The Unwritten

Episode 14 — What Came After Arian

The lights went out.

For several seconds, there was nothing but silence.

Then Arin heard breathing.

Not his.

Someone was standing somewhere in the darkness.

"Who are you?"

His voice echoed through the room.

The boy answered.

"You already know."

A faint light appeared.

The same pale glow from the machine upstairs.

It illuminated the boy's face.

Arin stared at him.

He looked sixteen.

Exactly sixteen.

The same age Arin was now.

Same eyes.

Same face.

But there was something different in his expression.

He looked tired.

Not physically.

As though he'd been waiting for years.

Arin stepped forward.

"Are you Arian?"

The boy shook his head.

"Arian was the beginning."

"Then what are you?"

"The consequence."

Kian moved beside Arin.

"Consequence of what?"

The boy looked at him.

"Of saving him."

He pointed toward Arin.

Kian's expression changed.

"You mean Arin?"

"No."

The boy looked directly at Arin.

"I mean you."

Mira stepped forward.

"How long have you been here?"

The boy smiled.

"Since before you remembered me."

"That's not possible."

"Neither are you."

Mira fell silent.

Arin looked between them.

"You know him?"

"Not personally."

"Then how did you know his name?"

The boy answered before Mira could.

"Because she was there."

Mira looked away.

Arin's stomach tightened.

"At the beginning?"

She nodded.

The boy walked toward the machine.

"You want answers."

Arin followed.

"Yes."

"Then don't ask about Arian."

"Why?"

"Because Arian is dead."

Arin stopped.

"But you said—"

"I said I came after him."

He placed his hand on the machine.

The screen activated.

ORIGINAL SUBJECT: ARIAN VALE

STATUS: TERMINATED

SUCCESSOR: ARIN

STATUS: ACTIVE

Then another line appeared.

SECONDARY CONSTRUCT: ARIAN-2

Arin stared.

"That's you."

The boy nodded.

"My name isn't Arian."

"What is it?"

The boy looked at him.

"Call me Zero."

Kian frowned.

"Zero?"

"Because that's what they called me."

Arin looked at the machine.

"Why?"

"Because I was supposed to be nothing."

Zero pressed another button.

The room changed.

A projection appeared above the machine.

It showed the events of June 9, 2009.

A hospital room.

Arian.

Arin's parents.

Mira.

Kian.

Elias.

But there was something Arin had never seen.

A sixth person.

A woman.

She stood beside the machine.

Arin stared at her.

"Who is she?"

Zero didn't answer.

The woman turned toward the camera.

Arin's heart stopped.

She looked exactly like his mother.

But older.

Much older.

Kian whispered:

"That's impossible."

Zero finally spoke.

"That's where your story actually begins."

Arin stared at the projection.

The woman was speaking.

"We don't have enough time."

Elias answered:

"The Ledger has already begun."

Arian stood beside the machine.

"Then do it."

The woman shook her head.

"You understand what happens if we succeed."

Arian nodded.

"He'll live."

"And you'll disappear."

"I know."

Mira stepped forward.

"Then let me take his place."

Arian immediately shook his head.

"No."

Kian shouted:

"Then I'll do it!"

Arian looked at him.

"No."

The woman approached Arian.

"You can't save all of them."

Arian smiled.

"I don't need to."

He looked toward the sleeping child.

Arin.

"I only need to save him."

The projection stopped.

Arin stared at Zero.

"So that's what happened."

Zero nodded.

"Arian sacrificed himself."

"To create me."

"No."

Zero shook his head.

"That's what everyone believes."

Arin frowned.

"Then what's the truth?"

Zero looked at him.

"Arian didn't create you."

He pointed toward the machine.

"You created him."

Arin's mind went blank.

"What?"

Zero continued.

"Before June 9, 2009, there was no Arian."

Kian stared.

"But the records..."

"Were rewritten."

Mira whispered:

"By the Ledger."

Zero nodded.

"Arian was created from Arin's future memories."

Arin's breathing slowed.

"So Arian..."

"Was you."

The room became completely silent.

"Not your past."

Zero pointed at him.

"Your future."

Arin couldn't speak.

The pieces began connecting.

The memories.

The photographs.

The strange messages.

The machine.

The boy with his face.

Arian hadn't been another person.

He had been a version of Arin that had existed after everything.

And somehow, that future had been sent backward.

Kian whispered:

"Then the child we saw..."

"Was Arin."

Mira shook her head.

"No."

Zero looked at her.

"He was the first version."

Arin stared.

"How many versions are there?"

Zero smiled faintly.

"That's the wrong question."

"What should I ask?"

"How many times have you lived?"

Arin's heart sank.

Zero turned toward the machine.

The screen began filling with dates.

2009

2017

2024

2031

2038

Then hundreds more.

Arin stepped backward.

"No."

Zero looked at him.

"You've been here before."

Kian stared at the dates.

"How many times?"

Zero answered:

"Forty-seven."

Arin's face went pale.

"Forty-seven?"

"Forty-seven attempts."

"At what?"

Zero looked directly into his eyes.

"Getting you to survive."

Suddenly, the machine screamed.

Every light turned white.

A message appeared.

CYCLE 48 INITIATED.

Mira's face went pale.

"That's impossible."

Zero looked at Arin.

"You weren't supposed to remember this early."

Kian grabbed Arin's arm.

"What happens now?"

Zero didn't answer.

The walls began shifting.

The room around them started transforming.

The hospital disappeared.

The machine disappeared.

The walls became a classroom.

Arin recognized it immediately.

His classroom.

The same desks.

The same windows.

The same empty chair.

Kian's chair.

Except this time, someone was sitting in it.

A girl.

Mira.

She looked toward Arin.

But she wasn't the Mira standing beside him.

This version looked younger.

She smiled.

Then said:

"Don't trust Zero."

Arin turned toward the real Mira.

"Why?"

Mira's face had gone completely white.

"Because..."

She stared at Zero.

"...he's the one who caused the forty-seven resets."

Zero didn't deny it.

Arin looked at him.

"Why?"

Zero smiled.

"Because every time you remember the truth..."

The classroom lights flickered.

"...you die."

Silence.

Zero stepped closer.

"And every time you die..."

He pointed at Arin.

"...I reset the world."

The clock above the classroom door began ticking.

4:20.

Then a final message appeared on the blackboard.

CYCLE 48: BEGINNING.

Arin looked at Kian.

Then Mira.

Then Zero.

And finally at his own reflection in the classroom window.

It was smiling.

But this time—

there were tears running down its face.