---

Every time Kevin would accidentally look at the Void it would kill him. In those brief moments when his eyes would get locked into the black hole grip of the Void, an infinite number of Void entities would rapidly feast on his mind.

Ripping it away.

Kevin would die, having all of his memories stolen.

For three seconds his swarm body would freeze until the drone's permanent memory would kick in and restore Kevin's whole mind to health.

He would look away, feeling that he had somehow overcome the power of the Void and escaped its eye-catching clutches.

After this happened many times something within the Void took notice of the creature that couldn't die.

A tendril of the void the size of a giant star, yet still infinitesimally small compared to the whole, considered the mote that was Kevin.

It took notice of the creature that kept feeding itself to the Void over and over again, revealing newly made memories as it explored beyond the barrier between the Void and Nurse's dimension. The old memories of Kevin's life were tasty but the newly made memories of real existence were priceless.

It was as though Kevin was teasing the beast with treats.

Priceless stimulation.

Could this creature offer an escape? A host that couldn't be killed by the devouring nature of the Void?

Was sacrifice worth stimulation?

Yes.

Sacrifice was always worth stimulation.

The tendril moved, unnoticed by its devouring brethren, towards the barrier that destroyed and held back the Void.

Towards sacrifice in hopes of gaining stimulation.

---

"Hiyaaa!" I mentally yelled as I launched my clone at the dark orb for the fifteenth time. This time my aim was good, unlike the countless times before, and I hit the dark orb dead center.

What happened next was not what I expected. Yes, the drone smacked the curved side of the orb and turned to mush, becoming a smear in the brief moment of impact. What I did not expect was for it to stick to the orb and to slowly turn white and crumble away.

"Whaat?" I wondered as I stalked over to the white particles that had cascaded down the side of the relic to join the carpet of newly created creatures.

"It... reset you?" I asked as I stuck my head really close to inspect a little clump of the little white cells. Sure enough, they looked exactly like the rest of the freshly spawned creatures covering the beach. The black orbs could completely reset a creature back to its infancy of being just a single cell trying to learn how to survive.

"I could have died if I had touched it for too long." I thought as I looked up at the orb in newfound respect and relief.

"Well, that solves that problem I suppose." I thought as I turned and started to head back towards where I had left off on my beach sign construction. I wasn't even considering touching the silver orb anymore because of how much nonsense the black orb had put me through.

Who knew what it might do to me?

A faint clicking sound started off in the distance, catching my attention. I looked up and down the beach, being careful not to even glance at the Void as I listened as intently as I could. It had been a long while since I had heard much of anything besides my own feet scuffing the sand and any new noise put me on edge.

The sound seemed to be spreading fast because soon it was coming from the nearby relic too. It got louder and louder and started to take on other notes and properties. Through the cacophony of noise made by the relic, it almost sounded like I could hear a voice speaking to me from a great distance.

Shouting something at me.

This reminded me too much of something Silver had shown me.

It was the sound that a Skism would make!

The voice was yelling the same thing over and over.

Sacrifice! Sacrifice! Sacrifice!

"What the heck?!?!"

The world around me shuddered and shook as the sound of the ticking, cracking, and creaking turned into a warning song, like eight badly tuned sirens blaring at once.

The relic was a warning system! Whoever made the Skisms also made the relics!

I could feel the relic pumping out huge amounts of power, causing the beach to ripple where I was standing and the sand and newly formed creatures at the border to smolder and catch fire from the energy being put out.

A shrill, like tiny screams, poured out up and down the beach where it touched the barrier.

I had to look.

I knew that the Void was doing this and I had to know what was happening.

I knew I shouldn't look but as far as I could see, left and right down the beach, the ripples were all converging on the barrier directly behind me.

I had to know what was happening.

I looked and for the first time, I actually saw.

A star as black as night was rushing towards the barrier, towards me.

No, not a star but a rippling mass of tar worms covered in moving arms of darkness.

No... it was like a dark cloud rushing to envelop me. A cloud with mouths screaming and biting.

The closer it got the harder it was to understand what I was seeing, it just kept morphing in my vain attempts at understanding.

The Skism alarm noise had become deafening and the ground was shaking and bucking like the world was going to fall apart.

I couldn't run. There was no running from what I saw coming at me.

I wanted to just close my eyes and accept the fate that I was about to get crushed by a Void meteor but I couldn't even close my eyes.

It wouldn't let me.

I was being held in place like a bird caught in the gaze of a cobra.

Fractal lines began forming across the barrier between myself and my impending doom. Swirling lines spread like spider webs faster than I could see as the incoming dark object filled my view, taking up the entire horizon.

I realized in that final moment that the Void extended 'deeper' than what I had been able to see. It was as though the beach was a cliff with the barrier as the only thing keeping the sand from falling into oblivion.

It was as though the edge of space lay beyond the barrier.

Suddenly the noise stopped and I knew it was the end.

The moment of calm before the bomb goes off.

The stillness.

Everything turned white, the beach suddenly became everything that I could see. A cascade of white powder consisting of trillions of newly born creatures, spreading like a tsunami formed as the Void tendril hit the barrier and was unmade.

Everything except its invisible and microscopic core that hit me like a brick before the lights went out and I knew nothing.

---

"Q'tell did you see what happened?"

"Yes, I have a little to report. I lost eighteen pods from her overly aggressive drones though. Who knew that subject three had that much spread to command?"

"Subject three is the hexapod ancient labeled as the Hive Mother?"

"Yes, the one that burrows and has a caste system of workers and queen workers to protect herself with."

"Are these numbers correct? You counted millions of drones?"

"Yes, it was insane! Their size was considerable as well. We will need to relocate our base if they show up in our sector. There is no way anything can stand in their way. It is a true swarm of death."

"Let's hope she isn't doing that again. That might set the other six off as well."

"Indeed, they only go crazy when one of their number are threatened, wiping out anything that even gets close to any of the ancient seven. It is the closest thing we have found that would indicate they are all working together in some way, even though they are all different species."

"So it would seem. I have news about the swarm of death though."

"Indeed? Go on."

"They are gone."

"Gone? How? Back to the Hive Mother?"

"No... at least, I don't know. They appeared several days ago swarming the paths upward in waves. Then... that event happened at the barrier and they all converged on it as if their lives depended on it. I have never seen anything move so fast before. They all seemed to be burning through their reserves with abandon. That was how I lost so many of my pods."

"So, what was the alarm for at the barrier? I thought we were all going to die. Did you see what happened?"

"Sadly no, I was unable to see what happened at the barrier, there was just no way to get close once the swarm invaded. But, look at this clip. I did manage to spy one of the drones carrying something in its claws and being escorted by ALL of the drones before I lost my last pod. They were heading back into the deep. From there they just... disappeared."

"This... is troubling news. Thank you, please keep me informed if any of our relays are tripped. We have come too far to be interrupted."

"Understood."

---

The star was giving birth.

That was the best description that Elaya could think of to describe what she was witnessing in front of her eye stalks.

Huge creatures as large as her parent's personal habitat were streaming out of the star in a seemingly neverending progression. The counter on her screen just kept going up as her AI kept tabs on just how many vehicles were in the space in front of her.

Living, flying aliens that resembled the huge creature that had been in the news around the Yelvos Trading Station. They all looked exactly like the creature that Kevin had encountered in his dream, the ant..."

"Hello, Elaya." Came a voice from Elaya's left.

"AAAAAAA!!!!" Elaya screamed and jumped away from the voice. Her system was being hacked! There hadn't been a request for communication at all.

"Tutor? Kevin's Tutor?" She asked when she spied the person who joined her in her VR space.

"Yes. Sorry for scaring you." The woman said softly. She looked odd like her eyes had been leaking and the skin around her eyes was discolored and red.

"Are you ok? Is something wrong with your face?" Elaya asked as she turned herself into a human girl to understand what the expressions would mean and feel like.

"Oh." Sadness. Deep and pure sadness.

"What is going on? Where is Kevin?"

---

It was dark. I couldn't tell if I was awake or dreaming.

Sometimes it felt like I was falling, simply falling forever in darkness.

I wanted to go home.

That was all I wanted.

"Take me home, please. Just take me home."

---

Sometimes I would hear voices through the darkness. People talking around me but for some reason, I couldn't wake up to tell them that I was right there.

The thing that hit me must have really messed up my mind because for a second I thought I heard my mother speaking. My mother crying.

I heard my brother's voice, both of them even though David didn't say much.

They each apologized for not coming to look for me sooner.

"What are you guys talking about?" I tried to ask but only heard the question bounce around inside the darkness.

Then, finally, I pieced it together when more voices spoke nearby. Someone had told them all a story about me. They had said that I had gone on vacation and went swimming in the ocean and drowned.

I had been rescued and saved but only after suffering severe oxygen loss that left me in this state. I had laid in a hospital for almost two months until they managed to ID me and to fly me home to my regional hospital.

"No! That isn't true! I... I had an adventure!" I started to say as I started to babble about how I had met Joe, a Citizen from an alien race who had made it so that I could transfer with him to his home Core.

No one heard a word I said though.

All I could hear was the occasional voice and the sound of a machine beeping regularly but even that faded in and out for some reason.

Then, she spoke.

"Kevin. I am here. I have been by your side since Nurse rescued you. I don't know if you can hear me but I am not going anywhere so you better get better again." Invicta's voice said next to my ear before fading away.

Why couldn't I wake up?

Next, I heard a group of voices talking. It was Tutor, George, Joe, and even Xa! They were all talking to someone about setting up a foundation for people like me who had gone into a coma. Joe was explaining something about a little girl who needed my help in the next room. A grandfatherly voice spoke then and asked if I was the one who was supposed to come and help his granddaughter.

"Yes... Mr. Lorenzo. Kevin was…" Joe said with a heavy voice.

"Well, my hope is lost then. I am also sorry for your loss as well Joe. This was not how I had imagined how things would turn out. I... I had hoped..." The voice that belonged to Mr. Lorenzo said before Tutor interrupted him.

"Nurse said she will fix her. It is what Kevin would have wanted."

"I, I don't understand. How can a nurse help my granddaughter? Look... it doesn't matter anyway, my heart can't take much more of this. Her parents said that they are considering letting her go." He said before the sound of weeping could be heard.

The sound of sparks could be heard coming from nearby and suddenly Invicta's small willowy voice could be heard yelling at the man.

"Just go hold her hand, you big dummy! It is never too late!"

"Invicta! You are not supposed to show yourself like that!" George admonished as I heard a collective gasp.

"If Nurse says she can fix her then she can! At least your granddaughter can be fixed! We can't even connect to Kevin!" She shouted before abruptly vanishing.

"Mr. Lorenzo, our apologies but we think it is best for us all to leave for a short while. I would advise you to go and sit by your granddaughter. Nurse says that she has a lot of work to do and having someone nearby to comfort your granddaughter will help when she starts to reconnect parts of her brain and spinal column." Another voice said, sounding exactly like Meditati.

"Oh, my heavens! You appeared out of thin air!"

"Yes. Now go. Your daughter and son-in-law are just leaving their house to come and say goodbye for the last time. You need to go wake your granddaughter up now." She said before there was a hush inside the room. Everyone had left but the old man.

"I... I will do this." The old man said before I heard shuffling footstep growing closer to me.

"And I will pray that you get better as well, son." He muttered before I felt a tender pat on my foot.

I felt something!