Lord of Perverted Ladies

There were seven versions of my name.

ADRIAN CROSS.

Seven times.

Seven wooden cars floated above Alisster, each carrying my name.

I stared at them.

My hands went cold.

"That’s..."

Noah stepped closer.

"Yeah."

Ryan looked up.

"Okay, I’m officially done pretending this is normal."

The seven cars began descending.

One landed in the middle of the street.

Another landed beside my feet.

The remaining five stopped in the air.

Each one had a different symbol carved into its side.

A crown.

An eye.

A broken circle.

A flame.

A door.

A black star.

And the final one...

a simple human hand.

I picked up the one with the hand.

The moment I touched it, my vision went white.

I was standing in a room.

A completely ordinary room.

There was a bed.

A desk.

A window.

A computer.

And someone sitting on the edge of the bed.

Me.

But he looked younger.

Maybe seventeen.

He was staring at his phone.

I watched him laugh at something on the screen.

Then he suddenly looked up.

Directly at me.

My breath caught.

"You finally remembered."

The memory ended.

I dropped the wooden car.

"Adrian?"

Noah grabbed my shoulder.

"What did you see?"

"Me."

"Which one?"

"I don’t know."

The Guardian picked up the car.

Her expression changed immediately.

"This isn’t a memory."

"Then what is it?"

"A connection."

"To what?"

She looked at the other six cars.

"To the six versions."

I stared at her.

"Seven Adrians."

"Yes."

"Why seven?"

She shook her head.

"I don’t know."

Elia slowly approached.

"Seven isn’t the number that matters."

"What does?"

"Zero."

I looked at her.

"Zero?"

"You’re counting the seven."

She pointed toward the sky.

"But you’re forgetting the eighth."

My stomach dropped.

"The eighth?"

Elia nodded.

"The one who has no name."

The sky suddenly cracked.

Everyone looked upward.

The seven wooden cars rose.

Their symbols began glowing.

Then the world changed.

The street disappeared.

The buildings disappeared.

Alisster disappeared.

We were standing in darkness again.

But this time...

I could see something.

A road.

It stretched endlessly ahead.

Seven paths branched from it.

Each path contained a different version of me.

The first wore a crown.

The second had black eyes.

The third was covered in blood.

The fourth was surrounded by books.

The fifth stood before an enormous door.

The sixth was surrounded by stars.

The seventh...

was completely ordinary.

Just me.

The Guardian stared at them.

"The seven possibilities."

My father frowned.

"Possibilities of what?"

"Adrian."

She answered.

"Every version of him that could have existed."

I looked at the seven figures.

"Then why are they showing themselves now?"

The seventh version stepped forward.

The ordinary one.

He looked exactly like me.

Same clothes.

Same face.

Same tired expression.

He smiled.

"I think you know."

I shook my head.

"I don’t."

"You chose to be human."

"Yes."

"You rejected being the Creator."

"Yes."

"You gave the universe freedom."

"Yes."

He pointed toward the other versions.

"But you never decided what kind of human you wanted to be."

I stared at him.

He continued.

"That’s why there are seven of us."

The crowned Adrian stepped forward.

"I am the Adrian who wanted power."

The black-eyed Adrian spoke next.

"I am the Adrian who wanted knowledge."

The blood-covered Adrian smiled.

"I am the Adrian who wanted revenge."

The one surrounded by books said,

"I am the Adrian who wanted to understand everything."

The one standing before the enormous door said,

"I am the Adrian who wanted to escape."

The star-covered Adrian whispered,

"I am the Adrian who wanted to become something greater."

Then the ordinary one looked at me.

"And I am the Adrian who wanted to live."

Silence.

I looked at each of them.

"Why are you showing me this?"

The crowned one laughed.

"Because one of us will replace you."

My father immediately raised his weapon.

"Not happening."

The seven versions laughed.

The Guardian stepped forward.

"That’s not how this works."

The crowned Adrian looked at her.

"Then explain it."

She remained silent.

The black-eyed Adrian smiled.

"You don’t know either."

I looked at the Guardian.

"Do you?"

She shook her head.

"No."

The seven versions began walking toward me.

The road beneath us started glowing.

A circle appeared around my feet.

The ordinary Adrian stopped outside it.

"The Memory War wasn’t about remembering the forgotten."

I frowned.

"Then what was it?"

"It was about restoring you."

"Restoring me?"

"Yes."

He pointed at my chest.

"You threw away parts of yourself when you became human."

"I know."

"No."

He shook his head.

"You don’t."

The ground trembled.

"You didn’t just leave your certainty behind."

"You divided yourself."

My heart stopped.

"Into seven?"

"Seven pieces."

The Guardian’s eyes widened.

"That’s why the seven cars existed."

I looked at the versions.

"They’re pieces of me."

"Yes."

"Then what about the eighth?"

The ordinary Adrian smiled.

"The eighth isn’t a piece."

He pointed behind me.

I turned.

There was nothing.

Then a voice whispered from the darkness.

"I am what remains when all pieces are removed."

I froze.

Something stepped onto the road.

It had no face.

No clothes.

No body.

It was simply a human-shaped absence.

The same thing I’d seen before.

But this time...

it was smaller.

Almost childlike.

The Guardian immediately stepped backward.

"No."

My father looked at her.

"What?"

"That’s him."

"Who?"

She stared at the figure.

"The one I could never see."

The figure stopped.

Then raised its head.

Two white eyes appeared.

"Hello, Adrian."

My throat went dry.

"Who are you?"

"I don’t have a name."

"Then I’ll give you one."

"No."

It shook its head.

"I don’t want one."

"Why?"

"Because names are memories."

It looked at the seven versions.

"And I am what exists when memory disappears."

The seven Adrians began fading.

"No."

I stepped forward.

The crowned Adrian looked at me.

"You can’t keep all of us."

The black-eyed one smiled.

"You don’t have enough room."

The blood-covered one laughed.

"You don’t have enough courage."

The scholar adjusted his glasses.

"You don’t have enough knowledge."

The fifth opened the giant door.

"You don’t have anywhere to escape."

The star-covered one whispered,

"You don’t have enough power."

Then the ordinary Adrian smiled.

"But you don’t need any of us."

The seven disappeared.

I was alone with the nameless figure.

It walked toward me.

"Now choose."

"Choose what?"

"Which part of yourself you want."

I looked behind me.

My friends were standing there.

My mother.

My father.

Noah.

Ryan.

The Guardian.

Elia.

They were all watching.

My mother shook her head.

"You don’t have to choose."

I looked at her.

"What?"

"You don’t have to cut yourself apart again."

The nameless figure turned toward her.

"She understands."

I frowned.

"Understands what?"

My mother smiled.

"That you were never supposed to become one perfect person."

She walked toward me.

"You were always meant to be complicated."

The words hit me harder than expected.

I looked at the seven paths.

Power.

Knowledge.

Revenge.

Understanding.

Escape.

Transcendence.

Humanity.

Why did I have to choose?

Why couldn’t I be all of them?

I looked at the nameless figure.

"You said I had to choose."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because that’s what you always do."

"Who says?"

"You."

The figure pointed toward me.

"You created reality through choice."

"You gave the Guardian meaning through choice."

"You rejected the Creator through choice."

"You remembered the forgotten through choice."

"You chose Adrian."

I smiled.

"Then I’ll make another choice."

The figure tilted its head.

"What?"

"I refuse."

Silence.

"I refuse to choose between parts of myself."

The seven paths began shaking.

"I can be afraid."

"I can be angry."

"I can want power."

"I can want knowledge."

"I can want revenge."

"I can want to escape."

"I can want to become something greater."

"And I can still choose to be human."

The nameless figure stared.

"You cannot contain contradictions."

"Humans do it every day."

The Guardian smiled.

My mother laughed softly.

The seven paths began collapsing.

The nameless figure stepped backward.

"You are breaking the trial."

"No."

I stepped forward.

"I’m ending it."

The figure suddenly screamed.

The sound shattered the darkness.

Every memory I’d ever recovered exploded around us.

Faces.

Worlds.

Names.

Deaths.

Births.

Everything.

I fell to my knees.

The nameless figure rushed toward me.

"YOU CANNOT EXIST WITHOUT ME!"

I looked up.

"What?"

"I AM YOUR DOUBT!"

The figure’s body expanded.

"I AM YOUR FEAR!"

It became enormous.

"I AM EVERYTHING YOU REFUSE TO BECOME!"

I stood.

"Then you’re still part of me."

It froze.

I reached toward it.

"And I’m done running from you."

My hand touched its chest.

The darkness disappeared.

The figure became a child.

A tiny child.

Three years old.

Sitting alone.

Holding a wooden toy car.

I recognized him.

My first self.

The part that had been left behind.

The child looked up.

"Why did you leave me?"

I knelt before him.

"Because I was scared."

"Of me?"

"Of what I’d become."

The child looked down.

"I was lonely."

"I know."

"You forgot me."

"I know."

"Will you leave again?"

I shook my head.

"No."

He smiled.

"Then we’re okay."

I held out my hand.

The child took it.

The darkness shattered.

I opened my eyes.

I was back in Alisster.

Morning sunlight filled the streets.

No cracks.

No monsters.

No cosmic doors.

Just sunlight.

The seven wooden cars were gone.

Only one remained.

The ordinary wooden car.

I picked it up.

A new word had been carved underneath it.

WHOLE.

Noah looked at me.

"Did you win?"

I thought about it.

"I don’t think it was a fight."

"Then what was it?"

I smiled.

"I remembered myself."

The Guardian walked toward us.

She looked worried.

"Adrian."

"What?"

"I don’t think it’s over."

I sighed.

"Of course."

She pointed toward the sky.

I looked up.

There was a single black star.

It wasn’t moving.

It wasn’t glowing.

It was simply there.

Then it disappeared.

My phone vibrated.

I checked the screen.

There was only one message.

SEVEN MEMORIES RESTORED.

I waited.

Another appeared.

ONE MEMORY REMAINS.

My smile disappeared.

"What?"

Noah leaned over.

"What’s wrong?"

I showed him.

The Guardian’s face became pale.

"One memory."

"Which one?"

She looked at me.

"The first."

My heart stopped.

"What do you mean?"

"The memory of what happened before you asked the first question."

I stared at her.

"I don’t have a memory before that."

"Exactly."

The phone vibrated again.

A final message appeared.

MEMORY LOCATION: UNKNOWN.

Then another.

MEMORY STATUS: ACTIVE.

And finally—

IT REMEMBERS YOU.

I slowly looked toward the horizon.

Something was standing there.

A person.

Too far away to see clearly.

But I knew the silhouette.

It was the same figure from the white room.

The one who had given the child the wooden car.

The one who had told him he would forget.

The one who had existed before reality.

The figure raised one hand.

And even from that distance...

I heard its voice.

"Adrian."

I couldn’t move.

It smiled.

"Do you finally want to know who your mother was before she became your mother?"

My mother’s face went completely white.

And for the first time...

she whispered a name I’d never heard before.

"Don’t let him tell you."

The figure laughed.

Because apparently...

the biggest secret of my existence had never been about me.

It had been about her.