Chapter 2789: Story 2790: The Brother Who Ended Time

Ronan stumbled backward.

“No,” he whispered. “I remember nothing.”

The child emerging from the cocoon tilted his head. Six golden eyes watched Ronan with the patience of something that had waited longer than eternity.

“You always say that.”

Black roots peeled away from the child’s shoulders. Beneath them lay pale skin marked with crimson wounds, each shaped like a sword strike. At the center of his chest, a golden heart beat outside his body, suspended by silver threads.

Ronan’s sword began crawling across the floor toward him.

The forgotten child inside Ronan screamed.

Don’t let him touch you!

“Who are you?” Ronan demanded.

The child smiled sadly.

“I was the reason you were born.”

The creature beyond the golden door pressed itself against the wall. Its empty eyes darted between the two brothers.

“You were supposed to remain dead,” it snarled.

The child turned toward it.

“And you were supposed to remain unborn.”

Every flame in the chamber went out.

The child raised one hand, and the ancient creature’s body folded inward. Its long fingers twisted, its pale arms bending at impossible angles. Yet instead of blood, streams of names poured from its wounds.

Seratha rushed forward.

“Stop! If you destroy him, the prison will collapse!”

The child glanced at her.

“You built a prison around my grave, Mother. Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”

Seratha froze.

Lyra moved beside Ronan, placing herself between him and the child.

“Whatever happened before, Ronan isn’t the person you remember.”

The child studied her.

“Then why does he still carry my death inside his heart?”

He touched his chest.

Ronan suddenly fell to his knees.

A memory tore open inside him.

He stood beneath a sky without stars. The six-eyed child knelt before him, holding out the golden heart. Around them, entire kingdoms crumbled into dust as time ran backward. Mountains returned to the sea. The dead rose, then vanished before they could draw breath.

“You must take it,” the child had begged. “You are the only one who can stop the ending.”

But the crowned Ronan had refused.

“I will not kill you again.”

“You already have!”

The memory shattered.

Ronan gasped as Lyra caught him.

The child approached slowly.

“You promised to save me,” he said. “Instead, you divided my heart among our brothers, buried my body beneath creation, and made Mother erase my name.”

The forgotten child inside Ronan went silent.

Then, faintly, he whispered, I remember.

Ronan stared at the cocoon.

“You’re not my brother.”

The six-eyed child stopped.

“You’re the one we buried.”

“No.” The child’s voice trembled. “I am the one you buried yourself to forget.”

He extended his hand.

The golden heart in his chest began beating in perfect rhythm with Ronan’s.

Across the chamber, Elias collapsed. Aren’s silver restraints shattered, and Darian’s violet flames erupted uncontrollably. The Firstborn screamed as golden cracks spread across his skin.

Seratha reached for Lyra.

“Get away from him! The two hearts must never become one!”

But Lyra refused to release Ronan.

“What happens if they do?”

Seratha’s answer came as a whisper.

“Everything that has ever existed will return to the moment before it was created.”

The child smiled.

“Not everything.”

His six eyes turned toward Lyra.

“Only everything that should never have existed.”

Then he touched Ronan’s forehead.

And every clock, heartbeat, and living soul in creation stopped.

In the silence, a seventh heartbeat began.

It came from Lyra.