The fine particles of sand within the hourglass were gently making their way to the bottom, hinting at a passage of time that seemed as if it could go on forever. Duncan held the hourglass with extreme care, engaging in a meaningful conversation with an entity of ancient power.
âThe gods are fading away,â was a thought Duncan had come across more than once. The heads of the Four Gods had shared this dark revelation with him, explaining that the decline of the divine was not just an abstract concept but a tangible force. This force was slowly infiltrating the world of mortals, signaling its eventual doom to a catastrophic end known as the Great Annihilation.
Yet, hearing these words directly from a deity themselves painted the crisis in an even more urgent light. It made Duncan realize that the gods had been fighting against this decline with everything they had for as long as they could.
âThis sanctuary, which was created in haste, is full of flaws⊠Everything in it is ephemeral: the protective barrier, the artificial âsunâ, the fundamental elements that support the islands, and even us. Our end was decided from the start, determined even before the onset of what is known as the first eternal night,â explained the ancient Leviathan Queen. She spoke in a place that lacked color, defined only by shades of black, white, and gray. Despite her powerful nature, her voice carried a surprising gentleness, narrating their collective history to Duncan like a calm dream floating in the depths of the ocean.
âIt took a long journey to come to terms with our âendâ, and an even longer time for Bartok to decipher the enigma of our âcontinuous deathâ. We represent the âinertiaâ of a time long past.â frŃeweÉηovel.coɱ
âThe inertia of the ancient world?â Duncan mused, his mind racing to piece together his thoughts.
âIf you understand the force behind the destruction of our world and many others, then you must also realize that the Great Annihilation didnât destroy everything in its path. Some âfragmentsâ managed to survive the catastrophic collision of worlds, and we, who are known as âgodsâ, are among these fragments.â
âHowever, by their nature, fragments are incomplete. Just as dust falling from a boulder eventually becomes sand and loses its original form, we too were irrevocably changed by the force of the Great Annihilation. From that moment, we were transformed into something akin to the glowing âembersâ⊠Yet, unlike those embers, we were able to maintain our âself-awarenessâ.â
âThis consciousness of our past selves gave us the strength to rise from the ashes, trying to shape some of the surviving embers into something resembling our memories.â
âAt first, this gave us a flicker of hope, the ambition to rebuild all worlds, to breathe life back into everything that had been reduced to ashes. However, it wasnât long before we faced the reality of our âreconstructionâsâ limitations and began to acknowledge our own waning powerâŠâ
We exist in a condition that cannot truly be considered life; we continue as faint whispers of desire encapsulated in lifeless forms. Our ability to remember and be aware of ourselves, along with our memories of the world as it used to be, allows us to function. However, these capacities for ârecognitionâ and âremembranceâ are slowly diminishing over time.
âBartok, who has the most profound understanding of âdeathâ among us, has described this phenomenon as âthe inertia of the old worldâ. He argues that our existence continues not because of any decision or strength of our own, but because the âworld refuses to fade into nonexistenceâ. The old world, despite being devastated by the Great Annihilation, has left behind a momentum from its existence that survives after the cataclysm, taking shape as the various survivors that outlasted the disaster â in essence, becoming us.â
âThe âawareness of selfâ and the ânostalgia for the old worldââŠâ Duncan pondered, holding the hourglass in one hand and thoughtfully stroking his chin with the other, âAre these the critical elements that led to the creation of âsanctuariesâ?â
âExactly,â the voice answered, its gentleness masking the seriousness of their discussion, âUsing our memories and awareness of self as a foundation, we tried to reconstruct the original âkeystonesâ from the surviving pieces, leading to the creation of numerous pseudo-records related to the Great Annihilation within the world. However, the quest for tangible proof of the Annihilation is in vain, because no such âproofâ has ever existed. Even the vast oceans are made up of bits and pieces we managed to recover from the survivorsâŠâ
âYet, the stability of these remnants, as well as our ability to ârecognizeâ and ârememberâ, is constantly weakening over time⊠This gradual loss is the reason behind the âlife limitâ concept built into the design of the sanctuary.â
Duncan pondered Gomonaâs words, occasionally pausing to reflect and quietly sharing his thoughts, ââInertiaâ is bound to fade away⊠which means the Doomsday Survey Team will inevitably face that âlimitâ, no matter how perfectly they carry out their mission, âthe end of the worldâ was predetermined at its beginningâŠâ
He then recalled Creteâs admonition: âContinuing with the sanctuary has no pointâŠâ
âTruly, continuing with the sanctuary has no point,â the Leviathan Queen reiterated softly, providing deeper insight into the statement â âTo âdelayâ the Great Annihilation any longer is pointless.â
A new realization lit up in Duncanâs eyes as he looked up, noticing a pale limb beginning to rise from the edge of the pool, with eyes slowly appearing on its surface.
âDo you remember? The cataclysm brought about by the Great Annihilation is not over; it continues relentlessly, attacking the most basic logic of existence. The conflict of principles and the advance of chaos are just its visible symptoms. At its heart, it symbolizes the battle between âbeingâ and ânon-beingâ â as long as we, the âlivingâ, continue to be, and as long as the sanctuary exists, the Great Annihilation will go on. It will persist until everything in the world is obliterated, and only then⊠will the Great Annihilation come to an end.â
The pale limb in front of Duncan drooped, its eyes, though non-human, shimmered with an intelligence and emotion akin to that of humans. It was as if, in their gaze, there was a sense of resignation or perhaps deep thought.
âWhat you see as a rift is actually a âresultâ, a âcrossroadsâ where all possible outcomes from every universe come together into one inevitable âendâ â it symbolizes the âultimate pointâ of the vast ocean.â
In the silence that followed Gomonaâs explanation, time seemed to slow down for Duncan. After a moment, he softly said, âSo, from the very beginning, this âworldâ was haunted by the ghost of its inevitable end.â
After a short pause, he looked for Gomonaâs âeyesâ again, piercing the quiet: âThus, no matter what solution we might find in the end, our first challenge is to deal with this âunending destructionâ. We need to find a way to stop the Great Annihilation â but the only way to stop the Great Annihilation isâŠâ
He trailed off, allowing Gomona to finish the thought in her calm voice: âTo let the Great Annihilation âcome to its natural endâ.â
A profound silence fell over them, as if the universe itself had stopped to listen.
After a long moment, Duncan exhaled slowly: âThis cannot be the ultimate âtruthâ you wanted to share â there has to be more you havenât told me yet.â
âYes, there is more â letting the Great Annihilation ârun its courseâ could take different shapes, but with our current knowledge and abilities, âtotal destructionâ seems like the inevitable outcome of every path. However, as Iâve mentioned, this conclusion is based âon our current knowledge and abilitiesââŠâ
The pale limb lowered once more, making way for a spectral figure â a girl in a flowing dress, her face hidden behind a veil, who approached the edge of the pool and bowed deeply to Duncan.
Years before, she had perfected this gesture as a means of communicating with her âmortal allies,â reserved for moments of utmost importance.
âUsurper of Fire, your existence transcends our understanding and capabilities. Technically, youâre even beyond the reach of the Great Annihilation â though you are among the primordial beings, having awakened from the original flames, you arenât just a âsurvivorâ.â
âWe canât fully grasp what you are, but Navigator No. 2âs calculations hint that you might be the only âwholeâ entity among us â possibly, you have the means to protect the remains of the old world when that âendâ comes.â
Duncan stayed quiet, his expression more troubled than before, his thoughts clearly burdened.
Then, it dawned on him â those âobjectsâ that had appeared in his room!
The âMaiden of Tranquilityâ spoke again, her voice echoing in Duncanâs ears: âUnderstanding and perception, memory and information â these are seen as the foundational pillars upon which the reality of our world is built. Navigator No. 2 shared with me that it comes from a civilization that was on the brink of uncovering the universeâs basic laws, right before the onset of the Great Annihilation. It was at the peak of this civilizationâs in-depth and complex explorations that a certain thinker proposed an idea. This idea is the most remarkable piece within Navigator No. 2âs collection of memories â that information is the core of all that exists; everything is essentially a form of information.â
âInformation is the essence⊠everything is a manifestation of informationâŠâ Duncan repeated, his voice carrying a tone of deep insight. It was as though an intense, profound âroarâ echoed from within him, shedding light on myriad questions. The space around him seemed to vibrate, edged with the transient glow of stars at the edge of his vision before these images gradually disappeared.
He then heard the âMaiden of Tranquilityâ again, though her voice now sounded far away, muffled as though through a thick veil: ââŠTo this day, Navigator No. 2 ponders over this concept, its originators on the verge of uncovering a pivotal truth, yet they only managed to pose this idea. With what we âsurvivorsâ have at our disposal, in the conditions of the sanctuary, Navigator No. 2 has come to accept the possibility that it may never be able to turn this idea into a solid theory or âtool.â However, your presence⊠has sparked a thought. There might have been a civilization, even more advanced than the one Navigator No. 2 originated from, that had already crossed that threshold.â