A New World, an immersive game experience

Eldrian had thought this last distortion would be the end of this strange world. While viewing it, the fragments had healed. And now, there was nothing to be seen. Certainly, this had been the climax.

Yet here he was. Still inside this strange place. Now with nothing to watch. Darkness his only companion.

A strange feeling overtook Eldrian. Years of observing the world's history were finally broken. And it felt like he lost what had kept him sane. Granted, Eldrian had lost his sanity for a while, but the constant of these distortions had healed his psyche.

Without them, Eldrian felt abandoned. He had seen the cause of Earth's problems. Or rather, what had allowed the planet to survive thousands of years longer than it would have. Yet, he had no answers.

The spell Chronos had used was far too complex. A hyper-density sphere wherein even the simplest formulas were compressed algorithms of hyperspheres. A spell truly outside of the physical and magical dimensions Eldrian was comfortable with.

Whether or not it was a fourth (or even higher) dimensional spell, or just a truly complex three-dimensional one. It didn't matter. It was equally as incomprehensible to Eldrian.

'Chronos spent decades perfecting that one spell. After having lived millennia. A being born with his powers, and who had an infinite amount of time to perfect it. Surpassing the AI by leagues... And, yet, his solution was a stopgap which took his life as the exchange.'

The entire situation sucked. And if Chronos didn't leave him something to rely on, Eldrian wouldn't be able to save anyone. 'Funny, I don't even know if I still have time. I want to believe... but why do I even still care?'

Time had frayed his mind and especially his emotions. Eldrian felt detached from his old life. The years had worn him down, and, honestly, it felt like a completely different life. Like he was already in the afterlife, and this was his torture. Or reward. He couldn't truly say which.

Time continued to flow, and Eldrian wandered. Yet, no matter where he walked, the space surrounding him remained the same.

'No, it was no longer the same.' Eldrian realized. In his mindless wandering, he had failed to notice the change.

He was no longer in the dark. The fragments were still gone, but he could now see the edges of the space he was in. A translucent spherical dimension. Almost as if he was inside a snow globe. Before the snow had been the fragments, now, it had calmed and he was left with only the walls.

The walls stood out only because they left a haze in Eldrian's sight. Distorting what lay beyond. And beyond... was something almost like the fragmented space that had first welcomed it. Only larger in scale, and less like shattered glass and instead cracks upon the universe itself.

More time passed, and finally, something else changed. Having tried to reach out to that which lay beyond his walls. Having walked in one direction for days, weeks, perhaps even months. Eldrian could finally feel the essence of a spell. A truly massive one.

Drawn by it, he let himself be pulled in. And before long, he saw a familiar sight. The spell Chronos had cast. Or what was left of it.

The hyper-dense sphere was fragmenting. Pieces of the compressed formulae unraveling and filling the surroundings.

The power from these formulae... was beyond anything Eldrian had ever experienced. It was not mana, nor was it lifeforce. It was beyond that. Beyond even the Astral—as he had defined the world's layers.

This before him was the very essence of existence. Taken, manipulated, and then condensed. Squished together with more of the same. Until, finally, a spell had been formed. One which probably contained the densest collection of energy possible.

If this thing had mass, Eldrian surmised, it would probably surpass even the biggest black hole. Perhaps even that of the known universe.

The unraveling formulae alone were so dense in energy that they were visible to Eldrian. Forming something akin to mass by the sheer collection of formless energy. 'That one formula probably has as much energy as a black hole.' Eldrian thought, and he somehow believed he was underselling the unraveling formula.

Just standing near this sphere caused waves of pain to assault Eldrian. Every few seconds, a wave would escape from the core. Causing the unraveling formulae to unravel more. Only a tiny fraction, too little to see with the naked eye. But it caused a massive energy flux to be sent into the universe.

These waves were so powerful that Eldrian understood, instinctually, that his existence would be wiped from the world if he took a few steps closer.

He was only alive because of the second sphere surrounding the core. Like he had seen, this spell was made up of four layers. The outermost bindings, then the outer layer, the middle, and, lastly, the core.

Eldrian knew not what their purposes were, but he understood that the middle layer was dampening the energy bursting from the core.

'I wonder how much power each burst contains.' Eldrian thought. He knew it was several times what his soul had contained at its peak. And, here, this spell was leaking that amount every few seconds. And the loss of such a massive quantity of energy caused no visible changes.

...

'Oh, I see.' Eldrian had spent several hours observing the spell. And he finally noticed a connection this spell had with the outside. He now also understood where he was.

He was between the second and third layers of the spell. The "Cracks in the Universe" as Eldrian would describe his surroundings, were the bands. And the walls of his "snow globe" were the edges of the third layer.

Truly, this spell was a marvel. Chronos had known it might fail, and he had built several safety measures into it. The first of which were the bands. Made to allow expansion. Thus, when a wave of energy bursts from the core, they could further dampen the effect.

'Those bands are what connect this world to the rest of the universe.'

The second thing Eldrian had learned was that this place. It didn't exist anywhere on Earth or in the universe Eldrian called home.

It was like ANW, though Eldrian didn't know if it had a core. 'No, the core is quite obvious, isn't it?' Eldrian chuckled, watching another energy wave disperse through the spell.

From the core, it started violent. Chaotic. Yet, for all its violence, it only managed to rip mere fractions of the formulae from the core. Causing the unraveling formulae to flutter.

Then it hit the second layer. And like a wall, this layer prevented the energy from wiping Eldrian from the world. Yet, it could not stop the energy. Instead, it acted like a sieve. Limiting how much energy could escape at a time.

By the time the energy reached the third layer, it was more or less calm. It was then directed into the bands and sent into the physical universe. Dispersed to minimize the damage it would have on the physical realm.

'Gosh. I was having an existential crisis about souls being able to house dimensions. And then Chronos made a spell to distribute energy from a separate dimension into several others.' The energy was shared to all dimensions sharing the core that kept this place stable.

"Time. You bound time to your spell." Eldrian laughed. The insanity of it all was too much. The absurdity was pure irony.

Ziraili's teachings were all reliant on the rules Chronos had set. How time "acted" was defined here. It was not a universal rule. It was a madman's creation.

"Is Earth even the same world that Chronos lived on?" Eldrian asked. He had to wonder. For he knew now that each band connected to a different dimension. And there were countless.

"Hahahahaha... Gwahahaha!!" He guffawed, unable to suppress his helplessness. He had to laugh, it was simply too insane.

Whether those dimensions were creations of other gods, people like him, or were real. No one knew. Chronos had tied them all to this place. To the "core" of time itself.

"Everything but this place is fake!" Eldrian shouted. This was the sad truth he had come to learn. Time was controlled here. And allowed to flow into the other dimensions. If this place disappeared, time would end. Everything would end.

"You crazy bastard! Why would you do this?! Why couldn't you just let your world be destroyed!" Cursing Chronos with all his heart, Eldrian realized the true danger of desperation.

To save one world, Chronos had doomed all the dimensions in existence. All that had existed, and all that would ever exist.

"Fucking idiot!"

"...I have to focus." Slapping his cheeks, Eldrian turned to the core. He had to stop it from unraveling further. It was going to reach a tipping point. A point where it would go supernova.

The safety measures would fail. The second layer was already stretching. The failure was imminent.

The explosion of time going supernova would ripple through all of existence and wipe out everything.

Perhaps this would be the start of a new universe. A new big bang. But Eldrian didn't give a damn if it would be. He couldn't accept this was the end.

"No point standing here any longer." He thought. Talking aloud to give himself courage as he took a step forward. A single step caused the next wave of energy to rip through him. Tearing him apart.

Luckily, the form he had in this place was not physical, but just a manifestation of his conscious image of himself. And it was now riddled with holes.

"I refuse!" Eldrian shouted. "I refuse to accept this! I won't allow this to be the end of everything!" His rage burned bright as he thought of all his loved ones. Of his friends and family. Who would never even know the end was near.

They would probably not even realize they died.

Distant memories filled Eldrian's mind and gave him power. Flames erupted around him, covering him like a shield as the next wave crashed into him. A massive explosion, far beyond anything humans could create, shattered the surrounding space. Causing it to become fragmented like before. But only for a few seconds.

Luckily, Eldrian was merely a soul in a world filled with nothing but energy. Mass did not exist in this place, and thus an explosion had little effect on him. Especially since the blast was directed around him.

Had it gone through him, however, he would no longer be alive.

As desperate as he was, even in his raged state, Eldrian realized going forward would be the death of him. Taking a step back, he sat down and gazed at the spell. Trying to find a way to get past the second layer without dying.