Бесплатный фрагмент - Universe Aeternov. The first book: «The heart that remembers tomorrow»

UNIVERSE

AETERNOV

The first book

«The heart that remembers tomorrow.»

Andrey Yuryevich Sopelnik.

Creative pseudonym: Andrey S.

Rostov-on-Don.

2025.

For everyone who loves Fiction, the Russian heroes of the Universe.

The universe of Aeternes.

(from Latin. Aeternus — eternal, and Greek aither — ether, higher matter).

The basic concept.

The Aetern universe is a multiverse where technology, magic, bioengineering, time travel, and superpowers form a single whole.

Heroism doesn’t always win here, but it always requires sacrifice, wisdom, and the ability to go all the way.

Evil exists, but it doesn’t last forever — it’s just a test that light goes through.

Names of creatures /races/peoples

1. Chronos people.

(from the Greek chronos — «time»).

• The only race capable of naturally moving through time due to its innate chrono-gift, which awakens in moments of extreme danger.

Their DNA contains a «chrono-code» — reflections of past and future lives, intertwined in one being.

• Representatives of the race can be ordinary people, cyborgs or even magicians — it all depends on the chosen time line.

• Main representative: Andrey Chronosynthez — a mechanic from 1978 who became a guide between epochs and a living bridge between technology, magic and fate.

«I am not the chosen one. I am collected. From the pieces of all who I was… and who I will become.»

2. Cyborgs / cyber creatures are mechanical.

(From mechanism + Latin. anima is an animated machine).

— Not just machines with human brains, but souls transplanted into technological bodies for salvation or mission.

— They have a «Core Heart» — a crystal that preserves their humanity. If it is destroyed, they become soulless tools.

— Character: Alexey Mechanic is a former soldier of the Chrono Galaxy, whose body was destroyed in the battle for the Sand of Time. His consciousness and soul were saved and placed in a combat building. Now he is the steel shield of the Aeternes, but at night he reads poetry and repairs old clocks… in memory of what it means to be alive.

«My chains are made of steel. My oath is from the light.»

3. Psionic/ magical creatures are etherians.

(From the ether. — the primary element of magic and energy).

— A race living in a Parallel Ether, capable of manipulating reality through thought, emotion, and song.

— Their magic works like the «superpowers» + «Power» from Star Wars.

— They are weak to technology, but they can «infect» machines with emotions: robots cry, ships sing.

— Character: Elira Ethereana is a singer whose song can stop a war or start a star engine. She hides the fact that one day her voice accidentally erased an entire planet from the universe’s memory.

«My song is not a weapon. She is a hug for lost souls.»

4. The cosmic lords / emperors of the sundran.

(from Dune + Sand + Dynasty).

— The ruling aristocracy of the galaxies, which owns the Sand of Time, a substance that allows controlling the destinies of civilizations.

— They live on the planet of the Aeternes, where sand is a frozen moment in time.

— Not villains, but guardians of the balance. But some are corrupt.

— Character: Inna Sandran is a wise ruler who sees all timelines and chooses a path where goodness wins, even if she loses in battle.

«I don’t manage time. I listen to him… and I ask him to be merciful.»

5. Superheroes are avatars of light.

— Not race, but rank. Any Chronos, Mechanis, or Etherean can become an Avatar if they pass the «Test of the Heart.»

— Possess Combined Power: technology + magic + time control.

— Their symbol is the Winged Atom (wings — freedom, atom — energy, circle — eternity).

— Character: Knox is a former villain (Chrono — Shadow) who redeemed himself and became the protector of all time. The heroes didn’t kill him — Elira sang him a song about his mother. He cried… and became a light.

«I was the end of the story. Now I am her new beginning.»

The main plot of the story.

«When the Sand of Time began to crumble, and the machines forgot what love was, and magic froze in their hearts — the Chronos awakened.

Their task is to collect Avatars of Light from all eras in order to restore the Chrono-the Heart of the Universe.

Traveling from the deserts of the Aeternes to the streets of the Cities of 2084, from the star temples of the Aetherians to the laboratories where the first Mechanis was created, they will learn:

The main power is not in weapons, not in magic, not in time.…

The point is that you’re willing to give anything for someone else to smile tomorrow.»

Planet: Aeternov is the heart of time.

«Everything starts here. Nothing ends here. Time doesn’t rule here, it serves. Even the silence remembers your name here.»

Other planets of the aetern universe.

1. Ferronia (the planet of machines) — the planet of machines (the house of Mechanics, including Alexei).

2. Melody (planet of songs) — planet of songs (house of Etherians, including Elira).

3. Infantia (Planet of Childhood) — the planet of childhood.

4. Aquarion (planet of water) — planet of water.

5. Pyrolysis (planet of fire) — the planet of fire.

6. Somnium (planet of dreams) — the planet of dreams.

The main characters of the aetern universe.

1. Andrey Khronosynthez — Khronos, mechanic from 1978, synthesis of soul and silicon.

2. Alexey is a mechanic — a former soldier with the heart of a poet.

3. Elira Efiriana is a singer whose song changes reality.

4. Inna Sandran is the Empress of the Times, who sees all the ways.

5. Knox is the Fallen One who became the Light.

6. Dr. Ziggy «Boom Boom» Future is a chaos genius, the creator of the chrono engine.

7. Kitty-9 «Fluff of Destruction» is Alexey Mekhanik’s combat cyber — cat.

The assembled team is «Avatars of Light»:

Andrey is the heart.

Alexey is a steel shield.

Elira is a soul.

Inna is wisdom.

Knox is redemption.

Ziggy is a mad genius.

Kitty-9 is a furry apocalypse.

Planets of the aetern universe

1. Ferronia (the planet of machines) — the planet of machines.

«Here, nuts are stronger than oaths, and hearts are made of steel and poetry.»

• Type: Techno-organic world / living metropolis-organism

• The Rulers: The Council of Old Testament Mechanics (not religion — the «covenant» as a contract with humanity).

• Description:

Cities here are living structures, growing like trees made of metal and light. Skyscrapers «breathe,» bridges change shape to embrace passersby, and roads choose where to lead — to safety or to adventure.

At night, Ferronia (the planet of machines) glows with blue veins of energy, like a giant cyborg sleeping under the stars.

• Features:

• Machines are born in «Soul Forges» — foundries where not only metal, but also fragments of consciousness are melted.

• There is no «waste» here — everything is recycled into a new life. Even rust is an «old wisdom» that is collected and stored in archives.

• The main law: «No one should lose their Core Heart. Even if the body is a wreck.»

• Residents: Mechanics of all kinds, cyber-animals, philosophical engineers, «techno-shamans» who can heal machines with songs.

• A local phrase: «We didn’t create the technology. We learned to love them, and they became us.»

2. Melody (planet of songs) — planet of songs.

«Here, rain is an aria, wind is a symphony, and silence is the loudest note.»

• Type: Emotional acoustic sphere / Live musical instrument

• Rulers: The Keepers of the Last Note are Etherians of the highest rank

• Description:

The whole planet is a giant resonator. Mountains are like strings, rivers are like flutes, forests are like choirs. If you shout here, the sound will circle the planet three times and return as a response from the universe.

The sky changes color depending on the mood of the world melody — lilac from nostalgia today, golden from delight tomorrow.

• Features:

• To get here, you need to sing your true song. If it’s fake, the portal won’t open.

• Here you can «eat» a note and get its emotion. A note of «Courage» will make you fearless for the day. A note of «Forgiveness» will heal an old grudge.

• The main temple is an Opera of All Time, where voices from the past, present and future sing simultaneously.

• Inhabitants: Etherians, melody spirits, «song eaters» (creatures that feed on harmony), wandering bards from other worlds.

• A local phrase: «Don’t tell me who you are. Sing it, and I’ll understand you better than you do yourself.»

3. Infantia (planet of childhood) — the planet of childhood.

«Time doesn’t get old here. It’s playing.»

• Type: Emotional regressive zone / eternal garden of Wonders

• The Rulers: The advice of the Eternal Guys (children who never wanted to «grow up» — neither physically nor mentally).

• Description:

Cities look like giant toy castles, rivers flow like lemonade, clouds are wadded up but edible. It’s impossible to lie here — any fake causes a «shower of soap bubbles» that reflect your real feelings.

The air smells of vanilla, chalk and the first snow.

• Features:

• Any adult who sets foot here begins to «return» to childhood — not with his body, but with his soul. He remembers how he built sand castles, how he was afraid of the dark, and how he believed in miracles.

Here live «Babysitter Dreams» — creatures that lull nightmares and replace them with good dreams.

• Forbidden: to be bored, to get angry for no reason, to say «it’s impossible.»

• Residents: Eternal children, Babysitter Dreams, talking teddy bears, «remembrancers» — creatures that preserve lost childhood moments.

• A local phrase: «You can grow up. You can’t stop playing.»

4. Aquarion (planet of water) — planet of water.

«Every drop here is a tear, a laugh, or a memory. Drink carefully — you may fall in love with the past.»

• Type: Liquid Memory / Oceanic Mind.

• Rulers: The Deep Matriarchs are ancient beings who remember the birth of the first worlds.

• Description:

The planet is almost completely covered with living water, which preserves all the memories of everyone who ever cried, laughed or drank water in Aeternov.

The islands are frozen moments: «The Island of the First Kiss», «The Archipelago of Forgiveness», «The Peak of the Last Breath».

Underwater are coral — memory cities where those who chose to «drown in the past… to save the future» live.

• Features:

• You can dive into the «River of Tears» and live through someone else’s pain to figure out how to help.

• «Sea of Laughter» heals emotional wounds — but only if you are ready to laugh yourself.

• In the center is the «Well of Tomorrow» — if you make a wish and throw a tear there, it will come true… but not in the way you think. But as needed.

• Residents: Water Etherians, «wailers» (guardians of sadness), «smeshinki» (spirits of joy), travelers-healers.

• A local phrase: «Don’t be afraid to drown. Water knows when to let you go… and when to hold you to your heart.»

5. Pyrolysis (planet of fire) — the planet of fire.

«The flame doesn’t burn here, it cleanses. If it doesn’t destroy, it regenerates.»

• Type: Emotional and transformational sphere / forge of destinies.

• The Rulers: Ash Smiths are creatures of fire and will, forging fates on anvils of stars.

• Description:

Volcanoes here are the «hearts of the planet», spewing not lava, but molten dreams and fears. Deserts are made up of the ashes of past mistakes — but if you listen carefully, lessons are whispered in it.

The sky is always in shades of sunset — orange, crimson, gold. There is no night — only the «hours of coals», when the fire rests, but does not go out.

• Features:

• To get through Pyrolysis, you need to burn something inside yourself. Pride. A grudge. Fear.

The Forges of Fate allow you to forge your pain into strength — but at a price: you have to give the fire a memory that you no longer want to carry.

• The center of the planet is the «Heart of Flame» — if you touch it with pure intent, you will gain the power to revive even what has been erased from time.

• Residents: Blacksmiths of Ashes, «fire jumpers» (acrobatic children dancing in flames), spirits of determination, wandering redeemer warriors.

• A local phrase: «Fire is not the enemy. He is your most honest judge. And the most faithful friend, if you are ready to burn… to become a light.»

6. Somnium (planet of dreams) — the planet of dreams.

«Here, reality is what you believed in the most. Not even for a second.»

• Type: Psycho-reactive world / collective unconscious

• Rulers: Architects of Dreams are creatures capable of materializing thoughts into landscapes.

• Description:

The landscape changes every 7 minutes, depending on what most living beings in the multiverse dream of.

Today is a city of clouds and sweets. Tomorrow is a maze of books and mirrors. The day after tomorrow — a field of flying whales with sails of stars.

There are no laws of physics here, only laws of imagination.

• Features:

• In order not to get lost, you need to hold a «thread of reality» in your hand (usually it’s something very personal: a toy, a letter, a smell).

• You can «meet» your dream — literally. It will look the way you imagine it to look.

Danger: if you stay too long, you can forget where the dream ends and you begin.

• Residents: Architects of Dreams, «wandering fantasies», «wandering dreams», heroes from other people’s stories, seekers of inspiration.

• A local phrase: «Do you think this is an illusion? Look at your heart — it’s beating faster. So this is the real reality.»

Chapter 1. The awakening of chronos

The epigraph:

«He didn’t know that time is not sand in a clock.

It’s like sand in his palms.

And when he clenched his fist…

The whole world held its breath.»

1.

Rostov-on-Don. 1978. 6:47 a.m.

Andrey Chronosynthez was late. As usual.

— Damn… — he swore softly, pulling on a battered jacket and grabbing a backpack with tools. — Ivan Ilyich will definitely kill me with a wrench today if I don’t make it in time for the opening.

He rushed out of the modest Khrushchev house on Budennovskaya Street. The balconies were hung with linens, and sparrows were already buzzing in the courtyard. My mother’s voice sounded behind me.:

— Andrew, you forgot the sausage sandwiches!

— I’ll eat them on the way! — he shouted and, without turning around, ran to the auto repair shop «Auto Repair at Andrey’s».

The morning was warm, southerly, with a light breeze from the Don. The air smelled of dust, fresh bread from the bakery, and blooming acacia trees.

Muslim Magomayev’s velvety voice could be heard from the open window of his neighbor, Uncle Senya, a pensioner. The song that my father adored, as always, was playing in the courtyard. Andrey couldn’t help but smile: this voice sounded in their house for better or for worse.

He had been working as a mechanic since he was sixteen. Not because he dreamed of cars, but because his hands knew how to fix what was broken. Sometimes it was the engine of a Lada or a Volga, sometimes it was someone’s hope of getting to the sea or on a date in Gorky Park.

He was late today because he had been working too long on his grandfather’s old clock, the one with the cracked glass and the hands frozen at 3:33.

«They don’t tick,» said grandfather, a veteran who was sitting at the entrance with an accordion, «but they remember every second when you were happy.

Andrey didn’t understand it then. Even more so now.

But he still carried the watch in his pocket. Like a mascot.

2.

Andrey’s Car Repair shop was already smoking from work. Andrey rushed in, out of breath, with disheveled hair and an oil stain on his cheek.

«I’m sorry, Ivan Ilyich!

«You’re twenty — two minutes late,» Ivan Ilyich said calmly, wiping his hands on an old rag. — But okay. It’s not critical yet. Major Petrov’s Volga is over there. He says the car cries in the morning. It’s like he knows he’s retiring.

Andrey grinned: Major Petrov’s cars all «cried» — he loved them too much.

He walked over to the blue seventy-year-old Volga, lifted the hood and sank into his usual rhythm: the clink of keys, the smell of gasoline, the warm metal under his palms. Here, among the engines and oil, he felt whole.

And suddenly — a scream.

Cutting. Child. Shrill.

Andrey jerked and turned to the window.

A crane was swinging at a construction site across the street. One of the hooks broke, the chain jerked, and the steel beam, heavy as a sentence, slowly but inexorably slid down.

A five-year-old boy in a red T-shirt was standing under it, looking at the beam as if it were a toy.

— no! Andrey shouted.

He didn’t have time to think. He just ran.

The world has narrowed down to a few steps. The air became as thick as water. My heart was pounding in my ears.

He jumped and knocked the child down, grabbing him and rolling away.

The beam collapsed next to such a blow that the windows of the workshop shook. A column of dust and rusty shavings rose up.

The boy was crying, clinging to Andrey. Andrey himself was shaking as if he had just been pulled out of icy water.

«Are you… are you okay?» — he croaked, trying to unclench his numb fingers.

The boy nodded and snuggled closer to him.

And then there was a flash.

No light.

Not a sound.

Time.

It was as if reality itself had sighed and shifted.

Andrey felt his body losing weight and boundaries. It doesn’t hurt. It just… disappears.

The last thing he heard was Ivan Ilyich’s voice coming from somewhere far away.:

— Andrey?! Andrey, where are you?!

And then — silence.

3.

He opened his eyes.

Sand. Pale, iridescent, like mercury in the sun.

The sky was not blue, but mirrored: instead of clouds, it reflected his own faces at different ages — a boy, a young man, an old man, a warrior, a poet, an outcast, a savior.

«Where… am I?» «What is it?» he whispered, getting to his trembling feet.

The sand beneath him trembled and whispered, as if a thousand voices were saying at the same time,

«You’re late… but you’re on time.»

«You’re not ready… but you’re the one who’s needed.»

«You’re afraid… but you’re Chronos.»

«Who’s there?» Andrey shouted.

A woman in a white and gold robe came out of a nearby dune. The fabric flowed like light. Her eyes resembled rotating galaxies, and her hair looked like sand that had come to life in time and was flowing down her shoulders.

«I am Inna Sandran, Empress of the Aeternes, — she said softly, but there was steel in her voice. — And yes, Andrey… You are the last Chronos whose chronocode has not yet awakened.

— Chrono… what?» He laughed hoarsely. — I’m just a mechanic. I’m fixing the Lada, not saving worlds.

«That’s exactly why we need you, — a deep metallic voice said.

A tall warrior in steel armor came out from behind the dune. A blue crystal pulsed in his chest, near his heart, like a naked but living «Core Heart.»

«I’m Alexey the Mechanic, — he introduced himself. — Former soldier of the Chrono-Galaxy. Now it’s someone who makes sure that the machines remember why they were created. You’re the person who fixes what’s broken. I am a machine that learns to be human again. None of us knows how to be a hero. We’ll learn together.

Andrey was silent. His shoulders were shaking.

— I… I can’t, — he gasped. «I’m afraid.»

«It’s okay, — Inna said, and knelt down in front of him so that their eyes were on the same level. — Heroes are not born fearless. They are born alive. And the living are always afraid. But they’re moving forward anyway.

She held out her hand. In her palm lay a handful of the Sand of Time — it shimmered, as if every grain contained someone’s moment.

— Take it, — Inna said softly. — And remember.

Andrey, as in a dream, held out his hand.

The sand touched his skin and exploded with light.

4.

Memories hit him like an avalanche.

Not his. More than one time.

He is a child in the year 2047, hiding from hunting drones in an underpass and clutching a battered teddy bear.

He is an old man in 3012, planting a thin sprout on the charred ruins of the Land where his house once stood.

He is a soldier in 2155, kneeling in front of his friend’s body and unable to find words — just a silent scream inside.

He is a boy in 1923, holding out a flower to a stranger at the train station and not understanding why her smile makes the whole world warmer.

He is a young man in 2089, kissing his beloved for the first time under the neon of a metropolis where the stars have long been hidden by domes.

He is a mechanic in 1978, rescuing a child on Budennovskaya Street… and disappearing in a flash of time.

— No… it’s not me…» he whispered, falling to his knees. «This can’t be happening.»…

«It’s you, — Inna said. «It’s you. All lives. All the chances given to one soul. In every time, you are the one who fixes what is broken. People. Cars. Worlds. You are the one who carries time within you. And now… time has chosen you.

Andrey’s hands were shaking. He automatically reached into his pocket and took out his grandfather’s watch.

They were ticking.

In the opposite direction.

«What should I do?» «What is it?» he asked in a whisper.

— Here you go,» Inna said, and placed a small, warm crystal in his palm, shimmering with all the shades of dawn. — This is the Core of Chronos. Your connection to us. From the Aeternes. With time itself. Now get up. The others are waiting for us. Alexey. Elira. Knox. Ziggy. Kitty is 9.

— To… fluffy what?!» Andrey couldn’t stand it.

«Later,» Elira smiled, stepping forward as if she had stepped out of the very song of the wind.

«We don’t have much time, — Alexei said. His voice rang like metal. — The Chrono-Shadow is already moving towards the Heart of the Aeternes. If she gets there first, everything will disappear. Even the memories of goodness.

Andrey squeezed the crystal as if it could give an answer. I looked at my reflections, past and future. To Inna. On Alexey. On Elira.

He took a deep breath.

— Okay, — he said. «First what?» And… where are we anyway?

«We’re on Aeternum, — Inna replied. — On a planet that remembers all possible tomorrows and cherishes every «if.» This is the heart of the Aeternes. And it believes that you can save even what hasn’t broken yet.

«And… how do I get home?» To Rostov? «What is it?» he asked softly.

Inna smiled softly, almost motherly.

«You’re already home, Andrey, — she said.

It’s just… the house got a little bigger.

And a little more eternal.

Chapter 2. Valley of the whispering machines

The epigraph:

«He came to fix the engines.

I stayed behind to teach them to dream again.»

1.

The Aeternov sand is still warm underfoot when Inna Sandran raises her hand and a portal opens right in the air.

Not from the fire.

Not made of lightning.

From the sound.

At first, there was a single metallic clang. The hum of the engine is added to it. Then there is the cautious whisper of gears and the quiet song of rust, which for some reason does not sound dead, but alive.

«This is the Valley of the Whispering Machines, — says Alexey the Mechanic, looking into the opening almost tenderly. — The home of those who have not forgotten what it means to be alive.

«And if I… break something?» Andrey asks cautiously, tightening his grip on his grandfather’s watch in his pocket. «I’m a mechanic, not a magician.»

«You are Chronos, — Elyra Aetheriana says softly, standing behind him. — And Chronos repair more than just iron. They fix things that others consider hopeless. Even if they don’t know about it yet.

Inna smiles:

«Go ahead.» They’re waiting for you.

Andrey takes a step and falls… into the sound.

2.

He lands softly on something warm and throbbing. It’s not earth or cold metal.

Living metal.

A city of steel and light sprawled around.

The factories here are like cathedrals: arches made of titanium, domes made of tempered glass, towers-pipes, from which not steam pours, but the melody of the wind that came from the planet of Melody Songs.

Rivers flow like liquid metal, and at sunset they sing — in a low, thick melody, as if the very soul of the planet of the Ferronia machines comes to the surface to breathe.

There are Rats walking the streets.

Some are huge, like Alexei, in heavy battle armor with blue crystals in their chests.

Others are small, with light — bulb eyes and key-like hands. They fix the lanterns, softly singing lullabies to them — and the light becomes softer.

Andrey feels that everything is breathing here. Every bolt, every wire, every crystal.

— Hello, Earthling,» a voice says from behind him.

He turns around abruptly.

In front of him is a cat.

But not the usual one.

The size of a panther. The coat is made of iridescent nanofibers, and the tail is long and segmented, like a flexible cable through which soft flashes of light run. There is a collar with a tiny reactor around his neck, and the tip of his tail flickers with a status indicator, although now it is coiled up like a contented pet.

«Are you… Kitty—9?» Andrey asks cautiously.

The cat comes closer, rubs against his leg and starts purring. This sound is more like a steady frequency of a working reactor than a purring sound.

— Murr… — he drawls. — Alexey said you can fix hearts. I hope it’s true. Because mine is… creaking today.

3.

The cathedral stands in the very heart of the valley — a giant structure made of copper, crystal and light.

Its walls are not walls, but thousands of Core Hearts floating in the air and pulsating in a single rhythm. Each one is like a frozen beat of someone’s heart, taken off pause.

There is silence inside.

But not empty. Saturated.

Andrey takes a step and feels the air around him getting thicker. Even breathing echoes here.

Every Core-Heart remembers.

One thing is the first timid kiss somewhere under the neon rain of a distant metropolis.

The other is a last, barely audible «sorry» by the hospital bed.

The third is the sonorous laughter of a child who was saved at the last moment.

«This is where the Mechanics come to confess, — Alexei says quietly. His voice sounds especially muffled in the Cathedral. «We’re wrong, too. We sin too. We’re afraid. We’re angry. Crying. It’s just that our tears are made of butter.

At this moment, one of the crystals hanging slightly to the side cracks subtly.

Barely audible.

But for Alexey, this sound sounds louder than any shot.

He jerks as if he’s been electrocuted and takes a step forward.

— No… — he whispers. «Not again.

Andrey sees that the crystal is dimming. An alarming, jagged light pulsates inside him. Like a heart that has long been tired of beating.

— what is it? Andrey asks.

«My Heart is the Core, — Alexey replies. «The part of me that remembers… her.»

He does not specify who exactly. And so, it is clear.

4.

— Will you fix it? Kitty-9 asks almost inaudibly, flattening her ears.

Andrey looks at the cracked crystal.

On its surface, as in a curved mirror, fragments of pictures flash by: a children’s room, a small palm, the shadow of a big man in the doorway, a promise that they did not have time to fulfill.

He comes closer.

He puts his palms on the cold edge.

He closes his eyes.

And he stops listening with his ears.

He listens to the chrono code.

There is no sound inside. And the memory.

— Dad… why don’t the stars fall to earth?» «What is it?» a thin voice asks.

«Because they’re afraid of crashing, honey, — replies a tired but warm laugh.

«Don’t be afraid, — the girl whispers. «I’ll always pick you up.»

Tears come to Andrey’s eyes.

He understands that he was not asked to fix the crack.

He was asked to return what was lost.

«I’m not going to fix the crystal,» he says in a whisper. «I’ll give him his memory back.»

It’s like he’s untying a knot in time.

The crystal freezes.

A moment.

Then it flashes with light, warm and soft, like the arms that once hugged a child. The crack does not disappear, but it ceases to be a wound and becomes a scar.

Alexey falls to his knees.

— Thank you…» he exhales. «You gave her back to me.»

«I didn’t return it, — Andrey answers softly. «I just helped you remember that she never left.»

5.

Later, on the porch of the Cathedral, Kitty-9 lies at Andrey’s feet, purring heavily but steadily.

«You’re ours now, — he says lazily. «Even if you’re from the past.» Even if you’re still afraid.

— why? — Andrey is genuinely surprised.

«Because you don’t see us as cars, — the cat replies. «You see people.

Andrey looks at the sunset.

The sky above Ferronia is painted in copper and blue tones. Somewhere in the distance, a river of metal sings. Somewhere in the depths of the Cathedral, Mechanis is still sobbing, not believing that his heart has the right to a second chance. Knox is waiting somewhere on the Aeternum. My mother is somewhere in Rostov.

«I do not know how to save the universe, — he admits quietly. «But I know how to fix a heart.»

«That’s enough, — Kitty-9 says. — The universe is also a heart. It’s just very big.

End of the second chapter.

That night, Andrey realized for the first

time that being a hero does not mean being strong.

It means not being afraid to touch someone else’s pain.

And say, «I’m here. Let’s fix it together.»

Chapter 3. The shadow that remembers the light

The epigraph:

«He wasn’t afraid of monsters.

He was afraid that he was the monster.

But the light doesn’t ask if you’re worthy.

He just comes… and stays.

«1.

After the Valley of the Whispering Machines, Andrei thought he had already seen everything:

cars singing lullabies, apocalypse cats, crystals keeping the memory of a soldier’s daughter…

But Aeternov was deeper.

That night, the sky above the planet turned a deep purple, a shade of tired despair. The lights went out in the windows of the Cathedral of Hearts, and the Sand of Time whispered more softly than usual.

Inna Sandran was standing on the balcony of the palace, looking at the stars, when she said:

«You have to meet him.»

Andrey, leaning against the cold railing, grimaced:

«With whom?»

«Someone who knows the value of darkness… because he was it himself, — Inna replied.

— You mean…

Inna nodded.

«He’s not with us. But not against us either. He’s in the shadows. Where the Sand of Time does not sing, but is silent.

— And if he… attacks?» Andrey squeezed the crystal hanging on his chest in his fingers.

«He won’t attack, — Alexei the Mechanic said softly, appearing in the doorway. His steel armor looked almost black in the starlight. «He’s too tired of being a monster.

«Then why should I go to him?» Andrey asked.

Elyra Ethiriana came closer. Her voice was softer than the whisper of the night wind.:

— Because only Chronos can show shadow her past.

And without a past… there is no future.

2.

Andrey was walking alone.

Across the desert, where the Sand of Time did not whisper — it was silent.

Where the sky-mirror reflected not faces, but emptiness.

Where even the wind seemed afraid to blow, so as not to disturb someone’s ancient pain.

In his hand he clutched the Chrono-Heart crystal, the one Inna had given him. The crystal pulsed faintly, like a tired heart before a long night.

And suddenly — a shadow.

Not the shadow of a stone.

Not a trick of the light.

A living shadow. Tall, with blurred edges, as if woven from forgotten times and unfulfilled decisions.

«Go away, Chronos, — a voice whispered, as if from the depths of an old well. «You don’t belong here.»

Andrey’s heart started beating faster, but he took a step forward.

«I didn’t come for you,» he said, barely keeping his voice steady. — I’ve come… for the one who’s hiding inside you.»

The shadow froze.

«You don’t know anything about me,» she said dully.

— I know that you tried to steal the Sand of Time in order to bring back those you loved,“ Andrei replied softly. „I know you tore the fabric of reality. I know Elira sang you a song… and you started crying.

He took another step.

«But I do not know,» he added, «why you are still here.»

The shadow flinched as if it had been struck by invisible words.

— Because the light… is not for people like me, — the voice whispered. «I destroyed worlds. Erased the fate. Left millions without tomorrow. How can I stand next to them? With Alexei, who remembers every lost life.… With Elira, who sings for those who are no longer there.… With you, who saved a child, not even knowing that he would become a hero?

— And you? Andrey asked quietly. «Who did you save?»

The shadow was silent for a long time.

«No one, — she finally whispered. «I was only saving myself… and it was too late.

3.

Andrey took another step.

«You’re wrong, — he said.

He raised his hand and activated the chrono code.

The world went dark. The sand around them was no longer just sand. Memories flashed through his mind.

Not Andrew.

Knox.

…A boy in the garden, planting a flower for his sick mother.

…A young man shielding his friend from an arrow that he had to take himself.

…A warrior standing on the edge of a molten time abyss, trying to hold a crack in reality with his bare hands.

…A man standing in front of the altar of the Sand of Time, whispering, «Bring her back… bring them all back… take me instead.»

At first, these images were black and white, like old photographs.

Then the color began to return to them.

«See? Andrey said softly. «You didn’t just destroy. You tried to save me. You fought. You loved.

The shadow was trembling.

The contours became denser.

The sand beneath my feet stopped being dead — golden grains began to move in it.

A faint light touched the shadow.

At first, it was barely noticeable.

Then — harder.

Until a man in a dark cloth cloak appeared in front of Andrey, in which tiny stars twinkled. His eyes were full of pain… and something else. The very thing he was running from so desperately.

Hope.

«Why aren’t you… afraid of me?» «What is it?» he asked hoarsely.

— Because I saw you crying, — Andrei replied. — And the one who cries hasn’t lost his soul yet.

Knox lowered his head.

«I do not know how to be… a light, — he confessed.

«You don’t have to be the light, — Andrei smiled. «You just have to walk with him.» Like me. Like Alexey. Like Elira. Like all of us.

He held out his hand.

«Go ahead.» They’re waiting for you. Even if you don’t believe it yourself yet, they believe for you.

Knox stared at the outstretched hand for a long time.

Then he took a step.

And he took it.

At the same moment, the Sands of Time around them whispered louder than ever before,

«Welcome home, Knox.»

4.

When they returned to the Cathedral of Hearts, everyone was already waiting.

Alexey nodded to Knox, without words, but with the respect that the shadow, who had become a man, did not expect.

Elira began to sing softly, not a lullaby, but a song of return. There was no accusation or pity in her voice. Just the fact: «You came. So you still have a choice.»

Kitty-9 approached Knox, walked around, as if checking for creaks, and rubbed against his leg.

— Mrrr… — he drawled. «You smell like ashes and stars.» It’s a good combination.

Inna Sandran stepped forward.

«Now there are seven of us,» she said.

The sand trembled softly under his feet. The Chrono-Heart, hidden in the depths of the planet, responded with a dull but steady thud.

— And the Chrono-Heart is beating at full strength,» she added.

Andrey looked at Knox, and for the first time he did not see the darkness in him.

He saw a light that passed through the fire… and did not go out.

End of the chapter.

The darkness does not disappear.

She just finds someone who’s willing to hold her hand…

and say,

«You’re not alone. Let’s move on — together.»

Chapter 4. The laboratory of chaos

The epigraph:

«He didn’t invent a time machine.

He invented machines of hope.

It’s just that sometimes they would explode…

and bake pancakes.»

1.

After the meeting with Knox, the team of Avatars of Light gathered again at the Cathedral of Hearts.

Andrey still felt the echo of that shadow — not fear, but a quiet longing for those who could not be returned.

Alexey silently checked his Core Heart, stroking the place where the crack had been recently.

Elira hummed a tune that made even the Sand of Time seem a little lighter.

Kitty-9 was asleep, curled up on Knox’s shoulder, as if he were talking: «You’re ours now.»

And then there was an explosion.

Not destructive.

Not evil.

Pink.

A column of light burst out of the ground, smelling of vanilla, ozone and… pancake batter.

«AGAIN?» Alexey barked, covering his eyes with his palm.

«It’s not an explosion, — Elira smiled. «It’s an invitation.

A man in a bright pink bathrobe, disheveled hair and protective glasses with a miniature holographic clock spinning instead of lenses fell out of the clouds of pink smoke.

— Friends! He exclaimed, brandishing the soldering iron like a baton. «I accidentally messed up the coordinates… the measurements… and the laws of physics… but I found a way to get you all in one place!»

— Dr. Ziggy, — Andrei sighed wearily. — Did you «accidentally» blow up something again?

— I didn’t blow it up! Transformed it! Ziggy immediately corrected. — And now… I invite everyone to take a tour! I have a surprise for you! And maybe some smoke. But mostly it’s a surprise!

He snapped his fingers.

A portal opened under the feet of the heroes in the form of a spiral staircase of light and gears, going down somewhere beyond the limits of what is possible.

«Where does this lead?» Knox asked warily.

— Into the very heart of genius! Ziggy announced proudly. «To my lab.» Where madness meets science…

...and science says, «Okay, let’s try it!»

2.

Dr. Ziggy’s laboratory was located under the Station of All Trains, in the basement, which, according to rumors, had no bottom.

Inside, chaos reigned, ordered according to the principle: «everything is in its place, even if this place is in the cloud.»

The robot assistants were cooking soup in a centrifuge.

• Holographic formulas floated in the air like goldfish.

• There was a portrait of Einstein with a wire mustache on the wall.

There was a talking refrigerator in the corner, complaining resentfully about «too much milk and not enough ice cream.»

— Welcome to the Temple of Chaotic Harmony! Ziggy announced, proudly spreading his arms. — Here I am building something that will save the Aeternes!

«What is it?» Andrey asked cautiously.

Ziggy led them to the center of the room.

There, in a cocoon of light, pulsating crystals and… old Lada parts, a ship was floating.

Not huge.

Not combative.

Alive.

Its body was created from the melted Sand of Time.

The portholes are made from Inna Sandran’s frozen tears.

The engines are from Elyra’s songs, imprinted in memory crystals.

And in the heart of the ship beat the chrono core, assembled from Andrei’s grandfather’s watch, Alexei’s memories, and Knox’s spark of remorse.

«Is this… a ship?» Andrey exhaled.

«It’s the Heart of Tomorrow, — Ziggy said solemnly. — A ship that flies not only in space, but also in possibilities. I put it together from what you gave me. From your choice, Andrey. Out of your pain, Alexey. From your voice, Elira. Out of your remorse, Knox. From the wisdom of Inna. And even from Kitty-9’s purring!

«Mrrr, I’m officially part of an engineering miracle,» the cat declared with satisfaction.

«But… what’s he for?» Andrey asked.

— So, you can get to all six planets,» Ziggy replied, without his usual laughter. — To collect the Seed of Eternity. Because the Chrono Shadow already erases more than just moments.…

He fell silent, and the laboratory became especially quiet.

«It erases the very possibility of good, — he finished.

No one was joking.

— Then… when do we start?» Alexey asked.

«As soon as you all put your hand on the hull,» Ziggy said. — Because the «Heart of Tomorrow» does not fly on fuel. It’s flying on unity.

One by one, the heroes approached the ship.

Andrey. Alexey. Elira. Knox.

Even Kitty-9 carefully placed a paw with plasma claws.

The ship shone.

And Grandfather Andrey’s voice sounded in his heart:

«They don’t tick… but they remember every second when you were happy.»

«Are you ready?» Ziggy asked.

«We’re ready, — Andrei replied.

— Then… go ahead — tomorrow!

End of the chapter.

«The Heart of Tomorrow» wasn’t perfect.

It sometimes sneezed with sparks.

Sometimes they sang Magomayev’s songs.

Sometimes he asked for pancakes.

But it was theirs.

And that was the whole power of the universe.

Флешбэк: «рождение сердца».

Flashback: «the birth of a heart.»

From the memoirs of Dr. Ziggy «Boom Boom» Future.

The epigraph:

«I didn’t build the ship.

I was picking up the pieces of hope…

from those who still believed in tomorrow.»

1.

Three months ago. The basement is under the Station of All Trains.

Ziggy stood in the middle of the devastation.

There are wreckage of failures all around.

Burnt out time engines.

Broken chrono-mirrors.

Portals frozen in a silent scream.

And a single piece of metal — a fragment of the body of the first Mechanis, who died in the battle for the Aeternes.

«Wrong again, — Ziggy whispered, taking off his glasses, which were misted up from crying. — You promised, Grandfather… that I would save them all.»

He squeezed his eyes shut and remembered his childhood.

Rostov-on-Don. The year is 2099.

Grandfather is an old engineer who fixed not only cars, but also time in other people’s stories.

— Technology without a soul is dead, Ziggy, — he kept saying. — And the soul is helpless without technology. Find a balance.

The balance disappeared on the day when the Chrono Shadow erased the first timeline, the one where his sister did not die under the rubble of the Chrono Galaxy.

Since then, Ziggy has been building a machine capable of bringing her back.

Every time, it’s a failure.

2.

One night, when the sky above Aeternov was crying purple rain, Inna Sandran came to him.

«You’re not building for her,» she said softly, standing in the doorway. «You’re building for yourself.

«I want her back!» Ziggy shouted. — It’s possible! Time is not a line; it is a network!

— Yes, Inna nodded. — But the net does not pull back. She holds those who go forward.

She placed a handful of the Sand of Time on the table.

«In this sand is the moment when your sister laughed for the last time, — she said softly. «Don’t try to get her back.

Inna smiled almost imperceptibly.

— Let her laugh become the basis of something new.

Ziggy clenched his fingers.

I took the sand.

And for the first time, he didn’t cry.

He… smiled.

3.

Everything has changed since that day.

He stopped building a time machine.

He began to assemble the car of hope.

• He asked Alexey Mekhanik to give up a fragment of his Heart-the Core — not for the sake of strength, but for the sake of the memory of love.

• He recorded Elyra’s song, sung in the Temple of the Last Song, and wove it into the engine circuit.

He picked up Knox’s tear, the one that fell when he first heard his mother’s lullaby.

• He built in Grandfather Andrey’s watch — not as a bare chrono-core, but as a symbol that time remembers goodness.

• He added Kitty-9’s purring to the navigation system, «in case someone in space urgently needs some sweetness.»

Every element was not a detail.