What lies at the end of the universe? Some would say darkness, everything cast into a cold void. Others would say light, the stars still shining even at the distant horizon.

Both would be wrong.

Neither light nor dark. Neither life nor death. To begin with, the question is incorrect. Invalid.

The universe has a beginning, but it does not have an end. Like energy, it cannot be destroyed, only changed. No matter how arrogant mortals become, this fundamental law persists across time and space.

What lies at the end of the universe? The answer is a non-answer. Instead, the question should be… what caused the universe’s beginning? And before the universe, what existed, if anything? How did existence come into being?

The answer to that question is also a non-answer.

There is no beginning.

There is no end.

Far into the future, millions of years after the advent of the first space probe, humanity has conquered the stars. Countless worlds have been terraformed into planets suitable for humans and their livestock. A race that once existed only on a tiny blue sphere in a milky galaxy had reached out with their hands to conquer it all.

And conquer they did.

They were not the first space-faring race. Neither were they the first to develop faster than light travel. However, they were the first to bring a bottomless greed to the cosmos.

Where some races were content with their home world, humans set their sights on the planets beyond their galaxy. If the other space-faring races were content with seeing the stars, humans would only be content when they had those stars in their hands even if it blinded them in the process.

Multifaceted and conniving with both silver tongues and iron swords, before the Council had realized it, humans had already taken over. And when they had realized it, a new ruler had arrived in the cosmos, one with a nature as fleeting and whimsical as the stars themselves.

And tragically, that became common-sense. After millennia, humans became the accepted monarch of the stars, ruling over stretches of space unimaginable to the first humans that envisioned space travel and unthinkable to the lifeforms that first broke through the skies to the void beyond.

The weak creatures that conquered their home world through wit and steel had seized the stars they once admired, tamed the aliens they once feared.

Now, they set their sights upon the throne of the very being that wove the fabric of the universe.

It was an experiment that served as the culmination of the universe’s greatest minds. The hypothesis was simple: travel to the supermassive black hole at the center of the universe and use the gravitational field stabilizer to harness its incredible energy for space-time manipulation.

The one chosen for this sacred duty was Commander Strife, a first class soldier and ace pilot. Armed with the latest bionics, the latest equipment, and the latest model starfighter, he was humanity’s greatest hope. Praised for his noble demeanor, his patriotic spirit, and his sheer grit that led him to survive the Andromedan Genocide, Commander Strife held the gaze of the entire universe as he flew towards the center of existence itself.

It was twelve o’clock, Terran Standard time. On Earth, it would have been called noon, but at present it was simply another hour.

Strife ran a hand through his blond hair as he read the manual for the gravitational field stabilizer for the tenth time. “This sure is complicated… I hope that it does what those guys in engineering says it does.”

Not only was his life on the line, but so were the hopes and dreams of countless lifeforms. While he didn’t mind giving up his life for the mission, letting them down was something he refused to allow.

“…But I’m getting nowhere just reading this. Sirius, how much longer until we arrive?”

“Less than an hour, Commander Strife. And might I suggest you grab a cup of tea and relax? Your diligence is commendable, but meaningless.”

Strife sighed. “I guess you’re right. But still… I can’t help it. There are too many people relying on me to see this through.”

He shook his head and stared out the starfighter’s window. Past it, there was nothing but a black void. It was the inevitable aftereffect of the particular faster than light travel the starfighter used. Strife didn’t know the details, but the result was that the only thing he could see in the window was his own reflection, slightly transparent on the glass.

A young man with blue eyes and blond hair in spiky tufts stared back at him. But Strife knew that wasn’t the truth. The appearance gazing back was one that hid the soul of a thousand year old soldier, a man that had gone through countless battlefields and attained neither victory nor defeat.

Seeing that reminded him of the past. Apparently, his ancestors had adopted the name Strife after meeting a legendary soldier that helped save his world from destruction. Wanting to retain even a fragment of such heroics, they changed their family name and even gave their firstborn son the name of that hero.

That name was one that Strife shared, but…

What kind of name is Cloud?

It was too whimsical to suit him, too carefree.

Instead, Strife was perfect. Strife, conflict, violence… those had been the hallmarks of his life, not some fluffy white puffs of water floating in the sky.

“Commander Strife? Is everything alright?” Sirius’s voice echoed in the starfighter. “If you are feeling tired, simply say the word. I can adjust our arrival time to account for a few hours of rest if you so desire.”

Strife shook his head. “No need, Sirius. I was just thinking.”

“I see. I suppose this event is one that would elicit such actions. However, you must remember your health, Commander Strife. It would not do to have the universe’s hope fail due to fatigue.”

Hearing Sirius’s words, Strife frowned. “…On second thought, I’ll take you up on that suggestion. Fit in three hours of rest for me.”

Sirius had a point. If the entire experiment failed because he was fatigued… Strife didn’t even dare to consider it any further.

“Understood. Then… pleasant dreams, Commander Strife. I will wake you when we draw near.”

Strife nodded and then leaned back in his chair. The seat’s backrest slowly lowered and readjusted itself into a bed before the cabin lights dimmed.

In that darkness, Strife closed his eyes to rest.

When Strife opened his eyes, it was still dark. However, the darkness he saw was different from the darkness of the starfighter’s cabin. But, not wanting to discount perceptual malfunctions, he called out. “Sirius? Turn on the lights.”

Silence.

Strife’s honed instincts told him that something was wrong, but he couldn’t quite place it. And then he realized why.

He was standing.

Immediately, Strife lowered his body into a combat pose. Squaring his legs and reaching out in front of him, his bionics fired and summoned forth his trusted sword that had seen him through the Andromedan genocide.

Sensors… come up blank. No light, no sound, not even air. Yet… I can still breathe?

Either it was a malfunction in his bionics, or he was dreaming. The latter was more likely, but his instincts told him this was no dream.

Wary, Strife slowly started walking.

There were no sounds, no signals that he was taking any action at all. If not for the internal feedback, Strife would have thought he was simply standing in place. But he wasn’t. Despite the unchanging darkness, he was moving.

After some time without change, Strife decided to test the waters. “Hello?” He called out. “Is there anyone here?”

Silence. However, Strife felt that something had changed.

The darkness had felt like a void. A distinct lack of presence. This was affirmed by his bionic sensors. Yet, after his words, the darkness stirred.

Sensors… still come up blank.

His bionics told him that nothing was different. But his instincts told him otherwise. Countless battles where a single mistake could mean his end had instilled an awareness that even the best bionics couldn’t replicate. And that awareness allowed him to sense it.

Something was watching him. Something vast, almost unfathomable.

If he had to compare it, Strife would say that the eldritch beings he once fought in the annals of Mythos were similar. Those beings had been powerful, possessing a strength that seemingly defied nature and could overturn entire worlds.

But that was where the similarity stopped.

Those eldritch beings, while unthinkably powerful, were still within the realm of reason. Facing them brought forth a primal fear of prey before the predator, but it wasn’t to the extent of being overwhelming. This was especially true after he had refined his Atma weapon to be able to resist such devastating strength.

But Strife could tell. Whatever was watching him made those eldritch beings seem like nothing more than specks of dust. As for him who was being held under that gaze… dust didn’t even qualify. What would you call something so insignificant that even dust would ignore it? Whatever that was, it reflected Strife’s position.

He continued to move, and that being continued to observe.

Strife’s back was drenched in sweat, and every hair on his body was raised. Yet, he continued marching forward. Somehow, he had the sense that stopping would mean his end.

Eventually, a spark of light bloomed in the darkness. That light was joined by another. And another. And another. And soon, there was a cluster of stars floating in the air before him.

It should have been beautiful. And in truth, it was. That sight of floating stars reminded Strife of the reason he joined the force: to travel the endless cosmos.

But the beautiful sight before him carried a danger just as dreadful as it was beautiful. Why did he think that?

The answer was simple.

Above those floating stars, above the beautiful cluster of lights reminiscent of the never-ending starry skies, there were two orbs shining with ominous purple light.

Strife froze.

It wasn’t that he was afraid. It wasn’t that he was cautious. Instead, he had become fundamentally incapable of actions, his very body stopped by time itself.

Despite that, his awareness remained. And with that awareness, he could observe the being in front of him.

The cluster of stars continued to grow, stretching and expanding. Soon, the stars gathered into galaxies, milky clusters reminiscent of Strife’s home system. No, not just reminiscent. It was the exact same, down to the blue lights of the garden planets housed within it.

A replication of the familiar starry skies Strife was used to. When that appeared before his eyes, lights stopped appearing. At the same time, shadows grew. Coiling, slithering tendrils wrapped around the stars. Yet, they did not envelop them. Instead, it served as a container for the stars, sealing away a corner of the infinite universe.

Writhing, twisting… the tendrils swirled and squirmed until it formed a humanoid figure. A head. Two arms. Two legs. A torso. The body was there, as well as the necessary limbs. But there was no mistaking the fact that the being was not human.

The void served as its skin. The universe, its flesh. And then there were those two ominous violet orbs staring directly at Strife’s own eyes.

Strife still couldn’t move. Yet, with all the willpower he could muster, he forced his mouth to move, his lungs to exhale, his throat to deliver three words. “What… are… you…?”

The figure didn’t reply for a long time. It simply stood there, countless tendrils still writhing about its body. But eventually, it moved. The figure slowly shook its head and then raised its left hand, reaching forward.

Everything within Strife told him to move. To flee. To run away from the being in front of him. But he couldn’t. What little willpower he mustered to speak had vanished. And, in a panic, he realized that even his thoughts were slowly slipping away.

The figure’s hand reached out. It was slow. Deliberate. The act was a judgment, an inescapable verdict.

Strife could no longer think, even his thoughts frozen in time. However, he was still aware. And because of that, he heard the figure’s words.

“A pity,” it said. “That such a noble soul would be the perpetrator of humanity’s greatest arrogance.”

The figure’s hand plunged into Strife’s chest… and he knew no more.

What lies at the end of the universe? The question is meaningless, for the universe has no end. If so… what lies at the beginning? In the center of the universe, from where the singularity first begat all else, what existed?

Humanity sought an answer and fashioned themselves God.

A hero was sent to be the messenger.

The universe has a beginning, but it does not have an end. Like energy, it cannot be destroyed, only changed. No matter how arrogant mortals become, this fundamental law persists across time and space.

Yet, if those arrogant mortals dare to challenge that law. If those arrogant mortals dare to lay claim to existence itself… let it be known that existence does not take kindly to threats.