Chapter 143: Love Is Non-Existence

WHO CHOSE TO EXIST FIRST?

The question remained suspended above the photograph.

Dillan stared at the two children beneath the oak tree.

One had black hair.

The other had silver.

They stood hand in hand, their faces hidden by the shadows of the branches.

Neither child looked afraid.

Neither looked lonely.

They looked as though they had been waiting for someone to take the photograph.

Dillan stepped closer.

“Show me their faces.”

The Witness Record flickered.

REQUEST DENIED.REASON: THE SUBJECTS HAVE NOT AUTHORIZED IDENTIFICATION.

Dillan frowned.

“They’re children in a photograph.”

“Apparently, even children have better privacy protection than you do.”

The silver-haired Sasha stood behind him.

Despite her dry remark, her gaze remained fixed on the image.

Aurelia folded her arms.

“Can we focus on the fact that the Record says your creation order might be reversed?”

“Thank you, Aurelia.”

“You’re welcome.”

Dillan turned toward the photograph again.

“If Sasha wasn’t the one I created, then what exactly did I create?”

The silver-haired girl answered.

“That’s what we’re going to find out.”

She approached the wall.

For several seconds, she studied the two children.

Then she raised her hand and touched the photograph.

The image changed.

The black-haired child disappeared.

The silver-haired child remained.

A new inscription appeared beneath her feet.

I CHOSE TO EXIST.

The girl withdrew her hand.

Her expression had gone rigid.

Dillan noticed.

“What is it?”

She didn’t answer.

He approached her.

“What’s wrong?”

She pointed at the inscription.

“That’s my handwriting.”

Dillan looked at the words.

Then at her.

“You’re sure?”

“I’ve never seen this sentence before.”

She pressed her lips together.

“But I know how I write.”

Aurelia stepped closer.

“Could someone have copied it?”

“Of course.”

The girl looked at the photograph.

“But why would someone copy the handwriting of a person who supposedly never existed?”

Silence.

Then the photograph began to burn.

Not with fire.

With white light.

The image dissolved, revealing a narrow doorway behind the wall.

Above it were three words.

THE FIRST BIRTH.

Dillan felt his stomach tighten.

He had seen doors that contained memories.

Doors that contained sacrifices.

Doors that contained versions of himself he had tried to forget.

But this one felt different.

It didn’t feel like something he had hidden.

It felt like something that had been hidden from him.

The Witness Record appeared.

ORIGIN LOCK: SUBSTRUCTURE DETECTED.DESIGNATION: FIRST BIRTH.CREATION PERIOD: UNKNOWN.SUBJECTS: TWO.ACCESS CONDITION: ONE SUBJECT MUST REMAIN OUTSIDE.

Dillan stared at the final line.

“One of us has to stay here.”

The silver-haired girl nodded.

“Looks like it.”

Aurelia immediately stepped forward.

“Then I’ll stay.”

“No.”

Dillan’s response came too quickly.

Aurelia’s eyes narrowed.

He stopped himself.

Then tried again.

“Would you be willing to stay here while we investigate?”

She studied him.

“Yes.”

“Then I appreciate it.”

Aurelia blinked.

“That was surprisingly easy.”

“I’m learning.”

“Slowly.”

She remained behind as Dillan and the silver-haired girl approached the doorway.

Before entering, Dillan looked back.

“If anything changes, leave.”

Aurelia gave him a flat look.

“You have absolutely no authority to order me around.”

“Right.”

He hesitated.

“Please be careful.”

“Better.”

She sat beside the wall.

“Now go before I start charging you for advice.”

Dillan stepped through the doorway.

The silver-haired girl followed.

And the door closed behind them.

The room beyond was completely dark.

Dillan couldn’t see his hands.

He couldn’t hear his footsteps.

For several seconds, he couldn’t even tell whether he was standing or falling.

Then a child’s voice whispered.

“You’re late.”

Dillan froze.

The voice was his own.

A small light appeared ahead.

It illuminated a white room.

Two cradles stood beside a window.

One was empty.

The other held a newborn child.

A woman sat between them.

Her face was hidden.

She held a book open on her lap.

Dillan approached slowly.

The woman turned a page.

“Do you know why people give children names?”

Dillan stopped.

“Who are you?”

She ignored the question.

“Because a name allows the world to recognize someone.”

She closed the book.

“Before that, a child is only a possibility.”

The silver-haired girl moved beside Dillan.

“Where are we?”

The woman finally looked up.

“At the beginning.”

She gestured toward the cradles.

“One of these children was born into the world.”

Her finger moved toward the empty cradle.

“The other chose to enter it.”

Dillan stared at her.

“What’s the difference?”

The woman smiled.

“One was given a life.”

She pointed toward the occupied cradle.

“The other asked for one.”

Dillan looked down at the newborn.

A tiny hand emerged from the blanket.

Its fingers curled around nothing.

Then the child began to cry.

The sound struck Dillan with an inexplicable wave of grief.

He took a step back.

The silver-haired girl caught his arm.

“Are you all right?”

He nodded, although he wasn’t sure it was true.

The woman watched them.

“Do you know which child you are?”

Dillan looked at the cradles.

“No.”

“Do you know which child she is?”

“No.”

The woman smiled.

“Then perhaps you should stop trying to discover which of you came first.”

Dillan’s eyes narrowed.

“Why?”

“Because the first question wasn’t about birth.”

The room trembled.

The empty cradle began to move.

A faint sound came from beneath it.

A child laughing.

The woman stood.

“The first question was about permission.”

The silver-haired girl went completely still.

Dillan turned toward her.

“What does that mean?”

She didn’t answer.

Her eyes were fixed on the empty cradle.

Something was moving beneath the blanket that had been placed inside it.

A small hand appeared.

Then a second.

The silver-haired girl stumbled backward.

“No.”

Dillan caught her arm.

“What is it?”

She stared at the cradle.

“I’ve seen this before.”

The woman spoke quietly.

“Of course you have.”

She approached the empty cradle and lifted the blanket.

Beneath it lay a small wooden object.

A bracelet.

Crimson and white threads twisted together.

Dillan recognized it immediately.

It was the bracelet associated with Alina, the Fourth Child.

But this one was smaller.

Older.

Its threads had faded almost completely.

The woman held it up.

“This belonged to the first child who asked to be born.”

Dillan stared at the bracelet.

“Alina?”

The woman shook her head.

“Alina came later.”

She placed the bracelet inside the empty cradle.

“Much later.”

The Witness Record appeared.

FIRST BIRTH: MEMORY RESTORED.SUBJECT ONE: DILLAN RUREN.SUBJECT TWO: UNIDENTIFIED.BIRTH ORDER: IRRELEVANT.CONSENT RECORD: MISSING.

Dillan looked at the woman.

“Why is the consent record missing?”

The woman’s smile disappeared.

“Because one of you was never asked.”

Silence.

The silver-haired girl took another step backward.

Dillan looked at her.

“What’s wrong?”

She shook her head.

“No.”

Her voice trembled.

“No, no, no…”

The woman turned toward her.

“Do you remember now?”

The girl pressed both hands against her temples.

“I wasn’t supposed to be here.”

Dillan gripped her shoulders.

“Look at me.”

She couldn’t.

“I wasn’t supposed to exist.”

Her eyes filled with tears.

“I wasn’t supposed to exist!”

The room shook violently.

The newborn began screaming.

The woman reached for the book.

But before she could open it, the silver-haired girl looked at Dillan.

For the first time, her expression held something more than uncertainty.

It held terror.

“Dillan, what if I wasn’t the possibility you created?”

The Witness Record flickered.

CONSENT RECORD: PARTIALLY RESTORED.

A line appeared beneath it.

SUBJECT TWO DID NOT REQUEST EXISTENCE.

Dillan felt the blood drain from his face.

The silver-haired girl backed away.

“No…”

The woman closed the book.

“The second child was never supposed to be born.”

Dillan looked at the cradles.

One contained a living child.

The other contained only a bracelet.

Then he heard a voice behind him.

A child’s voice.

His own.

“I asked for someone.”

Dillan turned.

A little boy stood in the doorway.

Four years old.

Black hair.

Golden-brown eyes.

He looked directly at Dillan.

“But I never asked for her.”

The silver-haired girl screamed.

The entire room shattered.

And the Witness Record displayed its final message.

FIRST BIRTH: INTERRUPTED.SUBJECT TWO: SASHA RUREN.EXISTENCE STATUS: UNAUTHORIZED.ORIGINAL CONSENT: NEVER GIVEN.

Dillan stared at the words.

Then at the girl standing before him.

The Sasha who had never loved him.

The Sasha who had come searching for her creator.

The Sasha who had demanded to know why she existed.

She looked at him through her tears.

And whispered the question that destroyed everything he thought he understood.

“Dillan… if I never chose to exist, who gave you the right to create me?”