The world froze. The air grew dense, as if existence itself had held its breath for a moment. The Eternal Garden, which had once merely observed, now seemed tense, waiting for a decision.
Emiren gazed at the three who were no longer what they had once been. They had returned, but not as the Ones Who Stand Beyond. They had become something else. Something that could reshape the very fabric of reality.
— The world will never be the same, — the Keeper murmured.
— It never was, — Ardalys replied. — We only believed it to be.
Emiren had no answer. He could feel that something deep within the foundation of the Garden had shifted, and this change was irreversible.
Voices from Beyond the World
Suddenly, the air filled with sounds. Not voices in the usual sense—more like echoes of possibilities that had yet to become reality.
— You have broken the balance, — a whisper rose from the roots of the Silver Tree.
— We did not break it, — said the Fireborn, clutching his seed. — We reshaped it.
The Watery raised his hand, and a single drop of water appeared in his palm. It reflected everyone present, but each saw themselves differently—sometimes younger, sometimes older, sometimes as someone entirely unfamiliar.
— You fear us because we have become something that never was, — he said.
The Voidborn merely watched in silence. His eyes were black, as if they held all the untold stories of this world.
— What now? — he finally asked.
Diverging Paths
Three paths unfolded before them.
One led deeper into the Eternal Garden, where the branches of the Silver Tree intertwined, forming the knots that governed the flow of time.
The second led into darkness, beyond the known reality, where they could start anew.
The third was not a path at all. It was emptiness—a place yet to be defined.
— We could stay, — said the Fireborn, looking at the first path. — Become new Keepers.
— We could leave, — replied the Watery, glancing at the darkness. — Create our own world.
— Or we could do what no one has done before, — added the Voidborn, staring at the third option.
The Creators’ Choice
The Keepers did not interfere. They knew this was not their decision to make.
The Fireborn was the first to step forward. His body flared with red light, and he reached out to touch the Silver Tree. His shadow expanded, filling the spaces between the branches.
— I will not be merely a Keeper, — he said. — I will be the one who ignites new possibilities.
The world trembled. Branches that had once been lifeless suddenly came alive, covered in brilliant flames. New streams of time began to sprout, like sparks flaring up in the darkness.
The Watery did not touch anything. He simply stepped forward, and the river that flowed behind him split into many currents.
— I cannot exist in just one world, — he said. — I will be the one who connects what seemed broken.
His body began to change. He no longer had a single form—he could be a reflection of anything. He became a bridge between realities.
The Voidborn stood the longest. His choice was the hardest.
— I was nothing, — he said. — And now I can become everything.
He did not choose a path. He created one.
The black void surrounding him began to shift. It filled with light that had no color yet, words that had not yet been spoken, a future that had not yet been written.
— I will be the one who gives birth to the new, — he said. — I will be the first in what does not yet exist.
A New Age
When it was over, the Eternal Garden was different.
Now its branches burned with the fire of new possibilities.
Now its waters carried mirrors that reflected the many paths of the future.
Now it contained places that had no names yet, waiting for their first inhabitants.
— Time is no longer static, — Emiren said, observing the changes. — It has become what is created.
And from that moment on, history was no longer written—it was a canvas upon which the Creators could paint.