2026-10-22 03:52:08“Get away from him!”
Awesome lunged toward the stranger, but Professor Elara Veyne caught his arm before he could cross the chamber. The instant her fingers closed around his wrist, golden energy erupted from the stranger's body, hurling them both against a fractured pillar.
Awesome struck the stone shoulder-first and dropped to one knee, wincing as pain shot down his arm. Across the chamber, Elara attempted to raise a protective barrier, but the golden energy passed through her spell as though her magic were nothing more than mist.
The stranger watched them with mild amusement.
“Still protecting him, Elara?” he asked. “After everything you did to us?”
Elara's face paled, but Awesome refused to look away from the man wearing his face.
“Who are you?” he demanded.
The stranger tilted his head, studying him with unsettling curiosity.
“You already know the answer. You saw what happened in the division chamber. You watched Father split himself apart, and you heard Mother begging him not to forget us.” He touched his chest and smiled faintly. “But you are still asking the wrong question.”
Awesome clenched his fists. “Then tell me the right one.”
“Which of us deserves to exist?”
The question hung over the chamber, leaving Awesome struggling to understand how someone who looked exactly like him could speak so casually about his destruction.
Although the stranger possessed his face, voice, and even the small scar near his eyebrow, his movements revealed something fundamentally different. He carried himself like someone who had never questioned his right to take whatever he wanted.
“I'm not fighting you for my body,” Awesome replied. “I want the truth.”
The stranger laughed.
“That's what you think you want. The truth will not bring Mother back, and it will not undo what they did to us.”
He raised his right hand, causing every golden symbol carved into the chamber walls to turn toward him. Their glowing lines shifted as though the ancient structure were recognizing its rightful master.
Awesome's marked palm burned in response, and a system message appeared before his eyes.
[UNAUTHORIZED AUTHORITY DETECTED.]
[HOST CONFLICT: TWO IDENTICAL SIGNATURES.]
[RESOLUTION REQUIRED.]
“Two identical signatures?” Awesome whispered.
Elara slowly rose behind him.
“Awesome, whatever happens, do not allow him to touch you.”
The stranger's smile faded.
“You still haven't told him what happens when two authorities occupy the same existence.”
“Because you intend to force the outcome,” Elara answered.
“I intend to correct your mistake.”
He extended his hand toward Awesome, and the entire chamber shuddered as an invisible force seized Awesome's chest. Despite his desperate resistance, the force dragged him across the broken floor while golden cracks spread from his burning palm toward his elbow.
Awesome grabbed a shattered pillar and shouted for Elara, who immediately thrust both hands forward and released a concentrated beam of blue energy.
The spell struck the stranger squarely in the chest, halting his advance for a fraction of a second. However, the stranger merely turned his head, causing the blue energy to reverse direction and slam into the wall behind Elara.
She barely escaped the blast, which left a smoking crater in the stone.
“Your magic hasn't improved,” the stranger observed. “Twenty-five years, and you still depend on borrowed power.”
He closed his fingers, causing the pillar beneath Awesome's hands to disintegrate. Awesome fell forward, and the invisible force dragged him toward the stranger until their palms were only inches apart.
Desperately, Awesome slammed his free hand against the floor.
“Bind!”
Golden chains erupted from the stone and wrapped around the stranger's legs and waist, pulling him backward with enough force to fracture the ground beneath him.
For the first time, surprise crossed the stranger's face.
“You learned to use the system.”
“I learned enough to stop you,” Awesome replied.
“No,” the stranger said quietly. “You learned enough to make this interesting.”
He flexed his fingers, and the golden chains immediately turned black. Awesome watched in horror as the corrupted restraints tightened around his own wrists, sending sharp waves of pain through his arms and forcing him onto his knees.
The stranger approached him slowly.
“You keep thinking your power belongs to you, but the system recognizes you because a piece of me was used to create the life you're living.” He crouched in front of Awesome. “Every time you command it, you awaken another part of what was taken from me.”
Awesome forced himself to meet his eyes.
“Then why don't you take it back?”
For a moment, the stranger's expression softened, revealing something that resembled grief beneath his cold amusement.
“Because if I take everything back, you will disappear.”
“Maybe I'm willing to risk that.”
“No, you aren't,” the stranger replied. “You still believe your life belongs to you. You have friends you haven't met, places you haven't visited, and a future you haven't chosen. I remember having those things, too.”
He pressed one finger against Awesome's forehead.
The chamber vanished.
Awesome found himself inside a white laboratory filled with suspended glass chambers. Golden cables stretched across the ceiling, connecting rows of sleeping children to an enormous machine at the room's center. The symbols covering the walls were identical to those that appeared whenever he used his authority.
Beside the machine stood a silver-haired woman wearing a bloodstained laboratory coat.
Awesome recognized her immediately.
His mother.
Lyra Voss held a small child in her arms while confronting a man whose face was concealed behind a transparent mask.
“You promised me he would remain untouched!” she shouted.
“The experiment has already begun,” the masked man replied. “If we stop now, the containment structure will collapse.”
“Then destroy the structure!”
“And release the entity?”
Lyra tightened her arms around the child.
“Then find another way.”
“There is no other way,” the man insisted. “The boy's consciousness has already been divided. One fragment has been transferred into an artificial host, while the remaining authority is being prepared for containment.”
Awesome stepped forward, desperate to reach her.
“Mother!”
She could not hear him. Instead, Lyra lowered her face toward the child and whispered words that pierced his heart.
“You are not a weapon. No matter what they make you believe, you are my son.”
Suddenly, the memory fractured as security officers seized Lyra and dragged her away. She fought desperately, shouting the child's name while the glass chamber closed around him.
The machine activated, flooding the laboratory with golden light.
Awesome watched as two identical children appeared inside separate chambers. One opened his eyes while the other remained motionless.
A message flashed across the glass.
[ORIGINAL BODY: TRANSFERRED.]
[ARTIFICIAL HOST: AWAKENING DELAYED.]
The vision shattered, and Awesome found himself kneeling in the underground chamber once more.
The stranger withdrew his hand.
“What did you see?” Elara demanded.
Awesome struggled to catch his breath.
“There were two children.”
Elara closed her eyes.
“Not two children,” she whispered. “Two bodies.”
Before she could explain further, the stranger turned toward the enormous armored creature behind them.
“Father made the mistake of believing he could save both of us, while Mother believed the academy would honor its promises.” His gaze returned to Awesome. “And you were the mistake they thought they could bury.”
The armored creature roared, shaking the chamber as the remaining containment structures began to collapse.
“Enough!”
Golden light erupted beneath its armor, but the stranger raised his hand, and the enormous creature suddenly froze. Its light dimmed as it sank onto one knee.
Awesome stared in horror as he realized that the stranger was controlling not only the ancient system but also his own father.
“Stop!” Awesome shouted, struggling to his feet. “You have no right to decide who lives!”
The stranger studied him before laughing softly.
“You really are the weaker version of me.”
He turned toward the enormous sealed doorway and raised his hand. Ancient locks disengaged one after another, releasing a deep mechanical rumble that echoed through the academy.
Beyond the doorway lay darkness that swallowed even the golden light surrounding him.
Elara staggered backward, her face drained of color.
“No. That archive was sealed before the academy was built.”
“Not the archive, Professor,” the stranger replied with a cold smile. “The place where they buried our mother.”
A final system message appeared before Awesome's eyes.
[MEMORY RECOVERY: 100%.]
[ORIGINAL IDENTITY RESTORATION: INITIATED.]
[WARNING: CURRENT HOST MAY NOT SURVIVE.]
Awesome felt his blood run cold as the stranger stepped through the opening.
Before disappearing into the darkness, the man turned toward him one last time.
“Come and discover which one of us Lyra Voss actually gave birth to.”
The doorway slammed shut, leaving Awesome and Elara trapped in the trembling chamber.
Then, somewhere deep beneath the academy, a woman's voice whispered Awesome's name.
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Chapter 21: The Identity Before the First Witness
“Awesome, don't touch him!” his mother screamed.Her warning came a heartbeat too late.The stranger standing at the center of the memory archive lunged toward Awesome, extending his fingers toward the young man's chest. Awesome twisted sideways, attempting to avoid the contact, but the stranger's fingertips brushed his shoulder and released a violent burst of golden energy that hurled him across the chamber.Awesome struck a floating crystal with enough force to shatter it. Thousands of fragments scattered around him, each one reflecting a different image of his face as they spun through the air.In one fragment, he saw himself as a frightened child crying beneath a hospital lamp. Another showed him standing outside the Global Academy of Higher Magic while students laughed at his inability to cast even the simplest spell. In a third reflection, he wore a crown of black fire and stood before a crowd of kneeling figures whose faces had been erased.Awesome pushed himself upright, winci
Chapter 20: The Mother Behind the Forbidden Door
“Awesome, don't let your father open that door!”Lyra Voss's warning rang through the narrow gap just as Awesome's father reached for the silver handle. He stopped so abruptly that Awesome nearly collided with him, while Lyra's fingers tightened around the edge of the door until her knuckles turned white.Another violent tremor shook the passage, sending dust and fragments of ancient stone cascading from the ceiling. The silver door shuddered in its frame, and something on the other side struck it with enough force to make the handle rattle.“Lyra?” Awesome's father whispered, staring at the trembling fingers visible through the gap.“Move away from the door!” she shouted. “He has already found the archive!”A deafening impact struck from within the chamber. The silver door buckled outward, and black symbols crawled across its surface, swallowing the ancient Voss crest one line at a time.Awesome seized the handle before his father could stop him.“Mother, what is happening in there?”
Chapter 19: The Identity My Mother Tried to Erase
“Get away from him!” Elara screamed as Awesome's body jerked violently above the abyss.The moment the system declared his compatibility with the First Witness complete, black symbols spread across his skin, crawling from his chest toward his throat like living veins. His fingers curled involuntarily, and a strangled cry escaped his lips as an unseen force began pulling his consciousness away from his body.His father lunged toward him, desperate to break the connection, but an invisible wall struck him before he could get close enough. The impact sent him crashing onto the broken floor, and he slid toward the fissure until his fingers caught its jagged edge at the last possible moment.“Awesome!” he shouted, struggling to pull himself away from the crumbling ledge. “Whatever it tells you, do not surrender your identity!”Awesome tried to answer, but his mouth opened without his permission.“Identity is a temporary arrangement,” another voice declared through his lips.Although the wo
Chapter 18: The Name That Should Never Be Spoken
“Awesome Voss, come down and meet the person you were created to replace.”The voice had barely finished speaking when the final containment anchor shattered beneath the academy.Awesome felt the connection inside his chest tighten violently, as though invisible hooks had sunk into his ribs and were dragging him toward the widening crack in the floor. His boots scraped across the broken tiles while he struggled to resist the pull, and Elara seized his wrist with both hands, desperately trying to keep him from being dragged into the darkness.“Awesome, fight it!” she shouted, her fingers trembling as the force pulled them closer to the fissure. “Whatever that thing is showing you, you cannot trust it!”Black light surged from beneath the floor, swallowing the remaining fragments of the containment symbols. Elara's grip began to slip, and Awesome reached desperately for her other hand, but his body had already crossed the edge of the widening abyss.His father lunged forward and caught
Chapter 17: The Thing Buried Beneath the Academy
The first scream erupted from beneath the infirmary, followed by a violent tremor that threw Professor Elara Veyne against the wall and sent Awesome crashing onto his hands and knees.Before anyone could recover, the floor split open between them. Black light surged through the widening crack, illuminating the shattered tiles with pulsing veins that resembled something alive beneath the academy’s foundations. Somewhere below, metal groaned against stone, and the entire building shuddered as though an enormous creature had rolled over in its sleep.“Everyone, get away from the floor!” Awesome’s father shouted.He seized Awesome by the collar and dragged him backward just as a black tendril burst through the broken tiles. It whipped through the space where Awesome’s head had been, struck the ceiling with enough force to shatter several support beams, and disappeared into the darkness above. Pieces of plaster and stone rained down around them as Awesome struggled to regain his balance.H
Chapter 16: The Boy Fighting for My Body
“Stop him!” Elara screamed as Awesome’s body slammed against the stone floor.A violent surge of black energy erupted from his palm, tearing through the chamber and throwing everyone backward. His father struck the wall with a strangled cry, while the original boy grabbed the edge of the shattered containment platform to keep himself from being swept into the open shaft beneath it. Elara reacted immediately, raising a protective barrier around them, but the force struck its blue surface with such violence that deep cracks spread across it.Awesome could hear everything happening around him, yet he could not move a single muscle.Something had taken control of his body.His fingers scraped against the floor as his right arm rose without his permission. The black mark on his palm widened, exposing thin golden lines beneath his skin that twisted toward his wrist like living threads. His left hand remained pressed against the stone, trembling as he fought to resist the invisible force con
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