Love Between Two Worlds - Chapter 36

 

Chapter 36 — The First Choice

All doors are open.

Simultaneously.

No hinge sound.

There was no sound of wood cracking.

There was no light coming out of it.

Just one big breath.

It was as if the entire place between the worlds had just taken a breath of air for the first time.

Amelia froze.

Millions of doors opened before him.

Behind each door is no longer life.

Not the world.

Not a possibility.

But darkness.

The same darkness, at every door.

Absence.

Adrian gripped her hand tighter.

"Don't look too long."

"I have to know what's in there."

"Amelia."

"I must."

He stared at one of the doors.

There isn't anything.

But when he blinked, something appeared.

An eye.

Big.

White.

Without pupils.

Amelia jerked back.

The eyes disappeared.

Then appeared at another door.

Then the next door.

Then thousands of doors at once.

Nothingness was staring at them.

Not with one eye.

With millions.

The Dreamer whispered.

"Don't let him see you."

Amelia turned her head.

"Why?"

"Because he doesn't know what you are yet."

"What does it mean?"

"And if he finds the answer..."

The Dreamer stared at him with undisguised fear.

"...he might choose you."

Adrian raised his sword.

"He won't touch it."

Absence of movement.

Adrian's sword immediately cracked.

Not broken.

Cracked—like glass that has been subjected to unseen pressure for too long.

Adrian stared at his own blade, in disbelief.

"This is not power."

The father shook his head.

"No."

"So what?"

"Erasure."

The sword turned to dust in his hands.

Adrian took a step back.

For the first time Amelia saw fear in his eyes.

Not for himself.

For Amelia.

"Don't come any closer," he said, more to the darkness than to her.

Absence does not answer.

It just moved closer.

And when he passed through one door, the whole world behind that door disappeared.

Not destroyed.

Not burning.

Not collapsed.

Gone—as if it never existed.

Amelia stared in horror.

"He deleted it."

"No," said the Dreamer.

"He didn't erase that world."

"So?"

"It erases the possibility that the world could ever have existed."

A chill ran through Amelia's body.

"In that case..."

He looked at the other doors that were still open.

"...if he goes through it all?"

The Dreamer did not answer.

The Father answered for him.

"Then there will be no choice left for anyone."

Adrian stood in front of Amelia, as if his own body could act as a shield.

"How to stop it?"

The Dreamer looked at him.

"You can't."

"You always say that."

"Because it's always true."

"Then give us something we've never tried."

The Dreamer was silent for a moment.

Then he looked at Amelia.

"Give him a choice."

Amelia frowned.

"How to?"

"Absence does not understand what choosing is."

"Then how can he choose?"

"Because he is not a creature."

The Dreamer stared at the darkness that was steadily approaching.

"It is the space before anything becomes anything."

Amelia tried to understand him.

"So before the world existed..."

"There is no choice yet."

"There is no life yet."

"There have been no deaths."

"There's no time yet."

"No name yet."

Amelia stared at the darkness, horrified.

"Including himself."

The Dreamer nodded slowly.

"Yes."

Adrian asked, "Then how could he make the first choice, back then?"

The Father stared at Nothingness for a long time.

"That's a question we can never answer."

Suddenly a voice was heard.

Not from Nothing.

From behind them.

"I can answer that."

Amelia turned around quickly.

Hollow stood there.

Alone.

His form has changed again.

He no longer looks like a child.

Not completely human either.

Her face was calm, almost peaceful.

His eyes radiated silver and black light that rotated slowly, like two colors yielding to each other.

Amelia stared at him, her voice almost gone. "Hollow."

He smiled faintly.

"I hear you guys."

"How did you get here?"

"I'm not coming."

He touched his own chest.

"I'm always here."

Amelia was silent.

Adrian looked at her. "Inside me?"

Hollow shook his head.

"Among your choices."

The Dreamer closed his eyes.

"Too late."

Hollow turned to him. "For who?"

"For you."

"Why?"

"Because now he can see you."

The Hollow turned towards the Nothingness.

For the first time, Nothingness stopped moving.

Millions of doors stopped shaking.

All the white eyes behind the doors disappeared simultaneously.

Hollow stepped forward.

Amelia grabbed his hand, holding him back. "Don't."

Hollow stared at him. "Why?"

"I don't know what will happen to you."

"No one knows."

"You could get lost."

"Yes."

"Don't do this."

Hollow smiled, and for a moment his face looked older than before.

"You taught me to choose myself."

Amelia was silent.

"And now?"

"Now I have to do it."

He let go of Amelia's grip, slowly but surely.

Adrian took a step forward. "I'll come with you."

Hollow stared at him. "Don't."

"I won't leave you alone."

"You've been doing that for too long, Adrian."

Adrian fell silent, the words hitting him deeper than they should have.

Hollow raised his hand.

A door appeared before Nothingness.

Different from all other doors.

The door has no memories.

Have no world.

It doesn't have any possibility behind it.

Only one word was engraved on its surface.

I.

Amelia stared at him, her breath hitching. "What is it?"

"First choice," whispered the Dreamer.

Hollow touched the door.

"I."

The door opened.

For the first time, Nothingness moved backwards.

Amelia could feel something changing.

Not only in that place.

Around the world.

In every world at once.

It was as if everything everywhere was remembering something long forgotten.

A voice was heard.

Small.

Far.

But clearly, it penetrates everything.

"I am here."

Amelia held her breath.

Hollow stares into Nothingness.

"That was your first choice."

Nothingness vibrates.

"To exist."

No answer.

"After that, you choose what you want to see."

Hollow stepped closer, unafraid.

"And when you see something..."

He smiled.

"...you made it real."

Nothingness begins to change.

Not being human.

Not being a creature.

It becomes space—a space that slowly fills with tiny dots of light.

One.

Two.

Thousands.

Millions.

Star.

Amelia stared at him in amazement, tears welling up in her eyes without her realizing it.

"That..."

"First choice," said the Dreamer.

"Star?"

"No."

The Dreamer smiled, sad and relieved at the same time.

"The desire to see."

Nothingness is constantly changing.

The stars appear.

Then the sky.

Then the ground.

Then the sea.

Then life, one by one, like a breath held too long finally released.

Amelia saw a world born before her own eyes.

Not Elarion.

Not the human world.

Not Nameless World.

Something much older than all that.

A world without a name.

A world without death.

A world without rules.

And in the middle of that world stood a woman.

Black hair.

White eyes.

The dreamer.

Amelia gasped. "It's you."

The Dreamer lowered his head.

"Yes."

"You are the first life."

"No."

"So what?"

"I am the first wish."

Amelia stared at him intently. "What do you want?"

The Dreamer stared at the newly born world, as if staring at a memory that had never truly gone.

"Friend."

Beside him, something appeared.

Small.

Dark.

Shapeless.

Hollow.

Amelia held her breath. "That..."

"Yes."

"You didn't create it."

"No."

"So how is that possible?"

The Dreamer smiled, faintly and meaningfully.

"I want it."

Amelia finally understood.

"And your wish came true."

"Yes."

Adrian stared at the ever-changing Nothingness.

"So Nothingness is not the enemy."

The father shook his head.

"Not yet."

"Not yet?"

"Nothingness is a choice before the choice itself exists."

He stared at the Hollow.

"And now, for the first time, he is learning to choose."

The Hollow stood right in front of the Nothing.

"Then, take your pick."

No sound.

"Becomes what?"

Long silence.

Hollow stretched out his hand.

"Don't be the world."

Nothingness vibrates.

"Don't be human."

The doors began to close one by one, slowly, like a breath being released.

"Don't become a Hollow."

Millions of eyes appeared again for a moment, then disappeared.

"Don't be anything we want you to be."

Hollow smiled.

"Be what you choose to be."

Silence is silent.

Then a hand appeared from the darkness.

Not human hands.

Not a creature's hand.

Just a thin line of light, hesitant, like someone touching something for the first time.

Hollow touched him.

And the whole place exploded in light.

Amelia screamed. "Adrian!"

"I'm here!"

He hugged her tightly, shielding her body from the glare of the light.

Around them, millions of doors began to collapse.

Not destroyed.

Closing—one by one, peacefully, like eyes finally closing.

A life that was not chosen again becomes a possibility.

Worlds that are never born again become dreams that await.

And Nothingness...

disappear.

Amelia opened her eyes slowly.

Hollow is also gone.

"Hollow?"

No answer.

He turned to the Dreamer, panic beginning to set in. "Where is he?"

The Dreamer only stared at one door.

Small door.

Simple.

White in color, almost luminous.

On the surface there is writing.

CHOICES NOT YET MADE.

Amelia walked over, her hands shaking.

"Is he there?"

The Dreamer nodded.

"He chose to be a possibility."

Adrian stared at the door, his voice low. "Why?"

"Because he finally understood."

"Understand what?"

The Dreamer looked at them both in turn.

"That freedom does not mean having all the choices at once."

He smiled, thin and bitter.

"Sometimes freedom means having the right to say, it's not time yet ."

Amelia touched the door with her fingertips.

The door vibrated softly.

Then Hollow's voice was heard from behind him.

More mature.

Quieter.

But still familiar, still his.

"I'm not finished yet."

Amelia smiled through the tears that finally fell.

"You'll be back?"

"If I choose to come back."

Adrian chuckled, relieved and tired at the same time.

"At least he learned something."

Amelia nodded slowly.

"Yes."

But before they could move from that place, another voice was heard.

Not Hollow.

Not the Dreamer.

Not the Father.

The voice came from behind millions of doors that had just closed.

"You think it's all over?"

Amelia froze in place.

The Dreamer's smile disappeared instantly.

The father raised his head sharply. "Who is it?"

No answer.

Then one of the doors opened again.

The door that should no longer hold any world.

Behind him stood a person.

A woman.

Silver hair.

White eyes.

A black crown sat on her head like something that grew, not was worn.

Amelia stopped breathing. "Eleanor."

The woman smiled.

But not the Eleanor they knew.

Not a version from another world.

Not just a possibility.

He looked older than all the world Amelia had seen that night.

And behind him...

standing Seris.

Life.

But both of his eyes were completely black, without a shred of the light Amelia knew.

Adrian took a step back, his voice barely audible. "Mom?"

Seris looked at him.

There was no recognition on his face.

There is no love.

No tears.

Just a frozen emptiness.

Then he spoke.

"My child."

That voice wasn't Seris's.

Amelia gripped Adrian's hand tightly. "Adrian..."

He looked at his mother, not believing what he was seeing.

Seris smiled—a smile that wasn't hers.

"You finally opened the way home."

The door behind him opened wider.

And for the first time, Amelia saw what was hidden behind the choices that even Nothing itself dared not touch.

A world.

Not a world that has not yet been born.

Not a forgotten world.

A world that chooses to never die.

Adrian whispered, his voice trembling. "Impossible."

The Dreamer stared at the door, his face pale.

"Yes."

"What's that?"

"That's the first world."

Amelia looked at him. "First World?"

The Dreamer shook his head.

"No."

He took a deep breath, as if the next words were too hard to say.

"The world before the first world."

The door was fully open.

And from within, millions of voices whispered together, in unison, like echoes that had waited thousands of years to speak.

"We remember you."

Then all the doors behind Amelia closed.

One by one.

Leaving the three of them alone.

In front of a world that should never have existed.