Infinitium

(Chaos, January 13th,2037, Day 377)

A portal opened before Adam, and he stepped through onto an open flat plane with a glow coming up from the ground off on the horizon. A warning prompt flashed into his vision.

WARNING: You have entered a Positive Quantum Zone. Energy fluctuations in such zones can have unintended consequences. Energy is constantly being added to normal matter in this zone. This will intensify as you move closer to the origin point of Positive Quantum Energy. Depending on the size and scale of the breach into this Cosmos the influx of energy will increase as you grow closer. Note: Your Fundamental Ability “Adaptable” allows you to enter this zone with no ill effect. You may toggle this ability off and on as you desire.

Adam toggled his ability off and checked his Personal Interface to see what the effect was. Currently, his experience counter was going up by about 1,000 XP per second. he took a step forward and it increased to 6,000 XP per second. he stepped back and it dropped back down to 1,000 XP. A normal step is about a foot and a half. he stepped exactly 1 foot closer, and the XP increased by double to 2,000 XP per second. It looked like the energy bleed-off followed the Inverse Square Law which basically stated: “that a specified physical quantity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source of that physical quantity of that physical quantity.” he loved Wikipedia.

Adam stepped back and the experience input dropped to 500 XP a second. So, it looked like the XP gain would increase by double for every square foot closer or drop off by half for every square foot away which followed any Radiation Safety training that had ever been given since the 1960s. Time, Distance Shielding; If exposed to radiation, reduce the time of the exposure. The lesson? Try to put distance between yourself and the source of the radiation. Or lastly, make sure your shielding was adequate. The rule of thumb was that radiation exposure dropped off by half or increased by double for every square foot. he wondered…then rushed forward. Adam made it about 1,000 feet before his body exploded.

You have Died!

As he came to he thought, well that blew, yeah I’m a riot, I know, as he shook his head in a self-deprecating manner. He’d been pretty sure he’d explode but he had wanted to know how this energy was going to affect a normal person. Note to self, “Only bring enemies to the Positive Origin point.”

Adam made sure his Fundamental Ability Adaption was on and then checked his Personal Interface. As he’d suspected, he’d absorbed enough XP to catapult him right up to God, Level 10. He checked his prompts. He skipped the prompts detailing XP gain and Level gains and looked at the prompts just before and after he died.

Warning you have absorbed energy past your maximum Experience Threshold. Energy converted to Hit Points.

Warning Hit Points have exceeded your maximum by 4.88 E285 times.

You have exploded.

After that prompt was the prompt declaring his death. Interesting. It looked like his chaotic nature had allowed his body to convert the energy into Experience and once that experience pool was maxed out the energy was converted into hit points implying that the energy was being absorbed by his nanites and body until they could hold no more energy, then he exploded.

He spoke into the air “Labyrinth, how far am I from the point of my destruction?” Adam asked outloud.

The Labyrinth’s voice came from a point about 10 feet in front of him, though there was nothing there, “You are approximately 10 Astronomical Units (AU) away from the blast zone of your destruction. You can’t see the glow from the blast because of the background from the pool of energy you are near but if you could, you would be able to see the glow from the blast you created even now. It was quite impressive.” She said.

“Could you indicate the direction please?” he asked.

“Sure,” she said as a holographic arrow pointing off to his right appeared.

Adam looked off in that direction, she was right, he didn’t see anything beyond the glow where he’d reincarnated.

“Could you open a portal above the pool approximately one AU from the surface so I can see what I did?” he asked.

A portal opened and he stepped through into space. He rotated so he could look down on a pool of white light that still stretched off into the distance to his left, right, and in front of him. Directly below him was a new circle of light that now reached out from the edge in the shape of a perfect circle. The pool must be massive.

“Labyrinth, how big is the Positive Quantum Zone?”

“The Positive Quantum Zone and the Negative Quantum Zones take up a circular area with a diameter of approximately 300 light-years across.”

“So, I can’t see the other end of the circle from here. How big a circle did his explosion blast through the structure of the Edge of your Cosmos?” he asked.

“Just over an AU. There was a lot of energy released in all directions. Not to worry, I erected energy barriers and baffles that redirected the energy blast up into space where it dissipated quickly in the vacuum above the atmosphere.” There aren’t any planets or galaxies near this region of the edge or near the negative region for that matter.”

“Did you know this area would have this effect on me?”

“Not exactly. Various beings have tried to approach this area for millennia. Most don’t make it anywhere close to where I ported you in. Also, I did not think I would need to tell you to keep your ability that protects you from environments on.”

“What normally happens to creatures that live on the very edge of this area.?”

“Most species that reside near this zone are extremely long-lived and healthy. It’s hard to die when the very Universe is constantly repairing your body. Of course, this is the Labyrinth so Monsters that spawn in this area are also a little harder to kill as well,” The Labyrinth said.

“But why show me this?”

“I believe you still need to explore to find that answer.”

Obviously, he wasn’t going to get the answer to this riddle from her. Adam willed himself to move towards the edge of the zone where it met the remnants of his destruction and flew towards it. As he reached the atmosphere he teleported to the ground and bypassed the heated reentry phase. Even though he was immune to it, It always sucked not being able to see where he was going when the atmosphere and his body caused enough friction to superheat. Just better to bypass that altogether. Also, he wanted to make sure all his magic was still working.

Adam looked out across a pool of energy. Unlike raw chaos, this pool didn’t seem to have a solidity to it. It was just energy held by something. he reached down and touched the pool. He felt a line where the energy remained in its truest form then directly above it seemed to disperse in all directions. Adam used his nanites to cycle his vision through the various spectrums and noted that all spectrums and wavelengths were being flooded and everything went effectively blank. He turned off the nanites and his vision came back to normal allowing him to see again. It must be a byproduct of his adaptable ability.

He dipped his hand down into the pool fully and noted that nothing happened.

“Labyrinth, what is below this pool of radiance?” he asked. He waited for a few minutes, but no response was given. Obviously, this was the reason the Labyrinth wanted him here. Okay, then let’s do this. He jumped into the pool and sank completely below the surface until he felt pressure push him back up, so he was floating on top of the pool. That made sense, if the positive energy was coming into this cosmos then he should feel pressure or a flow of energy. This brought up the question, where was the energy coming from? Adam willed himself below the surface and stopped. He could feel the energy flowing past him towards the surface which was only a few feet away.

Adam opened his eyes; he’d closed them when he jumped in. Even so, it took him a full minute to completely adapt to this new environment, and what he saw shocked him. The energy that surrounded him was reduced to an opaque grayscale and he appeared to be floating in a cloud of nothing, even though he knew it was pure positive energy. Behind him, he could see the crust of the edge that stretched down for quite a ways. Adam willed himself to follow it. When he came to the outer surface he came across s membrane that reminded him of the membrane he encountered in his Place of Power that came up snuggly to the outer surface and dropped off like he was going over a lip in the ocean floor that had no apparent bottom. Below him, the tunnel of energy continued to drop off as far as he could see. He started following the cliff down, gaining speed as he went. Or the current against his movement became stronger, he wasn’t sure which.

Adam continued going down until he came to a barrier he could not cross. The cliff had come to an end, beyond which was a solid mass of energy that his vision could not penetrate. Also, the cliff ended and seemed to go off into the distance, but he couldn’t even peek over the edge to figure out if it did. Effectively the cliff just ended. There were no prompts, nothing, just a barrier of solid energy he couldn’t enter or see through.

Adam checked his internal clock and realized it’d taken him over an hour to get to this point. He could travel back but decided to skip that. he activated teleport and returned to his starting point at the edge of the Pool.

As the energy that had surrounded him when he teleported touched air it evaporated into his surroundings as he heard the Labyrinth’s voice come from the air near him, “You’re back.”

“Yes, but I didn’t find anything that tells him what’s going on?”

“You didn’t?”

“No! All I found was a solid energy barrier at the bottom of the conduit which is bringing this positive energy into this cosmos?”

“That’s all you found?”

“Yes.”

“Maybe you should check the Negative Quantum Zone then.”

“Sounds good. Adaption is on, could you please portal me to the edge of the Negative Zone please?”

A portal appeared and he stepped through. This time he stepped into darkness so absolute that he couldn’t see. After a minute his body once again adapted. Directly in front of him was a pit. There was no darkness, just a pit. he willed himself into the pit and hovered just below where the water line would be. he could feel a slight tugging and flow around him that was being drawn into the hole. Again, he followed the edge down for about an hour until he found the Cosmic barrier that went under the edge sphere that made up the Labyrinth, though it looked like a flat rocky plain that went off in all directions forever. There was no way he could see the curvature of the sphere with how big the Labyrinth claimed it was.

Adam continued down. This time he released his will partially and allowed the flow to take him while he stayed near the cliff that dropped down. He had this eerie sensation that he was moving faster and faster until finally he shot out of the end of a hole measured in light-years and found himself flying through a negative realm at an indeterminable speed. Wondering what would happen next he relaxed and allowed himself to drift while he thought about what he’d just learned in both zones.

First, energy was coming from somewhere, but he couldn’t enter that area. Conversely, energy was being drawn somewhere but he couldn’t tell where. If this was like a circuit then these areas should be the inflow and outflow. Right now, he was in the outflow from the Labyrinth. But where did this outflow go? It seemed he didn’t have to wait long for his answer.

Relatively soon, only a day or two later, his environment changed to one that contained a grayscale with color changes off in various directions that he was able to see as there seemed to be nothing between him and them, except directly in front of him. That’s when he realized that something huge was rushing toward him. As his mind increased its reference scale he released the thing rushing at him was a hand. The hand of a mostly human-looking man went up and up. Just before he slammed into the palm of the being that had stopped him with an invisible force directly above his palm.

“What do we have here?” A male voice asked with a booming voice.

“It looks like one of them have sought out some answers?” A feminine voice whose origin he couldn’t pinpoint said.

“What is your name explorer of truths?” the first asked.

“I am called Adamantadine, Adam for short,” he said.

“Well Adam, how is it that you have found yourself here? The second asked.

“I am trying to understand the fundamental structure of the Cosmos,” he said.

“If that is so, you’re in the wrong place. This place provides for the fundamental structure of all reality,” the first said.

“All reality? By what definition do you use the word reality?” he asked.

“Reality simply is. Everything that we understand exists within Reality. Inside Reality, various Cosmos exist and within those Cosmos, Universe exists and are brought into being by random events or changes made within this, or that, Universe or Cosmos.”

“Then what is this that I’m floating through.”

“Recycling,” the second said.

“Recycling,” Adam asked.

“Surely your species have discovered that energy is never truly destroyed?” she asked.

“Of course,” Adam answered.

“Each Cosmos that exists therefore must have an inflow of energy and an outflow of energy to maintain its balance. If one gets too high the bubble that is that cosmos expands and bursts. If it gets too low, it implodes.”

“What about souls?” he asked.

“What about them? What about you? Souls are simply stored information after all.”

“There is more to souls than just information,” he said.

“True, the spark of ‘will’ must be present.” The second said.

“What happens to them?”

“The Souls?” the first asked.

“Yes, the Souls?” he said.

“Don’t know,” the second said.

“That’s enlightening,” Adam said sarcastically.

“Isn’t it? We’ve been around a lot longer than you and that truth is a fundamental one with no answer we know of so take it or leave it.”

Adam thought for a moment, then asked, “So what exactly is this place?”

“This is the in-between, the glue, or the wet-works. I’ve been reviewing the jargon you use, there’s a lot of stuff in your head,” The first said.

“You’ve been reading my mind?” Adam asked.

“Assuredly, how else did you think we were talking?” the first asked.

“Okay, so what does this place do for the cosmos?” he asked.

“This place provides for and removes energy from each cosmos in existence. Think of the area you’re in right now as the center. Off in the distance, you can see various colors that represent various mixtures and types of energy. Though ultimately there are only two types, Positive and Negative. Those two Fundamental energies combine in various ways to create the fundamental magic you’re used to. Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Life, Death, Light, and Dark. There are also conduits into Space, Time, and Gravity as well as some of the sub-realms that aren’t discussed like Shadow and Steam.”

“So, this area I’m in is the junction point that connects to and from all Cosmos?” he asked.

“Yes,” the second said.

“That doesn’t make any sense, The Cosmos I’m from has nothing comparable to the Positive Quantum Zone or the Negative Quantum Zone I just explored.”

“True, but those are particular manifestations based on the will of the sole intelligence in charge of that Cosmos. I have reviewed most of your memories and I believe you call such manifestations in your Universe or Cosmos Black Holes and White Holes respectively,” the first said.

Adam thought for a moment. A Black Hole broke the laws of physics as he knew them because no one was sure of what happened to the energy and matter that was drawn down. Maybe it did exit to this place, or maybe there was something like the two areas he’d just investigated at the edges of the known Universe. Which brought up another question.

“What about all of the other fundamentals?”

“You know the answer to that Creature of Chaos. They open in the soup around all Universes that is chaos, and all are drawn from that soup,” the second said.

“So, Reality is fundamentally drawn from this place, and all Cosmos exit into it?” he asked.

“As far as is known, yes,” the First said.

“And While we have enjoyed our talk with you, Adam, this area is off-limits to you and your kind so we must ask you to leave or we shall eject you post haste,”

the second said.

“Before I leave, I would like to thank you for your time. I’d ask for your names but somehow believe you’d not be allowed to tell me. I do hope that someday we’ll be able to speak again though.”

“Perhaps, but not this day, be on your way.” The first, whose hand he hovered above said.

Needing no other hint, Adam willed himself to teleport back to the edge of the Negative Quantum Zone in the Labyrinth where he started this journey of discovery and reappeared there. Nothing had changed.

“Labyrinth, could he get a portal back to your center please?” Adam said out loud

A portal opened and he stepped back onto the clear surface where Beaezul was sitting in a comfortable Lazy Boy chair smoking a cigar.

“Interesting choice of a chair,” Adam said.

“You humans did get a couple of things right, though this chair makes no allowances for tails. It’s a good thing I can make it drop off and bring it back as I like,” he said.

“Welcome back Adam, what did you discover?” the Labyrinth asked.

“First, I’m assuming that you have never actually traveled down the negative zones access point to the next area have you?”

“I have not,” she said.

“So, you wanted me to go down there and find out what it was all about as much as I would want to for both of us?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said.

“If I share this information that you want with you I’d be doing you a favor?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said again.

“I wouldn’t push your luck along that line of reasoning,” Beaezul said.

Adam nodded to Beaezul as he said, “I wasn’t going to, and it doesn’t even have to be a formal favor. I just wanted the Labyrinth to know that I am choosing to share the information I acquired for no payment with the understanding that I expect this action to put me in a favorable light the next time I need something from the Labyrinth,” he said.

“If I can, I will take that into consideration, I do have rules I must follow through. So your request is duly noted, now what did you find?” The Labyrinth asked.