thief of fate-Chapter 94: The Original Valerian Diaries 5

I was watching my hands again.

I no longer saw them as I used to. They weren’t a part of me as much as they were possessions... temporary. Skin, flesh, bone... borrowed.

This body isn’t mine.

Or rather... it won’t remain mine.

I lifted my gaze to the mirror in front of me and saw my eyes, but something behind them wasn’t stable. As if they were windows to something that doesn’t belong to this place. Something that passes between worlds, through a promise made to me in a voice no one else heard.

Serathzi will grant me a new beginning.

Those words were like a sweet curse. A new beginning... but it doesn’t come for free. He didn’t tell me everything, no, but he didn’t need to. I see him, hear him, feel him... and understand.

Everything in this world has a price, and Serathzi was no angel.

I saw him move, not as a being, but as an idea. A grand, overwhelming idea that splits the depths of the soul and tempts it. One who grants you a second chance does not do it out of goodness.

He wants something from me.

I don’t know if it’s my heart, my soul, or maybe... that part that will not be reborn in the next body.

But he wants something.

And so, I began to think about the person... who will take my place.

That stranger.

The one who will become me.

The one who won’t know that this body was once mine, that I laughed in it, cried, fell, and stood up again. He won’t feel its weight as I do now. He won’t know its secrets as I did.

But I can leave him... some gifts.

Yes.

Gifts.

Not out of generosity, but for the sake of the game.

I began to arrange the things around me.

I placed a small black notebook under my pillow, filled with incomprehensible symbols, words I wrote in a code I doubt anyone will decipher easily—unless they’re like me.

I left a metal piece in a hidden wall compartment, carved a circle on it, with a point at its center.

The point is me.

The circle... is him.

If he tries to use my name, he will burn.

And if he tries to forget me... I will return.

Even my clothes. I started hiding torn edges in their pockets, as if I meant it, as if I were telling him something was out of place.

And when Carlos, my loyal servant, passed by and asked why I had become messier, I smiled and said:

"I’m trying to be... someone else."

He didn’t understand, but he bowed and left.

I was watching the sunset the next day when I felt it appear again... the red screen.

"Are you ready?"

I didn’t answer.

I’m not ready yet.

But I will be.

I will turn this body into a labyrinth,

its memory into a cage,

and my name into a riddle.

And when that stranger steps in and thinks he has survived...

the fall will begin.

One year.

That’s how Serathzi said it, with his strange voice that doesn’t resemble sounds, but resembles the feeling when something shakes inside you and causes an echo only you can hear.

"You have one year left before you leave this body."

I didn’t answer at first. I was looking at my hands again, at these fingers that had grown colder, as if something in them was already fading before its time.

A moment passed, then I said with an inner voice:

"Will I die?"

He laughed.

Or at least, something happened that could be understood as laughter, like a tremor in the void, like a red flicker that passed through my eyes.

"You will die as the shell dies when the seed sprouts."

He was brilliant at saying things that waver between wisdom and curse.

Then he added:

"But... it is time I told you what lies behind the curtain, Valerian. I’ve stayed silent for too long."

I stayed quiet. Then, slowly, images began to appear in my mind—not visions, but memories that weren’t mine. Worlds burning, people with wings of shadow, seas of time, and voices calling names I couldn’t pronounce.

"This world, your world, is but one of hundreds. They all look alike on the surface, but their essence... is different. They feed, breathe, and fall when their balances are broken."

Then a boundless map appeared before me. Not a paper, but a branching cosmos, lines of light and darkness, and centers glowing like giant hearts.

He said:

"In every world, there are those who are called ’gods’... but the name doesn’t matter. We are called gods, entities, eternal beings—we are what came before beginnings, and what comes after ends."

He fell silent.

I couldn’t help but say it in my mind, in a small voice:

"...Tovana?"

The cosmos shuddered.

"Yes... Tovana is one of us."

My breath trembled.

I believed in Tovana.

I prayed to her.

I spoke her name when I imagined hope.

I saw people cry at the steps of her statues.

And here he was, Serathzi—the one who invited me to become "better,"

the one I thought was just a powerful being—

telling me Tovana is one of the "gods"... like him.

But he didn’t let me think for long. Instead, he continued, in a sharper voice:

"We do not rule these worlds. We watch them mature, fall, split, and collapse. Some intervene... others observe. As for me?"

He paused, then said it slowly:

"I chose you."

Something within me shook. I wasn’t faint-hearted, but his words struck in a way unlike anything else. To be chosen by something not of this world... that’s not an everyday thing.

Then he said:

"There is a group in the worlds called the Chosen. Some are blessed by great powers, some submit to contracts, some turn... into something entirely new. They are tools, or players, or even... demi-gods."

I swallowed hard, then asked with an inner voice:

"Am I... one of them?"

Silence lingered.

Then the reply came, soft, sharp, like it cut my skin without blood:

"You are... something else."

I was stunned.

He didn’t say yes.

And he didn’t say no.

"You chose the path, before being asked. Before understanding. When you said to me the first time: ’Why did you say better, not stronger?’, you had already begun to change."

I bowed my head, my heart beating in a strange way. I wasn’t afraid of death. But I was afraid... that I wouldn’t be something special.

But he continued, as if he had heard my thoughts:

"Don’t worry, Valerian. You are not like them... nor like the one who will take your body."

I raised my head quickly.

"Who is it?" I asked.

Serathzi said:

"It doesn’t matter now. But when he rises, the world will have already begun to break... and you, then, will begin to rebuild."

...

The time was drawing near.

I felt it in my breath, in the heaviness of my limbs, in the way dreams had started blending with reality.

I didn’t need to wait for another message or red screen.

My body itself began to tell me.

I didn’t know what death was, nor what true loss meant, but now I knew I wouldn’t depart as others do.

I would be extracted.

And I would watch from afar... how another carries my name, my body, and perhaps... my shadow.

I went to the back room, the one Carlos spent most of his time in when I didn’t need him.

I knocked lightly, then entered.

He looked up immediately when he saw me, then stood:

"Master, do you need something?"

I took a step forward.

Then sat on the chair opposite him.

"Yes, I need you to listen to me."

His features looked a little surprised. I didn’t ask to talk much.

"What is it?"

I took a deep breath.

"I won’t stay long, Carlos."

His silence was painful. As if he didn’t understand—or didn’t want to.

"I mean it. I won’t stay... here. In this body. In this life. Someone... will take my body. Very soon."

He swallowed hard. His face didn’t change much, but his eyes lost their usual firmness.

"I know this sounds insane, Carlos... but I don’t want to lie to you. You’re the only one who ever truly saw me... when no one else did."

I lowered my gaze for a moment.

"I’m not dying in the usual way. There’s... something happening. I can’t explain everything. But... someone will take my place. He’ll look like me, talk like me... but he won’t be me."

I looked up at him.

"When that happens... I want one thing from you."

I stepped closer, placed my hand on his shoulder, and gripped it tightly.

"Treat him the way you treated me. Don’t show him you noticed anything strange. Don’t question him. Don’t accuse him. Just... protect him. Even if he’s weak. Because... I will return someday."

My voice cracked on that last word.

"I will return, Carlos. Even if everything changes... this body is mine. And this life... is mine."

For a few seconds, he said nothing.

Then I saw him raise his hand and wipe away a tear that had fallen without permission.

He said, in a hoarse voice:

"I will. I swear... I’ll take care of him until you return, Lord Valerian. I won’t hint at anything... I’ll treat him exactly as you asked. I’ll preserve your body even if there’s nothing left of you inside it."

I couldn’t stop myself.

I hugged him.

It wasn’t the hug of a master and servant.

It was the embrace of two hearts that understood more than they ever said.

I whispered to him:

"I’ll miss you... more than you know."

He didn’t reply.

But he held me tighter, as if anchoring me in his memory forever.

Then, with slow steps, I returned to my room.

The night was still, and the darkness quieter than usual.

I lay down on the bed without changing my clothes.

My breaths grew heavier, and my eyes widened without seeing anything new.

Then his voice came.

"Valerian..."

It was a whisper inside my head, warm and terrifying, just as I remembered.

"You’ve kept your word. And now... are you ready?"

I didn’t answer.

But I didn’t resist.

I closed my eyes.

And then I saw...

Darkness. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

No pain.

No sound.

Only... departure.