Cracked Pillars of Fate

Chapter 27: Message from the Cosmos

The vibrations at Genesis Station grew wilder, as if the entire massive structure were groaning under the grip of the purple shadows outside. Archen Huge planted his feet firmly on the crystal floor, while one hand gripped Dylan Smith’s shoulder to keep him steady in front of the control console.

"Dylan, hurry! Those shadows have already started tearing through the outer walls!" Archen roared. The deafening sound of metal scraping echoed from the ceiling, raining silver dust down upon their heads.

"Just a moment!" Dylan shot back. His fingers danced across the golden holograms, but his movements suddenly stopped. His eyes widened as he stared at the torrent of data flowing by, faster than any human brain could process. "Wait... Joe, Archen... look at this."

El Joe stepped closer, ignoring the tremors that nearly knocked him off his feet. "What did you find? We need to get to Telluric Prime immediately."

"It’s not just Telluric Prime," Dylan whispered, his voice trembling with horror. "This station... it’s receiving millions of transmissions simultaneously. And they aren't from Earth."

Dylan waved his hand, enlarging the holographic projection in the center of the room. Instantly, the space around them was filled with thousands of flickering visual windows. They saw burning planets, shattered crystal cities, and alien creatures of unimaginable forms crawling beneath the ruins of their worlds.

A crackling voice transmission filled the room. The voice was hoarse, full of painful electric hisses.

"Pillars... are there any pillars still standing?" the voice wailed in a strange language, yet somehow, the station's system translated it directly into their minds. "The light in Xandoria has gone out. The Trappers have come. Do not let them take our core!"

"Trappers?" Archen frowned, his fists clenching tight. "Who is he talking about?"

Dylan swiped through more data, dissecting the deepest layers of the Arkana System’s code. "The Dimensional Trappers. They are the entities behind those purple shadows, Archen. They aren't part of the system; they are parasites using this system to ensnare entire dimensions. Earth is just one of their millions of prey."

Joe stared at the horrific scenes on the hologram in silence. He saw a dimension where the sky was neon green, now slowly turning a dull gray as its life energy was siphoned by giant cables, just like what they had seen on Earth.

"So, this Arkana System is a web," Joe muttered, his voice heavy. "And we are all just insects caught in it."

"It’s worse than that, Joe," Dylan pointed to an expanding energy graph. "This system has been colonizing thousands of galaxies for millennia. Every time a world is destroyed, its energy is harvested to feed the Architector of Nothingness. He wants to extinguish all light in the universe because he believes existence is suffering."

Archen looked at his two companions, a sense of overwhelm creeping onto his usually fierce face. "Wait a minute. We just wanted to save our people on Earth. Now you’re saying we have to face a monster that has eaten millions of worlds? That’s insane. There are only three of us."

"Three people with cracked pillar classes," Joe replied, though he felt his own chest tighten under the weight of the responsibility that had just fallen onto his shoulders. "All this time, I thought my job was to protect the people at the flea market. It turns out, we are standing on a pile of corpses of entire realities."

The room shook violently again. One of the wall panels in the dock exploded, revealing the darkness of cosmic space and the purple shadows beginning to pour in. The air inside the station began to be sucked out, creating a roaring gale.

What can a dockworker do against the destruction of the universe? Archen thought. He looked at his palms, still stained with the blue blood left over from the previous battle. All his life, he only knew how to lift heavy loads, but this burden felt impossible to carry.

"Dylan, seal that hole with a data shield!" Joe commanded, holding his breath.

"I’m trying, but these Dimensional Trappers are starting to hack my defense systems!" Dylan shouted, sweat pouring down his face. "They’re too strong, Joe! They understand the logic of this system better than I do!"

Amidst that despair, a soft silver light suddenly appeared in the middle of the data storm. The figure of the Arkana Guide manifested once more, but this time its form appeared more real, as if the energy from Genesis Station was giving it full power.

"Do not give in to fear, heroes of a small world," the Guide’s voice rang out clearly amidst the cacophony of alarms.

"Guide! Tell us, how do we fight them?" Joe cried out.

The Arkana Guide looked at the three of them one by one. Its gaze was no longer cold and neutral, but filled with a fragile hope. "For thousands of years, I have watched dimension after dimension fall. I saw great pillars crumble because they were too rigid to fight the current of nothingness. But you... you are different."

"What’s the difference? We’ll die too if this place is destroyed!" Archen interrupted irritably.

"You are cracked pillars," the Guide smiled faintly. "Because you are cracked, you have the flexibility to adapt. You do not follow the rules of the system; you break them. In all this vast multiverse, there are no other pillars left. Everything else has been assimilated into nothingness."

Dylan stared at the hologram of the thousands of dying worlds once more. His fear slowly transformed into a cold rage. He saw alien children crying, leaders who had failed, and warriors who had fallen. The realization hit him like a sledgehammer. If they failed here, it wasn't just Earth that would be lost; the very memory of life itself would be erased from the history of the universe.

"We can't just stand by," Dylan whispered.

"You're right," Joe nodded, gripping his energy sword with renewed determination. "Our vision must be bigger than just Earth. If we don't stop these Trappers here, Earth will never truly be safe."

Archen took a deep breath, letting his gravity energy pulse wildly. He no longer cared whether he was just a laborer or a hero. He only knew that there were many things that needed protecting—far more than he had ever imagined.

"Fine then," Archen smirked roughly. "It turns out I really do need a bigger stage for my fists."

The Arkana Guide raised its hand, merging all those alien transmissions into a single point of light in front of the Telluric Prime portal. "Carry their hope with you. Go to that desert dimension. The Tellurian race has waited thousands of years for pillars who can take revenge."

"Dylan, activate the portal!" Joe shouted.

"On it! Telluric Prime, coordinates locked!" Dylan slammed his hand onto the console.

As the giant shadows outside the station managed to breach the main wall, the portal in front of them exploded in a blinding golden light. The immense air pressure began to pull them in.

The Arkana Guide gave a final salute before its figure began to fade along with the remains of the collapsing Genesis Station. "Remember this, Three Pillars. Millions of races from dead dimensions now see through your eyes. You are no longer merely the protectors of Earth."

The light of the portal swallowed them completely just as the purple shadows filled the room.

"You are the sole hope of the entire multiverse," the Guide’s voice echoed one last time before everything turned white.

However, as they hurtled through the dimensional tunnel, Dylan saw a red notification appear in the corner of his eye. A message he hadn't had time to translate yet, but it bore the same symbol as the mark on the forehead of the Architector of Nothingness.

Someone was already waiting for them at Telluric Prime. And it wasn't a friend.