Chapter 19
The knock was soft.
Not because the hand lacked strength
But because it did not wish to disturb.
The house on the Black Shores had learned the difference.
Wood that could endure collapsing realities still creaked politely, as if honoring manners older than civilization.
Knock.
Knock.
Luna looked up from the table.
The moons paused.
Not alarmed.
Curious.
Dino did not move.
He already knew who it was.
"Come in," he said.
The door opened.
Not by force.
Not by permission.
But by recognition.
The visitor stepped inside.
He looked… ordinary.
Brown hair, unremarkable eyes, simple traveler's clothes dusted by many roads. He carried no weapon. No authority radiated from him.
Yet the air around him behaved.
Time slowed not froze, not bent just waited.
Luna narrowed her eyes.
"You're late," she said.
The man smiled awkwardly.
"I got lost," he replied. "Worlds have changed since I last walked them."
Dino finally stood.
For the first time since the visitor arrived
Eternum stirred.
Not defensively.
Respectfully.
"So," Dino said calmly, "they sent a memory instead of a weapon."
The visitor chuckled.
"They didn't send me," he said. "They remembered me by accident."
That was worse.
He bowed.
Not to Dino.
Not to Luna.
But to the house.
"Thank you," he said sincerely, "for still existing."
Luna's grip tightened on her scythe.
"Name," she demanded.
The visitor hesitated.
Names mattered here.
"Once," he said slowly, "I was called a Witness."
Dino's eyes darkened not with anger, but with history.
"You were erased," Dino said.
"I was archived," the man corrected gently. "Big difference."
They sat.
Tea was poured.
No one rushed.
The visitor held the cup with both hands like someone afraid to spill memory.
"I won't stay long," he said. "I can feel the higher worlds pretending not to watch."
"What do they want?" Luna asked.
The Witness looked at her.
His smile softened.
"They want to know why you exist."
Luna raised an eyebrow.
"That's rude."
"Yes," he agreed. "That's how you know they're afraid."
The Witness turned to Dino.
"You broke their final assumption."
"I didn't touch anything," Dino replied.
"Exactly."
Silence stretched.
Then
The Witness spoke again, quieter.
"You chose love after infinity."
The room stilled.
Even the moons leaned closer.
"They cannot calculate that," he continued.
"They cannot counter it.
They cannot punish it without admitting they fear it."
Luna reached for Dino's hand.
"Then why are you here?" she asked.
The Witness met her gaze.
"To deliver something they couldn't."
He reached into his coat.
Pulled out
Nothing.
Yet the nothing had weight.
Meaning.
A future.
"This," he said, placing it gently on the table, "is a question."
Dino looked at it.
Eternum hummed faintly.
"What question?" Dino asked.
The Witness stood.
"Whether you'll let the world end naturally."
Luna blinked.
"That's it?"
The Witness laughed.
"That's everything."
At the doorway, he paused.
"By the way," he added casually, "they'll try again. With children."
The house creaked.
The moons darkened.
Dino spoke calmly.
"They won't touch them."
The Witness nodded.
"I know."
He stepped outside
And was gone.
Not departed.
Concluded.
Luna exhaled slowly.
"Well," she said, "that was unsettling."
Dino returned to his seat.
"Tea?" he asked.
She smiled.
"Please."
Outside, the waves continued their quiet rhythm.
And far away
The higher worlds updated their records.
For the first time
They labeled something not as a threat…
…but as Untouchable Because Chosen.
> "Those who still knock do not seek conquest.
They seek permission to believe the world can end without hatred."
End of Chapter 19