The universe we're in is all we've known since the start of time.
We wouldn't exist if our universe was any different but what do we really know about the universe?
Essentially nothing, we have an idea of certain parts of it but we're always measuring and finding out new things that we didn't know. It was one of these measurements that caused a massive panic amongst the upper echelons of society as they are privy to information that we do not know.
There are rumors going around about what the measurements say but no one wants to be the alarmist and say "this universe is doomed" because really, how likely is that?
No one will say exactly what the measurements say but the rumors suggest that the universe will collapse within our current generation. Something about the outer edges contracting instead of expanding. No one can do anything about it because Humanity has barely even escaped their own planet, let alone their own solar system.
People just treat it as a non-issue but the Upper echelons, they're preparing for the worst as apart from the contracting measurement, they learnt something else that is alarming.
They somehow recieved communication from one of the areas that has been contracted which was then translated into the following message: "run..... Centre World.... black hole" along with a bunch of data that contained a map to the centre of the Universe.
The people in charge have no idea what it's about but it greatly alarmed them as this was a) the first alien communication b) communicated in a way they could understand c) contained a map that shows they know where the planet is.
Most of the people said that this was a call to prepare for war with this race, while some of the more moderates said this was nothing to worry about and the progressive people said that we should listen to the message as it obviously took a lot of effort to send.
Each country essentially decided to go their own course, many of them decided to prepare for war but most of them decided to do nothing.
It wasn't until exploratory drilling uncovered an artifact deep underground, this artifact dubbed 'A01' led to huge shocks across these upper echelons as it was discovered 20km under the surface of the earth and somehow had a consciousness.
'A01' or the consciousness of it also received the transmission from the edge of the universe to which it told the full story to the upper echelons.
The universe is in trouble, there are innumerable beasts that feed on the universal energy that came from beyond the edge of the universe and they are devouring everything around the edges and slowly making their way to the centre of the universe. The transmission was sent by another consciousness like 'A01', they sent their primary planet to something called 'Centre World' at the centre of the universe and are informing everyone that this is the only hope.
This cause massive panic because no one is sure what 'A01' is or how it exists, but it clearly exists in a realm beyond our understanding so most nations still listened to it. Some were hostile, some beligerant but overall the consensus was to follow 'A01' plan.
'A01' told everyone about an item buried near it's consciousness that is an 'escape vessel' that can cover the whole planet and send it on a course directly to the universe centre. The downside was that Humanity is too weak so they need something to protect their spirits.
The solution to this came in the form of, putting peoples bodies into stasis and sending their spirits into a 'virtual world' where their bodies and spirits will slowly get stronger and can eventually become one again. This met with a lot of pessisism with people very reluctant to do anything of this sort but many countries were willing to implement this plan.
Many countries decided to allow companies to market it as a game to get people to adopt it before they implement the plan to escape to the centre of the universe. Little did they know, they have no choice as 'A01' will decide to protect itself with no regards to humanity.
So the world is now welcoming the launch of a brand new VRMMO called, 'The Secret World Online' that is totally different from other games on the market.
I can't decide if the "beyond the universe" or "center of the universe" thing bugs me more. I mean, "center" does... but then if I can accept "beyond" then surely we're well into the realm of essentially magic, so "center" becomes more acceptable because you know, magic. This is quite the conundrum, and remarkably pointless to be thinking about.
I like to think of it as a mass of energy that has collapsed on itself so far in the other direction, it opens up a space where nothing should exist. Magic does kind of hand-wave it but, there are going to be other universes presented so things will get even weirder...
I guess what I'm really getting hung up on (so stupidly, so so stupidly) is are we talking about the center of the entire actual universe? Like, non-observable parts included? Or is it just the center of the observable universe? And if so, then well, that's not the same for the aliens way out there and Earth. And if the enemies are from outside of the universe, why would they be evenly distributed around the center of Earth's observable universe?
Now magic (in the sense of the ability to disobey physics) basically just clears this stuff up. Beyond the universe? Well maybe we're going the multi-verse route and they found a way to cross the border, or whatever. Naturally not having to follow physics means we can have FTL that obliterates the whole observable universe limitation.
But still! ... I can't believe I'm still thinking about this.
@46rtyrty44 Ah it's more conceptual than anything, so meant to give a visual. It comes up in later chapters that it's just a huge mass around the outer perimeter of the universe, we're somewhat on the outskirts and not considered 'important' in positional terms.
FTL and all that, well magic comes into it but there's meant to be a super advanced AI system from outside our universe that answers some of the questions from 'our side' of things.
I certainly am not going for a science based approach as I wont be able to present that in a way I'm happy with.
The prologue was a rough basis to the story, it'll change as somethings have changed but the idea it presents wont change.
1: El universo no tiene centro, este se expande por todas partes de forma distinta, más rápido en unas que otras, no es circular ni uniforme, así que no ahí un "centro" es más, este a gran escala si es uniforme en su uniformidad en lo que respecta a la distribución de estrellas y otros cuerpos celestes
@Zeeksi
Más allá del universo según algunas teorías habría de haber un multiverso de realidades alternas tanto como de universos que son totalmente distintos, incluso creándose con cosas fundamentalmente distintas al Big Bang