Chapter 1169: The Dark Abyss

The Plane of Dreams.

Even when the place was damaged by the collision of worlds eons ago and became a sub-realm of another universe, the Plane of Dreams was still a vast, unknown universe to its mortal denizens. There was an almost borderless space with countless ancient star systems and newly born stars, and hidden dark spaces in the deep space where no one had trod before.

In the center of the universe, the ancient nebula had already burnt out, and the once radiant galaxy was now a sea of dead shadows and burnt out planetary husks. The light was slowly fading away, and it was a very precious commodity in the region. Dying planets in the region let out what few remaining light source amongst the forbidding darkness. Every glowing star was a space fortress, and these light sources were few and far between in the dead nebula, each at least a hundred thousand light years away from each other. Their faint glow could not light up the forgotten and dying space, and they were no longer capable of sustaining life. Normal life at least.

Without life, there is no mental activity. Without thought, the malignant powers trapped within the prison could not escape.

And this prison stood vigil across the eons, silently watching the passing of time.

But the place was not totally devoid of life.

The Nightwatchers guarding the prison against the dark lived there. They had created a series of fortifications amongst the surviving stars, setting up layers upon layers of surveillance monitoring the darkest abyss of this desolate zone, listening in for even the faintest of sounds around them.

Deathly quiet was the usual state of this prison. The dead space did not have any sound, and even the ray of star lights was severely restricted. There were no mortal races living there, and the resonance of the soul was a non-starter. All of this was to prevent that evil energy trapped within from breaking the seal. But even then, the Nightwatchers hadtheir own way of communication.

The ancient spirits hadmastered the ways to preserve their souls, and they hadbeen blessed by gods. When they spoke using the resonance across the stars, the evil power sealed deep within the prison were powerless to do anything.

A lone star in the dark abyss flickered as it launched a hyper lightspeed message that was undecipherable by mortal races. The message quickly traveled across the sector, and a few other stars nearby lit up in response.

“S-26, control your channel. Do not engage in needless banter.”

“S-26 here. This is not needless banter. Have already shrouded my soul. This resonance is safe.”

“Any new findings?” Another message came from deep space.

“The Star of Origin had died for over a hundred-time unit. As agreed. Commencing report.”

“Any changes to the world outside?” The signal from the dark abyss queried.

“All quiet. Very quiet. Initial estimations that 90 % of all life candles had been snuffed out. A few areas in the deep space sector is quiet as the critical point.”

The stars grew quiet for a moment. It could have been a few seconds, or a few days long. In the critical point of the dark abyss, the flow of time was all over the place. The Nightwatchers had long abandoned the notion of time when they record something. For them, the passing of time was akin to the sequence of events; the gap between each event was and is meaningless.

If not for the need to record how long since that horrific war had passed, the Nightwatchers would have completely abandoned the concept of time as a whole.

After a brief silence, Border station S-26 launched another message. “W-17. I heard noise from the deep. Any problems there?”

A message came from the middle level of the dark abyss. “It is trying to breach the wall.”

A new signal came from a planet millions of light years away. “It is getting more and more frequent.”

“There is still no message from the Ark and the Ember that the goddess had left behind. There are no signs of recovery of her guardians. Seems like the contamination leaked from before was far worse than expected.” W-17 spoke rather lengthily. “We need to prepare. I’m afraid things will get worse.”

“It is bound to get worse.” S-26 agreed. “We need to conserve our manpower and avoid doing things outside our remit. In just a hundred time unit, we have lost many watchers.”

“But the necessary patrols must continue,” W-17 continued. “This universe is still changing. And something beyond our understanding has been born and is spreading. S-26, do you remember the things that you had discovered before?”

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“Yes, they left quite a mark. Their rate of expansion is truly exceptional, and they are very disciplined, even more so than us. They have now spread across a thousand systems, and their rate of expansion is increasing rapidly. I’m afraid they will encompass the whole universe some day.”

“What is our understanding of them?” Another voice from the middle level of the dark abyss spoke. “How do they replicate?”

“A way that is difficult to describe. Those things do not require any resource to self-replicate. No matter how rich or poor the star system is, their rate of expansion never faltered. I had noticed that these things appeared out of nowhere. They literally popped out of thin air.”

“What is their goal? Are they a threat?”

“Unable to determine. They seem to be a lifeform of high intelligence, but they lack the drive of an intelligent lifeform. They are only expanding, and have left a cluster of hard-to-understand hives and outposts. But they had not harmed anyone in the process, and neither did they conquer any planets. Rather than landing on the planet, they seemed content monitoring from space. So I cannot determine if these things are a threat, I can only confirm that they are capable of being a threat.”

As S-26 finished its transmission, an outpost on the opposite corner of the universe responded, “Addendum. I have noticed that they are equipped with significant firepower. They are capable of destroying any stray celestial bodies that threaten their hive in a few incidents. And this firepower is getting stronger as they expand. Perhaps those things have reached critical mass and are now gearing up for combat.”

S-26 added, “Addendum. Have noticed that the direction of their expansion had changed from aimless expansion to a directed expansion. Their vanguard force seems to be coming in this direction.”

The new report had all Nightwatchers paused. After a brief moment, W-17 spoke again, “Their behavioral module is changing, I propose monitoring them even more closely.”

“Perhaps a preemptive measure?” An outpost replied, “Like engaging them in combat?”

“That should be our last resort… S-77,” W-17 replied, “We need to ensure that the inner defense is stable. If it breaches the wall, the catastrophe that will come will be beyond measure.”

“Agreed.”

“Agreed.”

“Agreed.”

In the quiet dark abyss prison, the resonance amongst the stars had died down. This undetected and unexplored star system once again returned to the deathly silence. Just like the past, now and the future, the system will forever be desolate.

But within the silence, a murmur broke the silence. “W-17, what is the situation at the critical point of the deepest level?”

“The critical point has no logic to speak of. It has already conquered its prison, and only furious screams and fighting exists there. But the last defense line is still responding. N-66 is leading others to seal the prison.”

“…W-17, my brother, do you still remember the times when this universe was a peaceful, verdant garden?”

“…S-26, my brother. Just like you, I have forgotten.”

“For the forgotten grace.”

“For the forgotten grace.”

The chatter between the Nightwatchers ended and they returned into a serene silence, continuing their vigil while waiting for the meaningless ‘time’ to pass before the occurrence of the next worthy event.

Meanwhile, at a place far, far away from this eternal prison, in another galaxy, a new hive of drones had been activated. The crisscrossed, life-like alloy frame lit to life in a glow of red and blue light.

A series of expressions floated before the hive as the swarm of drones looked at the deepest, darkest part of space. In the darkness, everything was eerily silent.

The deep space should indeed be silent, but the level of silence was beyond normal.

After a series of analyses and calculations, the hivemind had developed a new expansion plan.

It had only one purpose. To expand, to continuously expand, to expand till the depth and the edge of the universe!