Андрей Сопельник – Universe Aeternov. Book two. The Shadow that Remembers the Light (страница 4)
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).