by Aditya Kumar
"Isn't this a surprise? I was waiting for you," they heard a voice from back.
As they turned back, they saw a stranger was standing in front of them. That stranger told, "I am here to help you. Creator knew that he couldn't come here and so he sent me. Actually, there wasn't any other option as you two had never be able cover millions of light years. So, I had to pull both of you. Now your destination is not far away. Just inform me through this device, once you retrieve the quantum data of universe. I will send it to creator." Then that stranger gave Mark a device and disappeared.
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CHAPTER 41
The Last Battle
It wouldn't take Mark and Emily much time to reach there. There they have to face Tecton. Mark knew the truth about Tecton still he had to retrieve the quantum data of multiverse.
Tecton welcomed Mark in his own way. "I have heard many stories that what you, three-dimensional people would do for survival. I knew that and there wasn't any fun in watching that. So, I thought to see that up to what extent you can go to achieve death. That's why I developed a technology which would block the path through which soul can traverse to reach its destination... and you know for beings like us, time doesn't behave in the way as it behaves for you. For me, time is just like an another dimension similar to space and we are free to move forward or backward in time. However, it was a bit challenging to create a time loop, yet I did. It was initially just a game for me, but deep down myself I expected more from you and now your presence here indicates that I was right. You took all of your desire as a challenge and able to grow stronger that I ever thought."
"So... you considered this all as just a game," Mark said in angry voice.
Tecton said, "You don't know this. You never can understand from my side. You..."
"Yes... because I am not a crazy like you," Mark interrupted in middle.
"No... you can't understand because you are not capable of understanding. I was getting bored being stuck here in this realm. I knew I have not any way to go back to my realm... and I had nothing to do here."
Mark said, "And so you made every one of us a pawn for your entertainment?"
"Well... you can say so," Tecton said, "I know people... I know you and everyone else. They are only hungry to be more powerful. I used to be the same. Creators used to call us a rogue civilization whose purpose was just to ruin the working of nature. But we had a name... Ancrop. We had the capability to travel from one realm to another. We travelled a lot until..." Tecton stopped for a moment.
"Until what..." Emily asked with a little bit of curiosity and more of anger.
"At once, they made a huge modification in the structure of their creation... and that made us unable to travel between different realms. At then, I was here... in your multiverse and I stuck here... perhaps for my eternity," Tecton said.
"So... now you want to take the revenge from Creators by destroying our multiverse," Emily said.
Tecton said, "I once thought of doing so. I once thought of destroying your multiverse, but I realized that this will not change the fact that I am stuck here. But it will increase my pain because of being alone. So... I just made a game to find someone capable. I made you Mark... and many others who died in other iteration of time-loop and ultimately converged into me again. But you passed the test Mark... only you can help me."
"Then why you tried to destroy the whole multiverse using Ypritte," Mark asked.
"It was never my intention to destroy the multiverse," Tecton said, "Ypritte was meant to fail... and defeated by you."
"Why... by me... why he had to be defeated by me only," Mark asked.
Tecton said, "So that you could understand what real power means... so that you could grow stronger than ever."
"But if he would have killed every one there, it would have meant the destruction of everything forever..."
Tecton said, "No... I arranged one more entity there to protect the fabric of space. Do you know when I was most afraid... when Ernica had used the energy beam towards Mark, just to kill him in an instant. That was unpredicted and could have made everything useless if Mark would have died then."
Mark couldn't believe what he is seeing. "Is this even real," He asked Emily, "Am I real?"
Before Emily could say anything, Tecton said, "You can't say what is real and what not. It has a perspective. From your perspective, you are real... you have to restore your multiverse and have a dream to spend your rest of lives together. But from my perspective, you are just a pawn from game who performed extraordinary and able to come here and made me think to convert my dream into reality which I never thought.
"What do you want from us," Mark asked.
"I know that your dream is nothing for me," Tecton said, "But if you will help me, I will give you those informations which you can send to Creator and they will restore your whole multiverse."
"How we can help you," Emily asked.
"You can help me to open a portal which can make me reach my own realm," Tecton said, "I don't want to be God anymore. I just want to be normal people that I used to be."
"Why Creator will restore my universe, if I will help their enemy to do something that they restricted," Mark asked a legitimate question.
Tecton smiled and said, "Do you really think that if Creator would have known that I am still alive and the mastermind behind the destruction of their creation, they would have let me to do it."
"What do you mean," Emily asked.
"They would have already killed me or have done worse than that. But they consider Ypritte the mastermind behind all that," Tecton said, "Why do you think I always lived here... in this grid, because I am hiding from the Creator."
"But Creator didn't do anything to Ypritte because he was afraid that he would destroy the whole universe. Then how he could have interrupted in internal functioning of universe to kill you," Mark asked.
"I am not talking about Creator of your multiverse. There are many things that you never need to know. There are a group of them and when they applied the law to ban the inter-multiverse travel... they were always looking for me and anyone like me who is violating this law. Because we continued inter-multiverse travel, but one day they changed the structured of their own creation and I trapped here. I was really never safe here. I just want to go back," Tecton said, "I want to go home. I know that after everything you will never help me, but you also need me because I have all the data of your multiverse and without that you can't restore your home."
"So... Ypritte is also your creation," Emily asked.
"No... not my creation..." Tecton said, "Everything you know about him is right... just you are missing a small detail. I made a deal with Ypritte, who was angry on Creator, and give him a chance to take the revenge."
"How..." Emily asked again.
"I made a passage for him to enter in your multiverse. I made him powerful enough to survive in this multiverse. Due to big-bang, he had lost his home and it made their living harder. So, when he got able to enter in this multiverse, he begged Creator to provide a home for him and his fellow who were struggling to survive. Creator had a small guilt of making them destroyed. So, he accepted Ypritte request and made a part of your universe suitable for Ypritte to live with all of them. But as I knew that this small victory hadn't meant much to Ypritte. He realized that everything is not same. I gave the ability to survive there only to Ypritte... and so others were in huge pain. After doing everything, Creator couldn't able to make a perfect home for them... and at last they gave up. Ypritte kept watching the pain that his friends were having... and he thought that he is helpless. But one day, I showed him the way which could make his dream a reality. I showed him the way to destroy this universe. I gave him the hope. But he also was a part of my story and I hadn't expected anything from him until you broke the time-loop," Tecton said.
"Okay... we will help you, but you have to give the data first," Mark said.
Tecton said, "I don't think you are in position to ma
ke that kind of deal."
"Yes... I am," Mark said, "I know how much you need me... and your desperation put me in strong position."
"What if I say no," Tecton asked.
Mark said, "Then I will refuse to help you... and you will have no other choice left except to kill us."
"Really... you think that I would kill you so easily," Tecton said. Then he tried to use all his weapons which could make Mark suffer without killing him.... and then tried on Emily. Nothing affected them.
Mark said, "I also bargained something from Creator for these kinds of situation. You don't have other choice."
"Fine... take this," Tecton said and gave Mark a data storage device... a very large device, but Tecton had miniaturized it to make the device portable. "Now let me and Ernica go."
Mark was powerful enough and with his powers, he could able to make a pathway for Tecton and Ernica.
"Do you really considered everything as a truth that I told you," Tecton said laughing, "You were easier to manipulate than I had expected."
"What do you mean," Mark asked.
"They called us rogue civilization... and they were right. Our purpose isn't to travel in different realms to gain knowledge. We are powerful and we deserve to rule all the realms and one day we will. Well I would not be able to rule your realm, because it will not exist anymore. Now... it's my time to go to my home," And Tecton tried to destroy the device containing the information of multiverse.
But next augh was of Mark. As Tecton took another footstep, he got surrounded by fire... and there was no other way around. He heard Mark's voice, "You were too lateto react and plan. Our creator already knows about you. I understood your trick, but you couldn't understand mine. Isn't this a shame for extra-dimensional creature like you. Well it doesn't matter because you will die now and I have all the information that I needed. You will exist no more because I also made a deal with creator whose only aim was to kill all of you."
They saw Tecton and Ernica crying, screaming and burning... and it felt a little relief for them.
After death of Tecton, Mark said to Emily, "I made the grid unstable. I will have to send this information as quickly as possible."
They initiated the transfer, but the data was huge. They saw the fire coming towards them, but they stayed there because they had a purpose. Perhaps they had lived their life... maybe not together completely, but they got the chance to die together doing what they loved the most... protecting lives. What Mark would have felt in those moment... it would have been like this in his own words:
'My loneliness, suffering, my current life and previous life, my fight, struggle to save my planet and my universe all this took me here, at this moment. I can see my all flashback from here. It looks that everything is happening in front of my eye and I am part of it. This entire life, I was afraid of death. But all the incidents together dragged me here. But I am not afraid anymore. I never believed in destiny but perhaps this was my destiny this entire time. I have to accept this. It is the only way to save everything - everything, that is the part of creation. Everything that started a single life and flourished today to uncountable numbers. This is the real mystery of their evolution. All the species... their body structure and their complexity of mind is far more complex than even our imagination. They all can't be kept together to get ruled by some powerful and mysterious lunatic. They are supposed to be remain under the sky of freedom and evolve to their possible extent without intervention of any external forces. External forces, once may have helped them to develop and flourish but they are not supposed to interrupt their own structure anymore. They all are balanced together internally. One is more powerful than others and maybe weaker species are ruled by stronger one. But they all are part of system and all this thing is necessary for all this to exist. Maybe, we cannot understand as being its part but when we come up over this thinking, we come to know the meaning of everything.'
They transferred the whole data. That brighter fire came close to them. They were surrounded by that fire... and there was no other way around. He was ready to die there, but suddenly he heard Emily, "Look there is a path." Mark looked up and saw and there was an emptiness in that fire... a tunnel like structure, like it was calling to them. They both entered in that. They heard a voice. Mark could easily claim that this was Creator's voice which was telling, "You are brave, honest and strong. You never gave up... and result is in front of you. I have restored your multiverse... and it all became possible because of you. I wish you could see your universe again. But they don't need you anymore... and neither you need them. They will live in their world... together, to make their dream reality... and now it's your turn to fulfil your own dream. I can provide you a place that would be only for you two. However, you can go to your own universe whenever you want, but I want you to be in new realm for rest of your lives."
As they both came out of that tunnel, they were in new realm... to spend their lives together where Sun would shine and Stars will twinkle only for them. This is needless to say that Mark has not any more curiosity to know more about this new world. He is not here to solve a mystery, but to spend his time under the shadow of love. He taught the whole world about the power and happiness love holds and now this is his time to prove his own word correct. It doesn't matter for them if they both are real beings or a shadow of higher dimensional creature... but they just have to live and enjoy because they know that their love was always real and it will always be real.
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