ANMELDENChapter 115: The First Time She Was BornElara screamed.The sound tore through the white world.For one terrible moment, she didn't know where she was.There was no ground beneath her feet. No sky above her. No Elias beside her. No First Observer. No Ael.Only the memory.That newborn child with silver eyes.That golden-eyed woman holding him.And the words that continued echoing inside her mind.You have forgotten the first time you were born.Elara's knees gave way.Elias caught her before she fell.“Elara!”She clutched his clothes with trembling fingers.“I saw her.”“Who?”“Me.”Elias went silent.Elara looked up at him.“Not another version of me. Not a possibility. Not an alternate life.”Her voice shook.“I saw myself before I became Ji Yunxi.”Elias tightened his arms around her.The golden-eyed figure watched them from across the fractured white space.He did not interfere.He simply waited.Elara slowly stood.“Show me.”The figure's eyes narrowed.“Are you certain?”“No.”
Chapter 114: The One Before the First ChildThe white swallowed everything.There was no sky.No ground.No horizon.No sound.Elara stood in the middle of nothing, unable to tell whether she was standing at all.Elias was beside her.She knew that because she could feel his hand wrapped around hers.But when she looked at him, his face was strangely pale, as though even his existence was struggling to remain visible.First Observer stood several steps away.Ael was nowhere to be seen.The golden-eyed boy had vanished the moment the golden world collapsed.“Elara,” Elias whispered.She squeezed his hand.“I’m here.”His fingers tightened around hers.For several seconds, neither of them moved.Then something appeared in the distance.A single golden point.It was so small that Elara almost mistook it for a star.But there were no stars here.The point grew brighter.Then larger.And larger.Until Elara realized it wasn't a light.It was an eye.A gigantic golden eye opened in the whit
The name echoed through the golden world."Yunxi."Elara stood completely still.The boy remained beside the ancient well, the silver thread wrapped around his fingers.The First Observer stared at him as if he were looking at a ghost.Elias had stopped breathing.Even the ancient woman—the one who had claimed to be the First Light—looked shaken.Nobody spoke.The boy finally broke the silence."You all look surprised."His voice was young.Too young for the weight behind it.Elara slowly stepped toward him."What's your name?"The boy tilted his head."You don't remember?"Elara swallowed."No."He smiled sadly."You used to call me Ael."The name struck her like lightning.Ael.A tiny fragment of something buried inside her mind moved.She saw a small hand.Her hand.Holding his.She saw golden light.A white room.A child laughing.Then the memory disappeared.Elara pressed her fingers against her temple."Ael..."The boy smiled."Yes."The First Observer stepped forward."Ael..."
The golden world continued to grow.Elara stood at its edge, unable to look away from the little girl beneath its sky.The girl was tiny.Perhaps six years old.Her dark hair moved gently in the golden wind, and the silver thread remained wrapped around her small fingers.She looked impossibly ordinary.Yet Elara knew better.Nothing about this world was ordinary.There was no creator.No system.No observer.No predetermined purpose.And somehow, this child had found the beginning.Elara stepped forward."Who are you?"The girl looked up.Her smile widened."I don't know."The answer startled Elara."You don't know?"The girl shook her head."I woke up here.""When?""Before the world had a name."Elara's eyes narrowed."And the thread?"The girl looked down at it."This?""Yes.""I found it.""Where?"The girl pointed toward the ground."Underneath everything."The First Observer stepped closer."Underneath everything?"The girl nodded."There was something buried here.""What?"The
The enormous white eye remained open above them.It did not blink.It did not move.It simply watched.Elara stood frozen beneath it, Elias's hand still locked tightly within hers.The ancient woman stood several steps away, her expression unreadable.The First Observer looked up at the eye and whispered:"It has never opened before."Elara turned toward him."What is it?"He shook his head."I don't know."The ancient woman answered instead."The Witness."Elara's eyes narrowed."The Witness?""It existed before the first world.""Before Yun?""Yes.""Before you?"The woman hesitated."Yes."Elara looked upward again.The eye seemed to stretch across the entire sky."What does it want?"The ancient woman gave a quiet answer."Nothing."Elara frowned."Nothing?""It doesn't want.""Then why is it here?""Because it observes."The eye pulsed once.Every world around them trembled.Elara felt something pass through her.Not a thought.Not a memory.A question.She suddenly understood.T
The figure stepped out of the darkness.Elara forgot how to breathe.She had seen thousands of versions of herself.Children.Adults.Queens.Villains.Heroes.Creators.Failures.Possibilities.But none of them had ever made her feel this small.Because this one was different.She looked exactly like Elara.Yet there was something ancient in her eyes.Something that made every version Elara had ever encountered seem young.The woman smiled."Welcome back, my child."The words echoed through the darkness.Elara couldn't move."My... child?"The woman nodded."You finally remembered enough to return."The First Observer stepped backward.His face had lost all color."You shouldn't exist."The woman looked at him."Yet here I am."Elias stepped in front of Elara."Who are you?"The woman looked at him.For several seconds, she said nothing.Then she smiled."You."Elias frowned."Me?""Not this version."She raised her hand.A silver thread appeared between her fingers."You were the fi







