”

And she grabbed Alina by the throat, not with her hand, but with a memory:

the moment when Andrei erased her homeworld in order to save others.

Alina fell.

Not from physical pain. From a broken heart.

4. DEFEAT.

A shadow loomed over her.

“You are not a warrior,” she said. “You’re an echo. And the echo can’t beat the silence.

She didn’t finish it.

She’s gone.

She left Alina lying in the dust, in a torn suit, with her chrono code out.

When Master Li Jiang found her, she was crying – not ordinary tears, but the sand of time flowing out of her eyes.

“I lost, – she whispered. “I don’t deserve to be an Avatar.”

The master sat down next to him. He did not comfort or scold.

– Did you think that fighting is a way to prove your strength? “What is it?” he asked softly. – no. Combat is a mirror. And today, for the first time, you didn’t see him as an enemy. Myself.

“But I couldn’t do it,” Alina said.

“You survived, – the Master replied. – And this is already a victory for someone who is still learning to be human.

He helped her up.

– Tomorrow we will not start with punches. And with silence. Because before you stop someone else’s pain… you need to stop being afraid of your own.

5. A LESSON IN SILENCE

The next day, Alina did not go to the “Hall Without Shadows”.

She was sitting in the “Garden of Pulses”, among the trees that had grown out of frozen moments.

She didn’t practice.

She was listening.

I listened to the pulse of time.

I listened to the whisper of the Shadow of Fate – not as a threat, but as a cry.

She listened to her heart, not as a weakness, but as a compass.

And gradually I began to understand:

The Shadow of Fate did not want to destroy it.

She wanted Alina to hear:

“I want to go home too.”

THE END OF THE CHAPTER.

In the evening, Alina returned to Master Li.

“I’m ready to learn anew,” she said. “Not as a warrior. Like someone who’s afraid… but goes ahead anyway.

The Master nodded.

“Then you won’t start tomorrow with a punch,” he said. – And with a hug.

He smiled out of the corner of his mouth.

– In this universe, the strongest is not the one who defeats the enemy. And the one who doesn’t turn him into an enemy.

Somewhere in the depths of the Black Abyss, the Shadow of Fate froze.

And a tiny spark flashed in her empty eye sockets.

Not the light.

The hope of forgiveness.

Chapter 10. The tenth. BECOME A SHADOW TO BRING BACK THE LIGHT

“You’re not putting on someone else’s face.

You take off your clothes to see the world through the eyes of someone you’re afraid to understand.”

1. THE NEW CLASS IS THE HALL OF REFLECTIONS.

After being defeated by the Shadow of Fate, Alina stopped asking for strength.

She began to ask for understanding.

And the School responded.

The next morning, she was invited to the “Hall of Reflections” – a wallless space where the floor and ceiling were mirrors, and the air trembled with the echo of other people’s battles and lived lives.

There she was waiting for a new teacher.

He wasn’t standing. It shimmered – between the shapes.

Now he’s an old man with eyes full of ashes.

A moment later, a teenager with empty pockets and a heart overflowing with pain.

Then there was a warrior with a sword in his chest and a clean face without a drop of blood.

“My name is the Master of Faces,” he said. His voice sounded like crying, laughing, and praying at the same time. “I don’t teach you how to transform.” I teach you how to disappear into another person in order to come back… whole.

“And if I don’t want to come back?” Alina asked.

“Then you will find someone who has forgotten how to be himself, – the Master replied. “And maybe… you’ll be the mirror for him.”

2. THE FIRST RULE OF REINCARNATION.

“The art of transformation is not magic,” the Face Master began. You give up yourself for a while in order to feel someone else’s pain as your own.

He led her to the central mirror.

“There are no spells here,” he said. – There are no formulas. There are no genetic codes. There is only one question:

“Why do you want to become one?

“If the answer is “To win,” you stay near the surface.

If the answer is “To understand,” you enter from the inside.

“And if I’m afraid?” Alina whispered.

– So, you’re ready, – the Master smiled. – Fear is the door. Not a wall.

3. THE FIRST TEST: BECOME AN ENEMY.

The master touched the mirror, and the Shadow of Fate was reflected in it, the one that had recently defeated Alina.

– You lost to her because you saw her as a monster, – he said softly. – Become one today.

– But… how?” Alina swallowed.

“Just say, “I want to understand you,”” he replied. – And let yourself go.”

Alina took a deep breath, looked into the empty eyes of the reflection and said:

“I want to understand you.

The mirror shook and pulled her inside.

4. INSIDE THE SHADOW

The world has turned upside down.

Alina was no longer Alina.

She is the Shadow of Fate.

She felt:

• cold – not from the darkness, but from loneliness;

• hunger is not for food, but for the word: “You’re important”;

• the pain is not in the body, but in the memory: “My world was erased because it was considered weak”;

• Rage – not towards the universe, but towards oneself: “Why wasn’t I good enough to be saved”?

She saw her old world, the one that had disappeared.

A world where Andrey made a choice in favor of other lines.

A boy stands at the ruins of a house that once smelled of apple pie and laughter.

There’s a child’s drawing on the floor: “Daddy and me on the stars.”

The drawing is faded, which means no one has looked at it for a long time.

And at that moment, Alina realized that

the Shadow of Fate did not want to destroy her.

She wants to hear:

“You had a right to exist.”

Tears, black as ashes, flowed down Shadow’s cheeks.

And Alina cried with her.

5. RETURN.

She burst out of the mirror, trembling, crying, but already different.

“Did you… see her pain?” The Face Master asked.

– Yes, – Alina whispered. “She’s not the enemy. She’s me… if no one loved me.

“Then you passed the first test,” said the Master. “You haven’t defeated the Shadow. You found out her name.

“What’s her name?” Alina asked.

– Forgotten,” he replied.

6. THE SECOND TRIAL: TO BECOME SOMEONE YOU HATE.

In the next lesson, the Master showed a new reflection – Absolute Evil in the form of Knox.

“Now become one,” he said.

“But he’s destroying worlds!” Alina exclaimed.

“Do you really believe he’s doing this out of joy?” The Master asked softly. – no. He does this because he no longer believes in the possibility of healing.

Alina clenched her fists… and remembered her father’s words:

“Even a broken watch can show the correct time.”

She stepped into the mirror.

And she became a Knox soaked in Darkness.

She felt:

• The weight of the Iron Throne;

• shame for every erased fate;

• despair that even the tears have turned black;

and a tiny spark, the one that cries in the dark when everything is silent.

Alina wanted to shout, “I’m here! I remember you!”

But the darkness drowned out the voice.

And yet… the spark did not go out.

Because Knox still remembered the lullaby.

7. A LESSON IN EMPATHY

When Alina returned, she did not talk about techniques.

She only said:

“Now I know how to save him.”

– How?” the Face Master asked.

“Not with a sword, – she replied. “Not with magic. A lullaby. The one his mother sang to him. Because even in the darkest vessel, the memory of life remains.

The Master nodded.

“Then you’re ready for the final challenge,” he said.

“Like what?” Alina asked.

– To become yourself,” he replied. “And accept that you have a shadow in you, too.”

THE END OF THE CHAPTER.

Alina did not sleep that night.

She stood at the mirror in her room and looked at her reflection.

White hair. The eyes are galaxies. The face of a girl who is still learning to be a hero.

And behind her, her own shadow.

Not an enemy. Not a mistake.

A part of herself that fears that her existence is a pain to others.

Alina put her palm on the glass.

“I won’t reject you,” she whispered. “I’ll take your hand and we’ll walk towards the light together.”

The mirror seemed to smile.

Somewhere on Mekhanos-9, Knox raised his head.

Somewhere in the Black Abyss, the Shadow of Fate stopped trembling.

Somewhere in the Aeternian Chrono-Heart throbbed quietly, but more confidently.

And in this great empathy, fear has ceased to be an enemy —

it has become a door through which you can enter the light.

Chapter 11. The Eleventh. TORN INTO THE LIGHT

“She didn’t kill them.

She brought them back to where they had stopped suffering.

To the dust. To silence. For a restful sleep.”

1. ATTACK FROM DAEMONIUM

After training in the Hall of Reflections, Alina was returning to the dormitory of the School of Light Paths when the sky above the Lotus Dimension… sobbed.

It didn’t scream.

It wasn’t split by lightning.

It sobbed, like a child who has seen a nightmare.

Rays of Evil crept out of the cracks in reality – not just shadows, but clusters of the distorted will of Absolute Evil, sent from the planet Daemonium.

The army of the Underworld followed them.:

• Two-headed chrono-eating snakes, whose jaws tear not flesh, but timelines;

• Werewolves are jackals that feed on the fear of death;

• Giants made of flesh and screams, forged from erased destinies.

They didn’t scream.

They were silent.

And in that silence, it sounded:

“Goodness is an illusion. Give up.”

The students fled. The teachers raised their shields.

But Alina stayed.

“You are not enemies,” she whispered. – You are a pain that no one has heard.

2. FIGHTING WITHOUT WEAPONS

One of the giants raised his hand – not to strike, but to erase it from the memory of the world.

Alina did not dodge.

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