After the Scream - 1 billion universes remaining

Jason had left Gael's house, moving a few hundred meters away before teleporting. The most powerful Monarchs unconsciously disturbed the functioning of the laws nearby. An abnormal amount of willpower laws remained close to Gael, disrupting the spatial laws necessary for teleportation. Now, Jason was near the spot where he had crossed the portal, hoping it would still be open.

But upon arrival, there was no sign of its presence in the darkness. Instead, the humanoid creature that previously stood beside the Director awaited him. She seemed to be observing the capital of Voss, though Jason couldn't be sure. This Unleashed being had no face, only a cage housing an endless darkness. There was no way to tell what she was looking at or even thinking.

Once a few meters from her, Jason stopped and asked, "What should I call you?"

A murmur emanating from the void responded:

"Who

Knows.

I

don't."

These words betrayed no emotion or any hint of her past. They were likely colleagues for eternity, so they would need to start getting acquainted.

'But that doesn't help me much,' Jason thought, still unsure even of the species of the creature before him.

"Where

Are

They?"

the creature asked. Jason handed over the list Gael had written. Without waiting, the creature seized the list. After creating a new portal, she stepped through, leaving Jason alone in the void.

'How am I supposed to get back to the lake of Eternity now that she's gone?' Jason wondered, sensing the beginning of a long, futile journey.

'It would have helped if she had just left a portal behind,' he thought, considering the various options available to him.

But as he pondered returning to Gael or even the Sand Monarch to get the location of nearby portals, a figure returned through the portal. The creature had taken less than ten seconds to accomplish her task of delivering an invitation letter to a little over ten thousand Monarchs.

'He's certainly fast,' Jason thought.

'What kind of power does he possess?' was the question he wanted to ask, but he knew he wouldn't get an answer.

The creature seemed to have returned only to give him an indication because after delivering her message, she disappeared again into her portal before it closed on itself.

"Create

Your

Own."

'I think he meant portal, but how?' Jason wondered, incredulous.

He had thought creating portals was one of the creature's powers. However, it seemed from these "words" that it was a power common to the Unleashed, or at least he should possess it as well.

'Perhaps there's something beyond the universes,' he thought.

Indeed, the only known way to leave a universe was to use a portal leading directly to another universe. The power of the Monarchs was based on the laws of the universes, so there was no possibility for them to teleport from one universe to another on their own. They also couldn't teleport outside the universes because there seemed to be no law there.

Did anything even exist beyond the universes? Jason didn't know. But he now knew two people who might have the answer: the Director and the man who appeared in his dream.

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Speaking of dreams, he now wanted to try to meet the Monarch of Dreams. Perhaps he would appear again if Jason could sleep. Monarchs no longer needed to sleep but could not fall asleep. Franck had to put his soul into a coma to hibernate as he did. Jason hoped the Monarch of Dreams could help him fall asleep and thus get some answers.

For now, though, he was stuck in this universe. He did the only logical thing he could think of. He visualized the set of coordinates corresponding to the Monarch of Dreams that he had seen on Gael's list and willed a portal to appear.

The portal did appear, much to Jason's surprise. He expected it to appear but not in this color. The portal was a pristine white, projecting thin translucent particles into the surrounding void. After a few moments of hesitation, Jason stepped through. He was indeed in an entirely different universe now. What he didn't know was that his portal had actually opened several light-years from his intended destination.

'It's a good start. There's probably a slight difference between the intended coordinates and where I stand, but I should at least be in the right universe,' he thought, aware that his first attempt was likely not very precise.

He had arrived in the middle of a galaxy.

In the vast theater of space, immense clouds of cosmic dust and gas floated like watercolors suspended in a night sky, forming a kaleidoscope of colors, from vibrant blues and purples to fiery reds and oranges. These clouds, like ever-evolving artist's canvases, were the stellar nurseries where new stars were born, their lights twinkling like gems set in the ebony velvet of the universe.

Amid these celestial bodies was a staircase that seemed to be the work of the Monarch of Dreams. It stretched as far as the eye could see, winding between planets and stars to avoid them and continue its course.

Jason could sense the presence of individuals on most of its steps. These climbers came from all the races the universe could offer: humans, dragons, mechas, werewolves, and more. The steps adapted to the size of the creature climbing them, able to reach the size of a galaxy to accommodate the strides of the colossal Singularities that roamed the cosmos.

A few light-years from Jason, a figure stood near a step. She looked at it dreamily, as if all her problems would disappear once she set foot on it.

This was a race unknown to Jason, likely because the creature before him belonged to no race and was actually a Singularity. These colossal beings, the only individuals of their species, roamed the universe endlessly, hoping throughout their existence not to be one. But often, perhaps too often, reality caught up with them. They then often became behemoths of bitterness and jealousy toward the various races, sowing death and destruction in their wake until meeting the Monarch who would end their pitiful existence.

The Singularity before Jason was a mass of viscous matter without a head, moving by absorbing stars to use them as energy. She had no face, only a single eye that could move within her body, looking hopefully at the staircase at her feet. Jason approached the behemoth to ask:

"What is this staircase for?"

The Singularity turned to him before replying in a rocky and extremely deep voice:

"The staircase leads straight to paradise. If you have a human dream, climb to the top of this staircase and God will fulfill it. You should ask yourself only one question: what efforts are you truly willing to put forth to achieve your dreams?"

Jason had no dream, only questions. However, he was counting on his dream to answer them.