Chapter 216: Millions
Denzel opened his eyes.
Darkness.
Not the darkness of a room.
There was no floor beneath his feet.
No ceiling.
No sense of direction.
He simply existed in the middle of it.
Denzel moved his hand.
Nothing.
He turned his head.
Nothing.
"Elena?"
His voice traveled.
Then disappeared.
No echo.
No response.
Denzel frowned.
"Child?"
Still nothing.
He took a step.
His foot touched something solid.
A floor appeared beneath him.
Not gradually.
It simply existed.
Denzel looked down.
Black stone stretched beneath his feet, smooth enough to reflect his face.
Except the reflection wasn't moving.
Denzel stopped.
His reflection stared back at him.
Then it smiled.
Denzel didn't.
The reflection raised its hand.
Denzel remained still.
The reflection placed its palm against the surface.
A thin crack appeared beneath it.
Denzel stepped backward.
The reflection's smile disappeared.
Then it mouthed something.
Denzel couldn't hear the words.
But he understood them.
You chose.
The reflection vanished.
The floor returned to normal.
Denzel stared at it for several seconds.
Then he looked ahead.
Doors.
Thousands of them.
They floated in the darkness, arranged in rows that stretched farther than he could see.
Some were wooden.
Some were metal.
Some looked ancient.
Others looked brand new.
Each one carried a name.
Denzel.
Elena.
Names he didn't recognize.
Some doors had hundreds of names written across them.
Others had none.
Denzel started walking.
His footsteps were the only sound.
He reached the first door.
ELENA.
He touched the handle.
The moment his fingers closed around it, a voice spoke behind him.
"You're not supposed to open that one."
Denzel spun around.
Nobody.
He looked around the darkness.
"Who said that?"
Silence.
Denzel waited.
Then the voice came again.
"Don't turn around."
Denzel froze.
His eyes narrowed.
"What happens if I do?"
"You already know."
Denzel glanced toward the door.
His hand remained on the handle.
"No. I don't."
The voice sounded closer.
"You always think you don't."
Denzel slowly released the handle.
He turned.
Nothing.
But something had changed.
There was another door behind him.
It hadn't been there before.
Denzel stared at it.
No name.
No handle.
Just a small black circle in the center.
His chest tightened.
The same symbol he'd seen beneath the child's hand.
The same shape he'd seen on the older version of himself.
Denzel approached it.
The closer he got, the colder the air became.
He touched the circle.
The door opened.
Light poured through.
Denzel raised his arm to shield his eyes.
Then he heard Elena.
"Denzel!"
He lowered his arm.
She was standing on the other side.
Denzel immediately stepped through.
"Elena."
She grabbed his arm.
"Where were you?"
"I don't know."
"You disappeared."
"So did you."
"No."
She shook her head.
"I never moved."
Denzel looked around.
They were standing inside a large white room.
The child was there too.
He sat on the floor with his knees pulled against his chest.
Denzel crouched beside him.
"You okay?"
The child nodded.
"Where's the older me?"
Elena answered.
"He didn't come."
Denzel looked at the walls.
There were no doors.
No windows.
Nothing.
"Then how did we get here?"
Elena pointed behind him.
Denzel turned.
The black door was gone.
In its place was a white wall.
Denzel touched it.
Solid.
The child suddenly stood.
"There's something written here."
Denzel followed his gaze.
At first, he saw nothing.
Then the letters slowly appeared.
THREE PEOPLE ENTERED.
ONE WILL REMAIN.
Elena's face changed.
"No."
Denzel stared at the sentence.
The child tilted his head.
"What does it mean?"
"It means someone is lying," Denzel said.
Elena looked at him.
"How do you know?"
"Because if the point was to kill one of us, it wouldn't need to explain the rules."
The writing disappeared.
A new sentence appeared.
Correct.
Denzel's eyes narrowed.
"Who's speaking?"
The room remained silent.
Then another line appeared.
The one who is watching.
Denzel looked at the ceiling.
"There is no ceiling."
Elena followed his gaze.
The white room seemed to continue forever.
The child stepped closer to Denzel.
"Can it hear us?"
"Yes."
"Can it see us?"
Denzel looked at the walls.
"Yes."
"Can it hurt us?"
A pause.
"I don't know."
The child frowned.
"You don't know a lot."
Elena almost smiled.
Denzel looked at him.
"You've been saying that a lot."
"Because it's true."
Denzel sighed.
Then the floor moved.
All three of them staggered.
A line appeared beneath their feet.
It stretched from one side of the room to the other.
Then the white floor split apart.
Denzel grabbed Elena.
Elena grabbed the child.
The gap widened.
Something existed beneath them.
Not darkness.
A city.
Denzel stared.
The same city they'd just left.
But it was upside down.
Buildings hung from the sky.
Cars floated between towers.
People walked across the undersides of streets.
And in the center of it all stood the apartment building.
Apartment 206 was visible through one of the windows.
Denzel's expression hardened.
"We're looking at the first world."
Elena shook her head.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because look."
Denzel followed her finger.
Someone was standing outside the apartment.
The older Denzel.
He was looking upward.
Directly at them.
Then he raised one hand.
The black circle on his chest began glowing.
The child stepped backward.
"He can see us."
The older Denzel smiled.
Then the city below them changed.
Buildings folded inward.
The streets twisted.
The sky turned black.
The entire world compressed into a small sphere.
Denzel's eyes widened.
The sphere floated upward.
It passed through the floor.
Then disappeared into the white room.
Silence.
A moment later, another sphere appeared.
Then another.
Then another.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
Millions.
Each one contained a different world.
Denzel stared.
The same sight he'd witnessed before.
Except this time, there was no giant creature controlling them.
They were simply there.
Floating.
Existing.
Waiting.
Elena whispered.
"How many worlds are there?"
Denzel didn't answer.
Because he had finally noticed something.
Every sphere had a door inside it.
And every door had a name.
Some had Elena.
Some had Denzel.
Some had both.
Others had names he had never heard.
But one sphere was different.
It was completely black.
No city.
No sky.
No people.
No door.
Only the circle.
The same black circle.
Denzel pointed.
"That one."
The child looked at it.
"What about it?"
"It doesn't have a world."
Elena stared.
"Then what does it have?"
Denzel didn't answer.
The black sphere began moving toward them.
Slowly.
The other worlds moved aside.
It reached the center of the room.
Then stopped.
A door appeared on its surface.
No name.
Denzel felt the same coldness from before.
The child stepped forward.
"I think that's ours."
Denzel grabbed his shoulder.
"Don't touch it."
"Why?"
"Because the last time we touched something like that, we ended up here."
The child looked at him.
"But we're already here."
Denzel paused.
Elena noticed.
"That's a good point."
Denzel looked at her.
"You're supposed to be the cautious one."
"I am."
"Really?"
"Yes."
She pointed toward the door.
"You're the one who keeps walking toward things that clearly want you dead."
Denzel considered that.
"Fair."
The door opened.
There was no darkness behind it.
There was a bedroom.
Denzel stared.
His bedroom.
The room he'd lived in before everything happened.
His bed.
His desk.
His books.
Even the jacket he'd left hanging on the chair.
Denzel stepped closer.
Elena grabbed his hand.
"Don't."
"I know."
Inside the room, someone was sleeping on the bed.
Denzel.
The younger version of himself.
Alive.
Normal.
Unaware.
Denzel stared at him.
The child whispered.
"Is that you?"
"Yes."
"Then who are you?"
Denzel looked at him.
That question struck harder than he expected.
He turned back toward the room.
The sleeping Denzel moved.
His eyes opened.
He sat up.
Then looked directly at them.
Denzel's breath stopped.
The younger version stood.
He walked toward the door.
Denzel instinctively stepped backward.
The younger Denzel stopped on the other side.
He stared at them.
Then smiled.
"Finally."
Elena tightened her grip on Denzel's hand.
The younger Denzel placed his palm against the door.
The black circle appeared beneath it.
Denzel stared.
The younger version spoke.
"You took long enough."
Denzel's expression hardened.
"Who are you?"
The younger Denzel laughed.
"I think you should be asking yourself that."
The door began closing.
Denzel reached forward.
"Wait."
The younger version's smile disappeared.
"Whatever happens next…"
He looked directly at Denzel.
"…don't trust the version of you that remembers everything."
The door slammed shut.
The sphere vanished.
The white room became completely silent.
Denzel stood frozen.
Elena looked at him.
"What does that mean?"
Denzel shook his head.
"I don't know."
The child stared at the empty space.
Then he pointed behind them.
"Denzel."
Denzel turned.
A new door stood in the middle of the room.
This one had a name.
His name.
DENZEL.
But beneath it, smaller letters were appearing.
Not Denzel.
Not Elena.
Not the child.
A different name.
One Denzel had never seen before.
The letters finished forming.
OBSERVER.
Denzel stared at the door.
Then the handle turned.
From the other side, someone whispered his name.
"Denzel."
He knew that voice.
It was his own.
Again.
But this time, it wasn't the voice of the older Denzel.
It wasn't the voice of his younger self.
It was something else.
Something that had been watching from the beginning.
Denzel tightened his grip on Elena's hand.
The child moved closer.
The door opened.
And for the first time since entering the second world, Denzel saw what had been waiting behind all those doors.
A pair of eyes.
Millions of them.
All staring directly at him.