Parallel

Chapter 7: The Man, The Consequence

Chapter 7: The Man, The Consequence

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"Kaya ko 'to. Maghintay ka lang. Babalik kaming dalawa ni Deo."

I raised my finger, ready to press the button. And then... I heard someone scream."Lior, stop it." The voice rang out, familiar yet distant, like a fading memory. Marco glanced at me, clearly confused. "Are you alright, Lio? Should I take over?" he asked. I looked around. It was just the two of us. No one else was there.

"Who are you? Where are you?!" I shouted. Marco let out a nervous laugh. "Seryoso, Lio? Ngayon pa talaga?" He laughed again. But I didn't find it funny. I wasn't joking. I knew what I heard, a voice calling my name, urging me to stop. Maybe it was the fatigue, or maybe the stress. But I brushed it off. I was determined to keep going. I raised my hand again, ready to press the button. And then...

A man appeared right in front of me. He grabbed my wrist just in time, halting me from pressing the modulator. But what left both me and Marco speechless... was his face. It was him. "It's you... isn't it?" I asked the man.

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Somewhere Else. Somewhere In-between Realities.

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He watched from the other side of the veil, his hands shaking with the effort to hold back. He wasn't meant to intervene... not yet. But he could see what was on the horizon. He could see the chain about to unravel. He could see someone, on the brink of crossing a line that could never be uncrossed. And he understood the price of such a choice.

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The Mysterious Man's POV

I've been quiet for what feels like centuries or maybe even longer. Honestly, I lost track when time stopped making sense. I never left the space where I ended up. The in-between of everything and nothing. Even when I had the chance to move on. This is where I should be. There is where I belong to. Because every choice I made before... led to destruction.

I used to be reckless and foolish, convinced I could outsmart fate. But in the end, I shattered my own world. So, I chose exile. I watched from the sidelines, never daring to move. I remembered everything, but never reached out.

Then I saw him. The younger version of myself. Deo. He was making the same mistakes, chasing the same echoes I once did. That's when it hit me, that I had to intervene. I picked up the modulator, the very one I promised myself I'd never touch again. The last remnant of my failed existence.

I pressed the button and stepped through.

In the space between two realities, I found him... the boy. And next to him, watching him over, the one who had witnessed it all. The Archivist. "You've watched him for too long," I said, my voice heavy with old sorrow. "Now the cracks are listening." The Archivist didn't flinch. He turned slowly, as if he already knew I would show up.

"You shouldn't be here," he murmured.
"Neither should he," I replied, nodding toward Deo.
"He's causing tremors." I added.
"And yet he is necessary," the Archivist countered.

A silence hung between us, one that felt like it stretched on for a lifetime. "He's not ready to know who I am... or to be who I am," I whispered. "But the Fold is coming for him faster than we could hope for." I had seen that same fracture tear through my world once before. And now, I wont let it consume his. I won't let it consume Deo's world.

"Kahit ikaw nalang, Deo... ikaw na lang ang pag-asa ko."

As I turned to leave the Archivist's realm, something halted me. A ripple. A vision. No, a warning. A woman. She was about to do something reckless. And then the vision become clear... what she was planning. A tear slipped down my cheek before I could stop it. "Lior?" I whispered, wiping my face. "You really are her."

The modulator pulsed on my wrist. This was it. After all these years, I was finally going back. Back to see them again, to try once more to make things right. I took a deep breath. And clicked the button. The familiar hum returned, and I felt myself caught between two worlds. Before I even fully arrived, I spotted her, Lior, wearing the same modulator that the Lior from my world had worn. To save me. Thousands of years ago.

I saw her finger inching toward the trigger. And I screamed at the top of my lungs. "Lior! Stop it!" She heard me. She immediately looked around, confusion etched on her face. I hadn't completely crossed over yet, just my consciousness. But it was enough. And then, I landed.

And the first thing I did was stop her hand. The watch didn't activate. Marco and Lior stood there, frozen, staring at me as if they'd seen a ghost.

"It's you... isn't it?" Lior asked, her voice trembling. "Is that you, Deo?" Marco echoed.
"Yes," I replied. "It's me." Tears streamed down my face. I wished it was my world. I wish I did the same thing to mine. I wished I could stay.

If only I hadn't been so reckless...

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Now, I will tell you all who I am.

I am Deo. Deo Margan.
But not the one you know. Not the Deo from this world. I come from somewhere else. A world that no longer exists. I had my best friends, my family, my dreams. And just like the Deo you know, I stumbled upon a book. Niyamura's A Theory of Parallel Universes. Yes, that Niyamura. Nishiya's father. And that book... it changed everything.

I met Nishiya because of that book. But sometimes, I wish I had never met her.

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"Is it really you, Deo?" Marco asked again, his voice laced with hope. "I am... but not the one you're searching for." I replied , smiling. They understood, even if their minds were still catching up. "I'm not your Deo. I came from the space between two realities. I came here... to help. To save him, to save Deo. To save you, Lior and Marco. To save your world..."

I paused.

"Because I didn't save mine."

In that moment, something shifted in their eyes, not by fear, not by shock, but belief. The kind you feel when you realize that something impossible... just might be true.

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I am Deo Margan. And I carry a thousand years of regret... but today, I carry hope.

To be continued...

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📌 AUTHOR'S NOTE:

As we already unfold the stories behind every new characters. In the next chapter, we will get into Deo and Nishiya's adventure together again. Be ready! 🌌✨

-EzrenVale.