The short walk to the obelisk was quiet. Everyone was walking at a brisk pace while ruminating over what transpired earlier. Alex was still reeling from both the mental and physical shock of what happened, but thankfully he found an anchor to stop himself from breaking down on the spot.

“What was that azure light? Jake was at least a good fifty meters away, and he decapitated that monstrosity with such ease. And that sword too, where did he get it? There’s simply no way he had it before the world went to hell since nobody would be walking through the heart of the city on a Friday night with a fucking sword.”

With every moment Alex spent thinking about what happened, more and more questions piled up inside him. Thankfully the sheer effort of thinking about that was helping him ignore his maimed shoulder.

“No matter, if what those guys said is true, I’ll have my answers soon enough,” thought Alex while looking ahead.

The obelisk towered over the surrounding buildings. Alex took a look at the ones around himself.

“Buildings, which by all accounts should have been pulverized from the impact. Come to think of it, and Jake mentioned that all the people that were nearby the obelisk when it crashed were there now, presumably alive. Could it be the obelisk somehow mitigated the kinetic impact in a set radius around itself to avoid killing people? But why?

Just as Alex was in deep thought, the group made the final turn and arrived at the main city square. The visage that presented itself to them was a peculiar one. Right in the middle of the square was a crater the size of a football field. The obelisk stood motionless right in the middle of that very same crater while the azure and white veil around the obelisk was rhythmically pulsing as it did before. The moment the group laid eyes on the structure, the strange compulsion to head to the obelisk they all felt before reached an all-time high. They carefully climbed down to the crater floor and approached within a few feet of the towering monolithic structure.

“Are you all feeling this?” asked Alex.

“Yeah.Yeah.Yeah.Yeah.” the group said as one.

“I guess this is it, huh? I’ll go first. If you notice anything wrong, get away from here.” said Alex reaching his palm towards the smooth texture of the obelisk.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” whispered Claire, but it was too late. As soon as Alex’s hand touched the obelisk, he vanished.

As soon as his hand touched the obelisk’s smooth surface, Alex found himself in a weird place. He was sitting on a chair. Not just any chair either, but the chair from the terrace of the café near his workplace.

“Previous workplace, all things considered.” thought Alex to himself.

In front of him was the familiar round table where he drank many a coffee, but what truly surprised Alex was not the table, but rather who was sitting across from it.

Alex was looking at a seemingly normal human being, except it had five eyes. While Alex was coming to grips with the new circumstances, the individual spoke.

“Hello, my name is Pahan, an inner disciple of the Myriad Visions Sect, hailing from the far-off Kingdom of Shattered Eyes. It is my pleasure as the induction officer on duty tonight to welcome you to this outpost.” said the five eyed person before Alex.

“I know you must have many questions, but I can’t answer them all haphazardly, or else we’re going to be spending the rest of the night, and we can’t have that considering we have four new arrivals I have to tend to outside. Part of your group, I presume.”

The only thing Alex could do at this point was to nod towards Pahan slowly.

“Great, here’s how it’s going to go. I’ve compiled a rudimentary explanation along with a list of other frequently asked questions from the individuals who arrived before you. I will speak, and you will not interrupt me until I am finished. Then, if you have any more questions, and if we have time, I might answer them. Is that understood?”

Alex felt it took some effort to answer, but he somehow managed to do it.

“Yes, I understand.”

“Great, let’s begin then. First of all, I’m sure you’re curious about what happened to your world. That one’s easy. You’re being invaded. By what, you may ask? That one’s not so easy. Your world has passed the threshold. Somewhere, some scholar or whatever the equivalent is on this world has stumbled unto the existence of the breath of the divine. It has many names; Mana, Qi, the Divine Spark, and so forth. The terminology is not essential. What is essential, though, is the fact that as soon as even an iota of the thing was produced on your world, the Great Starry Sky sensed your existence and has started assimilating this world. As a result, this world's inhabitants stopped being protected by the ancient accords between the different factions. Exercising their right derived from the accords, some unsavory factions have started a full-scale assault on your world with the sole purpose of plundering it until not even a speck of dust remains. At the same time, other factions think it worthwhile to protect, preserve, and recruit such new arrivals into the broader cosmos rather than mindlessly killing them. This is what the outpost is for. Various sects, clans, guilds, and many other factions have sent their representatives to recruit the inhabitants of this world and assist them with opposing the invaders.”

“Phew, this is the basic rundown of what happened. Any questions so far?” asked Pahan looking expectantly at Alex.

“A few, if you’ll answer them,” expectantly replied Alex.

“Sure, you’re taking this all in quite calmly, which, to be honest, is making my job relatively easy. You should see the sort of tantrums some other arrivals were throwing.”

Looking at the amused grin on Pahan’s face, Alex was able to relax somewhat. According to Pahan, they were on a schedule, so first things first, Alex had to find out how much time they had to decide which questions he should ask and in what order.

“You said we don’t have all day, or in this case all night. How much time exactly do we have?” asked Alex with a serious face.

“That’s a little complicated. Let me ask you this first; how much time do you think passed since you’re here?” replied Pahan.

“I don’t know, half an hour?” said Alex.

Pahan chuckled while fidgeting with a lock of hair.

“Yes, but not quite. For you and me, indeed, half an hour has passed. Outside though, not even three seconds passed.” explained Pahan.

“But how?” asked Alex with an incredulous look on his face.

“Simple. We’re in a mindscape. Before you ask, a mindscape is precisely what it’s called; a place in the mind. In this case, my mind. I took the liberty of borrowing some familiar surroundings from your mind, though, so that you’d feel more at ease.” said Pahan while waving his hand at their surroundings.

“Wait, you’ve been in my mind!?!” reeled back Alex with a stricken face.

“Yeah, quite the depressing place, I must say,” said Pahan with a look of pity on his face. “Don’t worry, though; I’m honour-bound to secrecy as a disciple of the Myriad Visions Sect. My foundation will shatter if I break that rule.”

“I’m not sure what that means, but I’ll take you up on your word at the moment,” warily replied Alex.

“So, to answer your initial question, the standard procedure is two hours of mindscape time for the induction. You’ve still got another hour and a half, so, ask away, and I’ll answer whatever I can,” explained Pahan.

There were many things Alex was interested in, and hearing how much time remained, he felt that if he managed his time, he might walk away with quite the informational haul. He decided to take it from the beginning.

“Before this all began, what was the feeling of dread that washed over us?” nervously asked Alex.

Pahan squirmed in his seat, thinking how to answer before finally replying.

“As soon as the Great Ones tore the fabric of space above your world, for a split moment, you, and by you, I mean all of you were under the gaze of multiple Great Ones. What you felt was a fraction of a gaze from beings so powerful that the very laws of the universe bow down to them.”

Alex took a moment to let what he heard sink in.

“So, it was someone and not something tearing the sky apart,” thought Alex with a small shudder.

After another moment of gathering his thoughts, Alex continued with his inquiry.

“What about the crimson mist that spilt from the tears?” asked Alex.

Pahan straightened his back as he answered, “That’s easier. Let me use an analogy. Imagine the ocean. Now, imagine a balloon filled with air inside the ocean. What would happen if someone came and filled the balloon with a bunch of holes?” expectantly asked Pahan.

“It would pop?” replied Alex while raising an eyebrow.

“Imagine that the material the balloon is made of is not only extremely flexible but extremely durable as well.” Pahan rectified himself.

“In that case, the balloon would hold, but water would rush in immediately into the balloon.” confidently replied Alex.

“Exactly. The balloon is your isolated world; the water is the divine breath, and the Great Ones made the holes in the balloon. Is that clear?” asked Pahan.

“Crystal,” replied Alex.

Alex was frantically going over what happened earlier to decide what he should ask next. He chose to go with a double question this time,

“Is the blackout as well as that monstrosity that attacked us a consequence of the divine breath, as you call it?” asked Alex with an intense look on his face.

“I am confident that is the case,” replied Pahan with ease. “As it stands, the divine breath is the supreme energy, and due to its properties, it devours lesser energy not derived from itself. It doesn’t even matter what kind, be it electrical or nuclear. As long as the energy is not a result of a reaction from the breath, it is slowly devoured by the breath, starting with more significant energy sources and moving to smaller ones. This is why the blackout happened immediately, while your four-wheeled contraption running on thermal energy kept working. Eventually, though, all non-breath-derived energy on this world will cease to be, which means you’ll have to adapt.”

“What about the giant dog beast?” added Alex.

“Most likely a direct reaction of coming into contact with the divine breath. You’ll have to excuse me, as this not my area of expertise; I can’t tell you more about that.” nonchalantly said Pahan.

“Does that mean the same will happen to me?” asked Alex with a worried look on his face.

“Don’t worry, most sapient species don’t succumb to that. It only happens to mindless beasts and other slightly sentient species. I believe it has something to do with how easy a creature gives in to its primal instincts, but don’t quote me on that.” calmly replied Pahan.

Alex looked expectantly at Pahan before saying. “What else should I know?”

Immediately a mysterious smile covered Pahan’s face before he replied.

“You know, out of all arrivals I’ve inducted tonight, you’re one of the very few who took this all in stride and tried to make the most of what they were given. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you things you do not ask me about, and even then, I can only answer certain things, but you must still ask. One thing I can tell you, though, is that should you keep the same attitude while inside the outpost, you’ll do just fine. Now, the last question, please. I must attend to your companions soon.”

Alex pondered for a short while before deciding on what his final question, or rather, the final two questions were going to be.

“What is this obelisk, and why did all of us feel so compelled to come here?” resolutely asked Alex.

The same mischievous gleam covered Pahan’s eyes, all five of them, and he answered.

“Great question. What you call the obelisk is an outpost, a military outpost to be more specific. It took the major factions on our side an unholy amount of resources to create them. In a nutshell, they are small pocket dimensions designed to hold the chapterhouses of the various members of the faction inside. As for the compulsion to come here, that’s a major enchantment on the outside of the obelisk meant to act as a beacon for individuals in the vicinity of the outpost. It was created to ensure all survivors of the world assimilation would reach at least one of them and receive assistance successfully.” answered Pahan with a content look on his face.

After Alex had no more questions to give, Pahan talked for the remaining time about what this fundamental change would mean for Earth and all its inhabitants, especially trying to drill the fact that nothing would ever be the same into Alex.

“Now then, that covers our induction. I have four new arrivals to attend to while you get to enter the outpost. One last piece of advice, though, choose which faction you enter carefully. It will shape your future for years to come.” said Pahan with a small grin on his face.

“And how do you even know whether I’m going to be recruited at all?” suspiciously asked Alex.

“Usually, I would say something like, ‘Based on how you comported yourself when faced with such unfamiliar circumstances.’ but the truth is far simpler. Don’t forget I took a peek into your mind.”

Alex looked at Pahan with a weird mix of fear and awe and thought to himself that even if Pahan’s tone indicated playfulness, this might have been the most serious he’s been throughout this whole conversation, and so he decided to trust his words.

“Don’t worry, and you’ll be just fine. Now, off you go.” curtly said Pahan.

“Wait a sec-“ Alex tried to say.

Immediately after Pahan said his farewells, he closed all his eyes and clapped twice, and with that, Alex vanished once again.