World Keeper

Chapter 1050: Back In Black

“Captain, we are approaching the target coordinates.” A uniformed man called out from his terminal aboard a large starship. This was an exploration vessel that had been launched after V-Day, prioritizing speed over combat. After all, the vast majority of monsters had been purged on V-Day, leading to famines across nearly every world. 

It had been forty years since this ship had first launched, only returning for regular maintenance at scheduled intervals or to replace crew members as needed. Otherwise, it was a ship that lived among the stars.

“Understood.” The captain spoke, a human man with short, black hair. He looked at the various displays in front of himself. “Prepare to activate all system scans. I want readings on any habitable planets within the hour.”

A moment later, there was a slight jerk of inertia as the ship decelerated, entering the star system. This particular system played host to a white star, but the captain simply watched the screens, as this was all something that he had seen before. “Report, any hostile entities?”

“No lifeforms appearing on scanners, sir!” Another crew member called out. “There appears to be a large asteroid field  roughly five thousand kilometers ahead, however.”

The captain gave a small nod. “Conduct a mineral survey, see if there are any valuable materials.”

As soon as he said that, the alarms on the bridge went off. “Captain!” The same crew member cried out in shock. “We have a hull breach!”

The captain looked over, surprised at the sudden crisis. “What happened? Get me a visual.”

A screen appeared at the front of the bridge, showing a circular hole near the rear of the ship. Rather than looking as if an explosion had blown the hole out or a piece of debris had somehow gotten through their shields, the hole was clean, as if the metal hull had simply been erased. Atmosphere could be seen briefly venting out of the hole.

Another officer spoke up in surprise. “Sir, we’re receiving reports from crew on multiple levels about a black figure passing through the walls.”

The captain didn’t hesitate before issuing his order. “Activate the emergency return system.” All exploration vessels had a single-use system to teleport them to pre-set coordinates in the event of a hostile situation that they could not overcome. “Prepare to send a broadcast for assistance upon arrival.”

Blue light crackled over the exterior of the ship, the emergency return activating. The captain’s eyes widened as he looked forward, seeing a black mass rising from the middle of the bridge. Others nearby seemed unaware of it, and he instinctively reached for his sidearm. The figure had a smoky appearance, but a menacing red grin could be seen where its head should be.

A moment later, the blue light flashed, and they were now orbiting Earth’s moon. “Send the signal!” The captain shouted, noticing that the black figure was no longer in the center of the bridge. The damage was still visible in the camera feed on the hull of the ship, but there was now a black energy that seemed to be attached to the edges of the opening.

“Earth Security, this is Gasper Five. Repeat, Gasper Five. We have encountered an unknown, hostile lifeform. Lifeform does not appear on scanners, possesses the ability to bypass shields and both phase through and cut walls. Crew reports detail a black figure. Requesting immediate combat assistance, suspecting a divine nature.”

“Understood, Gasper Five.” A voice spoke up over the communication channel. “Dispatching a divine squadron to investigate.”

The captain let out a sigh of relief when he heard that, gripping the arm of his chair and praying that the backup arrived quickly. At the same time, he glanced towards the camera footage again, seeing that the black mass was no longer visible on the ship’s hull. His eyes widened slightly, before bringing his hand up to rub at his face, worried that he might be starting to see things.

When he pulled his hand away, he saw an inky black substance staining his palm, causing him to shout in shock. When the other bridge crew heard this shout, they looked over, gasping in alarm. The captain’s skin had fallen off of his face, blood seeping down his neck. A black, mucus-like mask covered his features, his mouth glowing red.

Chelsea rolled her shoulders as she returned to the lab, ready to finish her energy combination. Upon arriving in her lab, she saw that there was a red, flashing alarm on her screen. Her eyes widened, and she rushed over to see.

`Potential Void incursion. Details redacted for safety. Location: Earth Security moon base.` This was all the information provided by the report, but it was enough to make Chelsea shoot up in alarm.

Within the Admin Room, she ran towards the living room, finding Aurivy and Accalia sitting together watching movies. “Sorry, girls, but I need to borrow the TV for a moment.” She said in a grave tone, causing the duo to look at her in confusion.

“What’s going on, Chel? Rare to see you out of your room.” Aurivy asked, handing the remote to Chelsea.

“We’ve got a potential void outbreak on Earth. I thought that it would be safer to check the situation from here, rather than go with my mortal guise.” She said as she used the remote to look at the Earth Security base. The lights visible through the windows were flickering, and there was a circular hole carved into the side of the building.

After she hit another button, the screen changed to show the interior. There, people could be seen walking around, the skin having appeared to have melted off of their bodies. Fresh blood dripped along the floor with every step that they took, their mouths hanging open in agonizing cries.

Accalia’s eyes narrowed. “We need to quarantine the base.” She said, Aurivy nodding her head in agreement. “Is this a void monster, or a memetic influence?”

“I don’t know yet.” Chelsea grit her teeth, flipping through various different scenes. Everywhere she looked, these figures were present, and she couldn’t find a single uninfected individual in the entire base.

Going through the history of the infection led her to the ship, Gasper Five. There, similar scenes were visible, and a similar hole appeared on the side of the ship. Chelsea rewound the footage to watch for the exact moment when the hole was created.

Back when Gasper Five had just arrived in the new star system, there was a creature moving towards the ship at high speeds, far beyond the speed of light. Its body was made of a peculiar energy, and took the shape of a canine with exposed muscles, not a bit of skin or fur visible on its entire body.

When this creature saw the ship, it altered its course and slammed into it, a barrier around the creature creating an almost perfectly circular hole that consumed all matter in its path. The strange thing was that the creature didn’t continue to blast through to the other side, but instead hid in what looked like a bedroom, tucking itself under the bed and remaining motionless.

Furrowing her brow, Chelsea looked at the hole again, seeing a black cloud passing through it. Her eyes widened in realization. “There are two of them. A hunter and its prey.”

She could tell that the black mass seemed to be chasing the canine, which was in turn trying to hide from it. She even speculated that the reason the figures all appeared to be skinned were because it was looking for such an entity.

“So, it jumped ship to hide in the moon base after they got near Earth?” Aurivy nodded her head. “Where’s the hound now?”

Returning her focus to the canine creature, she fast forwarded the scene to the present. Her eyes widened, and she almost dropped the remote. The hound was digging a hole in a grassy plain, one that was clearly not on the moon. “It made it to Earth already.” She said, knowing that the black figure wouldn’t be far behind.

Immediately, she focused, sending a message to Leowynn. We’ve got a situation. Two monsters have appeared on or near Earth, at least one of which possesses memetic qualities. I’m sending you the coordinates. This needs to be dealt with, or it could lead to a potential extinction event.

There was no response from Leowynn, but Chelsea could see her appearing on the  screen near the canine. The moment that she appeared, the canine was startled. The circular barrier formed around itself, and it sped in the opposite direction from Leowynn… which was down. Leowynn paused, blinking as she looked at the five meter-wide hole that appeared in the ground, continuing almost straight down like a perfectly carved tunnel.

Turning her head, she saw the black cloud swiftly flying in, her brows narrowing. She snapped her fingers, and the cloud paused, before compressing into a fine point and fading away. At that moment, Chelsea heard Leowynn’s report. I’ve dealt with one of the two monsters. The other one appears to flee at incredible speeds the moment it senses any hostile presence. Additionally, neither entity originated from the void.

Chelsea was understandably confused by the last part of Leowynn’s report. They’re not from the void? If that’s the case, how does it possess such powerful memetic effects?

I can sense that the creatures both have a trace of the void in them, but neither originated there. Both were naturally spawned in this universe. Leowynn stated firmly. As for the victims of this creature’s effect, I will try to wipe the power away so that they can be healed naturally.

Chelsea nodded her head, sitting down uncertainly. “Naturally born in the universe?” She muttered, before her eyes went wide. “Oh, this is bad. This is very, very bad.”

“Chelsea… no secrets. What is bad?” Aurivy asked, reaching over and poking her sides.

Chelsea turned to look at Aurivy, her face a touch paler than normal. “The void beasts from V-Day wiped out practically every living creature in every realm, excluding those protected by the Hyperlane Networks. This required the monster spawning system to create new monsters, taking into account local variables to determine suitable species.”

“This is typically why monsters appear in space, because they were spawned with the ability to survive there. However, now the previous habitats of these areas were tainted by the influence of void beasts. Taking this into account, the monster spawning system will have used elements of the void influence when creating new monsters.”

“...Summarize, Chel.” Aurivy said, her expression becoming more and more serious.

“Void monsters are spawning locally.” She said, looking at the screen. “Similar to the monsters in Fragments of Acidia that exist outside the Hyperlane Networks, creatures with natural memetic properties will now begin to appear more and more frequently.”

Aurivy’s eyes widened. “Yeah… this is bad.” She agreed. Not even Leowynn would be able to remove the void influence throughout a single, entire universe, let alone all of the universes.