-- Violet --
I heard everything aster had said. It all had to be a lie otherwise the filter would have made his words blank. Everything he said was so fantastical that I couldn't believe it. How could he possibly be level thirty? That takes centuries and was near impossible to reach. Everyone was looking for the secret to reaching it, and how could he so simply give it away.
And him saying he was a Keeper there was no way for that to be true. I might be able to believe the level thing but Keepers. They were a myth, maybe they existed once, but now how could they exist.
I was trying to speak to this but found myself stunned when he started talking about belief. How could that even be possible? I knew his eyes could see things but ... that was just too much. How much had he been hurting to believe he saw this. How much did we push him away? My mind was wandering, the pressure becoming too intense. I could feel the air itself forcing its way into my body and it was starting to burn. I was starting to wonder if Aster was even there, then he became covered in starlight and I was sure I was begging to hallucinate.
That was when the world was swallowed by night.
-- Aster --
I had never felt so much power flow through me as suddenly I was everywhere, and nowhere at the same time. There was a copy of myself at every inch of the barrier each and every one of them with their hands on the dome, taking in more power and diverting it into the skill of creating copy after copy.
I was everywhere at once. A night sky surrounds the world, we humans live. And all around inside I found hundreds of thousands of cracks in the barrier, monsters storming in and staying. Not all of them may survive but enough to repopulate any that were lost. I had to wonder if this was part of the first keeper's plan, to draw in new monsters to fight and repopulate the ones lost every eighteen years. That would explain how there were always so many. If that was the case then the barrier most likely attracted the monsters, probably a way for the people to grow without being overrun.
Everywhere the monsters entered they seemed to know exactly where the human settlement where making a B-Line towards them, and all around were the defenders holding them off. I was learning so much and when I combined it with the knowledge I had I realized why monsters sought out the humans. It's because of the game, they once believed they were in, affecting their natural instincts to see us as a dangerous threat that needed to be taken down. Then eventually evolved into monsters that kill humans. We made our own hunters.
Now I understood why monsters always attacked. Why we humans could never make, even, an uncomfortable peace. The monsters themselves were affected by the belief of the humans. They were monsters they were humans they were enemies. And all the creatures felt the instinct forced upon them. It was why we would always be at odds with the creatures.
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It was why I didn't feel bad for what I was about to do, not truly caring for the consequences. One by one. Copies exploded out from the barrier flooding everywhere in the world, hunting,
Everywhere, in every city and every forest, desert mountain. A man-made of stars appeared as a ghost. In front of every monster, they could find.
Some monsters were standing, fighting adventurers, some were attacking caravans and some were chasing. Others were just stalking their hunting grounds. But all around the continent. People watched as I appeared, running through the world.
I made eye contact with every predator, that's when I sang my stolen song. Funny thing about the siren's song. If you have enough power, you don't need to be subtle with it. Heads of beasts everywhere around the continent, brains turned to mush falling dead to the ground.
With the monsters killed within the dome, I knew that people's levels might stagnate, and things would be interrupted for years. It was a little bit of a fuck you to the keepers, but that was only half my plan as I looked into the world that everyone on the continent saw me do, in less than a minute. When I felt a chime in my mind I knew the first half was truly a success. It was time for the next part, time to go from inside to beyond the barrier.
Every starlight form except the ones touching the barrier faded, as they began to appear in a place no human had gone in over a millennium. The place beyond the dome. From there I could even see beyond the dome and what I saw left me speechless, there were floating islands, crossing the sky, trees larger than the biggest skyscraper, But no cities, just nature as far as the eye could see. It was what was around the barrier that made Me pause. Monsters. Monsters of all shapes and breeds had congregated all around the barrier. The closer they were the larger, and it looked like the titans were the least of them. A dragon the size of a city, crawls along the barrier knocking other creatures away. There were so many that if the barrier was suddenly brought down, humanity might not survive.
I sent all my possibilities out beyond reaching as far as they could which turned out to be a few hundred miles before the power was too thin for them to continue to exist. The dome itself was a power drain on the world forcing the monsters to be concentrated here. Sure there were other creatures deep into the wilds, but none nearly as strong as the ones close to the dome.
I could feel the barrier flicker for just a moment as I drew power from it, I was using so much, I felt like I was just energy, and I was disintegrating. No one could handle power like this for so long, and I was no exception. I sent as many possibilities out into the world and repeated the same stunt I did within the barrier. Except for this time, I could only take out maybe half the giants and barely even did anything to the dragon, before they destroyed my copies.
It would have to be enough, as I heard the final ding inside my head knowing I had succeeded. I had completed the quest. Everyone for even just a second approved and saw me do something amazing. Then I saw beyond the barrier what was there scouting the possibilities. It didn't matter if I didn't really go but I fulfilled the "Prophecy."
With the last of my strength, I opened my status.
Quest complete:
As the one who has completed the quest do you agree that the people are ready?
Yes No
I clicked yes, and another screen popped up surprising me.
It has been over a millenia since last contact with Earth. Would you like to send a signal, informing them of your success?
Yes No
Oh, this was going to cause so much chaos. With a sinister grin, I click yes, and the barrier fell. The people were free and I found a million perspectives slamming back into my body, as I faded to black.