Chapter 186 — After the Prophecy
Nobody moved.
The sky had returned to normal.
The streets of Asteria continued as though nothing had happened.
Merchants called to customers.
Children ran between adults.
A cart rolled across the stone road.
Somewhere, someone laughed.
But around Brook—
everything had changed.
Hutena stood completely still.
Her face had lost its color.
Brook watched her carefully.
Crowley was the first to speak.
"You said nothing."
Hutena slowly looked toward him.
Crowley continued.
"You saw nothing."
Hutena nodded.
Sera frowned.
"And that's impossible?"
Hutena looked toward her.
"Yes."
Henry shifted.
"Like… impossible impossible?"
Charon appeared over his shoulder.
"Impossible."
Henry looked at him.
"Why are you helping?"
Charon disappeared again.
Brook stepped closer to Hutena.
"What exactly happened?"
Hutena looked toward the sky.
"I dreamed."
Brook waited.
"That isn't unusual."
"No."
Hutena swallowed.
"The dream began normally."
"What did you see?"
Hutena was quiet.
Brook's patience began disappearing.
"Hutena."
She finally looked at him.
"You."
Brook frowned.
"Me?"
"Yes."
Hutena looked toward the others.
"All of you."
The group became silent.
Sera stepped closer.
"What were we doing?"
Hutena slowly shook her head.
"I don't know."
Crowley's expression changed.
"What?"
"I saw you."
Hutena pointed toward each of them.
"Brook."
Then Sera.
"Crowley."
Henry.
"Everyone."
Brook waited.
"Then what?"
Hutena's eyes tightened.
"Nothing."
The word felt heavier this time.
Not darkness.
Not death.
Not the end of a dream.
Nothing.
The future had simply—
stopped.
They returned to the palace before the conversation could continue.
Queen Hebe had been informed.
The moment Hutena entered, the Queen looked directly at her.
"You saw it."
Hutena stopped.
Brook noticed.
"You knew?"
Queen Hebe didn't answer immediately.
Crowley walked forward.
"That wasn't a question."
Hebe looked toward him.
"No."
The room grew quiet.
Brook folded his arms.
"Then explain."
Queen Hebe walked toward the table.
Ancient books had already been placed there.
"The Book of the Future has existed under different names."
Hutena sighed.
"Here we go."
Brook looked at her.
"What?"
She rubbed her face.
"Everyone always has a story about me."
Crowley smiled.
"You're a person called the Book of the Future."
"I know."
"People are going to talk."
Hutena pointed at him.
"I don't like you."
Crowley smiled wider.
"That's fine."
Hutena looked toward Brook.
"Is he always like this?"
"Yes."
Crowley looked offended.
"No."
Nobody responded.
Crowley sighed.
"Fine."
Queen Hebe opened one of the books.
"The earliest records describe those who could see beyond the present."
Brook walked closer.
"And?"
"Most were wrong."
Hutena nodded.
"Thank you."
Hebe continued.
"But occasionally…"
Her finger moved down the page.
"…someone would dream something that could not be explained."
Sera looked at Hutena.
"The Book."
Hebe nodded.
Hutena folded her arms.
Brook looked toward the page.
"What happened when the future disappeared?"
Queen Hebe's expression changed.
Crowley noticed.
"Has it happened before?"
The Queen remained silent.
Brook looked directly at her.
"Has it?"
Hebe finally answered.
"Once."
Silence.
Hutena stared at her.
"You never told me that."
"I was waiting."
"For what?"
"For confirmation."
Crowley sighed.
"People really enjoy keeping important information until after everything gets worse."
Brook looked at him.
"Crowley."
"I'm just saying."
Hebe ignored him.
"Hundreds of years ago, another dreamer recorded a blank future."
Brook frowned.
"Another Book?"
"No."
Hutena immediately looked toward her.
"There were others?"
Hebe shook her head.
"Not like you."
Brook noticed Hutena's expression.
"What does that mean?"
Hebe looked toward Hutena.
"You are different."
Hutena looked uncomfortable.
Brook waited.
Queen Hebe continued.
"Other dreamers saw fragments."
"A battle."
"A death."
"A storm."
"Possibilities."
She closed the book.
"But Hutena sees patterns."
The room became quiet.
Brook looked toward Hutena.
"Patterns?"
Hutena sighed.
"I don't always see individual events."
She looked toward the window.
"Sometimes I see where things are going."
Brook thought about it.
"The threads."
Hutena looked at him.
Brook immediately knew.
"You've seen them too."
Brook remembered the black sky.
The stars.
The threads twisting through the darkness.
Hutena stepped toward him.
"When?"
"In a dream."
Her expression changed.
"With me?"
Brook nodded.
Crowley looked between them.
"What dream?"
Brook told them.
The woman without a visible face.
The falling stars.
The threads.
The words.
The future is not written.
It is seen.
Hutena didn't interrupt.
When Brook finished—
she looked disturbed.
"What?"
Brook asked.
Hutena slowly shook her head.
"I never dreamed that."
Brook stared.
"What?"
"That wasn't me."
Silence.
Sera looked toward Brook.
"Then who was it?"
Nobody answered.
Crowley slowly looked toward the books.
"Someone else is involved."
Brook left the room.
He needed to think.
Too many things had happened too quickly.
Silvet.
The Book.
Hutena.
The disappearing future.
The woman in his dreams.
He walked through the palace corridors.
Then stopped.
Pain shot through his arm.
Brook grabbed it.
"What the—"
The pain intensified.
His skin burned.
Brook looked down.
One mark.
Then another.
The marks connected to Michael.
Lucifer.
Death.
They became visible.
Brook clenched his teeth.
Then—
something appeared beneath them.
A line.
Thin.
Faint.
Brook stopped breathing.
The line spread.
A symbol began forming.
Different from the others.
Brook stared.
"No."
The mark burned.
His body shook.
Brook grabbed the wall.
Then—
the symbol disappeared.
Gone.
The pain vanished.
Brook stared at his arm.
Nothing.
No fourth mark.
Brook's breathing slowed.
Then—
he heard a voice.
Not Michael.
Not Lucifer.
Not Death.
Brook froze.
The voice was quiet.
So quiet he wasn't sure he had heard it.
A whisper.
Closer.
Brook turned around.
The hallway was empty.
"Who's there?"
Nothing.
Brook stepped forward.
"Show yourself."
Silence.
Then—
the floor beneath his feet trembled.
Brook froze.
The stone cracked.
A small green plant pushed through the gap.
Brook stared.
The plant moved.
Its leaves turned toward him.
Brook stepped backward.
"What?"
The plant continued growing.
Then stopped.
The corridor became silent again.
Brook stared at it.
The Earth.
Responding.
Not to his power.
To him.
That evening—
Hutena found Brook outside.
He sat on the edge of one of Asteria's high walls.
His legs hung over the side.
The city stretched below.
Hutena walked toward him.
"You always do this?"
Brook looked toward her.
"Do what?"
"Sit somewhere dangerous."
Brook shrugged.
"It's peaceful."
Hutena sat beside him.
For several seconds—
neither spoke.
Then Brook raised his arm.
"Have you ever seen this?"
Hutena looked.
Brook pointed toward where the mark had appeared.
"It was there."
Hutena frowned.
"What was?"
"A fourth mark."
Her expression changed.
Brook noticed.
"You know something."
"No."
"You definitely know something."
"I don't."
"Hutena."
She sighed.
"I've dreamed of three."
Brook stared.
"What?"
"Three marks."
Brook looked toward the city.
Michael.
Lucifer.
Death.
"I've never dreamed of four."
Brook lowered his arm.
Hutena looked toward him.
"That should be impossible."
Brook smiled without humor.
"Apparently that's becoming a theme."
Hutena didn't smile.
Brook noticed.
"What?"
She slowly looked toward the ground.
"Something is coming."
Brook's expression hardened.
"Silvet?"
Hutena shook her head.
"No."
"Then what?"
"I don't know."
Brook stared.
"You're the Book of the Future."
"I dream the future."
She looked toward him.
"That doesn't mean I know everything."
Brook remained quiet.
Hutena looked toward the distant mountains.
"But I've seen something."
Brook followed her eyes.
"What?"
Hutena spoke carefully.
"A person."
Brook waited.
"Walking."
"That narrows it down."
She ignored him.
"Nature moves around them."
Brook stopped.
Hutena continued.
"Animals follow."
"Trees grow."
"The Earth responds."
Brook's expression changed.
The plant.
The corridor.
The voice.
Closer.
Hutena looked toward him.
"And every time I see them…"
Brook waited.
"They're getting closer."
The wind moved between them.
Brook slowly looked toward his arm.
Nothing remained.
No fourth mark.
No explanation.
But deep beneath the ground—
something moved.
Not toward Asteria.
Toward him.
And somewhere far beyond the walls of the Shinokuni—
a figure stopped walking.
The ground beneath their feet trembled.
Grass bent toward them.
A bird landed on their shoulder.
The figure slowly raised their head.
Their eyes turned toward a distant horizon.
Asteria.
They had never seen Brook.
They didn't know his name.
But something inside them did.
Something old.
Something connected to the Earth itself.
The figure whispered:
"I'm close."
Inside Brook's mind—
Michael remained silent.
Lucifer remained silent.
Death watched.
And somewhere beyond the three—
something shifted.
Brook's fourth mark had disappeared.
But it had not gone away.
It was waiting.
End of Chapter 186