Chapter 133: My Entire World
The door moved another inch.
Stone scraped against stone.
The sound traveled through the chamber like a warning.
David stared at it.
His own voice was still echoing inside his head.
’Don’t let me open the seventh door.’
He couldn’t remember saying it.
But somehow, he knew it was his voice.
And he knew the warning had been meant for him.
Elaine stepped beside him.
"David."
He didn’t look at her.
"Did you hear it?"
"Hear what?"
"My voice."
She frowned.
"You’ve been talking?"
"No."
David shook his head.
"Never mind."
The seventh door continued opening.
A narrow gap appeared.
There was no light behind it.
Only darkness.
Not the ordinary darkness of an unlit room.
This darkness seemed to absorb the light from the chamber.
David felt it immediately.
A pressure settled against his chest.
The same sensation he’d felt when the voice first called him.
Host.
He took a step backward.
The creatures behind the chamber remained kneeling.
Not one of them moved.
David looked at them.
"Why aren’t they attacking?"
Samuel answered quietly.
"Because they know what’s coming."
"That’s reassuring."
"It wasn’t meant to be."
The door opened another few inches.
Elaine raised her weapon.
"Can it be closed?"
Samuel shook his head.
"Not once the seventh seal begins."
"Then how was it sealed before?"
Samuel looked at David.
"By him."
David frowned.
"Me?"
Samuel nodded.
"You closed it."
"Then I can close it again."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because last time you were willing to die."
The words silenced David.
Elaine looked at Samuel.
"What does that mean?"
Samuel didn’t answer.
David stepped toward him.
"What did I do?"
"You already know."
"I don’t."
"You will."
David’s patience snapped.
"Stop saying that."
Samuel stared at him.
David grabbed the front of his shirt.
"What did I do?"
Samuel didn’t resist.
"You opened the door."
David froze.
"What?"
"You opened it."
"But I just heard myself say I wasn’t supposed to."
"That was after."
"After what?"
"After you realized what was behind it."
David slowly released him.
"What’s behind it?"
Samuel looked toward the door.
"Not something."
David waited.
"Someone."
The chamber became silent.
David’s eyes narrowed.
"Who?"
Samuel looked at him.
"You."
David stared.
"No."
"You’ve been asking the wrong question."
Samuel’s voice was quiet.
"The seventh door doesn’t lead to something."
He pointed toward the darkness.
"It leads to you."
David’s stomach tightened.
The door suddenly stopped.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then a hand appeared through the opening.
Human.
Pale.
Thin.
The fingers wrapped around the edge of the stone.
Elaine stepped backward.
David didn’t.
The hand pulled.
The door opened wider.
A figure emerged.
David stared.
It was a younger version of himself.
Not the same age as Version Zero.
Younger.
Much younger.
Maybe sixteen.
His hair was longer.
His face was thinner.
There was a small cut above his eyebrow.
The same scar David carried now.
The boy looked at him.
Neither spoke.
Then the boy smiled.
David’s chest tightened.
"That’s me."
Elaine whispered,
"Yes."
The younger David stepped through the doorway.
He wasn’t transparent.
He wasn’t a projection.
His shoes touched the stone.
He looked real.
Alive.
David couldn’t move.
The boy glanced around the chamber.
Then at Samuel.
"You’re still here."
Samuel’s face changed.
"How?"
The boy smiled.
"I told you I’d come back."
Samuel shook his head.
"You died."
The boy looked at David.
"No."
Then he touched his own chest.
"He did."
David’s breathing stopped.
"What does that mean?"
The boy ignored him.
He walked toward the seven pillars.
The creatures lowered their heads even further.
David followed him with his eyes.
The boy stopped beneath the seventh pillar.
He placed his hand against it.
The entire chamber shook.
Elaine grabbed David.
"What is he doing?"
David didn’t answer.
He didn’t know.
The pillar began glowing.
Then the other six followed.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
The symbols across the chamber illuminated.
The boy looked at David.
"You weren’t supposed to come back this early."
David stared.
"I’ve never been here."
The boy smiled.
"That’s what you think."
"I would remember."
"No."
The boy’s smile disappeared.
"You wouldn’t."
David stepped forward.
"Tell me what happened."
The boy looked at him.
"You wanted to forget."
"Why?"
"Because you were afraid."
David’s expression hardened.
"Of what?"
The boy looked toward the seventh door.
"Of yourself."
The darkness behind the door moved.
The boy’s expression changed.
"He’s coming."
David felt the warmth return to his chest.
Elaine raised her weapon.
"Who?"
The boy whispered,
"Version Zero."
David turned.
At the far side of the chamber, a figure stepped from the shadows.
The same man from the staircase.
His face was David’s.
His eyes were black.
But now there was something different.
He looked angry.
"You shouldn’t have opened it."
The younger David turned.
"I didn’t."
Version Zero stared at him.
"You know what happens next."
"Yes."
"Then close it."
The boy shook his head.
"I can’t."
Version Zero looked at David.
"Because he has to."
David frowned.
"Has to do what?"
Version Zero smiled.
"Choose."
"Choose what?"
"Which one of us survives."
The chamber went silent.
David looked between them.
"What?"
The younger David took a step toward him.
Version Zero remained still.
"You have two memories," Version Zero said.
"One belongs to him."
He pointed at the younger David.
"The other belongs to me."
David stared.
"And mine?"
Version Zero smiled.
"Yours is the third."
David’s mind went blank.
Elaine stepped beside him.
"David, don’t listen to him."
Version Zero looked at her.
"You always say that."
Elaine’s face tightened.
David noticed.
"You’ve heard that before."
Elaine didn’t answer.
"Elaine."
"I don’t know."
"You do."
She looked at him.
Her eyes were tired.
"Not clearly."
"Then tell me what you remember."
Elaine looked toward the younger David.
"I remember a boy."
David’s heart skipped.
"He was brought into the facility."
"Me?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"We didn’t know."
Samuel interrupted.
"We knew."
Elaine looked at him.
Samuel shook his head.
"We knew exactly why he was here."
David turned toward him.
"Why?"
Samuel looked at the younger version of David.
"Because he could hear it."
"The creature?"
Samuel nodded.
"The thing beneath the facility."
David looked toward the kneeling creatures.
"And they?"
"They were created from the energy it produced."
David’s eyes widened.
"Created?"
Samuel nodded.
"The original team thought they were studying an energy source."
He looked toward the seventh door.
"They were wrong."
The younger David spoke.
"They were studying a prison."
David looked at him.
"What was imprisoned?"
The boy’s expression became serious.
"Something that wasn’t supposed to exist."
Version Zero laughed quietly.
"It existed before any of them."
The younger David looked at him.
"You’re not helping."
"I’m not trying to."
David stepped between them.
"Enough."
Both versions looked at him.
David pointed at the younger one.
"Who are you?"
The boy hesitated.
Then answered.
"You’re first memory."
David frowned.
"What?"
"I’m what you were before they changed you."
David’s chest tightened.
"And him?"
He pointed toward Version Zero.
The black-eyed man smiled.
"I’m what remained after they changed you."
David stared.
"So what am I?"
Neither answered.
The chamber suddenly shook violently.
A crack appeared beneath the seventh pillar.
Then another.
The floor began splitting.
Elaine grabbed David’s arm.
"We need to move."
The younger David shook his head.
"No."
"Why?"
"If he leaves, it follows."
David looked toward the seventh door.
"What follows?"
The boy pointed.
"That."
The darkness behind the door expanded.
A shape emerged.
At first, David couldn’t understand what he was looking at.
It was enormous.
Too large to fit through the doorway.
Yet somehow it did.
Its body seemed to bend around the darkness.
There were no clear limbs.
No recognizable face.
Only a mass of black energy wrapped around something that looked almost human.
David felt his chest burn.
The creature stopped.
Then it looked directly at him.
The voice entered his mind.
’Host.’
David’s knees almost buckled.
The younger David stepped forward.
"No."
The creature’s attention shifted.
The boy raised his hand.
The seven circles responded.
A wave of energy struck the creature.
It recoiled.
David stared.
"You can control it."
The boy shook his head.
"No."
He looked at David.
"You can."
David’s eyes widened.
"Me?"
"Yes."
"I don’t know how."
"You did before."
"When?"
The boy smiled sadly.
"Right before you erased yourself."
David froze.
"What?"
"You weren’t forced to forget."
The boy’s voice became quieter.
"You chose to."
David’s heart hammered.
"Why?"
The boy looked toward the creature.
"Because you knew you couldn’t kill it."
He looked back.
"So you made yourself forget how to control it."
David stared at him.
"That’s insane."
"It worked."
"Did it?"
The boy didn’t answer.
David looked at his hands.
A faint light appeared around his fingers.
He hadn’t summoned it.
It was simply there.
Elaine stepped back.
"David."
He looked at her.
"I can’t control this."
The light intensified.
Samuel shouted,
"Don’t fight it!"
David looked at him.
"What?"
"You’ll make it worse."
The creature moved.
The kneeling creatures suddenly rose.
Hundreds of them.
They formed a wall between David and the thing.
The chamber erupted into chaos.
Elaine fired.
Energy struck the nearest creature.
It barely reacted.
David stepped forward.
The light around his hands expanded.
The younger version of himself looked at him.
"Remember."
David shook his head.
"I can’t."
"Yes, you can."
"I don’t know how."
The boy smiled.
"You already did."
David closed his eyes.
The chamber disappeared.
For one second, he was somewhere else.
Standing inside the seven circles.
The same room.
The same pillars.
But this time, he remembered.
Samuel was there.
Elaine was there.
The younger version of himself was there.
And Version Zero.
All four were watching him.
David remembered what he’d said.
He remembered the fear.
He remembered the choice.
And then he remembered why he had erased himself.
His eyes opened.
The light around his hands disappeared.
The creature stopped moving.
Everything became silent.
David looked directly at it.
And finally understood.
It wasn’t trying to enter the world.
It was trying to get back into him.
David whispered,
"You’re not my enemy."
The creature tilted its head.
David took a step forward.
"You’re me."
The chamber shook.
Version Zero’s smile disappeared.
The younger David closed his eyes.
Elaine stared at David.
And the creature finally spoke.
Not Host.
Not David.
A single word.
"Remember."
David’s entire world went white.