Chapter 111 World I: The End The memories faded, "Ethan..."
As the memories faded, "Ethan" looked again at little Ethan in his arms.
“I understand, you want Selene, right?” Ethan extended a finger, and a wisp of white smoke slowly rose from the tip. The smoke gathered, and a figure gradually appeared within it.
An elderly man, nearing the end of his life, looked at them tenderly and softly called out, "Starfall."
Before Selene died, Ethan told her everything.
Selene's eyes widened slightly in surprise at first, her hazy eyes reflecting "Ethan," but she quickly accepted the fact and her smile remained gentle.
“Starfall.” Her eyes softened. “No matter who you are, you will never change in my eyes.”
"How was it?" Ethan retrieved this scene from his memory, thinking he should finally be able to appease little Ethan: "This is Mommy, Seller..."
"No, that's not it!" Little Ethan, who was crying again, interrupted him: "Why does Mommy call me that?! Why is it called Lord Starfall and not me! Waaaaah—am I not Mommy's favorite? Why is she called Lord Starfall? Do they even know each other? Is Lord Starfall my dad?!"
Finally, he suddenly came up with a strange guess, which stunned "Ethan".
"No!!!" Ethan couldn't control his voice for a moment, and everyone around heard it. Ethan's voice was distorted: "It's me! My name is Starfall!"
Little Ethan seemed startled by his loud voice; his tears stopped, and his eyes widened like saucers: "You? Your name is Starfall? But, but aren't you my counterpart?"
“Because different worlds will have some differences. Although the characters should not change too much, in different worlds, there may even be villains who become good people and good people who become villains. For example, in our world, the relationships are somewhat reversed compared to your world. We are the wills of our respective cities.” Ethan explained to Little Ethan, pointing to his companions who came with him: “That’s Yangyan, Novigrad, and Dreamweaver. They were born around the same time.”
Ethan pointed to "Ternas," who had soothed little Tenas with just a few words, and "Rena" and "Nadia," whose crying had gradually subsided.
“Then, so…” Little Ethan completely stopped crying, and a smile returned to his face: “Lord Starfall…”
Ethan thought for a moment, and then the Selene at his fingertips changed into another form: "Is this the will of Starfall City in your world? He is my guardian, Cynthia Stella."
Little Ethan nodded vigorously, his eyes sparkling. He seemed to be thinking of something, and his smile was a mix of smugness and excitement, his face flushed with a hint of blush.
He tugged at "Ethan's" clothes, and "Ethan" hugged Ethan even tighter, bringing his ear close to listen to his whispers, nodding occasionally, making little Ethan almost ecstatic.
"Then, your guardian?" Little Turnas heard the conversation not far away and asked Turnas as well.
“Heria? The blond, green-eyed one? He’s alright, but he’s a bit too fond of provoking people.” “Tenas” recalled those scenes with a hint of helplessness: “He likes to provoke other guardians. He once angered everyone and got ganged up on. The Starfall Guardians were the ones who fought the hardest. I don’t know why their relationship has been so bad ever since they met.”
Recalling the time he and "Ethan" spent together, he let the Guardians play by themselves, and the carefree Helia kept making fun of Cynthia, who was studying hard.
Finally, for some unknown reason, the boy angered him and chased after Helya with the three-meter-long desk in hand, breaking two of them. Even when he was hiding behind Helya for protection, he was still provoking him.
Ethan quickly grabbed him to prevent Cynthia from actually killing Helia, and it took him a lot of effort to calm him down.
The idea that a first-generation guardian was killed by the Starfall Guardian, a fellow guardian from the friendly city, simply because of his foolishness is a bit too farcical.
So, if these two have had such a good relationship for so long, why are their guardians so incompatible? It's really strange.
Little Turnas recalled the eccentricities of his own world, who loved to tease Yang Yan with ambiguous gestures, and then listened to Helia from that world, who was just a little bit cheeky, but not to that extent, and felt extremely envious.
"What about Reina and me?" Little Nadia, held in "Reina's" arms, lifted her head from "Reina's" chest, full of trepidation: "In that world, are Reina and I still good friends?"
Rena and Nadia looked at each other and smiled.
“Yes.” Reina’s perpetually furrowed brows relaxed. “We will always be each other’s best friends.”
This remains unchanged in any world: Rena and Nadia will never be related by blood, but they are as close as sisters.
“They escaped.” Interrupting their conversation with their counterparts from another world about their own world was “Carter” pushing aside the dense undergrowth as he and his scattered companions returned: “They must have been keeping an eye on our situation, and as soon as they discovered our presence, they immediately left this world.”
Rebecca, looking at Nadia and the other two children from another world, asked Yaroslava, "How long will it take for them to return to their original forms?"
After giving her companions some guidance, Yaroslava glanced at the three children and said, "Because of the urgency of the situation, I can only help them break free from control by rewinding their time. They will need some time to slowly return to their original time. This is the safest and most harmless method. Otherwise, forcibly breaking free from the control of those wills would have hurt them."
Yaroslava's eyes lit up as she looked at her powerful counterpart: "Can I be as strong as you someday?"
Both Yaroslava and "Yaroslava" possess time-based abilities, but compared to the City Will version of herself, Yaroslava's abilities are negligible.
Time is one of the most important laws in the world. Very few beings can control time, and the cost of manipulating time is too high. However, anything related to time possesses astonishing power.
So even though Yaroslava had many limitations and the conditions for activating her abilities were very demanding, she became Russia's strongest guardian.
“It probably won’t work.” Yaroslava was a little embarrassed: “Our worlds are different. You are just a human in your world, but I am the city’s will in my world. There is a huge gap between the power of the city’s will and that of the guardian.”
Yaroslava was somewhat disappointed, but it was within expectations. She had a close relationship with the will of her city and was well aware of the vast difference between the guardians and the city's will.
“However, even if you can’t reach my level, I believe you will go much further than you are now.” Yaroslava looked at her with a firm gaze: “Because you are me, and I will believe in myself.”
That's too much! That's way too much!
Having weathered countless years of trials, this mature and charming older sister spoke these words with an encouraging and affirming tone.
Will she become like this in the future? Such a reliable existence?
Even if I can't match her abilities, we should look similar when we grow up, right?
How exciting it is to imagine myself in the future!
Yaroslava was still a little confused when she unexpectedly received a longing look from her human counterpart in another world.
This age is too far in the past for her; she has actually forgotten some of what happened back then, and can't even empathize with her younger self, so she's completely confused.
When Yaroslava fell into her own territory, she explained what had happened in her world. After discussing it, they decided to lend a helping hand.
The devices that Yaroslava brought with them for storing power were all filled with power. After studying the device made by his counterpart, "Ethan" created one that could store many times more power than the original device and made a lot of it for Yaroslava.
Having appeased the three children temporarily, and realizing that this was a desolate world with no inhabitants and no point in staying any longer, they prepared to leave.
"Ethan" took some photos of little Ethan to give to Cynthia, who was feeling awkward before coming and wanted to see photos of him from another world.
Over the years, the city's will, having grown for so many years, has been stuffing its familiar counterparts with a lot of things. "Rena" and "Nadia" stuffed little Nadia with a lot of things as if they were free. Many other city wills also stuffed things in, making her the child who received the most among the three children.
Ethan pulled out a backpack from somewhere, made little Ethan put it on, and then kept stuffing things into it.
"This is a healing potion I prepared for you. I made it before you shrunk. I discovered that you didn't seem to be a pure human. It can even work on you who works with alchemy."
"Hmm... These are some herbs you might need, some magical tools for guidance, some repairable materials, and some potions I took from my potion cabinet. Some are for you, and some are for your other companions."
"This bag contains the improved device I gave you. It can hold more power than before. Without your will to guide you, your device definitely needs improvement. I also put some materials for the manufacturing method inside, so it should last for a long time."
“I have left my signal on you. I can help you when necessary. You can ask me for help at any time. And when you are seriously injured, the signal will send me a message and I will come to find you.”
Looking at the incessant chatter of the older "Ethan," younger Ethan was a little dizzy from all the dazzling array of things, but upon realizing that these were all for his own good, he was moved to tears: "Thank you... but I don't know how to repay you, you've helped me so much..."
"Hmm?" Ethan zipped his jacket all the way up, then looked up at little Ethan and smiled. "No need for repayment. This is all voluntary. I'm just helping my counterpart. Think of it as an older brother helping his younger brother. If you really want to repay me—"
“Let Selene live happily ever after,” Ethan said.
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Author's Note: Little-known interesting anecdotes
In the world where the Guardians are reversed, Cynthia, because she has slightly long hair—"not very long, just like when she was little"—is mistaken for a girl by Helia, who casually remarks, "Hey beautiful."
Valentina "Novigrad" walked with him, unsure whether the words were directed at her or Cynthia, so she pretended not to see Cynthia and Helia fighting, acting busy keeping watch. "The two of you met in this world first."
But some say that there is no perfect person in this world.
"Ethan" *Showcase*: Cynthia
Ethan isn't socially anxious; he has a fairly normal personality, and he'll likely become like that in the future.
Cynthia loved learning and spent all her time engrossed in books, absorbing knowledge so intensely that she ignored everything around her. This fostered in Ethan a personality that prioritized preparing things for his child.
I didn't see any updates tomorrow because there was a power outage on my end. I don't think I'll finish writing 10,000 words today. My cervical spondylosis has flared up again. I was wondering why I started having headaches and discomfort as soon as I began writing this; it turns out I have cervical spondylosis.
Most stable relationship: Reina sisters, enemies of Starfall Sunfire
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