Outside the doors of the grand hall, a conversation took place, shielded by the necessity of avoiding the consequences if it were overheard by any loyal to Origin. As a master of illusion and deception, the Void King had perfected the art of void shielding. Even Origin, the Omnipotent, with all his power, could not pierce this type of shielding. Origin's power had no limitations, but the form of shielding used forced a void around the two conspirators instead of a shield. Inside the void bubble, nothing existed and nowhere like a small pocket universe or dimension of its own.
“Has he scanned their progress himself or are you giving him updates?” the Void King asked with a tinge of nervousness.
As the void bubble absorbed their voices, each word sounded low and distorted. “I’m providing the updates for now. He doesn’t know about Yggdrasil. I provided the info to create the world tree to the Tri-Mental-Union holder. Unless I have an adequate explanation, I’m afraid he’ll absorb my essence when he discovers my ruse.”
Shock and despair became apparent when the response was finally given. “He’ll destroy us all,” the Void King said before going deathly quiet.
As the silence became too much to bear, he finally continued. “What about his lineage? Has he fully awakened? Could he protect us?”
As the Grand Magus began to explain, he had to adjust his vocal patterns to carry his voice through the growing void. “I’ve lost the ability to track him. I believe this means he has finally touched divinity. I can track his conversations with others, but alone, his abilities are shielded. His powers are new, he does not understand them yet, but they are already far beyond my own. His bonded was destroyed before she reached divinity, and I believe he is seeking her resurrection. We may have leverage for protection. If we assist in a soul connection, I believe he will do as we wish and protect us from Origin. His pet has somehow adapted his bloodline as well. The artificial life form we excelled created a link between them, and as his bloodline awakened, so did his pet's. Combined, they may eventually be able to stop him.”
“How long until we can pass through?” asked the Void King.
“They will be dropping the shield any day now. If we can move fast enough, we can leave without the siphon completing. This will limit his ability to follow for millennia. If we leave the instant the siphon is created, Origin will gain enough power much sooner but still won’t be able to follow until the second phase begins in a century or two.”
“We must complete the sabotage to give Earth enough time to stop him. The admin will realize his full potential in time, but I fear without intervention, it will be too late.” They both just stared at each other for a moment, contemplating the consequences of failure before the Void King continued.
“I will leave the void mind shield covering our conversation until after your update is given. Origin will not be able to interpret the missing time as long as you don’t notice it either. You will not remember this until it is needed. I will prepare everything for departure.”
A surge of void mana pushed into the surrounding area and then disappeared. As the Grand Magus looked around, he wondered why he had stopped outside of the grand hall before giving his update to Origin.
As he entered the grand hall, he was immediately pulled within feet of the center orb. Shimmering with a kaleidoscope of colors, a massive pulse of light was sucked from all containers at the same time.
“Are they ready?” Origin boomed, utilizing multiple tones at the same time.
“Yes, by our last inspection they will be releasing the shield within days. All objectives completed.”
As silence held, a secondary pulse out of sequence shot to the center from the void container. Origin paused without any sign of movement or recognition. After a few terrifying moments, the Grand Magus spoke. “The siphon is ready. The moment the shield drops and the mana is released, we will activate the siphon, and they will never know we are attached to the core.”
“Excellent.” Origin pulsed over and over, his orb cycling through each type of mana. As the visible light disappeared, the darkness of the void held for just a moment longer before Origin cycled one last time, returning to his normal multitude of colors.
“Leave me,” Origin said, shaking all of existence with every syllable.
The Grand Magus rushed out of the hall. As he got farther away, he felt the void fall away from his memories. “He knows,” he said as he fell to his knees. “He sensed the void. He doesn’t know what, but he knows I had my mind wiped.”
The Grand Magus rushed to the control center. He had to make it look like he was attempting to finish preparing the siphon to activate.
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…
The universe housing the Grand Magus, the Void King, and the ruler “Origin” had been almost fully consumed and shrunk down to a single planet. As all the origin mana was used, the original creator, “Origin, The Omnipotent,” had withdrawn all mana from the entire universe, thus creating his power supply orbs. Each one fed the mana he needed to expand into other universes directly to himself, only allocating enough for everyone else to barely survive and complete his will. Many plans had been attempted throughout the eons to produce a new source of origin mana. A few universes were seeded, but when the inhabitants attempted to fend off Origin, he consumed everything in a fit of rage, destroying the entire universe and forcing him to continue his search for a new supply.
Over billions of years, he had become more and more powerful but still lacked the resources to reach the entire multiverse. As he reached out to expand into one universe in particular, they had already advanced far enough to push him back. They swore that they would do everything within their power to stop him from ever overtaking another universe. This was the inhabitants of Universe 158. Universe 158 was the original creator of Yggdrasil. This was one of the greatest weapons against Origin. The tree needed the souls of those touched by origin mana to create a shield that blocks him from entering through a portal to steal the available mana. They had sacrificed a third of their population to supply enough power to dispel his portal. Many eons had passed since the incursion, and the population had grown many times over, spanning multiple galaxies. They knew that if Origin were able to get enough mana, he would return and all would be lost. Yggdrasil was not only a sentient life form but its ability to become quantum entangled with exact replicas in alternate universes made it unique in all the cosmos. The price was high, but the creators had discovered a way to ensure those sacrificed would not do so in vain. They would ensure that Yggdrasil not only had the power to protect but once sacrificed, a soul could live forever within it.
On a small planet in Universe 158, one of the lead scientists in charge of research had detected the creation of Yggdrasil’s counterpart. This was originally his creation, and the fact that another had been created meant that Origin was attempting a takeover and their operative from his universe had passed the knowledge to the newest target.
The main scientist ran over to relay the info to the other facility. They were in different dimensions occupying the same space. Linking them through a subatomic quantum-locking crystal entangled with its counterpart allowed the vocal vibrations to be passed back and forth through dimensions like an intercom system. “We need to prepare for a connection. A new tree has been created, and as soon as it has the power, we must link them so ‘the joining’ can happen.”
The highest-ranking assistant became excited when he heard the communication. “Shut up,” he told his three underlings who had begun murmuring after the communication had stopped. “How long do we have?” he sent back through the crystal.
“It appears to have just been completed. It now encompasses their entire world. The connection has started, but the cost must be paid. Yggdrasil can’t fully function without the souls. Unless they are willing, we may never complete the connection, but we must be ready if they do.”
“Understood,” the reply vibrated through the crystal.
As all four assistants began preparations, the scientist in charge of Yggdrasil began creating a public declaration. After the attack on their civilization, the governing council swore to never hide anything from the populace again. A rule was put into place that any and all information pertaining to the protection provided by Yggdrasil or contact with other universes would be made public immediately.
All decisions pertaining to multiversal communication or travel would be voted upon by every inhabitant of the universe. This was why they had created the mental orbs in the first place. The orbs were a link between every race and species implanted at the moment of intellectual independence. As a mana-based form of communication, the orbs were capable of instantaneous communication from any point in the universe. Spanning multiple galaxies, the inhabitants ranged from bipedal human-like species to minuscule tardigrades. Enormous star gelata that survived off cosmic radiation were also included when it came to Yggdrasil. Any species with the ability to think and make decisions was implanted with the orb for just such scenarios.
Once the notification was sent that another universe had created a world tree and a connection could be made, they needed at least a 90% yes vote to link the trees. The resources required would be extreme, but once the link was created, the additional mana flow through the connection could make up for the resource drain in mere moments or centuries. It may also allow for their origin mana production to be restored to full capacity.
For this type of vote, the orb required an instant decision. All inhabitants had to make a decision within minutes or lose the right to have their opinion considered.
“A new world tree has been created. We would like to form a connection at the cost of 60% of our origin mana stockpile. All pertinent information will be sent momentarily. Once processed, your orb will require a vote immediately. Our tree will begin producing origin mana based on the connecting universe's output. Please review the information and vote now.”
The entire process was completed in under two minutes. Part of the information transmitted included the potential increase in defensive power should Origin attack again. It also included the possible negative side effects should the connection not be made. Not only would the origin mana be wasted, but the tree would be in a constant state of searching. It would reduce the ability to shield from an attack. The vote came back at a staggering 98% in favor of the connection. That still meant that trillions had voted no. “Hopefully it works,” the lead scientist said to himself. “Without a 100% yes, we may end up with a war if it fails to connect.”
“We have a go,” could be heard through the crystal. The four assistants started activating the connection lines, preparing the tree to seek out its counterpart. Once the process was complete, all that needed to happen was the soul sacrifices. It was now up to the new tree to gain the required power and complete the link.