Chapter 2597: Story 2598: The Last World

The name remained on Elias Crow’s journal.

THE LAST WORLD.

Victoria Kane stared at the black pages.

"Where is it?"

Evelyn slowly turned the journal.

There was no map.

No coordinates.

Nothing.

Then the golden child appeared in the darkness of the page.

Its eyes opened.

"Find me."

The journal snapped shut.

A sudden pulse crossed creation.

Every golden gateway disappeared.

The stars became strangely quiet.

Nox’Rath looked toward the heavens.

"It’s hidden."

Victoria raised the Dawnblade.

"Can you find it?"

Nox’Rath closed his eyes.

"I can feel something."

He spread his silver wings.

"But it’s beyond every gateway we’ve ever known."

Dawn stepped forward.

"Then we don’t use a gateway."

Victoria looked at him.

"What do we use?"

Dawn pointed toward the Dawnblade.

"Your choice."

Victoria frowned.

The transformed blade began glowing.

Its open-circle symbol expanded.

A new gateway formed.

But this one was different.

It contained no destination.

Only darkness.

Evelyn stared.

"That’s impossible."

Victoria stepped closer.

"Apparently not."

Lyra touched the edge of the gateway.

A whisper entered her mind.

"The last world exists where no choice has been made."

She pulled her hand away.

Victoria looked at her.

"What does that mean?"

Lyra’s face became pale.

"It means the world has never been given a choice."

Cole loaded his rifle.

"Sounds dangerous."

"It is," Nox’Rath said.

"Because anything without choice can become anything."

Victoria looked toward her companions.

"We go together."

They entered the gateway.

The moment they crossed, the universe disappeared.

There were no stars.

No planets.

No light.

Only an endless gray landscape.

A single city stood in the distance.

Unlike Asterion, it had no colors.

No movement.

No sound.

Victoria walked forward.

"Where is everyone?"

A voice answered.

"Waiting."

The golden child appeared on a distant hill.

Victoria froze.

"You called my name."

The child nodded.

"I have watched you."

"Who are you?"

The child smiled.

"I am the First Possibility."

Evelyn stared.

"The first?"

The child nodded.

"Before the First World, there was me."

Nox’Rath stepped forward.

"Then why were you hidden?"

The child’s smile disappeared.

"Because the First Author was afraid."

Victoria’s expression hardened.

"Afraid of you?"

"Afraid of what I could become."

The city behind the child suddenly came alive.

Millions of identical figures appeared.

They had no faces.

No voices.

No emotions.

The child raised one hand.

"They are every possibility that was never chosen."

Victoria looked around in shock.

"You’ve been storing them?"

"I have been waiting for someone to choose them."

The figures began moving toward Victoria.

Cole raised his rifle.

Victoria stopped him.

"No."

She lowered the Dawnblade.

"They aren’t attacking."

One faceless figure reached toward her.

Then another.

Soon thousands surrounded them.

The child whispered,

"They want to exist."

Victoria looked at the endless crowd.

"You don’t need to choose for them."

The child tilted its head.

"Then who will?"

Victoria smiled.

"They will."

The Dawnblade erupted with golden light.

Every faceless figure received a tiny spark.

Faces appeared.

Names returned.

Memories awakened.

Across the gray world, millions of beings began speaking for the first time.

Some laughed.

Some cried.

Some simply stared at their hands.

The Last World transformed.

Colors spread across the sky.

The child watched in silence.

Victoria approached.

"Why did you call me?"

The child looked at her.

"Because you were the first person who proved that an unfinished story could continue."

Suddenly, the ground shook.

A dark crack appeared beneath the city.

The child’s expression changed.

"No."

Victoria raised her blade.

"What is it?"

The child whispered,

"The thing I was created to prevent."

A massive black hand emerged from beneath the Last World.

Then another.

Something enormous began climbing upward.

The child looked at Victoria.

"The Last World has awakened."

And from beneath the city, a voice older than creation whispered:

"Who gave you permission to choose?"