Chapter 137 Children, Not Gods

Chapter 137 Children, Not Gods

Donovan's POV

I made the decision at dawn.

The world had spent twelve hours celebrating. They were already coordinating and planning their future under the twins' stewardship. Leaders were scheduling meetings. Councils were drafting frameworks. Everyone was moving forward with a unified purpose.

I recorded my message in the nursery while the twins slept. I set it to broadcast on the same global network they'd used.

Then I pressed send.

My face appeared on every screen worldwide.

"My name is Donovan. I'm the father of Aurora and Luna, and I'm asking the world to stop."

I could feel the shift immediately. Billions of people paused their activities and listened.

"Yesterday, my daughters addressed you. They offered stewardship. You accepted, and I understand why. They're powerful. They're capable. They promise order in the middle of chaos but there's something you need to know and I need to say publicly because it matters."

I looked directly at the camera.

"They're ten weeks old!"

"I don't care how intelligent they are. I don't care how much cosmic power they have. I don't care that they can reach billions of minds simultaneously. They are ten weeks old! They are infants, and asking infants to rule the world is insane."

I could hear alarms going off. Security was rushing toward my location but I continued.

"My daughters didn't choose to be born with cosmic significance. They didn't ask to be tri-hybrids. They didn't request the burden of maintaining dimensional bridges. All of that was forced on them by circumstances beyond their control. And yesterday, they accepted that burden because they saw no alternative."

The nursery door burst open. Sierra stood there, with her eyes wide.

I kept talking.

"I reject their stewardship, not because I don't love them but because I do. I love them enough to say what nobody else will. They deserve childhood. They deserve the chance to grow up without the weight of cosmic responsibility. They deserve to make mistakes without billions of people depending on them. They deserve to be children, not gods."

Sierra was shaking her head. Mouthing "stop."

I didn't stop.

"So I'm asking the world to reject their offer, to stop celebrating, to stop planning, to stop treating my ten-week-old daughters like cosmic rulers. Give them space and time. Let them be children first. And if, when they're adults, they still choose to maintain dimensional bridges, then accept their stewardship. But not now that they are still babies."

I ended the broadcast.

The backlash was immediate.

Within minutes, my communicator exploded with messages of threats, condemnations and accusations of betrayal.

"How dare you speak for them?"

"You're risking global stability for sentimentality!"

"The twins offered salvation and you rejected it!"

"You just fractured the world again!"

Sierra grabbed my arm. "What did you do?"

"What I should have done from the beginning. I protected them."

"By destroying the peace they just created?"

"By refusing to let them sacrifice their childhood for that peace."

Luna's presence entered my mind gently.

You have undone everything we planned. We created consensus and you shattered it.

"I shattered the illusion that ten-week-old babies should rule the world."

We are not normal babies!

"You're still babies. That matters."

Aurora woke up crying. She wasn't hungry. She was crying because of the emotional chaos flooding back. The calm Luna had created was dissolving. Fear was returning. Anger was rising. Chaos was resurfacing.

All the emotions Aurora had briefly escaped were crashing back into her.

She screamed.

Luna's telepathic presence intensified.

You are hurting her. Your refusal is hurting Aurora. The chaos you are creating is overwhelming her empathy. She cannot endure this.

"Then we find another solution. But not this."

The global response escalated.

Leaders who'd accepted the twins' stewardship reversed position. "If the father refuses, how can we accept?"

Others doubled down. "The father is wrong. The twins are our only hope."

The unified consensus shattered. Factions formed. Arguments erupted.

Within an hour, the fragile peace was gone.

The religious movements became reformed.

The Purist Alliance reactivated. "We told you that they were dangerous. Now even their father admits they can't be trusted."

The Grey Collective issued a statement. "Donovan has proven incapable of making rational decisions. The twins require proper guidance. We offer to provide it."

I'd fractured the world again, worse than before.

Because now both sides were angrier.

Those who wanted the twins' stewardship were furious I'd rejected it.

Those who feared the twins were furious I'd exposed how powerful they were.

Sierra stood across from me, holding the crying Aurora. "Was breaking the peace to make a point about childhood worth it?"

"Yes."

"Even if it destroys the academy? Even if it escalates the conflicts? Even if it puts the twins in more danger?"

"Yes, because the alternative is watching my daughters become cosmic tools at ten weeks old."

"They chose that path."

"They chose the path that ended Aurora's suffering. That gave Luna purpose but they didn't choose freely. They chose under pressure. That's not choice. That's coercion."

Luna's presence in my mind was cold now.

You prioritize sentiment over logic. Aurora suffers because of your decision. The chaos you created is drowning her in empathic feedback because you refused our solution.

Aurora's cries were getting worse and more desperate.

Sierra was right. I'd made things worse.

But I'd also drawn a line.

My daughters were children, not gods.

The academy was in chaos. Students were divided. Some were supporting my decision while others calling for my removal.

The council called an emergency session which I attended.

Twelve faces looked at me with expressions ranging from sympathy to fury.

"You've destroyed everything we built," Elder Theron said quietly. "The twins created consensus. You shattered it. Why?"

"Because consensus built on the backs of ten-week-old babies is immoral."

"Morality is subjective," Ambassador Zhao replied. "Results are objective. The twins created peace but you destroyed it."

"They created the illusion of peace through manipulation. That's not real peace."

"And what you've created?" General Mark gestured to the screens showing global riots. "Is this better?"

"It's honest. People are making their own choices now, not being guided toward inevitable conclusions."

"People are choosing violence," Katerina said. "Is that preferable?"

"It's preferable to cosmic tyranny disguised as stewardship."

The vote was unanimous.

I was removed as the twins' guardian.

"The twins will make their own decisions," the council declared. "Without interference from parents who cannot accept what they are."

I walked out of the chamber.

I found Sierra in the nursery. Aurora was still crying. Luna was watching with those analytical eyes.

"They took guardianship," I said.

"I know. I was notified."

"I'm sorry."

"Are you? Because you seem pretty certain you made the right choice."

"I am certain. Even if it cost me everything."

Sierra looked at me. "It cost the twins too. Aurora is suffering. Luna is isolated. The world is fracturing. All because you couldn't accept their solution."

"Their solution was surrendering their childhood."

"Their childhood was already gone the moment they were born tri-hybrid."

Maybe she was right.

Maybe I was clinging to an impossible dream of normalcy but I couldn't accept the alternative.

Luna's presence touched my mind one final time.

We will proceed without your approval. We will establish order. We will end Aurora's suffering. We will fulfill our purpose with or without you.

"Then do it without me," I said aloud. "But know that I love both of you, and that's why I can't support this."

The presence withdrew.

The twins made their choice and I made mine.