Chapter 118: The Voice Inside the Box

The fire went out.

Every door in the house locked at once.

The windows became dark.

Even the road to Lyradis disappeared.

For a few seconds, the only light came from the black box on the table.

Its surface pulsed softly.

The child’s voice came again.

“Where is my mother?”

Kai stood beside the table.

He had not touched the box, but the silver circle in his chest had opened into a narrow line.

Vaelora moved in front of him.

“Step away.”

The voice answered from inside the box.

“Why?”

“Because we do not know what you are.”

“I am little.”

“That does not answer the question.”

“I am lost.”

The words were quiet.

Not threatening.

That made them worse.

Jax appeared at the end of the hallway holding a cooking knife.

Sarah stood behind him.

“You brought a knife to a child’s voice?” she asked.

“It may be a very dangerous child.”

“It may also be a child.”

“Then the knife will be unnecessary.”

“Put it down.”

“I am thinking.”

“You are standing behind me.”

“That is part of my thinking.”

Dorian and Neri came from the library. Iven followed them, still wearing the dark coat she had used in the containment room.

The house remained locked.

No one could leave.

Iven approached the table but stopped several steps away.

“Did anyone activate the fragment?”

“No,” Kai said.

“Did anyone touch the box?”

“No.”

“Then the second lesson activated itself.”

Vaelora looked at her.

“What does that mean?”

“I do not know.”

“That answer is becoming common.”

“It is more honest than pretending.”

The box pulsed again.

The child spoke.

“Is my mother there?”

“Who is your mother?” I asked.

The voice hesitated.

“I don’t know.”

“Then why are you looking for her?”

“Because she told me to wait.”

“Where?”

“Inside.”

The black box shifted.

Its edges became softer, almost organic. The silver wires around it loosened, but the circles of salt remained untouched.

Iven raised one hand.

“No one move.”

The box opened by a fraction.

A thin blue light escaped.

The room filled with a smell I recognized.

Rain.

Old stone.

And the faint scent of the Tower’s lower chambers.

Kai took one step backward.

“I know this place.”

The voice became clearer.

“Do you know my mother?”

Kai looked at the box.

“No.”

“You have her heart.”

His silver circle flared.

Vaelora gripped his hand.

“Do not answer.”

The child continued.

“She gave it to you when you were sleeping.”

Kai stared at me.

“What does that mean?”

“I do not know.”

The words had barely left my mouth when the house changed.

The walls became transparent.

Behind them appeared a long underground corridor.

It was not the Tower.

It was older.

The floor was made of black stone. Thin blue lines ran along the walls. At the end stood a room with a glass door.

Inside the room was a woman.

She was kneeling beside a small chamber.

A child floated in the chamber, connected to tubes and silver threads.

The woman’s back was turned.

But the child’s voice came from the box.

“That is my mother.”

The image moved closer.

The woman placed her hand against the glass.

“I am sorry,” she whispered.

The child inside the chamber opened his eyes.

Or her eyes.

The image was too blurred to tell.

“Are you leaving?”

“I am going to find a way out.”

“Can I come?”

“Not yet.”

“When?”

“When the door opens.”

The woman turned toward the corridor.

Her face remained hidden.

The image vanished.

The walls returned to normal.

Iven’s expression had changed.

“Where did you get that memory?”

The child answered.

“It is not a memory.”

“Then what is it?”

“A place.”

Dorian stepped closer.

“Are you stored inside the box?”

“No.”

“Are you attached to the fragment?”

“No.”

“Then what are you?”

The child was silent for a long time.

Finally, it said, “I am waiting.”

Jax lowered the knife.

“That is not a category.”

Sarah took it from him.

“It is enough for now.”

Vaelora looked toward the locked front door.

“Can we open the house?”

The handle did not move.

She tried again.

Nothing.

The child spoke.

“Not until you find my mother.”

Vaelora’s face hardened.

“We do not accept conditions from unknown entities.”

“I am not an entity.”

“Then what are you?”

“I told you.”

“You said you were little and lost.”

“I am both.”

Kai stepped toward the box.

Vaelora caught his wrist.

“Kai.”

“What if it really is a child?”

“Then it may still be dangerous.”

“I was dangerous when I was a child.”

“That is not the same thing.”

“It is close enough.”

The box opened another fraction.

A small hand appeared through the gap.

It was made of blue light.

Kai stared at it.

The hand trembled.

“Can you help me?”

The question was directed at him.

He looked at Vaelora.

Then at me.

Then at the hand.

“I can try.”

The blue hand reached farther.

The silver circle in Kai’s chest responded.

A line of light connected them.

The house groaned.

Every locked door shook.

Iven shouted, “Break the connection!”

Kai did not move.

“Why?”

“The box is using your pattern.”

“It is not hurting me.”

“Not yet.”

The child whispered, “She said you would come.”

“Who?”

“My mother.”

“Did she tell you my name?”

“No.”

“Then why did she say I would come?”

“She showed me your face.”

A cold feeling moved through me.

“What did she look like?”

The child hesitated.

“She had your eyes.”

The room fell silent.

My eyes.

Not Kai’s.

Mine.

The blue light around the box grew brighter.

A new image appeared above it.

A woman standing in the old laboratory.

Her face was still hidden, but her eyes were visible.

They were mine.

I stepped closer.

“No.”

The image changed.

The woman held a newborn child.

The child had dark hair.

A small silver mark lay beneath the left eye.

The same place as my scar.

Kai looked at me.

“Is that you?”

“I don’t know.”

The woman placed the child inside the chamber.

Then she looked toward someone standing beyond the glass.

A younger Arthur.

He was holding the Architect Authority.

Beside him stood Mara.

But neither of them looked surprised.

The woman with my eyes spoke.

“His memory will not survive the transfer.”

Arthur answered, “Then give him a new one.”

Mara looked toward the chamber.

“He is not ready.”

“No one is ready,” Arthur said.

The woman pressed her hand to the glass.

“If he wakes in another body, he will think he belongs to it.”

Arthur looked at the child.

“That is the point.”

The image vanished.

I stepped backward.

Kai caught my arm.

“What did you see?”

“A child.”

“Was it you?”

“I do not know.”

The voice inside the box spoke again.

“That was my brother.”

The silver light around Kai disappeared.

Everyone looked at the box.

The child continued.

“He was taken first.”

My chest tightened.

“Who was taken first?”

“My brother.”

“Where is he?”

“Here.”

The box opened fully.

Inside was not the black fragment.

There was a small glass chamber.

It fit in the palm of a hand.

Blue liquid filled it.

A tiny figure floated inside.

The figure was not a child.

It was a piece of light shaped like a human body.

One side of its face looked like mine.

The other looked like Kai’s.

The voice came from the chamber.

“Can you wake him?”

I stared at it.

The figure inside opened its eyes.

One eye was gray.

The other was silver.

I knew that face.

It was mine before the Tower.

Before Arthur.

Before the first crossing.

Before I forgot.

The child’s voice softened.

“He has been sleeping since you left.”

I looked at the box.

“Who are you?”

“I told you.”

“You are not the one in the chamber.”

“No.”

“Then where are you?”

The blue light spread across the walls.

A second figure appeared inside the corridor image.

A little girl.

She stood beside the chamber.

Her hair was white.

Her face was hidden beneath a hood.

She held the hand of the person inside.

“I am the part that stayed awake.”

Kai’s expression changed.

“You are a memory.”

“No.”

“A consciousness?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

The girl looked toward him.

“I am the promise he made before he forgot.”

The house shook.

The doors began unlocking one by one.

The front door opened.

Beyond it, the road to Lyradis appeared, but the road was covered in blue flowers.

Vaelora stepped toward it.

“We are going to the old laboratory.”

The child’s voice came from the box.

“It is not there.”

“Where is it?”

“Under the house.”

Everyone turned toward the floor.

A thin black line appeared between the wooden boards.

It formed the shape of a door.

Kai crouched beside it.

The house had never shown us a basement.

Iven moved toward him.

“Do not open it.”

Kai looked back.

“You said the school must study dangerous things.”

“This is not the school.”

“It is beneath the house.”

“That is exactly why I do not want you opening it.”

Vaelora stood on the other side of the line.

“Can you feel anything?”

I closed my eyes.

The Authority responded.

Not with a command.

With a memory.

A staircase descending beneath white stone.

A woman singing.

A child crying.

A voice saying:

“Do not wake him until the worlds are ready.”

I opened my eyes.

“There is something beneath us.”

“What?” Neri asked.

“A room.”

“Who built it?”

I looked at the blue chamber.

“I did.”

The floor door opened.

Cold air rose from below.

The house lights went out.

Kai took a lantern from the wall.

The flame inside it was blue.

Vaelora reached for my hand.

Her fingers were cold.

“Stay close.”

“I was planning to.”

“Not because I asked.”

“Because I want to.”

She held on tighter.

We descended.

The stairs were narrow and made from the same dark stone as the corridor in the vision. Blue lines moved beneath the walls.

Jax stayed near the top.

“Should I come?”

Sarah looked at him.

“No.”

“What if you need a knife?”

“We have several.”

“What if there is food?”

“There is never food in ancient underground laboratories.”

“That sounds like poor planning.”

The stairs continued downward.

The child’s voice guided us.

“Turn left.”

We reached a corridor.

At the end stood a glass door.

The same door from the memory.

Behind it was the chamber.

But the room was no longer empty.

A woman sat beside the glass.

She wore a gray dress.

Her hair was white.

Her face was turned toward the chamber.

When she looked at us, I knew her.

Liora.

She stood slowly.

Kai stepped forward.

“Liora?”

Her eyes moved to him.

Then to me.

Then to the chamber.

“You found the room.”

“What is this?” I asked.

“The place where Elias was divided.”

My chest tightened.

“Divided?”

“You were not born in one body.”

The child’s voice came from the box behind us.

“He was made from two.”

Liora placed her hand against the glass.

Inside, the figure opened its eyes.

It looked at me.

Then at Kai.

Liora spoke quietly.

“Before the first world, before Arthur, before the Tower, the system needed a body capable of carrying two opposing patterns.”

Kai shook his head.

“No.”

“Your bodies were connected.”

“Why?”

“Because Elias could hold the Authority, and you could hold the passage.”

I looked at the chamber.

“Then who was the child?”

Liora’s expression broke.

“The child was what remained when they tried to separate you.”

The blue light inside the chamber moved.

The small figure placed its hand against the glass.

The child’s voice came from it.

“I am not a promise.”

I stared at the chamber.

“I am the part of you that remembers being one person.”

The words struck harder than any command.

Kai’s grip tightened around mine.

“What does that mean for us?”

Liora answered.

“It means the division was never supposed to be permanent.”

The chamber cracked.

A thin line spread across the glass.

The figure inside raised its head.

“I am awake now.”

The blue lights beneath the floor turned red.

Somewhere above us, the house bell began ringing.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Liora stepped back.

“The school has activated the fragment.”

Iven looked toward the stairs.

“How?”

A voice answered from above.

Halden.

“Because someone had to make a decision.”

The fourth bell rang.

The laboratory doors locked.

And inside the chamber, the third version of us opened its eyes completely.