Universe Aeternov. Book two. The Shadow that Remembers the Light

© Andrey Sopelnik, 2025

ISBN 978-5-0068-8894-4 (т. 2)

ISBN 978-5-0068-7869-3

Created with Ridero smart publishing system

Universe

Aeternov

Book two:

“The Shadow that Remembers the Light.”

Andrey Yurievich Sopelnik.

Creative pseudonym: Andrey S.

Rostov-on-Don.

2025

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

THE SECOND BOOK: “THE SHADOW THAT REMEMBERS THE LIGHT.”

Chapter 1. The first. A VESSEL OF DARKNESS

“He did not betray the light. He let me in… to figure out how to heal her.”

1. THE HERO’S LAST SIGH

At the end of the first book, when the Chrono-Heart flashed with the light of hope, Knox took a step forward.

“I’ll go with her,” he said, looking at the shadow of the Chrono Shadow receding into the depths of the Black Abyss. “She’s a part of me. And if anyone has to stay with her… it’s me.

– Knox, no!” Elira shouted. “You don’t have to!”

– But I want to, – he replied. – It means that only those who know her from the inside… can find light in her.

He hugged Andrey. He nodded to Alexei. He looked at Alina and smiled:

– Take care of tomorrow.

And stepped into the portal of Darkness.

The team thought he had sacrificed himself. That his choice had allowed Absolute Evil to be put to sleep. A monument of sand and song was erected to him on the Aeternum.

But they were wrong.

Knox is not dead.

He woke up.

2. MECHANOS-9 – FORGE OF THE GOD OF DARKNESS.

He woke up on Mechanos 9, a planet where technology hates all living things.

The sky is made of rust and screams.

Cities are made of pulsating metal that feeds on pain.

Rivers are made of molten oaths.

And at the center of everything is an Iron Throne forged from a million broken Core Hearts.

And there’s a Shadow on it, older than time itself.

– Welcome home, vessel, – Absolute Evil whispered. “Did you think you were sacrificing yourself for the good?” No. You’ve matured. And now… I’m going to enter you.

Knox tries to resist. But there was always a crack in his soul, the one from which tears flowed when Elira sang him a lullaby for the first time. And through that crack… darkness entered.

3. CHILDHOOD, WHICH WAS PREPARED FOR DARKNESS.

Absolute Evil did not choose Knox by accident.

Even before he was born, in one of the first timelines, the Devouring One sowed the seed of pain in his family.

His mother died because the world didn’t have time to save her.

His father went crazy because no one heard him scream.

His village was wiped off the face of reality because it was not considered worthy of protection.

Every tear of the boy fed the Darkness.

Every night without sleep strengthened the bond.

His childish “why”? it became a prayer that was heard not by the light… but by the void.

When Knox became a Chrono-Shadow, it was the first stage of the vessel’s awakening.

When he became Knox again, the second one.

And now the third one has arrived.

4. THE BIRTH OF THE LORD OF DARKNESS.

The process lasted seven laps of time.

Knox’s body was being melted into a vessel of ancient pain and cruel will.

His eyes have become black stars in which hopes are extinguished.

His voice is the echo of all the screams that went unanswered.

His heart is an empty throne on which sits Absolute Evil.

But… not completely.

Somewhere deep, under the layers of darkness, there was a spark – the one that cried after hearing the unique lullaby. And Absolute Evil cannot destroy it.

Because she is not a part of the Darkness.

She’s Knox’s choice.

And that’s why the Devouring One didn’t kill his mind. He left him alive, as a torment for the sake of light.

Let Aeternov know that their hero sees everything that the Darkness does… but he can’t stop himself.

5. THE NEW ORDER

Now Knox is the Lord of Darkness, the second most powerful after the most Absolute Evil.

He rules Mechanos 9, Necros, Daemonium, Nocturna, Morgrad, and Chaos Prima, all six worlds of the Black Abyss.

His army is the Shadows of Fate, distorted reflections of fallen heroes.

His weapon is the Spear of Oblivion, capable of erasing not the body, but the memory of goodness.

He doesn’t scream.

He whispers.

And in this whisper, there is a conviction:

“Goodness is an illusion. Love is a weakness. Hope is a lie.”

But one night, when all the worlds are asleep, he goes to the mirror of the destroyed time… and cries black tears.

He remembers:

– how I held a flower made of light in my hands,

– as I said for the first time: “I’ve been through this,

“As I laughed with a couple on a rooftop in Chicago.

And in these moments… The darkness is trembling.

THE END OF THE CHAPTER.

Knox did not become evil.

He became a prison for evil.

And as long as he is alive, Absolute Evil cannot enter the worlds completely. Because the vessel has not yet allowed itself to be sealed.

And somewhere in the depths of his fallen soul… a little sprout is still waiting to be heard.

Chapter 2. The second one. The first world is the cradle of darkness

“He’s not an enemy. He’s calling us.”

– Alina

1. A VOICE FROM THE SHADOWS

At night, when the stars fell silent, Alina woke up from a scream – not in the room, but inside herself.

Her double chrono code, which usually rang like a bell of hope, now throbbed with black pain.

– Dad… – she whispered, clutching the crystal around her neck. “It’s not just locked. He’s ready.

At the same moment, in Ziggy’s laboratory, the “Heart of Tomorrow” began to howl – not with an engine, but with Knox’s voice, which broke into crying.

“He’s not crying in pain,” Alexei said, approaching the ship. “He’s warning you.

Elira put her hand on the hull:

“He’s singing… a lullaby.” But on the contrary. Like a birth spell.

Inna Sandran entered the hall. Her eyes were not galaxies, but a crack in time.

“Absolute Evil does not want to escape from the Abyss,” she said. “It wants to enter the cradle.”

“Which cradle?” Andrey asked.

– To the First World, – Inna replied. – To the place where the chrono code originated. The place where you saved a child… and became Chronos. To a place where goodness has not yet learned to doubt.

2. THE PLAN OF THE DEVOURING ONE.

On Mechanos 9, in an Iron Throne made of millions of broken Core Hearts, Absolute Evil whispers to Knox – not as an executioner, but as a mentor.

“Do you think I want to destroy the light?” – says the Darkness, her voice is an echo of all the maternal lullabies that once lulled the dead. – no. I want to become one.

And the Devouring One reveals his plan.

Knox’s body is an ideal vessel not for destruction, but for substitution.

He is a former villain who became a light.

His soul knows both darkness and light.

His heart is a crack between worlds.

His memory is the key to the First World.

Absolute Evil is not going to just invade the First World. It wants to be born into him – like a new Knox: pure, innocent, “saved.”

– Imagine, – the Darkness whispers, – I will enter your body… and return to the day when Elira sang you a lullaby for the first time. But this time, I won’t cry. I’ll smile. And everyone will say, “Here he is, the hero who defeated the darkness.” And I… will become darkness clothed in light.

So, the Devouring One will bypass the Chrono-Heart.

Not from the outside, but from the inside.

Not as an enemy, but as a “savior.”

3. BIRTH IN THE PAST

This requires an anchor – the moment when Knox was most vulnerable.

This is his day of atonement, when he first heard Elira’s song and cried.

Absolute Evil is planning to rewrite this moment.

It uses Knox’s body as a chrono-guide to:

1. Open a portal not to the future, but to the past, to a point where the Chrono – Heart has not yet been assembled.

2. To replace the real Knox at the moment when he stands in front of Elira, trembling in pain.

3. Take the form of a repentant hero, but without a spark of choice – without the very tear that was born not out of fear, but out of love for his mother.

Without this year, there is no spark.

Without a spark, there is no light.

And without light… the First World will accept Darkness as its child.

“Then all the timelines will be rewritten, – the Devouring One whispers. – Andrey won’t run to a child at a construction site – why save a world where goodness is an illusion? Alexey won’t give up His Core Heart – why be human if people lie even in tears? Elira will be silenced forever…

And Alina… Alina will never be born.

4. BLACK TEARS ARE THE LAST WARNING.

But in the depths of Knox’s fallen body, that spark is still alive.

Every night, when the worlds are asleep, he approaches the Mirror of the Destroyed Time, an artifact capable of showing all possible selves.

And there he sees:

• myself smiling at Elira… But without tears;

• myself hugging Andrey… but without warmth;

• myself standing on the Aeternum… but without shadows.

And then he cries black tears – not from despair, but from the betrayal he is preparing to commit.

These tears are the last signal.

They do not fall to the ground, but into the Chrono-Heart and turn into a vision for Alina.

“He didn’t betray the light,” she whispers, looking into the mirror of time. – He allows the Darkness to enter… so that we can see it being born.”

5. THE TEAM’S DECISION

– We have to stop him before he returns to the past, – says Andrey. – But how?” He is the Lord of Darkness. He rules the six worlds of the Abyss!

“No, – Alina shakes her head. “He’s waiting for us to come.” He doesn’t want the Darkness to win. He wants us to save him from himself.

Inna puts her hand on Andrey’s shoulder.

“Then we’ll go where hope hasn’t gone before,” she says. – On Mekhanos-9. To the Forge of the God of Darkness. And we’ll remind Knox.… who he really is.

“And if he doesn’t remember us anymore?” Andrey asks.

“Then we’ll remind him of his mother,” says Elira. “Her lullaby.” Her scent. Her hands.

“And if that’s not enough?” Alexey whispers.

“Then we’ll take his hand, – Alina replies, – and say, “You’re not a vessel of darkness. You’re the door she couldn’t shut.”

THE END OF THE CHAPTER.

On the edge of the Aeterna, the “Heart of Tomorrow” is preparing to leap – not through hope, but through sacrifice.

The ship doesn’t sing.

He prays.

For the first time, the heroes are not flying to save worlds…

but to save someone who has already become their prison and their friend.

And somewhere in the depths of Mechanos-9, Knox looks into the Mirror of the Destroyed Time and whispers:

– Wait for me. I’m still here. As long as you remember, I’m alive.

Chapter 3. The third. A CLOCK MADE OF ASHES

“Time does not choose heroes.

It chooses those who are not afraid to be human, even in hell.”

1. A DREAM THAT IS NOT A DREAM.

Andrey did not sleep. He failed.

Not in a dream. Not as a memory. And into the rift, a thin crack between worlds where time does not flow, but groans.

It was cold, and there was the smell of coal, burning, and sweat.

The sounds are kayla’s thuds, screeching, coughing, and muffled fear.

The light is just a dim lantern on his forehead, trembling like a last hope.

He’s not in his body. He is an observer: invisible, disembodied… but feeling everything.

And he knows: it’s 1943. Mines near Rostov. The depth is three hundred meters. There is a war on the surface. And there is another war below: with darkness, with fatigue, with the thought: “Why go upstairs if there is death there?

“And then he sees him.

A young guy about sixteen years old. He was thin, with a face chiseled by hunger and stubbornness. On the chest is a battered tunic with a faded star. In the eyes is not the absence of fear, but stubborn faith.

This is his grandfather. Andrey Semenovich Chronosynthesis.

The one who once said,

“The clock is not ticking… but they remember every second when you were happy.”

2. THE CLOCK IN THE DARK.

The shift is in full swing. Grandfather digs in a narrow hole, where even breathing is painful.

Suddenly – a landslide.

Small, but enough to block up the passage.

He remains alone. The lantern flickers. Oxygen is running out.

In a panic, in the dark, the hand gropes for something hard under a layer of coal.

He pulls out his watch.

Not simple. The case is made of a strange metal, warm, as if alive. The glass is cracked, but not broken. The hands froze at 3:33.

And at that moment, there was a flash.

No light. Memory.

Grandfather sees:

• a boy in the garden, planting a flower for his sick mother;

• a young man who swears to protect his native village;

• the old man who gives this watch to the woman with the galaxy eyes;

And… himself, standing here in the mine, with blood and coal dust on his hands.

He doesn’t understand what’s going on. But he feels: This is not a godsend.

This is the message.

From the future. From someone who hasn’t been born yet… but already remembers him.

3. A VOICE FROM THE FUTURE

Andrey, the observer, tries to shout. But he’s a shadow. He can’t interfere.

And then the clock “wakes up”.

From their mechanism, through a crack in the glass, comes a small voice – his own voice, but from the future.:

“Grandfather… it’s me.” Andrey. You don’t have to die here. This watch is not just time. They are the source of the Chrono-Heart. And they were waiting for you… to pass them on. Through the war. Through the pain. Decades later. One day… I will save the world – with your hands.

Grandfather freezes. Tears roll down his face, mixing with coal dust.

He’s not going crazy.

He believes.

Because there is love in that voice. The one that is stronger than death.

He hides the watch under his shirt, right to his heart.

And he starts digging.

4. THE AWAKENING

Andrey abruptly opens his eyes.

He’s lying in the cabin of the Heart of Tomorrow. His watch is on his chest. And now they’re ticking forward.

Alina stands at the head of the bed. Her eyes are full of tears.

“You saw him, didn’t you?” she whispers. “I saw him find them… in hell.”

– Yes, – Andrei croaks, sitting up. – He did not know that he was holding a weapon in his hands against Absolute Evil. He was thinking… that it’s just a watch.

“But it’s more than a weapon,” says Alina. “It’s a connection. The watch is an anchor that binds the Chrono – Heart to the human world. Without them, evil can be born in the First World, and no one will notice.

– Why 1943? Andrey asks.

“So, then the whole hope of the world hung in the balance, – Alina replies. – It is at such moments that the purest spark of light arises. And it’s her… that Absolute Evil wants to replace.

5. THE PLAN OF DARKNESS IS REVEALED.

At this moment, the “Heart of Tomorrow” flashes with alarm.

Ziggy bursts into the cabin, holding a holographic time map in his hands.

– Andrey! We found his way! Absolute Evil does not want to destroy the First World. It wants to be born into him – like a new Knox, but without tears. Without a choice. Without pain.

“For this, he needs a moment of absolute purity,” he continues, “to flow into him like water into water.

“Such a moment is the birth of the chrono code,” Inna says, following Ziggy in. – When did you rush to the child in 1978, Andrey? … You didn’t just save a life. You created the spark from which all the goodness of the Aeternians grew.

“And if the Darkness enters at that moment,” Alina whispers, “it won’t kill you.” She will become you. And tell the world: “I am a hero. Trust me.”

“But she doesn’t have a body, – Alexei objects.

– Yes,” a voice says from the doorway.

Knox is standing in the doorway. His eyes are black stars, but there is pain in those stars.

“My body,” he says. – It is an ideal guide. Because I was the darkness and became the light. And the Darkness… wants to cancel this path.

6. THE SOLUTION

Andrey gets up. He picks up his grandfather’s watch. He clutches them to his chest.

“Then we won’t give her a chance, – he says softly. “We’re going back to 1978. Not as saviors. And as witnesses.

– But how?” Ziggy objects. “If we interfere, we’ll break the line!”

“We won’t interfere, – Alina replies. “We’ll just be there.” Because at that moment… I have to be born.

Everyone freezes.

“You?” Andrey will ask again.

– Yes, Dad. In 1978, in Rostov, at the very moment when you were saving a child… Inna’s mother was watching you from the shadows. And that’s when… my chrono code began to form. I didn’t come from the future. I am the fruit of that choice.

– So… – Andrey looks at his daughter, – you are not just a hope. You are proof that good is possible.

“Exactly, – Alina smiles. – And if the Darkness tries to enter at that moment… I’ll meet her. Not as a warrior. It’s like a daughter who remembers her father.

THE END OF THE CHAPTER.

At the edge of the Aeterna, the “Heart of Tomorrow” is preparing to jump – not into space, but into the very heart of time.

The ship doesn’t sing.

He prays.

For the first time, the heroes are not flying to save worlds…

but to protect a single moment

when one person chose the good and changed everything.

And somewhere in the depths of Mechanos-9, Knox looks into the Mirror of the Destroyed Time and whispers:

– Wait for me, Andrey. I will not come as Darkness. I’ll come as a warning.

Chapter 4. The fourth. STUDENT LIGHT

“We didn’t know we were going to become a legend.

We just believed that the world could be made kinder.

And that was enough.”

1. JUMP INTO THE PAST

After the team collected the “Seed of Eternity”, the “Heart of Tomorrow” did not fly forward.

It looked back.

“Why are we here?” Alexey asked, looking at the streets of Rostov-on-Don, bathed in the sun in August 1995.

There are cracks on the asphalt from the heat.

There is a smell of fried seeds, dust and the first tomatoes in the air.

From the open windows comes the band “Cinema” – the song “A star named the Sun”.

“Because the Chrono – Heart is looking for the beginning of a connection,” Alina said, leaning against a lamppost with peeling paint. – Not 1978. Not 1943. And 1995. The year you first gathered… not as heroes, but as students with dreams.

Inna came closer, her eyes were not galaxies, just warm, sunny ones.

“We didn’t know then that our paths would be intertwined forever, – she said softly. “But the universe already knew.

2. INSTITUTE OF RAILWAY WORKERS – FACULTY OF DREAMERS.

Andrey Khronosynthez is a third – year student at the Rostov Institute of Railway Transport.

Specialty: “Road construction machinery, DSM”.

In fact, he fixes everything.:

from semaphores to dorm showers.

His dream is not to become a road boss, but to make sure that trains carry not only goods… but also hope.

There are two people in his group whom he has become friends with since his first philosophy seminar.:

Vladimir is Long and thin as a reed, with glasses on the tip of his nose and a notebook filled with formulas that look like poetry. He believes that knowledge is seeds: plant them at the right time and the forest of the future will grow. His dream is to open a university where science and kindness go hand in hand.

Vladimir is a Big Kind Man – tall, broad-shouldered, with a loud, kind laugh and hands that can lift the railing along with the flight of stairs. He is the grandson of a blacksmith from the Don, with fire and steel in his blood. He dreams of a world in which no one will be left alone at a broken trough.

The three of them are “The Three Vladimirs” (although one of them is Andrey, but the joke stuck).

They read Brodsky under the bridge, argue about the future on the roof of the dorm, and every Friday they go to Dumpling House No. 1, where they have long been known by their first names.

3. THE LOVE THAT STARTS WITH A TICKET.

Inna Sandran studies at the same institute, but at a different faculty: Economics and Logistics of Transport.

She is not from Rostov – from a small town near Kamensk, Rostov region, Russia.

She is smart and reserved, but there is a fire in her eyes that is just waiting for its spark.

They meet on the train.

Andrey is a couple of hours late. Inna is sitting by the window and reading “The Master and Margarita”.

He fits, crumples:

– I’m sorry… I still have a ticket to Rostov-Glavny at home. Can you borrow yours? I’ll return it later.

She looks up, looks at him intently, as if she sees right through him.

“Take it, – she says calmly, and holds out the ticket.

– why? – He’s surprised. “You don’t even know who I am.” What if I’m lying?

“ – You’re not lying,” she says. “You’re just in a hurry.” To save someone. I can see that.

He laughs. She is too.

The train enters the tunnel, and for a second everything is lost in darkness.

When the light returns, both already know that

this is the beginning of something more.

4. ALEXEY IS A SOLDIER OF PEACE.

Alexey studies at the Don State University, Faculty of Physics and Mathematics.

A former conscript. He returned from the Caucasus with a medal… and a scar on his soul.

He doesn’t talk about the war.

He fixes old alarm clocks at night so that someone can wake up in peace again.

They get to know Andrey at the interuniversity Olympiad in mechanics.

Andrey solves the problem by intuition.

Alexey – by all the rules, through hard calculations.

They argue until they are hoarse, proving each other right… and then they go to the Coffee Grinder for tea and there they discuss how to arrange peace so that war is never needed again.

“You’re too kind for an engineer,” Alexey says.

“And you’re too kind for a soldier, – Andrei replies.

They’re laughing.

And in this laughter, the first sprout of a future solution is born.

5. DREAMS ON THE ROOF

One night, in June 1995, they all gather on the roof of the dormitory of the Institute of Railway Workers.

• Andrey – with his grandfather’s guitar.

• Vladimir Long – with a notebook.

• Vladimir the Big Kind – hearted – with a thermos of tea.

• Inna – with a blanket.

• Alexey – with a notebook on astrophysics.

They look at the stars and dream.

“I want everyone who raises their head to the sky to know that their dream is not stupidity,” says Vladimir Long.

“I want fire to forge bridges, not swords,” says the Big, Kind Man.

“I don’t want machines to replace people… but to help them stay human, – Alexey says quietly.

– And I… – Inna hugs the plaid, – I want to see all the ways and choose those where no one cries alone.

– And I, – Andrey smiles, – I want tomorrow to be better than today. Just because we decided to do it together.

At this moment, the Chrono-Heart pulsates for the first time.

Not in Aeternov, but in their breasts.

They don’t hear him.

But the universe is already celebrating: something has begun.

6. RETURN TO THE PRESENT

“We didn’t know then that we would become Avatars of Light,” says Andrey, standing in 1995 as a mature Chronos, next to his young friends. “We were just people.

“But that’s exactly where the power lies, – Alina replies. “It’s not that you’re the chosen ones. The point is that you chose each other even before the world demanded a feat from you.