Chapter 142: The Sasha Who Never Loved Him

“I didn’t come here to love you.”

The woman stood among the shattered pieces of the photograph.

Her silver hair fell across her shoulders. Her pale eyes examined Dillan with the detached curiosity of someone studying a stranger.

She didn’t look angry.

She didn’t look hurt.

And somehow, that frightened him more than either emotion would have.

Dillan took a careful step forward.

“You’re Sasha Ruren.”

“Apparently.”

“You’re not the Sasha I know.”

“Fortunately, we agree on something.”

Aurelia moved beside Dillan.

“How did you enter this memory?”

The woman glanced at her.

“I walked.”

“That’s impossible.”

“Then perhaps your understanding of impossible needs improvement.”

Aurelia frowned.

Dillan raised a hand before the conversation could escalate.

“Why are you here?”

The woman looked at him again.

“I already told you.”

“You want to know why I created you.”

“Correct.”

“Then tell me what you remember.”

For the first time, her expression changed.

Not much.

Just enough for Dillan to notice.

“I remember waking up alone.”

She looked around the chamber.

“I remember a world that had already decided what I was supposed to become. I remember people who looked at me and saw someone else’s future.”

Her eyes returned to his.

“And I remember you.”

Dillan waited.

“You were standing in front of me. You were crying.”

He stiffened.

“You kept apologizing.”

“For what?”

The woman smiled without warmth.

“That’s what I’d like to know.”

The Unlived Self was gone.

Only the empty space where he had stood remained.

Dillan glanced at the black photograph.

Its broken frame lay on the floor, but the image inside had disappeared.

“Can you tell us anything about the person who created your world?” he asked.

The woman considered the question.

“No.”

Dillan’s eyebrows rose.

“No?”

“I can tell you what I remember. I cannot tell you whether my memories are true.”

She folded her arms.

“That’s the difference between us, Dillan. You keep treating memories as evidence. I treat mine as suspects.”

Aurelia almost smiled.

Dillan noticed.

“Don’t encourage her.”

“I wasn’t.”

“You were thinking about it.”

“That isn’t a crime.”

The woman watched their exchange with faint curiosity.

“Interesting.”

Dillan turned toward her.

“What?”

“You have people who disagree with you.”

“Yes.”

“And you allow them to.”

“Usually.”

She stared at him.

“That wasn’t how I remember you.”

The humor vanished from the room.

Dillan approached the nearest wall.

The photographs had begun rearranging themselves.

Some showed familiar scenes from his life.

Others showed events that had never happened.

In one, Sasha stood beside him beneath the oak tree.

In another, she walked away without looking back.

A third showed an empty chair beside Dillan.

He touched the final photograph.

It depicted a young boy sitting alone in a white room.

Unlike the others, this image had no date.

“Who is this?” he asked.

The woman approached.

She looked at the photograph for several seconds.

Then she stepped backward.

“I don’t know.”

Dillan turned.

“You said you remembered me.”

“I do.”

“Then why don’t you recognize him?”

“Because I remember you as you were when I woke up.”

She pointed at the photograph.

“That boy looks older than you did.”

Dillan examined the image again.

The boy’s face was partially obscured by shadow.

But the eyes were unmistakable.

One crimson.

One white.

The Unlived Self.

Beneath the photograph, new writing appeared.

THE CREATOR CANNOT REMEMBER THE CREATION.

Aurelia read the sentence aloud.

Then she looked at Dillan.

“Is that what happened to you?”

“I don’t know.”

The woman in white approached the wall.

She touched the words.

The moment her fingertips met the surface, the letters changed.

THE CREATION CANNOT REMEMBER THE CREATOR.

She withdrew her hand.

For the first time since arriving, she looked genuinely afraid.

“That’s worse.”

Dillan studied her.

“Why?”

“Because if I cannot remember my creator, then someone may have removed that memory.”

She looked at him.

“Or perhaps my creator never wanted me to know.”

The chamber began to shake.

A low rumble traveled through the walls.

Photographs dropped from their frames, scattering across the floor.

The Witness Record appeared.

FIFTH ENTRY: RESUMING.UNLIVED OUTCOME: UNSTABLE.SUBJECT: SASHA RUREN.MEMORY INTEGRITY: 41%.WARNING: EXTERNAL RECOLLECTION DETECTED.

Dillan looked at the woman.

“External recollection?”

She stared at the notification.

“I don’t know what that means.”

A new line appeared.

RECOLLECTION SOURCE: THE ORIGINAL SUBJECT.

The woman gripped her head.

A sharp breath escaped her.

Then another.

Dillan stepped toward her.

“What’s happening?”

“I can hear something.”

“What?”

She closed her eyes.

“A voice.”

The chamber darkened.

The voice emerged from nowhere.

Soft.

Familiar.

And unmistakably Dillan’s.

“You were never supposed to remember me.”

The woman collapsed to her knees.

Dillan caught her before she struck the floor.

She seized his wrist.

Her eyes opened.

For the first time, they were no longer pale.

They were crimson.

“You.”

Dillan froze.

The woman stared at him with sudden recognition.

“You were there.”

“Where?”

“When I woke up.”

Her fingers tightened around his wrist.

“You were standing beside me.”

The walls began to crack.

“You told me that I had a choice.”

Dillan swallowed.

“What choice?”

The woman looked horrified.

“You asked me whether I wanted to live in a world where you existed.”

Silence.

Aurelia stepped closer.

“What did she answer?”

The woman looked down at her own hands.

“I said yes.”

She began to tremble.

“But then you asked me another question.”

Dillan waited.

The woman slowly raised her head.

“You asked whether I wanted to live in a world where you had never existed.”

The Witness Record flickered violently.

UNLIVED OUTCOME: ORIGINAL QUESTION RECOVERED.CHOICE A: A WORLD WITH DILLAN RUREN.CHOICE B: A WORLD WITHOUT DILLAN RUREN.SELECTION: UNRECORDED.

Dillan stared at the final line.

“Unrecorded?”

The woman nodded slowly.

“I don’t remember choosing.”

“Then how did you end up here?”

“I don’t know.”

She looked directly at him.

“But I remember what you said afterward.”

Dillan’s grip loosened.

“What did I say?”

The woman’s eyes filled with tears.

“You told me that if I chose a world without you, you would make sure I could never find you.”

The chamber went silent.

Dillan felt something shift inside his chest.

Not a recovered memory.

A recognition.

A terrible sense that the words had once belonged to him.

The woman pulled away from him.

“You didn’t just create my world, Dillan.”

She stood unsteadily.

“You gave me a choice, then built a wall around the answer.”

The Witness Record appeared one last time.

FIFTH ENTRY: PARTIAL RESOLUTION.SUBJECT AUTONOMY: CONFIRMED.ORIGINAL CHOICE: UNRESOLVED.CREATOR IDENTITY: STILL UNKNOWN.

The woman looked at the notification.

Then at Dillan.

“I want to find out what I chose.”

He nodded.

“Then we’ll look for the memory.”

“No.”

She stepped away from him.

“I’ll look for it.”

Dillan stopped.

She continued, her voice firm.

“You can help if I ask. You can answer questions if you know the answers. But you don’t get to decide what I do with what I find.”

He studied her.

Then nodded.

“Understood.”

The woman seemed surprised.

Only briefly.

“Good.”

She walked toward the exit.

But before she reached it, the room went completely dark.

A new photograph appeared on the wall.

No frame.

No date.

No faces.

Only two children standing beneath the oak tree.

One held the other’s hand.

Above them, a sentence slowly materialized.

ONE OF THEM CHOSE TO BE BORN.

The woman’s footsteps stopped.

Dillan stared at the photograph.

Aurelia whispered, “What does that mean?”

The Witness Record answered.

UNLIVED OUTCOME: ORIGIN RECONSTRUCTION AVAILABLE.SUBJECT ONE: DILLAN RUREN.SUBJECT TWO: SASHA RUREN.BIRTH ORDER: DISPUTED.

Dillan’s blood ran cold.

The woman turned toward him.

For the first time, she looked less like a stranger and more like someone standing at the edge of a terrible realization.

“Dillan…”

He looked at her.

She pointed at the photograph.

“What if I wasn’t the one you created?”

The walls cracked.

A final notification appeared.

WARNING: ORIGINAL CREATION ORDER MAY BE REVERSED.

And beneath it, a single question.

WHO CHOSE TO EXIST FIRST?