The hum of the preserved air in the Svalbard Seed Vault filled the space as Surreal walked ahead of Forreal, his gloved hand trailing lightly along the pristine metal shelves. Rows upon rows of containers gleamed faintly under the artificial lights powered by his black magic, each meticulously labeled with names written in countless languages—remnants of a world now silenced.
Forreal followed closely behind, her gaze darting from one box to another, a flicker of awe breaking through her usual sardonic demeanor.
She reached out to touch a container marked Oryza sativa - Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand—the cold metal under her fingers sending a shiver up her arm.
"What you're looking at," Surreal said without turning, his voice calm yet carrying a weight that seemed to echo in the vault's still air, "Is the distilled essence of Earth's potential. A little ironic, don't you think? A world wiped clean, and yet the seeds of its rebirth lie neatly categorized here."
Forreal opened her gaze and rolled her eyes, though she couldn't entirely suppress the spark of interest that lit her face. "Yes, yes, you're poetic and dramatic. Now, are you going to start your multiverse lecture, or do I have to wait for you to monologue your way through another metaphor?"
Surreal stopped abruptly in front of a large, glass-enclosed chamber labeled Rare and Endangered Species - Fragile Handling Required.
He turned to her with his ever-present smile. "Patience, Forreal. The multiverse is a vast and intricate tapestry. A little theatricality is warranted."
With a flourish of his hand, he conjured a shimmering orb of black magic that hovered between them, pulsing faintly as if alive. The light within the orb began to shift, expanding outward to form a three-dimensional model that glowed softly against the dim lighting of the vault.
The image it projected was breathtaking—a web of glowing threads stretching infinitely, each thread connecting luminous spheres that pulsed with energy.
"This," Surreal began, his tone taking on the cadence of a storyteller, "Is the Multiversal Cluster. Imagine a galactic cluster, but instead of galaxies, it contains entire universes. Each one of these universes is its own unique ecosystem, with its own laws, constants, and infinite branching timelines.
"But unlike an introvert who hides its own nature to align with others, these universes are heavily affected with what happens and exist in the universes surrounding them."
"So, these universes are extroverts who follow what the crowd is doing, basically."
"Yup."
"Are there introverted universes?"
Surreal zoomed out on a three-dimensional map of the multiversal cluster. "You can see one right here, one that is relatively very far away from others."
'Woah." Forreal leaned in closer, her hands resting on her hips as she studied the intricate web. "And these tiny threads are what—connections between them?"
"Correct." Surreal gestured, and the model shifted to highlight a single sphere. "Each universe is self-contained, branching into countless timelines based on quantum events. However, certain events—Universal Convergence Points—align timelines across multiple universes, creating what I like to call Resonant Events."
"The extroverts."
"The extroverts indeed." He pinched two glowing threads between his fingers, drawing them together. "Imagine two universes experiencing a shared supernova-like event. For a moment, their timelines resonate. These events are rare but act as the glue holding the Multiversal Cluster together. Just like how galaxies are held together by gravity force."
Forreal's brow furrowed as she absorbed the information. "Okay, but how do you actually travel between these universes? You mentioned that aliens exist, and implies that our universe doesn't have any, so the only aliens that we will be meeting are from the outside of our universes. Don't tell me you just hop on one of those glowing strings and hope for the best?"
Surreal chuckled, the model zooming out to reveal a swirling, chaotic medium surrounding the cluster. "Enter the theospace. It's the meta-medium that connects all universes. Picture a highway system with universes as nodes and theospace pathways as roads." The threads twisted and folded into incomprehensible patterns, the glowing spheres linked by shifting, unstable paths. "But theospace isn't a conventional highway. It's composed of quintessence, a volatile energy that can warp objects and minds. Navigating it requires tools—Aligners to lock onto a universe's quantum signature, and Anchor Points as landmarks to avoid becoming lost.
"Well, it is basically a whole new can of worms that we will delve into later. Right now, you don't need to know much about it."
Forreal's eyes widened as the model shifted again, revealing smaller, less luminous spheres floating at the edges of the cluster. "What about those? The dim ones?"
"Outlier Universes," Surreal explained, his tone darkening slightly. "Similar to the introverted universes, but to a great extreme. They've drifted far from the core cluster, so much, yet still connected to the cluster in some way. Reaching them is a challenge, even for seasoned travelers.
"Not to mention, Outlier Universes tend to possess a lot of exotic matters and many bizarre things that shouldn't exist in our universe. What we deem Nihil in ours might be a normal occurrence there."
"I assume that it is some sort of a treasure trove for you."
"Yep."
"You mentioned that the theospace is dangerous. Do we will go through this to get to the other side eventually?"
Surreal smirked. "When necessary. But it's not as chaotic as it seems. There's a balance to everything—a system of ecosystems, if you will. Theospace itself is a part of this larger structure, much like the currents of an ocean shaping the ecosystems within it."
Forreal was silent for a moment, her gaze fixed on the glowing threads. Then she grinned, a rare spark of genuine excitement lighting up her face. "When are we doing this multiverse-hopping thing? Tomorrow? Next week? Please don't say we're waiting a decade..."
Surreal's smile widened, but there was a flicker of something unreadable behind it. He dismissed the model with a wave of his hand, the orb collapsing back into his palm. "Too soon, Forreal. There are still matters on Earth that need our attention."
Forreal's enthusiasm faltered, her grin fading. "Matters like… the calamity you mentioned? The one you said would happen if humanity wasn't wiped out?"
Surreal nodded, his tone turning serious. "Exactly. The cleansing was only the first step. The true threat to this world—and potentially others—has yet to arrive."