Chapter 144: The Right to Exist

"Dillan... if I never chose to exist, who gave you the right to create me?"

The question echoed through the collapsing room.

Dillan had no answer.

The silver-haired girl stood before him, trembling beneath the weight of a truth neither of them fully understood.

Behind her, the two cradles disappeared into the darkness.

The woman with the book was gone.

Only the four-year-old boy remained.

Dillan stared at his younger self.

"What did you do?"

The child tilted his head.

"I wanted someone."

"That isn’t what I asked."

"I know."

The boy looked at the silver-haired girl.

Then he smiled.

"I wanted someone who would never leave me."

Dillan felt sick.

The girl backed away.

"So you made me?"

The child nodded.

"Not exactly."

"Then explain!"

Her voice cracked.

The boy’s smile disappeared.

"I asked for someone."

He pointed toward the darkness.

"Something answered."

Silence.

Dillan stepped forward.

"What answered you?"

The child looked up at him.

"You did."

The room stopped collapsing.

Every fragment of broken wall froze in midair.

The silver-haired girl stared at the boy.

Dillan couldn’t move.

"What does that mean?"

The child shrugged.

"You were the one who wanted someone. You were the one who asked. But you weren’t the one who decided what that someone would become."

He approached the girl.

"You weren’t supposed to be Sasha."

She flinched.

"You were supposed to be a possibility."

The boy reached toward her face.

"Someone who could exist if Dillan needed you."

She slapped his hand away.

"Don’t touch me!"

The child stepped back.

For the first time, he looked genuinely hurt.

Dillan moved between them.

"That’s enough."

The boy looked at him.

"Why?"

"Because she’s frightened."

"She shouldn’t be."

"That doesn’t matter."

Dillan knelt until they were eye to eye.

"She has the right to be frightened. She has the right to be angry. And she has the right to decide whether she wants anything to do with us."

The child frowned.

"But I made her for you."

Dillan’s expression hardened.

"That doesn’t make her mine."

The words struck the room like thunder.

The Witness Record appeared.

ORIGINAL CREATION PRINCIPLE CHALLENGED.CREATION DOES NOT ESTABLISH OWNERSHIP.SUBJECT AUTONOMY: RECOGNIZED.

The silver-haired girl stared at the notification.

Then she looked at Dillan.

He didn’t offer her a hand.

He didn’t tell her that he could fix everything.

He simply waited.

After a long silence, she spoke.

"My name."

Dillan looked up.

"What about it?"

"Who gave me the name Sasha?"

The child immediately looked away.

Dillan noticed.

"Answer her."

The boy shook his head.

"I don’t remember."

"You’re me."

"That doesn’t mean I remember everything you did."

Dillan stood.

"Then we’ll find the memory."

The girl laughed bitterly.

"Another memory."

She wiped her eyes.

"Another Lock. Another explanation. Another reason why my entire existence is somebody else’s decision."

She looked at Dillan.

"What happens when you finally remember everything?"

He didn’t answer.

"Will I suddenly become real?"

"No."

The answer surprised her.

Dillan continued.

"You already exist. You don’t need my memories to prove that."

Her lips parted slightly.

"But the Record says I was never supposed to exist."

"The Record can tell us how something happened. It can’t decide whether your life matters."

She looked away.

For a moment, he thought she might cry again.

Instead, she took a deep breath.

"Then I want something."

Dillan nodded.

"What?"

"I want to know who I am without your memories."

The Witness Record flickered.

UNLIVED OUTCOME: REQUEST DETECTED.REQUEST: INDEPENDENT EXISTENCE.CURRENT DESIGNATION: SASHA RUREN.DESIGNATION STATUS: REJECTED BY SUBJECT?

The girl stared at the final line.

Then she answered.

"Yes."

The Record flashed.

DESIGNATION: SASHA RUREN.STATUS: REJECTED.

A second message appeared.

NEW IDENTITY: UNNAMED.EXISTENCE: CONTINUING.OWNER: NONE.

The room became completely silent.

The girl touched her chest.

She was still there.

Her heartbeat continued.

Nothing vanished.

Nothing collapsed.

She looked at Dillan with an expression he couldn’t identify.

"You didn’t stop me."

"No."

"You didn’t ask me to stay."

"No."

"Why?"

Dillan glanced at his younger self.

"Because I know what happens when someone mistakes fear for a reason to control another person."

The child lowered his head.

The girl’s expression softened, but only slightly.

"Don’t expect me to forgive you."

"I won’t."

"Don’t expect me to love you."

"I won’t."

"And don’t expect me to become your friend."

Dillan nodded.

"Understood."

She stared at him.

Then, unexpectedly, she laughed.

It was a small, disbelieving sound.

"You really have changed."

Dillan looked at his younger self.

"I’m trying."

The child wasn’t smiling anymore.

He was staring at the floor.

Something about his expression unsettled Dillan.

"What’s wrong?"

The boy shook his head.

"Nothing."

"Don’t lie to me."

The child looked up.

His eyes were wet.

"I thought if I made someone who could never leave, I wouldn’t have to be afraid anymore."

Dillan’s chest tightened.

The boy continued.

"But she was afraid too."

He looked at the silver-haired girl.

"And I didn’t know what to do."

Dillan knelt before him.

"You should have listened."

"I know."

"You should have asked what she wanted."

"I know."

The boy began crying.

"I didn’t want to hurt anyone."

Dillan pulled him into an embrace.

"I know."

For a moment, the child clung to him.

Then he whispered something that made Dillan’s blood run cold.

"But I wasn’t the one who made her."

Dillan slowly released him.

"What?"

The child pointed toward the empty cradle.

"I asked for someone."

He swallowed.

"But someone else decided what I would receive."

The Witness Record appeared.

FIRST BIRTH: MEMORY RESTORATION RESUMED.ORIGINAL REQUEST: CONFIRMED.CREATION AUTHORITY: UNKNOWN.INTERMEDIARY: DETECTED.

Dillan stared at the final notification.

"Intermediary?"

The child nodded.

"Someone heard me."

The room began to shake again.

"And they promised to help."

The silver-haired girl stepped forward.

"Who?"

The child looked toward the doorway.

His face became pale.

"The person who taught Dillan how to make a choice."

The lights went out.

A woman’s voice spoke from the darkness.

"That’s enough."

Dillan froze.

He knew that voice.

He had heard it beneath the oak tree.

In the white room.

In memories that disappeared whenever he tried to understand them.

The same voice that had once asked him whether he would still choose someone if choosing one person meant losing another.

Elara.

But when the light returned, Elara wasn’t standing in the doorway.

A woman in white stood there instead.

Her face was hidden.

Her hands were covered in crimson stains.

And beside her stood a little girl with silver hair.

The girl was holding the woman’s hand.

Dillan stared at the child.

Then at the silver-haired woman beside him.

They had the same face.

The same eyes.

The same scar.

Except the child was smiling.

The woman in white looked directly at Dillan.

"Now you understand why she was never supposed to remember."

Dillan stepped forward.

"Who are you?"

The woman slowly removed her hood.

Her face was identical to the silver-haired girl’s.

But older.

Much older.

The girl beside Dillan stopped breathing.

The woman smiled.

"I’m the Sasha who existed before you asked for someone."

The Witness Record erupted with notifications.

ORIGIN LOCK: FINAL MEMORY DETECTED.SUBJECT: UNKNOWN.RELATIONSHIP TO UNNAMED POSSIBILITY: ORIGINAL.CREATION ORDER: REVERSED.

Dillan stared at the two women.

The younger one whispered:

"Who are you?"

The older woman looked at her with infinite sadness.

Then she answered.

"I’m the person you would have become if Dillan had never existed."

The room shattered.

And as darkness swallowed everything, the Witness Record displayed one final message.

WARNING: TWO ORIGINAL HISTORIES CANNOT COEXIST.ONE HISTORY MUST BE ERASED.

SUBJECT AUTHORIZED TO CHOOSE: UNKNOWN.