Reborn to take over the stage 의 모든 챕터: 챕터 221 - 챕터 230

Nobody moved.Even the First One seemed to forget how to speak.Behind Anastasia, something shifted in the darkness. Ethan could not see its face, only the outline of a towering figure surrounded by thousands of thin, pale threads. Each thread stretched into the distance, disappearing among the voices beyond the doorway.Mila gripped Ethan's hand.“Daddy, what is that?”“I don't know, sweetheart.”The First One turned toward the doorway.“You were supposed to remain asleep.”The voice from the darkness answered.“And you were supposed to remain outside my prison.”The chamber trembled.Richard dropped several inches before the invisible force holding him caught him again. His eyes widened as he stared at the doorway.“No,” he whispered. “That isn't possible.”Anastasia looked at him.“You said that the last time too, Richard.”Ethan moved closer to Daniel.“Do you know what's behind that door?”Daniel shook his head, but his face had gone pale.“I know what the researchers called it.”

Ethan could not move.Anastasia stood beside the open doorway, tears running down her face.I only moved him into you.The words echoed in his mind until he could barely hear the chaos around him.“What did you do to me?” he asked.Anastasia shook her head.“I didn't put a child inside your body. I transferred the last surviving fragment of his consciousness into the pattern that would eventually become you.”“Before I was born?”“Before your parents even knew you would exist.”Ethan stared at her.“That doesn't make sense.”“I know.”“Then explain it.”Anastasia looked toward the First One.“It was trying to bring its child back. It believed that if it could find the right body, it could reverse the separation that had taken him away. But every attempt failed. The child was no longer whole.”The First One's face twisted.“You betrayed me.”“I refused to let you destroy another child.”“You stole him!”“I saved what I could.”The First One raised its hand.Anastasia was thrown against

Mila stepped back.The woman lying in Ethan's arms opened her golden eyes, and the light inside them was so bright that the shadows across the chamber retreated.For a moment, nobody spoke.Then Mila whispered, “Mommy?”Her mother's head turned toward her.The movement was slow, almost mechanical.“Yes, little one.”Mila rushed forward, but Ethan caught her gently around the waist.“Wait, sweetheart.”She struggled against his arm.“That's my mommy!”“I know. But we don't know what's happening to her.”Her mother smiled.It was the same smile Mila remembered from bedtime stories, scraped knees, and the mornings when she woke frightened from nightmares.That familiarity made the scene more terrifying, not less.“Come here, Mila,” her mother said.Mila stopped struggling.“Are you still my mommy?”The woman tilted her head.“I have always been your mother.”“That isn't what I asked.”Something flickered in her golden eyes.Ethan looked toward Anastasia.“Tell me what is happening.”Anas

Mila froze.The warning came from beneath the ruined machine, where the prisoner remained trapped behind twisted metal and broken glass.Whatever you do, do not let the twins touch.Mila looked at Lena.Lena floated a few inches above the floor, her head tilted at an unnatural angle. Golden light pulsed beneath her skin, spreading from her throat to her cheeks. Her black eye had turned completely gold.She looked frightened.But the voice that came from her mouth was not hers.“You have kept me waiting for a very long time,” the First One said.Mila took one step backward.“Lena, can you hear me?”The golden light brightened.Lena's lips trembled.“Mila?”It was her voice this time, small and terrified.“I'm here,” Mila answered. “Don't move.”“I can't.”Lena's fingers curled into fists. Something invisible held her suspended in the air.“It won't let me.”Ethan immediately moved between the girls, but the moment he stepped forward, the golden mark on Mila's palm burned.He stopped.A

Mila clamped both hands over her mouth.The voice had come from inside her.Not from Lena. Not from Eira. Not from the ruined machine.From somewhere beneath Mila's own heartbeat.Let me out, my children.Ethan reached for her, then stopped when the golden mark on her palm flashed.“Mila, look at me.”She lifted her eyes toward him.“Daddy, it spoke inside my head.”“I know.”“No, you don't.” Her voice trembled. “It wasn't like hearing someone talk. It was like someone was standing inside me, looking out through my eyes.”Ethan's expression changed.For one terrible moment, he understood exactly what she meant.He had felt the First One searching through his memories, reaching for the parts of him that came from Evan, Daniel, and the mysterious child whose fragment had become part of his existence. He knew what it meant to be treated like a doorway instead of a person.But Mila was his daughter.He would not allow the same thing to happen to her.“Can you still hear it?” he asked.Mil