World Keeper

“Activating Void Broadcasting units.”

“Beginning initial merge. Connection seed has been deployed.”

“Detecting anomalies within two of the four energy cores.”

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The voices called out one after the other as numerous screens brought up the display, showing what appeared to be random pieces of landscape. These were deemed to be the most common locations to detect an anomaly that would alter the world, landscapes where various geographic features overlapped.

For instance, there was a desert at the base of a volcano, a lush forest next to a rolling beach, or a valley that dropped into a chasm. There were even manmade facilities established in order to see what effects the merge would have.

Deep within the energy cores of the cloned Deckan, a series of blue eggs cracked open, releasing a wave of power that opened a void gate to the matching core of the cloned Lorek world. This caused the energies from the two cores to begin to flow freely into one another. At the same time, a series of devices had been installed in each core, monitoring the energy in real time.

Chelsea stared firmly at the projections before her. In truth, she had no expectations of this working. All of the science pointed to an incoming catastrophic failure that would obliterate both universes. That was the theory, at least.

The problem was that they did not have enough data to find a way to prevent such a catastrophic failure on the first attempt. The only way to get that data was to perform this test, and get as much information as they could from the sensors that they had placed throughout the various world cores.

Of course, there was the slim chance that this worked, that her understanding of world laws was shallow. She knew that it was to some degree, but did not believe it enough to make her wrong about the outcome of this experiment. That was why she had been so strict as to order every single person involved with the research group to enter this isolation chamber.

Even in the off chance that the worlds didn’t collapse, there would be irreparable damages done to their world laws, to the point where it might be easier to simply destroy them than to try and salvage what remains. In either event, what was important was the data that was being transferred over to the isolation chamber via the research station.

“Anomalies have now appeared in three cores! World mutations detected!” As soon as this call rang out, everyone began to investigate, looking at the various screens to try to find any signs of the mutation. There was no guarantee that it would be immediately visible, however. For instance, the mutation could be something like ‘creatures rapidly decay after entering a vacuum’ or other random events similar to void beast influences. Or, it could be something far more visible.

“There, Screen Seventeen!” James called out, and everyone turned to look at the screen in question, which displayed an oceanic volcano, deep beneath the surface of the cloned Deckan. At first, it was hard to tell exactly what was happening, but the stone that made up the edge of the volcano appeared to be… pulsing? No, perhaps squirming would be a better word. It was as if the rock structure had suddenly come alive.

“Camera Three, too!” Another researcher called out. In this camera’s view, the change was far more apparent. Clouds seemed to vanish, the sky immediately growing darker. Several plants, which had only recently been blowing in the breeze, briefly lifted upwards, only to freeze in place. On another screen, water could be seen rising above the surface of the ocean in thick bubbles, unaffected by gravity.

“Should I disengage the merger?” One of the technicians asked, but Chelsea shook her head immediately.

“No, we have already passed that critical juncture. These two worlds are no longer in a state that we can safely salvage. Maintain the process, and continue to monitor all data. The experiment ends only when either bother universes are destroyed, or there are no longer any changes in the energy cores.”

The researcher hesitated, before nodding his head. There was no telling how long this experiment could last, and they were prepared for that. This lab was stocked with enough food to last the entire crew for a decade, if need be. Which was nice, because quite a few of them had to take severe measures in order to simply be here.

For instance, there was the goddess Chelsea herself. Due to this chamber isolating and negating all forms of supernatural energy, that included the energies which held together her divine body. On her wrist was a special device that she had created, one which stored her original body in a stasis spell similar to the Reset Protocol, while a cloned body was used to carry out the experiment in her place.

Everyone in the research team who had shed their mortal form was forced to use a similar device, which had thankfully been tested and shown to function even after being taken in and out of the isolation chamber. Otherwise, simply entering the chamber was a death sentence to those individuals.

“Cores one and two of Lorek are showing increased activity.” One researcher announced. “It appears there is going to be another mutation!”

Everyone began to turn their gazes towards Lorek’s set of monitors, waiting to see what would change. Ideally, there would be the same changes as in Deckan, which would at least show that the two systems were merging together.

However… it was difficult to determine if gravity had been disabled as with Deckan’s cameras. This was because all of the cameras on Lorek suddenly went white. “Rewind Camera Thirty-Two, frame by frame!” Chelsea shouted. Pointing at one of the outdoor cameras of Lorek. She couldn’t afford to have them all rewound, in case there was something else that was coming.

Soon, the camera began to reveal what had happened. Just a few frames before everything went white, the sky seemed to light on fire, a pillar of energy descending to the ground. Chelsea grit her teeth in realization. “In Deckan’s system, we saw what looked to be the atmosphere disappearing, for one reason or another. In Lorek, it seems like the atmosphere vanished as well.”

“And… the atmosphere was holding back the constant cosmic energy storms.” Treisha spoke up with a sigh. This was the source of a cultivator’s power, tapping into these energy storms released by every star in order to develop themselves. However, without an atmosphere to shield them, that energy was now scorching the planet. Even the underwater cameras only lasted a few frames longer, meaning that they were likely all already destroyed.

“This means that the light from the stars in the cloned Deckan world has likely become hazardous, as well.” Chelsea stated. “However, we won’t be able to observe this reaction, due to the energy needing to take several years to accumulate and reach a distant world.”

“The final core has reacted!” One researcher suddenly called out, and both James and Chelsea turned to face them. They knew without asking which core was the last to react, as it was the only one that was largely unchanged across every universe, the spirit core.

“Has the connection point in the Underworld been evacuated?” Chelsea asked urgently, to which James nodded his head. Given the fact that the spiritual energy cores were already almost identical, this one was considered a low risk factor. Still, preparations had to be made, just in case of the worst.

“The final core… has collapsed.” That same researcher spoke up, seeming surprised. Although it was the last core to show any changes, it was the first one to collapse. This caused both James and Chelsea to look at one another.

“Is the spiritual core that unstable?” James couldn’t help but ask, though Chelsea shook her head.

“That shouldn’t be it.” She said, walking over to look at the previous researcher’s screen. “Given the nature of the spiritual core, which acts as a bridge to the Underworld, it’s likely a defense mechanism put in place by the Underworld system itself. Otherwise, if one world experienced a catastrophic failure, there was a risk of damage cascading through the Underworld and affecting every other world. That would make a concentrated attack on the afterlife a simple way to kill any Keeper.”

Despite the time it took for Chelsea to explain this, the other three cores had not yet broken down, though Chelsea could see that the energy readings were becoming increasingly erratic. They were constantly hitting what Chelsea had assigned as the ‘mutation threshold’. This meant that the world was now in a spiraling meltdown.

Looking back up, she glanced at the Deckan monitors. The squirming volcano had cracked open, seeming to erupt in a red radiance. The surface level cameras did not look very different, with the exception of red glows starting to fill the skies.

With an inaudible pop, all of the cameras on Deckan shut down at once. “Planetary detonation?” James asked, looking back at Chelsea, who nodded her head.

“Intense sources of heat and light project either ki, mana, natural, or spiritual energy, according to Lorek’s law. However, Deckan’s planet size is considerably smaller than that of Lorek’s, leading to a lower ability to disperse this energy. Given the fact that there is no longer a protective atmosphere… the red-hot magma flowing through the planet turned it into a bomb.”

Chelsea speculated that the squirming wasn’t a sign of the volcano coming to life, but rather a prelude of this eruption caused by a sudden increase in internal pressure. Once again, she looked at the screens showing the energy readings of the four cores. With how quickly the cores were mutating, it was only a matter of time until the science allowing them to function no longer operated as it should, despite their numerous failsafes.

Sure enough, it wasn’t long until all of the remaining cores suddenly flatlined. In an ideal scenario, that would mean that it was now safe to leave the isolation chamber. However, this was not an ideal scenario. “Activate the void monitors! I want visuals and external scans of the target universes.”

The dozens of screens at the front of the lab all went dark, before the innermost screen showed two black spheres within the void, their surfaces rolling and bubbling. Cracks were beginning to form, but that wasn’t what cause James’s eyes the most.

“The stars are all gone.” He said, looking beyond the surface, and into the pitch black emptiness of the universes.

Chelsea nodded her head in understanding. “If gravity was negated, that meant that the force holding every star in each universe together disappeared, causing them to simply explode. If Deckan hadn’t detonated when it did, we likely would have seen its surface scorched by the supernova.”

James gave a small nod when he heard that, the kitsune twins next to him speaking up. “The laws completely merged.” They said in their overlapping voices. “Although it led to a total reality collapse, the purpose of the experiment was achieved.” She wore the same bracelet as Chelsea, but the twin personalities occupying her mind still managed to present themselves in the form of overlapping speech.

Chelsea couldn’t help but nod her head in agreement, watching the two black spheres rip themselves apart on the screen. “Everyone, we will be remaining in this facility for seven days, to fully ensure that there is no karmic backlash. During this time, I want everyone to review the data that we received. Anything that you can make sense of now, while it is still fresh in your mind, could save us years of research later.”

She was certainly not exaggerating when she said that. If they were to simply review the information normally, without having the context fresh in their minds, Chelsea was certain that there was enough data to comb through to last the entire team another decade.