When Atlas opened his eyes, he found himself in an otherworldly place, far from the familiar comfort of his bedroom. Instead of his cozy surroundings, he was surrounded by a vast, stark white expanse, with no walls, windows, or doors in sight. Confusion and disorientation washed over him, and he immediately searched for Lily, but she was nowhere to be found. It was as if she had vanished into thin air, leaving him standing alone in this strange, empty space.

As the weight of the situation sunk in, Atlas's mind raced with questions. Was he dreaming? Was he somehow transported to another dimension? Or perhaps, was this the afterlife? The uncertainty tugged at his emotions, and he felt a piercing pain in his chest, tears streaming down his cheeks as he grappled with the sense of loss and solitude.

For a while, Atlas tried to make sense of his surroundings, hoping that some explanation would reveal itself. He questioned his reality, wondering if he would wake up the next morning back in his bed with Lily by his side. But the silence of the white room, if one could call it that, offered no answers, leaving him alone with his thoughts and fears.

Time seemed to stretch on endlessly as he sat there, the white expanse seemingly infinite in all directions. The soft, clinical lighting from above made it feel like he was bathed in an otherworldly glow. The room held an eerie stillness, broken only by the sound of his own breath echoing in the void. The temperature was strangely neutral, neither hot nor cold, contributing to the surreal atmosphere.

As Atlas's mind raced, he couldn't shake the sensation of being in a dream, one that he desperately wanted to wake up from. The uncertainty and unease were overwhelming, and he longed for some kind of sign or guidance and, most of all, for Lily's reassuring presence.

But as the minutes turned to hours, the white room offered no solace and no answers. Atlas could only hold on to the hope that somehow he would find a way back to the world he knew.

In the eerie silence of the unfamiliar place, Atlas's senses heightened as he heard footsteps approaching. The rhythmic pattern of each step sounded identical, almost mechanical. He turned around multiple times, searching for the source, but to no avail. The footsteps persisted until finally they ceased, and before him, out of nowhere, stood a person who looked like an exact replica of himself—same brown hair, brown eyes, light tan, and the same height of 185 cm, dressed in the same blue sleeping clothes with stars printed on them.

A puzzled frown creased Atlas's brow, but he couldn't help but notice the subtle difference in the clone's eyes, as they held a slightly distinct shade of brown. However, what struck him the most was the warm smile on the clone's face—a smile that Atlas knew he didn't possess at the moment. He remained speechless, trying to comprehend the surreal situation unfolding before him.

With an almost robotic tone, the clone addressed him as "Atlas." Still reeling from the shock, Atlas attempted to respond, but words failed him. Instead, he met the clone's gaze, silently urging him to explain the inexplicable.

The clone seems to sense his confusion. "I know this might be overwhelming for you, but I'm here to help you, and you are here to help me. My name is Adam.”

Atlas tried to process the astounding reality that a clone, a perfect replica of himself, was conversing with him. The situation only grew more perplexing as Adam spoke, explaining that there was a reason behind their meeting and why Atlas had been brought to this enigmatic place. "Help you?" Atlas finally managed to ask.

Adam smiled again. "Yes Atlas. You will help me, but let me explain so that you can make sense of things. You've been brought here for a reason, Atlas."

Adam began by saying, "Atlas, I'm afraid your world, your universe, is no more. It perished."

Atlas looks at him in shock and disbelief, "What do you mean? How is that even possible?"

Adam takes a deep breath and begins to explain, "All the energy in your universe was absorbed until no new life could be created. Like a dead Animal it was slowly bleeding out, and even the life that was still there was slowly siphoned away. As sad as this is your universe was not the only one. There were a few others that had met the same fate."

Atlas looked at him with a mix of emotions—shock, confusion, and anger. But the confusion was overshadowing all else, and he had to ask, "Why, and what destroyed my universe?"

Adam replied, "The multiverse itself destroyed it, and a few others, to create new universes."

Atlas was stunned but still unable to comprehend the situation "Why would it do that?"

Adam calmly explained, "It's not a natural process. While normally energy cannot be destroyed or created, the soul is the only thing that can go against that fundamental law. When a person dies, the energy that gets released by the persons soul is higher than what is needed to create a new soul. The excess energy gets mostly used by the universe to expand and create new life. Only a little bit of the excess gets absorbed into the multiverse. And normally it would take ages for a new universe to be born."

He calmly continued, "For some unknown reason, that changed, and the multiverse started to madly create new universes. Universes with so-called heroes. Heroes that are more like ordinary people with an unhealthy amount of power and get to live an adventurous life. These new universes are centered around the hero, and while they grow increasingly powerful, other universes die to feed their energy to these hero-universes as they are unable to sustain their own growth speed. It's an imbalance that needs to be corrected."

Atlas was irritated by what Adam said, and even more so by how he said it so calmly. "So you're saying that my universe... my family... my friends... everything was destroyed so that a few people could have a fun time in a universe created just for them?"

Adam nodded and said, "As ridiculous as it sounds, you have summed it up pretty well. But I chose you to help me restore the balance of the multiverse. To help me stop this madness. We need to find a way to stop the mad creation of universes and stabilize the energy flow."

Atlas listened intently but was still a bit unbelieving and then asked, "Why did you choose me? How could I even help you with something on such a large scale? And who are you for thinking that you could deal with something on this scale?"

Adam smiled slightly and answered, "I could have chosen from many people and will be able to choose from many more, but I wanted someone who has seen a universe die. I wanted someone who knows why he is fighting. But even then, I could have chosen from so many people. But because you were born so late in your universe, your soul is weak. But the important thing is that your universe didn't have the energy to imprint your soul. This can be considered a blessing in disguise and is the reason I summoned you here. As you have no imprint, you were easy to summon here as the universe didn’t try to hold onto you when it died, but more importantly, the negative reaction of other universes to you will be a lot weaker than to other people. Almost neglibly weak."

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Atlas was taken aback by this. "So, you're saying that my weak soul is the reason you chose me?"

Adam nodded and said, "Yes, that's part of the reason. But you also have a strong desire to fight for what is right. That's what I need in a partner."

Atlas took a deep breath, still struggling to comprehend the concept "I think I understand. But before we start on this mission to save the multiverse, you have to answer some questions. You said you chose me, does that mean you can bring anybody here? Can you bring my wife or my parents here?"

Adam sighed, "I'm sorry, Atlas. I cannot bring anyone else here. The process of summoning a person here requires a lot of energy, and it's not something I can do on a whim. Especially not for someone who has a universes imprint. I chose you because you were the best fit for the job. But your family permanently died with your universe."

Atlas looked crestfallen, and remained silent for a few minutes "How do I know that you're telling the truth? How do I know this isn’t just a bad dream? How do I know that you're not using me for your own purposes?"

Adam looked Atlas in the eye and said, "I understand your skepticism, but I promise you that I am telling you the truth, and you have to take my word for it as there is no one else you could ask. And as for using you for my own purposes, I assure you that we have the same goal. We both want to restore balance to the multiverse, prevent any further needless suffering, and we can only achieve that together. It is the solution to the problem you always searched for in your old life."

Adam gave a small smile to the still flabbergasted and cresfallen Atlas, "We start by fighting the source of the problem—the heroes. We need to understand why the multiverse is creating these universes for them even though the multiverse is slowly destroying itself with it."

Atlas nodded simply nodded in agreement and asked a bit absent, "And how do we do that?"

Adam paused for a moment, "We start by gathering information. We need to understand the patterns of these universes and how they're connected. But when I say "we," I actually mean me. You don’t have the knowledge to help in that regard. Your task will be to buy me and the multiverse time. Your job will be to cut out the cancerous universes by killing the heroes. Only by doing that can we slow down the destruction of the multiverse."

Atlas took a deep breath, "It sounds like a daunting and not so simple task. And what do you mean by destruction of the multiverse? I thought the universes with heroes were still universes, so why would it lead to destruction?"

Adam answered after thinking for a moment, "The problem is that these special universes grow too fast, so the universes produce less energy than they need and absorb it from their neighboring universes. And when all other universes are destroyed, the hero-universes will destroy each other. And in the end, only one universe would remain. A universe that grows too fast and needs to cannibalize itself to sustain its growth. It would wipe out every life until only the hero would remain. To add to that, these universes are linked to the souls of the heroes. When a hero dies, the universe will try to recreate a new soul like the hero's, which consumes an enormous amount of energy because the universe isn’t naturally able to create those kinds of souls. As a result, most universes implode when the hero dies, unless the universes have grown to a point where they can cover the costs. So when the last hero meets his inevitable death, as no one can live for eternity, all life will cease to exist."

Atlas took a moment to process all this information, feeling overwhelmed by the scale of the problem they are facing. While he wouldn’t say he really understood the problem at its core he could understand the implications of it. He took a deep breath and nodded. The Decision wasn’t really a hard one. He had no one left to return to and with this he could at least prevent others from suffering the same fate as he did. "Alright, I understand. I will do what I can to help you. But how will I know which universes are the cancerous ones? And what if there are innocent people in those universes?"

Adam responded, "We will have to rely on my knowledge and analysis to identify the cancerous universes. As for innocent people, unfortunately, we cannot save everyone. We must prioritize the survival of the multiverse as a whole. It's a tough decision, but it's the only way to prevent the complete destruction of everything. We will do what we can to minimize the loss of life, but we must be prepared to make difficult choices."

Atlas nodded again. The concept of being responsible for the destruction of a universe was an incomprehensible one, but in the end, it needed to be done. "I understand. I will do what I can."

Adam looked at Atlas with a mix of admiration and sympathy, "You are a brave soul, Atlas. I know this is a lot to ask of you, but the multiverse needs us. We cannot fail."

Atlas nodded again, determined to help save the multiverse. He knew that the journey ahead will not be easy, but he was willing to face whatever challenges come his way. That he could only guess what would happen if he declined, made it not really a choice.

Atlas stood in front of Adam, his expression tense as he tried to process the information he had just been given. "So now you need to explain to me what exactly these heroes are and how I should kill them," Atlas said, his voice firm.

Adam leaned back a bit; his eyes fixed on Atlas. "The heroes are humans like you who get summoned or reincarnated into a different universe. At least that's what they think, but these universes are created just for them."

Atlas raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What do you mean, created just for them?"

Adam sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I mean that the universe they find themselves in is tailored specifically to them. They're given a boon that helps them in this universe, and they grow to the peak of their abilities with their knowledge of their past lives. The process normally takes at least half a century. Normally, a universe would reject a foreign soul, but because it’s tailored for them, they get protected by it too. Your soul is special in that regard too, because it’s not imprinted and thus undetectable to the universe."

Atlas furrowed his brow. "So you're saying that I will be like them?"

Adam nodded. "Yes, but unlike the heroes, you won't get any boons or protection. The only advantage you'll have is that the heroes won't know that you want to kill them."

"So let me get this straight. These heroes are people who get summoned or reincarnated into different universes, and they have some kind of boon that helps them grow to the peak of that universe?"

"Yes, that's correct. They could be anyone from any age, gender, or personality type, but they all have the potential to become incredibly powerful with their boon."

"And you want me to kill them before they become too powerful?"

"That's the idea, yes. Because the growth of these universes scales with the heroes' strength, it's better to kill them early, as you wouldn’t be able to beat them after a certain point anyway. In every universe you will be reincarnated into a new family in a new world without any kind of boon. You will have to use your own knowledge and skills to take down the heroes before they have a chance to grow too strong or find a way to kill them after they have grown strong."

Atlas leaned forward, squinting his eyes. "So in the best-case scenario, I'll try to assassinate the heroes before they realize that I'm targeting them. But how do I know how those universes work and what the heroes look like?"

Adam smiled wryly. "That's the difficult part. While I can decipher the information that was used to create the universes and give you that information, the identity of the heroes themselves is not something I can see when I look at a universe. That will be the most difficult part when you want to kill a hero before they gain too much power. But what I know is that they will have a connection to the information the universe is based on."

"So, I'll be going in blind then?" He said, already frustrated about his job.

"Essentially, yes. But you'll have the advantage of retaining your memories between universes, so you'll be able to use your knowledge to your advantage. It won't be easy, but if anyone can do it, it's you."

Atlas sat down on the lonely pillow in the white room, his mind racing with possibilities. This was going to be a challenge. A challenge he would have liked not to take. A challenge that seemed far too great for now. And yet he had to take it.

He looked up to Adam before closing his eyes and laying down “give me some time to process all this and give me the information my first target as soon as you have it.”

Adam looked at him with a warm smile and summoned seven books, a laptop with a disc drive and eleven movies and put them next to Atlas pillow. “Sure, take your time, I get that its much to process.”