The Plane of Dreams.
Even though the Plane of Dreams was heavily damaged in the "Collision of Worlds" a long time ago and became a vassal plane of another universe, the Plane of Dreams was still a vast and boundless world to most mortal civilizations. There was a deep and boundless universe, with countless ancient galaxies and newborn stars. There were also countless dark spaces that no one had ever set foot in, buried in the deepest part of space.
In the center of the universe, the ancient nebula had almost all turned into waste heat, and the once glorious galaxy was now a vast expanse of dead shadows and ashes. The light was fading and had become extremely precious here. The stars that had fallen into silence were embellishing the deep darkness, and every cluster of starfire was a fortress. Those celestial bodies that were barely collected and illuminated in the exhaust of the nebula were few in number. They were tens of thousands of lightyears away from each other, and their candlelight could not illuminate the deep space of the universe that had been forgotten and was slowly dying, nor could they nourish any life, at least the regular life.
Without life, there would be no soul, no activity of thought, and the evil force in the cage would not be able to escape.
So the cage had been silent for thousands of years, silently guarding the passage of time.
But it was not completely devoid of life.
The 'Night Watchers' who guarded the cage in the darkness lived here. They surrounded the clusters of starfire and set up a fortress, monitoring the deepest dark abyss of the dead space layer by layer, listening for even the slightest sound around them.
Dead silence. This was the norm in the cage. There was not a single sound in the cold and dead space, even the trembling of the starlight was strictly controlled. There were no mortal races here, and the ringing of souls was naturally impossible. Everything was to prevent the suppressed force from breaking through the blockade. But even so, the Night Watchers had their own way of communication.
These ancient creatures had mastered the trick of protecting their hearts and were blessed by the gods. When they talked through the resonance between the stars, the evil force suppressed in the depths of the cage was powerless.
A lonely star at the outer boundary of the dark abyss lit up a little and sent out a series of superluminal messages that were incomprehensible to ordinary beings. The messages quickly spread throughout the galaxy and immediately triggered a response from several nearby stars.
"S-26, control your frequency. Do not engage in unnecessary conversation."
"S-26 has replied. This is not an unnecessary conversation. Mind shielding has been applied. This tremor is safe."
[What did you find?] A message came from the middle layer of the Dark Abyss.
"The Star of Creation has been extinguished for more than 100 units of time. According to the agreement, the time will be announced now."
"Are there any changes in the outside world?" The signal source in the middle of the Dark Abyss continued to ask.
"It's quiet. Very quiet. It is estimated that more than ninety percent of the life lights have been extinguished. A small part of the deep space region is so quiet that it seems to be at a critical point."
The stars were silent for a period of time. It could have been only a few seconds, or it could have been as long as days. In the critical point of the Dark Abyss, the flow of time became very strange. The Nightwatchers were not used to recording things through time. To them, the flow of time was one event after another, and in the long silence between events, time was meaningless.
If not for the need to record how long had passed since the war, the Nightwatchers would have given up on the concept of 'time'.
After a period of silence, S-26 suddenly sent a message. "W-17, I hear noises coming from deep space. What's wrong there?"
A signal came from the middle layer of the Dark Abyss. "It's trying to break through the outer wall."
A new signal came from a star millions of light years away. "It's getting more frequent."
"There's still no news of the Ark and Kindling left behind by the Goddess of Creation. The Guardians she created have not shown any signs of returning to normal. It seems like the contamination that leaked out was more serious than expected." W-17 said for a long time. "We need to be prepared. I'm afraid the situation will continue to worsen."
"The situation will continue to worsen." S-26 agreed. "We need to use our manpower wisely. Don't do things that don't suit us. In a hundred units of time, we've lost a lot of Nightwatchers. "
"But the necessary patrols should continue." W-17 said. "The universe is still changing. Something we don't understand has happened, and it's spreading. S-26, do you still remember the things you've discovered? "
"Yes, I have a deep impression of them. They're expanding at an alarming rate, and they're highly disciplined. They're even more disciplined than us. Now they've spread to thousands of galaxies, and the rate of expansion is increasing. I'm afraid that one day, they'll cover the entire universe. "
"How much do we know about them?" Another signal from the middle layer of the Dark Abyss asked. "How do they create themselves?"
"In an incomprehensible way. Those things seem to be able to replicate themselves without the need for material resources. Whether it's in a barren galaxy or a rich galaxy, the rate of expansion has never slowed. I've seen it before. In a vacuum without any celestial bodies, thousands of those things suddenly appeared out of nowhere. "
"What's their purpose? Are they harmful? "
"I can't tell. They seem to be highly intelligent lifeforms, but they lack the purpose of intelligent lifeforms. They only continue to expand, and set up many incomprehensible nests and outposts in space. But in the process, they don't attack anyone, and they don't occupy any planets. Compared to landing on planets, they seem to be more interested in observing from space. So I can't tell if they're harmful, but they're a threat. "
As soon as S-26's message ended, another outpost at the border responded. "Additional information. I've observed that they possess a certain level of power. In some unexpected incidents, they can easily destroy stray celestial bodies that threaten their nests. And these individuals with power are increasing rapidly in their population. Perhaps their expansion has reached a critical point, and they're slowly turning to force. "
S-26 spoke again. "Additional information. Observed changes in their expansion direction. They're moving from aimless expansion to directional expansion. Their vanguard seems to be heading here."
The new information silenced all the Night Watchers. After a brief silence, W-17 reported, "Their behavior is changing. I think we should increase the surveillance on them."
"Perhaps we should take a more proactive approach?" One of the outposts asked. "Like attacking."
"This should be a last resort action, S-77." W-17 said. "We need to ensure the stability of the internal defense line. Once 'it' breaks through the wall, the damage will be worse than any disaster."
"Agreed." "Agreed." "Agreed."
In the silent prison of the Dark Abyss, the resonance between the stars slowly calmed down. This unobserved and untouched sector once again returned to silence, as if there was no life in this place in the past, present, or future.
In the silence, a low murmur suddenly broke the silence. "W-17, what's the situation in the deepest critical point?"
"There's no longer any sanity in the critical point. 'It' has completely taken over its own cell. There's only endless screaming and clamoring. But the last outpost on the last line of defense is still reporting back. N-66 is leading the other outposts to lock down the cell."
"… W-17, my brother, do you still remember the peaceful, idyllic era of this universe?"
"… S-26, my brother. Just like you, I've forgotten."
"For the gift of forgetting."
"For the gift of forgetting."
The conversation of the Night Watchers ended, and they returned to silence as they continued to wait for the meaningless' time 'to move on to the next point worth discussing.
And far away from this eternal prison, in another part of the universe, a new drone hive was slowly activating. In the crisscrossing alloy frame of the hive that looked like living tissue, red and blue light pulsed as if it was breathing.
An ever-changing face appeared on the surface of the hive as the collective consciousness of the drone swarm looked out into the dark universe. In that darkness, everything was abnormally silent.
The deep space of the universe was indeed silent, but it was silent to such an extent that it was somewhat illogical.
After a moment of thought and calculation, the collective consciousness issued a series of new production expansion plans.
It had only one mission: expand, and continue to expand, all the way to the end of the universe!
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