ANMELDEN“You chose everyone, my love. Now come find me.”Sophia stood completely still.The voice had vanished.But she knew it.She knew that voice better than she knew her own.Lucien.Her heart pounded violently.“Lucien?”Nothing.She turned around again.Cain was staring at her.“Mother?”Sophia looked at him.“Did you hear that?”“Hear what?”“A voice.”Cain frowned.“What voice?”Sophia swallowed.“Your father’s.”Cain looked confused.“Mother, I don’t have a father.”Sophia’s face went pale.She turned toward her children.All seven were looking at her with concern.None of them remembered Lucien.Adrian didn’t either.The First Father was gone.Eve was gone.The Final Sophia was gone.Every god, every throne, every prophecy had disappeared.The universe was finally free.But there was one problem.Sophia was the only person who remembered Lucien.The Empty PhotographSophia rushed into the palace.She searched every room.Every drawer.Every cabinet.Every memory.She found photograp
“They’re dead.”Sophia stared at Cain.For several seconds, she couldn’t breathe.“What did you say?”Cain’s hands were trembling.“The children…”Sophia grabbed his shoulders.“What happened?”“The sky opened.”“Where?”“Everywhere.”“Who attacked them?”Cain shook his head.“I don’t know.”Sophia’s eyes became colder.“Who?”“I couldn’t see.”“Cain!”He looked directly into her eyes.“It was you.”Sophia froze.“What?”Cain began crying.“You appeared above us.”“I…”“You were wearing the crown.”Sophia’s blood ran cold.“The crown was destroyed.”Cain shook his head.“No.”He pointed behind her.“You brought it back.”Sophia turned.The eyeless woman was standing beside the burning house.Above her head floated the broken crown.Sophia stared.“That’s impossible.”The woman smiled.“Not in here.”Sophia understood.“This isn’t real.”The woman nodded.“Now you’re beginning to understand.”The IllusionSophia looked around.The burning house.Cain’s blood.The dead children.The col
“The woman who existed before Sophia.”Lucien stared at her.The white world stretched endlessly in every direction.No sky.No ground.No horizon.Only white.And the woman standing before him.She had Sophia’s voice.Sophia’s height.Sophia’s smile.But there was something terribly wrong about her.She had no eyes.Lucien took a cautious step backward.“Where is Sophia?”The woman smiled.“That’s your first question?”“Yes.”“Not who I am?”“I already know what you are.”She tilted her head.“Do you?”“You’re connected to her.”The woman’s smile widened.“Very good.”Lucien clenched his fists.“Then take me back.”“I can’t.”“Why?”“Because Sophia hasn’t finished choosing.”Lucien’s heart tightened.“Choosing what?”The woman walked around him.“Whether you deserve to exist.”Lucien froze.“What?”She stopped behind him.“Do you know why you were created?”“I wasn’t created.”“That’s what they told you.”Lucien turned.“Then tell me the truth.”She smiled.“You were created by Sophi
“Because if you choose him… you will never become me.”Sophia stared at her future self.The words refused to make sense.“If I choose Lucien, I won’t become you?”The Final Sophia nodded.“Yes.”“Then why should I care about becoming you?”The older woman smiled sadly.“Because you will eventually understand what I had to sacrifice.”Sophia glanced at Lucien.He was watching her with fear in his eyes.“What did you sacrifice?”The Final Sophia didn’t answer immediately.Instead, she looked at the children.At Cain.At Adrian.At the millions of souls scattered across the collapsing realities.Then she whispered:“Everything.”Sophia’s heart tightened.“Everyone?”The Final Sophia nodded.“Everyone.”Lucien stepped forward.“Then why are you here?”The Final Sophia looked at him.“To stop her from making my mistake.”Lucien frowned.“What mistake?”She looked at Sophia.“Loving someone more than you love your own existence.”Sophia’s expression hardened.“I don’t consider loving Lucie
“You finally noticed.”Sophia couldn’t move.Lucien stood only a few steps away.His face was familiar.His body was familiar.His eyes…were not.They were completely black.Not the darkness of anger.Not the darkness of possession.Something deeper.Something ancient.Something that had been watching her for longer than she had been alive.Sophia slowly stepped backward.“Lucien?”He didn’t answer.Adrian grabbed her arm.“Don’t go near him.”Sophia stared at the man she loved.“But that’s Lucien.”Adrian shook his head.“No. That’s what he wants you to believe.”Lucien finally smiled.“Adrian.”Adrian froze.The voice wasn’t Lucien’s.It was deeper.Older.Almost impossible to hear.“How long have you known?”Adrian’s face tightened.“Since the Void.”Lucien laughed.“You should have told her.”“I tried.”“No.”Lucien’s black eyes moved toward Sophia.“You were afraid she would stop loving me.”Sophia’s heart broke.“Lucien…”The figure smiled.“Yes?”“Where is he?”Silence.“Where
“Finally.”Sophia’s eyes snapped open.The world had changed.Everything was silent.No wind.No stars.No voices.No movement.Even Lucien stood frozen.Sophia looked down at her wrist.The crown had transformed into a black band of ancient symbols, wrapped tightly around her skin.She tried to pull it away.It wouldn’t move.“Get it off me!”Lucien rushed toward her.“Sophia!”The moment his fingers touched the crown—BOOM!He was thrown backward.“Lucien!”He crashed onto the ground.Sophia ran toward him, but something stopped her.A wall of invisible energy.“Lucien!”He struggled to stand.“I’m okay.”“No, you’re not!”She tried to reach him again.The crown burned hotter.Then a voice whispered inside her mind.“Don’t touch him.”Sophia froze.“Who are you?”The voice laughed.“You know me.”Sophia’s blood ran cold.It was her own voice.But darker.Older.Colder.“I’m the Sophia who wears the crown.”⸻The Future She FearedSophia suddenly saw a vision.A throne.She was sitti







