Time since the asteroid hit Earth: ~5.84 billion years (subjective to Aryan)
"What if life burned brighter… but only for a single day?" Aryan mused. "Could meaning exist in such a fleeting spark?"
> "A 24-hour life plan?" Light God said, sipping imaginary espresso. "Sounds stressful. Like speed dating with destiny."
On the planet **Cireya**, Aryan forged the **Dayborn** — beings born at sunrise and gone by the next dawn.
No childhood.
No aging.
No tomorrow.
Only **one day**.
They awoke knowing nothing — a blank slate of flesh and mind — but their instincts were a miracle of compression.
Within minutes, they learned to stand. To walk. To understand the wind, the sun, the scent of rain.
And by midday… they began to **create**.
Art.
Songs.
Dances of impossible beauty.
Some sculpted stone gardens.
Some carved symphonies into the hills.
Some painted skies with colored smoke.
All in the time they were given.
> "Live fast, make beauty, vanish forever," Light God grinned. "I like these guys."
By sunset, the Dayborn gathered in silent fields — hand in hand — to watch the light fade.
No regrets.
No sorrow.
Only completion.
As darkness fell, they knelt into the soil — their bodies turning into seeds that would sprout into tomorrow's generation.
And the next dawn… a new Dayborn would rise — born from the dreams and instincts of those before.
> "They pass meaning without memory," Aryan murmured. "A legacy of feeling… not knowledge."
But then came **Veyra**, a Dayborn unlike the rest.
She **refused to die**.
As night fell, her body shimmered — flickering between life and dust — caught between the end and some unknown force.
> "She lingers," Aryan whispered.
Veyra stood under the stars, the first Dayborn to see the night.
> "What… am I?" she asked the void.
The Light God appeared beside Aryan, munching popcorn.
> "Plot twist!" he smirked. "She broke the system. The Dayborn… want to *continue*."
Veyra stared at the sky, eyes wide.
> "I remember… the sunrise."
A first: **memory** born in a race meant to forget.
Aryan shivered.
> "A crack in the design," he said softly. "Or evolution's first rebellion?"
As dawn crept again over Cireya, Veyra smiled.
> "I will not fade."
And for the first time, one Dayborn **stepped into a second day**.
Aryan titled this experiment:
**The Dayborn — Fleeting Sparks and Eternal Flames.**
For even a moment's life can reach toward forever.
— End of Chapter 31