Lord of Perverted Ladies

The door slammed shut.

Adrian stood before it, staring at the wood.

For several seconds, nobody moved.

The question remained inside his mind.

Why did I choose you?

No.

That wasn’t what his father had asked.

His father had said:

Why did I choose you?

Adrian turned slowly.

His mother was still standing behind him.

She looked as though she had aged a thousand years in a single moment.

"Mom."

She didn’t answer.

"Tell me the truth."

Her eyes remained fixed on the closed door.

"Your father should never have been able to reach you."

"Why?"

"Because I made sure he couldn’t."

Adrian frowned.

"You sealed him away?"

"No."

She swallowed.

"I erased the path that led to him."

The Guardian stepped closer.

"You didn’t erase the person."

His mother shook her head.

"No. I erased the connection."

Adrian stared at her.

"What connection?"

She finally looked at him.

"Yours."

Silence.

Adrian’s brother stepped forward.

"Mother..."

She raised her hand.

"I need to tell him."

The old man stood several meters away, watching silently.

Eve had not spoken since the door appeared.

Adrian looked at all of them.

"Everyone knew something about my father."

Nobody answered.

"That is becoming a habit."

His voice was calm, but anger was beginning to build beneath it.

"My entire existence has been one secret after another."

He pointed toward the door.

"I thought I knew who my father was."

Then toward the old man.

"I discovered another father."

He looked at Eve.

"Then the Origin."

His eyes returned to his mother.

"And now you’re telling me there was a connection between me and someone none of you wanted me to find."

His mother closed her eyes.

"I was trying to protect you."

Adrian laughed once.

"You always say that."

"I know."

"And every time you protect me, you erase something."

She didn’t deny it.

Adrian’s brother moved beside him.

"Then don’t erase this one."

His mother looked at him.

"What?"

"Tell him everything."

The old man finally spoke.

"She cannot."

Adrian turned toward him.

"Why?"

"Because some truths cannot be spoken."

Adrian’s expression hardened.

"That’s convenient."

The old man shook his head.

"You misunderstand."

He pointed toward the wooden door.

"That truth doesn’t belong to language."

The door suddenly began changing.

The wood became transparent.

Adrian saw a room on the other side.

His father was there.

But he wasn’t alone.

The infant version of Adrian was still in his arms.

His father looked toward the door.

Then directly at Adrian.

"You want to know why I chose you."

Adrian stepped closer.

"Yes."

His father smiled.

"Then come inside."

His mother grabbed Adrian’s shoulder.

"No."

Adrian looked at her.

"I’m going."

"You don’t understand."

"Then explain."

She couldn’t.

That was enough.

Adrian opened the door.

The moment he stepped through, the world vanished.

There was no ocean.

No sky.

No stars.

No Guardian.

No family.

Only a room.

A very small room.

His father stood in the center.

He looked exactly as Adrian remembered him.

Human.

Ordinary.

The man Adrian had called father.

But now Adrian could see what existed beneath that appearance.

Something ancient.

Something impossibly vast.

Something that had deliberately chosen to wear a human face.

Adrian stared.

"So this was another identity."

His father nodded.

"Yes."

"Who are you?"

"A man who made one choice."

"What choice?"

His father looked down at the infant in his arms.

"To love something before understanding it."

Adrian said nothing.

His father continued.

"Before you were Adrian, before you were Aeris, before you were the Creator, before you were even a possibility..."

He looked at the infant.

"There was only you."

Adrian frowned.

"That doesn’t make sense."

"It shouldn’t."

His father placed the infant in a small cradle.

"You were not created."

"Then what were you?"

"A possibility."

"Like the First Choice said."

"Yes."

"But possibilities existed everywhere."

"Correct."

"So why me?"

His father looked at him.

"Because you looked back."

Adrian froze.

"What?"

"When you were only a possibility, you became aware."

The room changed.

Adrian saw countless possibilities.

Worlds that never existed.

People who were never born.

Lives that were never lived.

Thousands of potential Adrians.

Millions.

Billions.

Each one appeared for a moment.

Then disappeared.

But one remained.

Him.

Adrian.

A tiny point of awareness inside infinite possibility.

"You were different," his father said.

"You asked a question."

Adrian remembered.

Why?

The first question.

His father continued.

"But questions alone are not enough."

The room changed again.

Adrian saw his father standing before the tiny possibility.

"You asked what existence was."

His father raised one hand.

"You asked what choice was."

Another.

"You asked what identity meant."

Another.

"And eventually..."

His father smiled.

"You asked whether you should continue."

Adrian stared at himself.

The tiny possibility trembled.

Then chose.

Yes.

The universe began.

Adrian’s eyes widened.

"I started it?"

"No."

His father shook his head.

"You permitted yourself to exist."

"That’s different."

"Very."

His father walked toward him.

"That distinction is the reason I chose you."

Adrian looked at him.

"Why?"

"Because you could choose without owning."

The words echoed.

His father continued.

"Your mother could create."

"The old man could teach."

"Eve could guide."

"The Origin could define."

"The Creator could control."

"The First Choice could open possibility."

"But you..."

He touched Adrian’s chest.

"You could let go."

Adrian looked down.

All the choices he had made rushed through his mind.

Rejecting the Creator.

Letting worlds become autonomous.

Allowing Aeron to choose.

Accepting his brother.

Remembering the forgotten children.

Forgiving the Nameless.

Trusting himself.

He had spent his entire journey believing he was losing power.

Perhaps that had been the point.

His father smiled.

"That is why I chose you."

Adrian’s voice became quiet.

"But you abandoned me."

"Yes."

"Why?"

His father’s expression changed.

"Because I made the same mistake every Creator eventually makes."

"What mistake?"

"I believed protecting someone meant deciding their future."

Adrian’s eyes narrowed.

"So you left me to protect me?"

"No."

His father looked ashamed.

"I left because I was afraid I would control you."

Adrian stared at him.

"You could have stayed."

"Yes."

"You could have trusted me."

"Yes."

"You could have let me choose."

"Yes."

"Then why didn’t you?"

His father looked toward the infant.

"Because I wasn’t ready."

Silence.

That answer hurt more than any lie.

Adrian looked away.

For the first time, his father looked small.

Not cosmic.

Not ancient.

Just a man who had made a mistake.

"You were my father," Adrian said.

"Yes."

"And you chose me."

"Yes."

"But you didn’t stay."

"No."

"Then what am I supposed to do with that?"

His father smiled sadly.

"Choose."

Adrian looked at him.

"Choose what?"

"What you want me to be."

Adrian’s heart stopped.

His father stepped backward.

"You have spent your entire existence being defined by other people."

"Creator."

"Question."

"Son."

"Brother."

"Human."

"Aeris."

"Adrian."

He opened his hands.

"But now..."

"You decide what I am to you."

Adrian stared at him.

The room began shaking.

The walls cracked.

The old man’s voice echoed from somewhere far away.

"Don’t."

Eve’s voice followed.

"Adrian, wait."

His mother screamed his name.

But Adrian didn’t move.

His father stood in front of him.

Waiting.

Not demanding.

Not commanding.

Waiting.

Adrian finally understood.

This wasn’t another test about power.

It wasn’t about the Origin.

It wasn’t about the Creator.

It wasn’t even about his father’s identity.

It was about whether Adrian could accept that some people could love him and still hurt him.

His father had chosen him.

His father had abandoned him.

Both were true.

Adrian didn’t need to erase one to accept the other.

He stepped forward.

"You’re my father."

His father looked surprised.

Adrian continued.

"I don’t forgive you yet."

The man’s eyes softened.

"But I don’t hate you either."

A tear appeared in his father’s eye.

Adrian reached out.

"I want to know you."

His father took his hand.

And the room exploded with light.

The door behind them disappeared.

The walls disappeared.

The floor disappeared.

Everything became white.

A message appeared.

ORIGIN QUESTION ANSWERED

Then:

HE CHOSE YOU BECAUSE YOU COULD CHOOSE YOURSELF

Adrian stared at the words.

Another appeared.

FATHER: ACCEPTED

Then the message changed.

NOT AS CREATOR

NOT AS ORIGIN

NOT AS MASTER

AS FAMILY

Adrian’s father smiled.

For the first time, he looked completely human.

Then something moved behind him.

Adrian’s smile disappeared.

The shadow was there.

But it wasn’t looking at Adrian.

It was looking at his father.

"You shouldn’t have brought him here."

His father’s expression hardened.

"I didn’t."

The shadow turned toward Adrian.

"He came because he chose to."

Adrian looked between them.

"What is this place?"

His father answered:

"The place where the first question was asked."

Adrian’s eyes widened.

"This is the Beginning?"

"No."

His father shook his head.

"This is before the Beginning."

The shadow moved closer.

"And now that you remember your father..."

The entire white space began cracking.

"...you are finally ready to remember yourself."

Adrian looked down.

His reflection appeared beneath his feet.

But it wasn’t Adrian.

It wasn’t Aeris.

It wasn’t the Nameless.

It wasn’t any of the seven versions.

It was something younger.

Something before identity.

Something that had no name.

The reflection opened its eyes.

And smiled.

Adrian stepped backward.

His father whispered:

"That’s you."

Adrian stared.

The reflection spoke.

Its voice was his own.

"I remember."

The world trembled.

The final message appeared.

NEXT EVOLUTION: ORIGIN

Then another.

ORIGIN IS NOT WHERE YOU CAME FROM.

The reflection smiled wider.

ORIGIN IS WHAT YOU WERE BEFORE YOU BECAME SOMEONE.

Adrian stared into his own eyes.

And for the first time...

he was afraid of himself.