World Keeper

Chelsea sat in her lab, looking at the finished device before her, the Great One’s Map. This device took the form of a small, circular ring of thick metal with a projector in the center. Upon pressing the projector, which also acted as a button, it would perform a scan to locate the Keeper and map their surroundings.

Chelsea had only just received the report that the manufacturing process of the map had been completed, and immediately confiscated the only existing copy. Without delay, she scanned it into the Digital Conversion system, and deleted all saved blueprints of the device after creating a secure, offline copy to store as a backup. This way, she could limit the chances of this device getting out as much as possible.

As for why… Chelsea took a deep breath, pressing the button. The scanning process took a full ten seconds, during which a progress bar appeared as a hologram above the device. Once the scan was complete, however, Chelsea saw Dale sitting on his throne within Olympus. There were several buttons hovering along the side of the hologram, providing options to manipulate the display.

The one that Chelsea was most concerned about was the ‘guidance’ button. When she pressed it, the hologram rapidly zoomed out, showing a projection of the void itself. She could see a glowing path leading between two universes held within the branches of the new void tree. Chelsea immediately recognized these universes as Earth and the A.W.R.G.

With just the push of a button, whoever has this device can immediately locate the Keeper, check their surroundings for security flaws, and even plot a direct course. Chelsea shuddered at the implications.

If there was anything positive to say about the device, it was that its sheer complexity would make it nigh impossible to stumble across accidentally. There were so many convoluted pieces that made absolutely no sense to her to this day, and would not fit any other type of device.

At least we can finally get back to work on other projects now. She thought to herself, creating six more of the devices to personally deliver to Olympus. She didn’t want to take even the slightest risk that the package could be intercepted along the way. As far as she was concerned, these maps should be locked in a vault until the day of the invasion, and then immediately destroyed after they return.

Was that harsh for something that cost them half a million points? Maybe! However, this was such a huge security risk that even handling it felt wrong to her. Still, she understood how important this was for the upcoming invasion, so she grit her teeth and accepted it.

“All passengers, be advised, we are now arriving at the Solar Tree. Please be patient while the landing bay atmospheric regulator is adjusted.” The voice of the shuttle’s captain spoke up through the ship, several passengers sitting idly in their seats.

They could feel the slight turbulence of gravity shifting. Normally, most of their bodies would have been crushed into nothing just from being this close to a star, but the gravity inside the shuttle was constantly monitored to prevent any danger to the passengers aboard the shuttle.

Soon, there was a small shake as the shuttle landed, and the captain’s voice spoke again. “The shuttle has now landed. Please exit the vehicle in a calm and orderly manner. Upon exiting, there will be signs directing you to your next destination.”

The passengers stood up calmly, and began to exit the shuttle as if it were a normal airplane, not a vessel that had taken them all the way to land on a star. Among the passengers was a brown-haired lycan wearing framed glasses. Similar to the other passengers, all of his luggage was in his inventory, ensuring that he was able to leave swiftly.

Outside of the shuttle, there was a transparent bubble allowing travelers to see out onto the surface of the star. They could see the shifting flames that almost appeared to be an infinite ocean, waves rolling across the surface whenever a small flare emerged like a fish jumping from the water.

Of course, the view through the bubble was adjusted heavily, dimmed enough so as to not harm those within. The lycan took a moment to appreciate the view, and then left the landing bay through the marked exit terminal. The halls of the facility were not built, but grown, composed of hollow branches of red wood.

Past this hall, he could see numerous shops set up travelers, showing some of the local specialties and giving them a place to sit down and wait for the next shuttle. These shops were manned by the Solar Sylvans, a special offshoot of the race produced by the Solar Tree. Though, with that said, there wasn’t much different about them, aside from their coloring and an innate resistance to the environment of the sun.

However, he already had his next destination in mind, and continued walking towards the portal junction. Here, there were dozens of archways arranged, each containing a portal made of red and yellow energy. Above each archway was a sign, detailing where the portal went to. The lycan looked down at his notebook, adjusting his glasses with a nod before heading to one of the gates.

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On the other side was a tree much like the one he just left, though this one was in an entirely different region of the galaxy. Most people passing through these portals immediately made their way to the waiting area to see when their shuttle would arrive.

The lycan, meanwhile, moved to one of the many viewing ports, his eyes gazing into the darkness of space. As he did, a voice spoke out to him from behind. “Can I help you with something, sir?”

The man turned around, and saw a golden Solar Sylvan with red leaves and vines adorning her body. She had a kind smile on her face as she watched him. “I am Lina of Dragons, one of the assistant managers of this starport.”

“Pierce.” The man introduced himself. “And no, there is nothing immediately pressing.” He responded kindly. Just as the Sylvan was getting ready to leave, he hesitated. “Out of curiosity, when is the next shuttle to the Outer Reaches?”

Lina looked back at Pierce, blinking. “I’ll need to check that. Please, wait here and I’ll be back shortly.” She said with a smile, before turning and walking off.

Pierce chuckled, looking down at his notebook again in satisfaction. Rather than waiting for her answer, he waited for her to be out of sight before turning to leave, heading for one of the shuttles at random.

Lina hummed thoughtfully to herself as she walked to the communications room of the starport. It was rare for people to journey to the Outer Reaches from this area. The Outer Reaches was a generic term used in all starports for a shuttle that went outside of the anti-memetic barrier. Typically, there was no reason to do so, so many starports didn’t have such a service.

However, this particular solar system had an anomalous planet orbiting not far outside the barrier. What made it anomalous was that it seemed to resonate with the anti-memetic barrier due to its internal composition. For this reason, there was a research colony established on this small planet, and a daily shuttle carried people back and forth.

When she arrived at the communications room, she walked over and found one of the blue Solar Sylvans, lightly tapping her on the shoulder. “We have a request for the Outer Reaches. Can you run a long-distance scan to see when they’ll arrive?”

The other Sylvan blinked, but quickly nodded. The console in front of her was made of wood and a green, gel-like substance. She slid her fingers along the gel, closing her eyes. Thankfully, it had become common for long-distance scanners to be equipped with memetic filters. These weren’t the same as the supposed universal antimemes that would let you know what was being censored, but would simply remove the offending information from the scan.

“I’ve found it, Lina. It looks like the shuttle has just departed. Given their usual flight time, they’ll be here in about eight hours.” She responded with a smile, before suddenly blinking.

“Is everything okay?” Lina asked, noticing the strange expression on the other Sylvan’s face.

“Give me a moment, please.” She narrowed her eyes, fingers gliding over the console. “I’m picking up an unusual reading on the scanner. There seems to be a large monster approaching the system.”

Lina pursed her lips when she heard this. The fact that the monster was picked up by the scanner meant that it was not a memetic beast, which meant that it would be able to pass through the barrier without a problem. “What’s the threat level?”

“I’m doing a level scan now.” The blue Solar Sylvan answered, drawing a strange pattern on the console. “The level range is… Seven thousand?” Her eyes went wide as she read the information coming from the console.

Lina was no better, her entire being shocked by what she was hearing. Monsters above level one thousand, five hundred were considered ‘God-level threats’. Monsters above three thousand were considered natural disasters. And above five thousand was a calamity. Calamity-class creatures were strong enough to destroy an entire star in the blink of an eye. “How long until it arrives?” She asked, knowing that such creatures were often capable of moving many times faster than the speed of light.

“Calculating… according to its current speed, it will breach the system in two minutes. Maintaining its current course, it will be at the starport in under ten minutes.” The color drained from the blue Sylvan’s face as she reported the information, and Lina bit her lip. Ten minutes was not a lot of time, but it was also not completely hopeless.

Thankfully, they had discovered this monster when they did, or else they would have never even known how they died. “Quick, put in an emergency request of the highest level. We need any assistance that can arrive in time.”

“Understood. Should I begin evacuating the travelers?” The blue Sylvan asked as she urgently sent out the message. However, Lina shook her head.

“No… if we can’t stop this monster, ten minutes won’t be enough time to evacuate anyone but those closest to the gates. The injuries caused in the chaos would outweigh those that actually escaped. We can only hope that help arrives in time.”

The blue Sylvan pursed her lips, but accepted the instruction. “Understood.”

She continued to watch the screen, absorbing any information that came from it. She reported when the monster broke through the barrier. And then, a few minutes later, as the tension was climbing higher and higher, her eyes widened once again. “I just received a response to the distress signal. A servant of the Keeper will be arriving imminently!”

As soon as she said that, relief flooded the duo, as well as all those nearby that had overheard their conversation. There were very few people capable of solving a calamity-level threat, and most of them were direct servants of the Keeper.