Chapter 147: A Darkness Of a Voice

"Dillan, we need to talk about the child you were before you were born."

Celia’s voice lingered beneath the oak tree.

Dillan turned toward the darkness beyond its branches.

She stood several feet away, wearing the same composed expression he remembered from their previous encounters. Yet something about her was different.

She wasn’t looking at him.

She was looking at the empty doorway behind him.

"Where is she?" Celia asked.

Dillan folded his arms.

"Who?"

"The girl."

"You’re going to have to be more specific."

Celia’s eyes narrowed.

"The girl who rejected the name Sasha."

"She’s resting."

"Where?"

"Somewhere she can decide what she wants without someone standing over her shoulder."

For the first time, Celia looked genuinely displeased.

Then she sighed.

"Good."

Dillan blinked.

"Good?"

"Did you expect me to argue?"

"Honestly? A little."

Celia walked toward the oak tree.

"I didn’t come here to take her away from you. I came because she has finally done something I never believed possible."

She placed her palm against the bark.

"She has rejected the purpose for which she was created."

Dillan’s expression hardened.

"And you know that because?"

"Because I remember creating the conditions that made her possible."

The wind stopped.

Dillan stared at her.

"You created the First Companion?"

Celia closed her eyes.

"No."

Her answer came without hesitation.

"But I know who did."

Aurelia, standing beside the tree, immediately straightened.

"Then tell us."

Celia looked at her.

"You make that sound remarkably simple."

"It is simple. We ask a question. You answer it."

"And if the answer destroys everything you believe?"

Aurelia crossed her arms.

"Then at least we’ll know what we’re standing on."

Celia regarded her for a long moment.

Then she laughed quietly.

"Perhaps that’s why Dillan needed you."

Dillan stepped forward.

"Enough circling the question."

Celia’s smile disappeared.

"The First Companion wasn’t created by an ordinary act of creation. She emerged from a possibility that existed before Dillan had a body."

Dillan frowned.

"Explain."

"Before you became Dillan Ruren, before the System, before the Locks, there was a desire."

She looked directly at him.

"To exist without being alone."

Dillan said nothing.

"That desire did not create the First Companion by itself. Something encountered it. Something recognized it. Something gave it a form."

"Who?"

Celia hesitated.

Then she answered.

"Elara."

The name passed through the clearing like a cold wind.

Dillan’s expression changed.

"Elara created the First Companion?"

"Not exactly."

Celia looked toward the oak.

"Elara found the possibility. She gave it a chance to become something more than a wish."

"Why?"

"Because she believed you deserved to have someone beside you."

Dillan looked away.

"And what happened?"

Celia’s voice softened.

"The possibility became a person. But the moment she became independent, she stopped being what Elara had imagined."

Aurelia frowned.

"She became her own person."

"Yes."

Celia looked at Dillan.

"And that frightened the people who had helped create her."

Dillan’s jaw tightened.

"Why?"

"Because an independent person can leave."

Silence.

Celia lowered her hand from the tree.

"And everyone involved had forgotten how to accept that."

A distant sound interrupted them.

A single bell.

Dillan turned toward the village beyond the clearing.

There was no village.

Not in the ordinary sense.

Only a collection of memories that had gradually become part of the world surrounding the oak.

Yet the bell rang again.

Aurelia looked toward the sound.

"What’s that?"

Celia’s expression changed.

"Someone has opened a memory that should have remained sealed."

The Witness Record appeared.

MEMORY DISTURBANCE DETECTED.LOCATION: UNREGISTERED.SUBJECT: UNKNOWN.MEMORY OWNER: CONFIRMED.AUTHORIZATION: NONE.

Dillan stared at the final line.

"How can a memory have an owner but no authorization?"

Celia answered immediately.

"Because ownership and permission are different things."

She looked at him.

"You should understand that by now."

Dillan ignored the remark.

"Where is it?"

Celia pointed beyond the oak tree.

"Follow the bell."

"And what will we find?"

She hesitated.

Then, quietly, she said:

"The person who taught Elara to fear your choices."

The bell rang a third time.

Dillan and Aurelia followed the sound through a narrow path between the trees.

Celia remained behind.

Before Dillan disappeared into the darkness, she called after him.

"One warning."

He looked back.

"What?"

"Don’t assume the person waiting for you is an enemy."

"Why?"

Celia’s expression became unreadable.

"Because the last time you made that mistake, you erased someone who was trying to save you."

Dillan froze.

For an instant, he saw a white room.

A woman standing near a window.

A book in her hands.

And a promise he couldn’t remember making.

Then the vision vanished.

Aurelia touched his arm.

"Dillan?"

"I’m fine."

She studied him.

"That wasn’t convincing."

"I know."

"Would you like to talk about it?"

He glanced at her.

"Not yet."

She nodded.

"All right."

They continued walking.

No pressure.

No demand for an answer.

Just the quiet understanding that he would speak when he was ready.

And that, Dillan realized, was becoming something he valued more than he knew how to express.

The path ended at a small house.

It looked ordinary.

Wooden walls.

A sloping roof.

A narrow porch.

A wind chime hanging beside the door.

But the bell was silent.

Dillan approached.

The door opened before he touched it.

Inside, a woman sat beside a window.

She had long, dark hair and wore a simple white dress.

A book rested in her lap.

Dillan stopped breathing.

He recognized the room.

The kitchen.

The sunlight.

The empty chair.

It was the memory from the Origin Lock.

The woman who had asked him the first question.

The woman who had told him he wasn’t ready to make someone stay forever.

She looked up.

"Hello, Dillan."

He stepped inside.

"Who are you?"

The woman closed her book.

"You’ve asked me that before."

"And you never answered."

"Because you weren’t ready to hear it."

Dillan’s expression hardened.

"Don’t make that decision for me."

She studied him.

Then nodded.

"You’re right."

She placed the book on the table.

"My name is Marielle."

Dillan repeated it quietly.

"Marielle."

Aurelia stood near the doorway, watching.

Marielle gestured toward the empty chair.

"Would you like to sit?"

Dillan remained standing.

"First, tell me why you’re here."

Marielle’s expression became serious.

"Because the First Companion has begun remembering the life she lived before she became connected to you."

Dillan felt his stomach tighten.

"She said she wanted to find out who she was."

"And she deserves that."

Marielle looked toward the window.

"But her memories contain something dangerous."

"What?"

Marielle turned back to him.

"The identity of the person who decided that she should become Sasha Ruren."

The Witness Record appeared.

MEMORY OWNER: MARIELLE.IDENTITY: VERIFIED.RELATIONSHIP TO DILLAN RUREN: ORIGINAL WITNESS.RELATIONSHIP TO FIRST COMPANION: UNRESOLVED.

Marielle looked at the notification.

Her face became pale.

"That’s impossible."

Dillan frowned.

"What is?"

She slowly stood.

"The Record shouldn’t know that title."

"Why?"

Marielle backed away from the table.

"Because the Original Witness wasn’t supposed to survive the First Choice."

The house trembled.

Every window turned black.

The book on the table opened by itself.

A page turned.

Then another.

Finally, it stopped on a blank page.

Words appeared in crimson ink.

MARIELLE WAS NOT THE FIRST ORIGINAL WITNESS.

Dillan stared at the sentence.

Marielle couldn’t move.

Then a second sentence appeared.

THE FIRST WITNESS WAS DILLAN RUREN.

Silence.

Dillan looked at Marielle.

She shook her head.

"No."

The ink spread across the page.

A final line appeared beneath the others.

AND HE WAS THE FIRST PERSON TO BETRAY ELARA.

Marielle looked at Dillan with tears in her eyes.

Then she whispered:

"Now you understand why she came back."