THE OTHER ELIAS
EPISODE 18
THE ORIGIN SPEAKS
The darkness beyond the gateway did not move.
It watched.
Not with eyes.
Not with a face.
But with a presence so immense that every screen inside the archive trembled.
The emergency lights struggled to stay alive.
The scientist stepped backward.
His voice was barely a whisper.
Don’t let it hear your thoughts.
Elias frowned.
What is it?
No one answered.
The child covered both ears.
The stranger closed his eyes.
Across the corridor, every other Elias remained perfectly still.
Then…
The monitors switched on by themselves.
One sentence appeared.
CONNECTION ESTABLISHED
A low vibration spread through the floor.
Not loud.
Not violent.
Almost like a heartbeat beneath the earth.
Elias suddenly heard a familiar voice.
His own.
You’ve finally come back.
He looked around.
Nobody had spoken.
The voice came again.
Inside his mind.
You’ve been running for a very long time.
The scientist grabbed Elias by the shoulder.
Don’t answer.
But I didn’t say anything.
You don’t have to.
The vibration became stronger.
Every cracked monitor displayed different memories.
A child drawing impossible cities.
Scientists celebrating the first successful gateway.
A family eating dinner.
A lonely man sitting in complete darkness.
None of the memories belonged to the same life.
Yet Elias remembered all of them.
His breathing became uneven.
How can these be mine?
The scientist looked at the screens.
They aren’t.
They belong to every version of you.
Silence returned.
Then the identical figures in the hallway slowly lowered their raised hands.
One of them stepped forward.
Unlike the others, he looked older.
His face carried years of exhaustion.
He stopped several meters away.
I was the first one to survive.
Elias stared.
You’re… me?
Yes.
The first Elias.
The archive became completely silent.
I opened the first gateway.
I believed knowledge could save humanity.
I was wrong.
The older Elias looked toward the darkness beyond the gateway.
It doesn’t destroy worlds.
It studies them.
The child whispered,
Like we’re studying it.
The older Elias nodded.
It learns from fear.
It learns from memory.
It learns from every choice we make.
Another tremor shook the facility.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Warning sirens echoed once again.
STRUCTURAL FAILURE DETECTED
The scientist looked at the control console.
We don’t have much time.
Elias turned toward the older version of himself.
If it isn’t trying to destroy us…
Then why are we hiding?
The older Elias answered calmly.
Because once it understands someone completely…
It never lets them leave.
The room fell silent.
For several seconds…
Nothing happened.
Then every monitor inside the archive displayed the same image.
Not the gateway.
Not the darkness.
A simple door.
White.
Closed.
Standing alone in an endless empty space.
Below it appeared a new message.
THE FIRST DOOR WAS NEVER CLOSED
The scientist’s face lost all color.
No…
That door shouldn’t exist anymore.
The older Elias slowly stepped back.
We’re already too late.
A soft sound echoed from beyond the gateway.
Not a roar.
Not footsteps.
A single…
Knock.
Three slow taps.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
The child looked directly at Elias.
It knows you’re listening now.
The lights went out.
Again.
TO BE CONTINUED…
