An Awkward Conversation With The Universe Itself?

A dark-haired boy floated in an abyss.

It seemed like he was immersed in a pool of dark waters, and he remained suspended in a single spot. Everything was silent, all was still.

Nothing was present but the boy, and the darkness.

'U-uh? What is this? Where am I?' Suspended in the void of nothingness, the boy opened his eyes.

He could see nothing but darkness, pitch-black impenetrable darkness. Direction seemed nonexistent—he was neither facing left nor right, up nor down. Everything simply felt like nothing at all.

[Welcome, Matt Lewin]

A System panel appeared in front of the floating boy. It was bright purple, and the letters within were white—glowing brightly in front of him.

[You Have Attained Enlightenment. Congratulations]

Matt Lewin was bewildered by all of this. However, he suddenly began to remember all the events that led to this moment.

How he discovered the Link. How he found Violet. How he saw the monster!

'A-am I dead?' He thought to himself.

[No. You Are Not Dead]

Upon seeing the reassuring response of the System Window, Matt heaved a sigh of relief. Still, he had tons of questions. His predominant ones were;

'What happened after I passed out? What is this place? What the hell is going on right now?'

Once again, the System Window came to Matt's aid.

[You Awakened Your Power: Void Dar'k, Subduing The C Class Outer]

[You Are In The Subconscious Realm. This Is Your Inner World. Your Inner Domain. The Culmination Of Your Thoughts. This, Is Your DOMAIN OF THOUGHT]

[You Are Currently Unconscious. Fear Not, You Are Safe]

Somehow, even though he didn't quite understand all that was going on, Matt felt reassured by the System's responses to him.

'What the hell does Domain Of Thought mean? Sounds cool, though.' He thought fleetingly.

[Indeed]

The System seemed to be responding to every thought of his. Matt, having been a lover of System Novels and Anime in the past, knew the basics of how it operated. However, each story had a different lore.

He was curious, just what kind of entity was this System?

[I Am The Will Of The World. Call Me Gaia]

'Okay. Gaia…' Matt knew all about that.

Gaia is a deity in Greek mythology. She is the mother of all life and the personification of the earth. It was all fiction, of course. But now? After all that Matt had seen?

He wasn't so sure about what was real and what wasn't.

'What is going on exactly? The Link, The Veil, everything! What is happening?'

[It Is Quite A Long Story]

Matt didn't feel impatient or in a hurry. On the contrary, he was growing mad with curiosity. Were it not for the numbing nature of this space, he would have screamed and given in to his primal instincts.

In short, Matt was certain he would freak out, terribly.

[Since Time Immemorial, All Of Existence Has Been Divided Into Two Aspects. The Moment One Began, The Other Was Also Conceived. Two Sides Of The Same Coin. Parallel Truths]

'O-okay…?' This was some heavy stuff.

'Am I hallucinating?' He thought to himself, still clinging on to a shred of his rationality.

[For Real? You Want To Play This Game?]

'U-uhh… sorry' He apologized wordlessly.

While he was still sort of skeptical about the whole thing, Matt felt he would be even more unreasonable not to believe this stuff when the evidence was right in front of him. At the very least, he had to hear any explanation that could be offered.

[Reality And Fiction. These Are The Two Sides—Parallels That Are Never Meant To Cross. The Worlds Of Both Must Never Be Allowed To Overlap. As Gaia, I Am The Custodian Of This Order. Protector Of The Veil]

'I don't know much about this stuff, but you seem to be doing a pretty bad job, considering this whole Link busine—ah, sorry…' Matt quickly apologized upon realizing the being he was criticizing could hear his inner thoughts.

[It Is Alright. You Are Not Exactly Wrong. However, You Are Not Exactly Right Either]

'W-what do you mean?'

[I Am The Custodian Of The Veil, Which Means I Protect It From Occurrences That Threaten Its Safety. For As Long As The Veil Was Conceived, I Have Performed This Task With Absolute Diligence. It Has Just… Become More DIfficult]

Matt was even more puzzled. If Gaia had done all she could to protect the Veil, why did Links exist? Why was this Fiction—which Matt assumed to be the other world he had currently entered—colliding with Reality?

[Do You Know What Maintains The Veil? It Is The Disbelief Of The Sentient Entities On Either Side. Ignorance. The Lack Of Knowledge Of The Veil. That Is The Very Thing That Preserves It]

'So, does that mean the Chuunis who know of this stuff—people like me and Violet—are the cause? If so, why did you wish me congratulations?'

[No. You Are Not The Cause. You Are The Solution.]

'W-wha—?!'

[The Further Mankind Has Advanced, The More They Seek Out The Unknown. Whether Through Science Or Religion, They Find A Way To Seek For A Truth To Explain The World Around Them. Thus, As Civilization Advances, The Veil Weakens]

'Oh, shit!'

[Yes. It's Quite A Shitty Situation]

'So, we brought this upon ourselves?' Matt questioned nervously.

He had always thought science was on the right side, and Chuunis were weirdos, but the way Gaia was talking, it seemed like things were actually the opposite.

[Not Really. Humanity's Advancement And Search For The Unknown Weakened The Veil, But Those Weren't Enough To Break It. No, The Ones Responsible For That Are The Outers.]

'Oh? Let me guess, the Fiction people on the other side?'

[Not Entirely. You See, Just As Reality Has A Vast Number Of Planets, Stars, And So Many Attributes In The Observable Universe And Beyond, So Also Does The Realm Of Fiction. There Are Many Worlds In Fiction, Many Races, Cultures, And People]

'So, who are the Outers?' Matt then thought, raising an eyebrow curiously.

[Residents Of The Dark World Of Fiction—Outerverse!]

'O-Outerverse?!'

[It Is Home To The Most Nefarious Of Entities. The Crux Of Evil And Wickedness. All The Darkness Of Fiction Dwells In Outerverse]

'What the heck? Why does such a shitty world exist?!'

[Fiction And Reality Are Interwoven, And Both Realms Are Dependent On Each Other. Fiction Is A Product Of Reality's Thoughts And The Unknown, While Reality Only Functions Because Fiction Possesses All Of Those Traits Incompatible To Reality's Existing Principles. Outerverse, In Particular, Inhabits Mankind's Darkest Thoughts, And Gives Them Form.]

Matt gulped once more. He was right, after all. All of this was indeed humanity's fault.

[The Beings Within Outerverse Crave Only Death And Destruction, And They Hold A Particularly Strong Hatred Towards Reality And Its Denizens. They Wish To See Your World Burn]

'B-but why?!'

[They Are Mankind's Destructive Thoughts—Entities That Must Never Be Associated With Reality. That Pulls Them Closer Toward You]

Matt was slowly understanding things now.

The Veil was weakened by humans, but the strong sense of hate and disdain towards Reality caused the Outers to crack the Veil, thus granting them access to Reality.

[Indeed. Unfortunately, When One Link Is Left Unattended To For Too Long, More Appear. I Have Tried To Mend These Holes, But I Am Not All-Powerful. I Am A Custodian, Not A Repairer. I Tried So Hard To Fix The First Link, But Then More And More Appeared, Making Me Desperate]

'Is that where Chuuni—I mean, Enlightened ones come in?'

[Indeed. Enlightened Ones Can Interact With Fiction, Just As Outers Can Interact With Humans Too. In Essence, You Are The Perfect Weapon To Counter The Outers. By Stopping The Outers And Closing The Links, You Repair The Veil]

Matt was coming to an understanding—slowly, but steadily. Still, something bugged him—a small part of his mind still believed he was hallucinating.

'If all this crazy stuff was happening, we would have caught wind of this by now. Surely, if Links and stuff—or monsters—appeared all over Earth, or even in some places, surely it would have been on the news. We live in the age of technology, you know? The Internet, Social Media, that sort of thing. News travels at the speed of light these days. Why hasn't one report been made? Or wait, don't tell me those UFO sightings were real!'

[No. Those Are Actual Aliens. They Scout Your World For—]

'Aliens are real too? What the hell? Oh, my goodness, this has to be the most nerve-wracking day of my life.' Matt felt like his brain would explode from information overload.

Unfortunately, he still couldn't move an inch.

[To Answer Your Earlier Question, About The Reason Humanity Has Never Experienced The Outers Or Any Supernatural Phenomena.The Thing Is, You Have Experienced This Countless Times]

'What? No!'

Matt didn't even know why he was arguing with a far more knowledgeable being. He quickly realized how stupid he was being, so he swallowed his questions and comments and decided to listen.

'Go on.'

[Anytime Such Phenomena Occurs, I—The Custodian Of The Veil—Ensures That Whatever Happens Is Seen As A Natural Occurrence. Earthquakes And Tsunamis Replace The Actual Attack Of Monsters, And Storms Are Excuses For The Raging Of Monsters. Fortunately, Outers Perish In Reality After Some Time, So These Disasters Don't Happen Indefinitely]

'W-whoa!' What Gaia was saying simply meant that everyone was living under the lens of whatever Gaia showed them, thus saving them from watching what would have been extremely terrifying.

So, if an Outer killed a person, some sort of explainable incident would occur in its stead. It was both tragic and merciful, the more Matt thought about it. Still, something troubled him.

'But, if you can blind our eyes to things you don't want us to see, why can't you just make us not explore the unknown and weaken the veil?'

[I Can't 'Make' You Do Anything. Humans Have Free Will, And So Do The Outers. All I Do Is Ensure The Veil Sustains As Little Damage As Possible. However, This Is A Losing Game. Without Agents, Without You 'Enlightened', The Outers will Successfully Damage The Veil Beyond Repair. Once That Occurs, Fiction Will Begin To Bleed Into Reality]

Matt knew he was better off not asking, but his curiosity would not be satiated without knowing the full truth. As a result, he threw caution to the wind and made the inquisition.

'And what would happen if that occurs?'

[If The Parallels Should Intercept, Then Both Realms Will Suffer Catastrophic Damage. It Has Never Happened, So Even I Can Not Predict What Will Happen]

'B-but what's like, the best case scenario and the worst case scenario?'

[Worst Case Scenario, All Of Existence Will Cease To Exist!]

Matt wanted to nitpick and ask about the best case scenario, but he realized that such a thing wasn't possible. Things would only get progressively worse until everything came to an end. That alone sent shivers down his spine.

[It Is Time For You To Awaken. When You Do, You Will Have To Make A Choice—Accept This Challenge, Or Forfeit All Of Your Knowledge On This World And What Is To Come]

Matt suddenly felt a surreal sensation. He could hardly see anything anymore, and his vision became blurry. He could sense himself being pulled up. Everything was collapsing.

However, before he ascended the void, he saw one last message on the System Panel—one last instruction from Gaia.

[But Remember, Dear Enlightened… If You Choose To Reject This Gift… You Will Never Possess It Again]

As he saw this, before he could even react or think, Matt's subconscious completely faded away.

Then, everything went blank.