FA Chapter 18 Grand Universe

Dark matter makes up 99% of the universe. According to some, its the foundation upon which planets, stars and galaxies thrive. The relation with black holes hasn't yet been explored in depth.

Many scientists, theorists and other obscure professions have speculated its involvement with matter itself, yet before the 25th century, the mystery was shrouded in darkness, eluding even the most accomplished of geniuses.

Until a certain human, Casos, managed to peel back some of the mysteries by managing to trap a particle of dark matter through sheer coincidence. That alone led to a race among the states to figure out more about this obscure cosmic force, birthing many experiments that made it possible to influence it on a minute level, though with inconsequential results.

BUT! The most horrifying discovery to be made was observed at a certain point in time, where dark matter actually interacted with life itself, imparting what's called a soul upon a being!

There had always been questions on what consciousness was. It had been an enigma unsolvable by anyone! Yet dark matter had provided the answer! 

Dark matter was the yin to matter itself. Without the two working in tandem, life itself couldn't exist!

Even the non living things had minute traces of being affected or influenced by dark matter. Theorists had suggested that chemical reactions had a certain probability of triggering a connection.

The widely accepted speculation now, was that dark matter was a universe-wide cosmic entity with consciousness. Actually, you could call it a consciousness ocean!

This conjecture and discovery had been made in the last 30 years, coinciding with Musana's reveal of the awakening machine, a piece of highly advanced technology that syphoned dark matter to produce the awakening liquid.

Of course, this piece of equipment was only known by a few people, Lwazi himself included. That's why he knew... A Forger wasn't that special in the grand scheme that was the universe!

Lwazi disliked those people who continuously spouted words like 'special' or 'above mortal'. They lacked an intrinsic understanding of the universe and the power that had been bestowed upon them, yet they liked spouting such idiotic words, always wanting to make themselves seem better than the rest. 

The roots should never be forgotten. No matter how large a tree grows, or vibrant it becomes, the roots will never cease to be important.

Musana had once expounded an important piece of advice to him, "Never underestimate the universe. Even someone or something you might deem weak could kill you in the next second."

"Jajja, where are we going next? Hurry up! I wanna go see Brail! They are here right now!"

A smile made it to Lwazi's wizened face, making it so that he temporarily shelved his pondering for another day. Right now, he was accompanying his granddaughter.

"What is this 'Brail' that you are so interested in?"

"Come on, Jaja Lwazi! Air quotes are so outdated!"

"Hahahaha...I haven't been in touch with the wider society for a long time. Besides, these trends change almost every week! Only you teenagers can keep up with them."

Lwazi smiled nervously. The lines on his face deepened as the teenage girl scrutinized him like a one of those rare zoo animals. 

"...(sigh)... Brail is like the biggest most popular rock band of all time! Even if you live under a rock... Well you do... You must have heard of them, right?"

Lwazi had the urge to wipe his forehead at this time as he could accutely feel the beads of sweat taking form. 

Justina's chill inducing gaze this time made it so that she didn't want anything less than a 'yes'.

"Yes...I have heard of them. Though I haven't been able to find the opportunity to listen to their music."

"...(sigh)..."

"Hey! Don't sigh that much! I should be the one doing that!" 

"Jajja... Okay! I am going to send you my playlist. There are about 20 songs. You have to listen to each of them. I will ask questions! And don't even think about having your AI doing the heavy lifting! Trust me! I will know!"

That stare from the girl was terrifying. Were teenagers this scary these days? Lwazi wondered even as he nodded like a chicken pecking rice.

'Oh! It looks like someone actually decided to cause chaos in the city! Who would have such guts?'

Lwazi felt the minute tremors within the particles by his feet. Vigilance was a lesson he had taken the effort to learn. He always had his spiritual energy infusing all non living matter within a five meter radius of himself. It was a cautionary tactic that most distinguished Forgers at the solid spiritual state level employed. Why? 

Because all the other senses alone wouldn't be able to capture the realistic renditions of some things created by other Forgers. 

There was that one time he had taken a manifested terminal to be the real thing, almost getting himself killed. That was the closest he had ever been to death, and that experience had carved itself within him.

A small smile played upon his lips as he felt the full control he had over the small area around him. Without sufficient tempering, a Forger might grow a big head upon feeling this kind of power.

'...like that fool, Zeus. Hmpf!'

Displeasure replaced his previous expression before it too, was wiped away, with stoicism taking over.

Someone was causing trouble somewhere underground. Could it have been a training session exceeding the limits? Or could it be something else?

"Justina, it looks like there will be a delay."

"Can't you just let me go alone for once?" She grumbled.

"There are many people within this city. Enemies and allies, powerful Forgers in their own right have congregated here. I have some enemies who would love to take this chance to deal with me by getting to you. Its forbidden for a Forger to interfere in the lives of those below, but them seeing you might lead to them leaping across that line."

Lwazi explained patiently. He loved her more than anything in the world...and would have loved to accompany her. But first, there came duty. This was their tuff! Things couldn't be allowed to spiral out of control before the plan went live.

With a thought, he enveloped her in a bubble of blue spiritual energy, where he could feel her tuning out the world. She had probably interfaced with her neural link, having decided to surf the virtual world while he did his duty.

After determining the direction of the disturbance, his feet kicked off the ground...

<2. Acceleration>

...his body turning into a blur that weaved through the crowd with absolute ease, bypassing many solid states and their domains. Of course he made certain his affiliation by projecting an image of a burning blue sun floating by his side, enough to prevent anyone from mistaking him as malicious.

Just a second later, Lwazi arrived at the location of the disturbance, where a large complex with a little bit over ten floors stood. Judging by its style, it was most probably a downscraper. Most of its floors were below ground, coupled with the training room where someone was making the commotion.

In just a split second, he entered, rushing towards the place indicated by his AI, an emergency tunnel leading straight to the training room. All buildings with training rooms were required to have such a backdoor in case of emergencies.

The shaft was opening, just a little bit halfway. Waiting would have been ideal but he was getting a faint sense of something... A premonition of danger!

As the vertical was horizontal, Lwazi raced along the wall of the tunnel, reaching speeds that made his entire form resemble a light beam.

The material making up the tunnel was similar to that of a training room. You could even make the bold guess that it was an extension of the room itself. Meaning, that it could barely handle his full velocity without getting too damaged. 

But it would still need someone to take a look later. 

Lwazi looked to the side, where his granddaughter was floating within the sphere, sheltered from the brunt of the air particles and any other form of interference.

'Kids these days...' 

She was fully immersed in the virtual world, something that would have made him grumble, but instead brought a smile to his face. It seemed that she wholeheartedly trusted him. That was something even his son lacked!

The endpoint was reached, upon which, he burst into the white room, taking in the surroundings in that split second.

There was the Bora clan girl, then there was that enlarging white light, radiating from someone's palm, a bomb!

"(Sigh)... It looks like that boy really has no choice in the matter. These people must give me a full explanation after I save their asses!" 

His mumbles were too fast such that even the air itself couldn't transmit his words.

<1. Trap>

<3. Decelerate>

With a thought, Lwazi released a spiritual ball from his hands, molding it into a cube shape, then hurling it towards the bright light. Its speed of travel was near instantaneous, surpassing light.

It was a good thing that there was a split second before the detonation of the bomb. Lwazi managed to deduce its origins. The man who had made it had gotten rich off his unique solid state spiritual ability after all.

The blue cube encapsulated the coin and part of the holder's hand, then everything simply slowed down. 

Lwazi liked this power of his. If it wasn't because of his body's limitations then he would have been far far stronger than anyone. 

But! He didn't forget about the grandness of the universe. He might be special here, but in the wider cosmos, there must be beings far more magnificent.

"I hate having to intervene in clan squabbles. Bora girl! Contact your father. He needs to provide an explanation." 

Even as he ordered, he mentally pulled the cube towards him. The explosion looked like it had been frozen, but that wasn't the truth. It was still expanding, though at a pace so slow, akin to a crawling snail.