1 An imperfect life
[System overload…initiating safety protocol - disengage from host]
In a dark barren wasteland, dyed red by the severed limbs, eviscerated heads and crushed innards strewn across its once heavenly fields…a young man watched his dreams shatter.
[Commencing emergency de-calibration in 3…2…1]
"Wait no…please, not like this"
[0]
"NOOARRRGGHHHHHH"
In a radius of 200 kilometres, space warped and stood stood still. Dead silence enveloped the scene. Vultures that were once dancing in the sky appeared to now be stuck in the clouds, even the toxic fumes radiating from all four of their 5-meter long wings seemed to have met the same fate.
The sky had turned into a surreal still image.
"WHOOOO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK I AM?"
"YOU THINK YOU CAN PUT ME THROUGH ALL THIS SHIT AND BAIL WHEN THINGS GET OUT OF YOUR CONTROL?!?!"
"YOU WILL STAY STILL AN ASCEND WITH ME!"…"this MULTIVERSE will be MINE!!…" …"I WILL BE the ONLY LIN FAN!"…"I did not kill all alterations of myself just for my stunning victory to be DENIED!!!"
The infuriated young man threw his hands around wildly while he spoke. Each swing and thrust causing cracks and fissures to be torn into the space around him. Yet somehow, the black miasma beyond these openings still could not penetrate the scene. Appearing to be blocked behind an invisible wall.
[System suggests host deactivates *Realm Freeze* as System will be forced to initiate self-destruct protocol]
"Try me"
[System activating self-destruct in 3…2…1]
After accepting the challenge, Lin Fan sat in the puddle of blood he was standing in, folded his legs under himself and began mumbling an incoherent but somehow mesmerising chant. The words appeared to layer over each other and one would be fooled into thinking more than one person was chanting. The pitches appeared to belong to different voices as the sound eerily spread across the landscape. Soon, flashing golden runes began to appear in the space around and quickly spread until they formed a giant dome with a radius of 200 kilometres.
Lin Fan then clenched his fist and squeezed hard as the System said [0]
…
In a universe with a multitude of glorious galaxies, all of which were bursting with the energy of life, a small speck of light could be seen glowing fiercer by the second. However, If one were to approach the speck, they would realise it was not a speck of light at all…but instead a ball of white flames that were the size of a planet. However in what seemed like seconds, it spread to the size of a star and continued to pick up speed. Each planet or star devoured by the flames appeared to fuel it with unimaginable energy.
A number of the more advanced civilisations in the universe noticed this anomaly in space and attempted numerous countermeasures. Even attempting to lock that space in a galaxy coordinated time freeze. Yet nothing appeared to quell the raging ball of energy and it quickly began to devour these same galaxies. Civilisations that decided to instead use their time travelling capabilities would find that none of their personnel returned and nothing in the skies changed.
These civilisations, made wise by the realisation of their cruel reality, either descended into pure anarchy or simply resigned themselves to their fate and enjoyed their remaining moments or years with their loved ones, as they watched the world burn.
The more powerful entities had taken the risk and had already escaped into the neighbouring universes.
They thought themselves safe.
…
In a forsaken realm.
The flame continued to burn until it caught up to the speed of its universe…
And then it continued to spread, speeding into the neighbouring universes.
The powerful entities could only swallow their sorrow and hasten the recuperation of their powers. In the hopes that they would be able to gather enough energy to make another jump.
Unfortunately only a few were able to do so before the white sun devoured their existence.
After absorbing thousands of universes, the flame flickered and then contracted at a terrifying speed. Far exceeding the speed at which it had expanded. It continued to shrink until it was the the size of a galaxy…a planet…a boulder…and finally a sphere the size of a penny.
The hazy image of a young man, seemingly in his teens, appeared around the sphere of light.
And in the emptiness of nothingness another anomaly occurred as the words "well played" drifted across the chasm.
The flame finally disappeared…however, in its place, a small black hole had formed. The pressure it generated was beyond reason. Immediately, all the godlike entities in the neighbouring universes began to contend with the idea that they would soon cease to exist.
A few prepared themselves to make their final stand, while the luckier ones managed to gather enough energy to make consecutive jumps across the multiverse.
Fortunately, right at this moment the last anomaly occurred, the space cracked and shattered. What was once thought to be nothingness, truly became empty.
