.
Duncan watched intently as flas began to engulf the crystal. The fire swiftly spread, weaving through the crystals intricate, microscopic three-dinsional lattice. This fiery invasion coincided with a deep plunge into Duncans consciousness, propelling him on a profound ntal journey.
He found himself in a vast, silent expanse radiating an icy, lethal chill. This realm seed abandoned, a forgotten fragnt of eternity, where feelings of isolation and loneliness were instantly communicated through the surrounding flas. Amid this desolation, a beacon of light appeared in his visionan intense, expansive, cold glow that seed to pierce through the fabric of the void.
When Duncan opened his eyes, he was greeted by an awe-inspiring scene. He stood on a massive black rock floating in an endless void. Before him, a golden sun blazed majestically, its surface a turbulent sea of flas, with enormous solar flares rising and falling in the silent vacuum of space.
Yet, paradoxically, this sun emitted no warmth. Near it, Duncan felt no heat, a stark contrast to the fiery spectacle it presented. It burned silently, its coldness more akin to a recorded image than a live star.
Is this the Black Sun? Am I seeing it again? Duncan wondered aloud. He soon realized, however, that this golden, cold sun differed from the Black Sun he had seen in previous visions. It lacked the sinister, tentacle-like structures and the eerie appearance of a dying pale eye. Notably, this sun did not emit any desperate cries for help. It was rely a visual echo of a once-real star.
With this realization, Duncan shifted his focus from the cold sun to the colossal black structure beneath his feet. A man-made titan! Its surface was polished, adorned with deliberate, man-crafted grooves and inscriptions, reflecting a subtle tallic sheen. Protrusions of unknown purpose, possibly made from exotic crystals, adorned the structure at strategic points.
Duncans gaze extended beyond the edge of the massive rock, into the infinite darkness surrounding the golden sun. He saw more such structurescountless huge, black, man-made monoliths orbiting the golden sun, floating in the void, arranged in an orderly, wall-like formation. A closer look revealed that the side of these structures facing the sun was embedded with ticulously cut crystal surfaces, reflecting sunlight. Beneath these crystals lay intricate chanical devices, possibly designed to adjust the crystals orientation, suggesting a purposeperhaps an energy-harvesting chanism designed to capture the suns power?
In awe, Duncan studied this orbital array of giant rocks around the sun, noting their arrangent into a vast, loosely structured spherical shell in the void encircling the central star. He noticed faint, distorted lines of light, reminiscent of force fields, connecting each floating device. Beyond this remarkable spherical shell structure, in the boundless depths of darkness, more vague shadows lood, their details obscured by distance and sunlight interference.
What were these mysterious silhouettes? Distant planets? Space habitats? Imnse spacecraft? Or perhaps they were the control centers tasked with maintaining and operating this incredible Dyson Sphere?
Duncan struggled to divert his attention from the vast spherical shell array in space, and it took even longer for him to regain his composure upon realizing the true nature of his vision.
The data stored within the crystal, left behind by the descendants of the sun, was not a record of dark, forbidden truths or corrupted knowledge of ancient deities. Instead, it revealed the existence of an ancient Dyson Spherea monuntal structure both fascinating and foreboding.
Duncan narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. These were indeed dark truths and corrupted knowledge from ages pastrelics of the Deep Sea Age, remnants from other universes, valid in alternate mathematical realities. A Dyson Sphere, conceived and sustained by paraters of an alien universe, epitomized the ultimate corruption and contamination.
Erging from his initial shock, Duncan walked to the edge of the massive black rock beneath him. His thoughts turned to the New Hope, the spacecraft that had crashed into their world. Had it too beco a contamination on this world? What changes had it undergone after its descent?
Standing at the edge of this star energy collector, Duncan looked down. The steep, cliff-like chanical casing disappeared into the vast, unfathomable darkness below. Here, the usual concepts of up and down lost their aning. The gravitational pull from the distant star was the only down direction here. Yet, he felt as if he was standing on solid ground, not adrift in the cosmos nor under the suns gravitational sway.
This dissonance between his rational understanding and sensory perception reminded him that he was experiencing a vision, a fragnt of reality captured within what was known as a Blasphemous Prototype.
What secrets lay deeper within this recorded vision? Were there other revelations yet to be discovered?
Duncan focused on the flas under his control. He guided them deeper into the crystal, allowing his consciousness to delve further into its mysteries.
However, the vision of the resplendent golden sun and the astonishing Dyson Sphere structure abruptly vanished, replaced by an all-consuming darkness that enveloped his vision from every angle.
Contrary to his expectations, Duncan did not witness the downfall of the civilization that built the Dyson Sphere nor a cataclysmic collision of worlds. Instead, he found himself in a post-apocalyptic void, a dark chaos following the extinction of all things.
In this overwhelming darkness, where ti seed to lose its aning, Duncan began to doubt the presence of any further information within the crystal. But just as skepticism crept into his thoughts, a flicker of light unexpectedly erged within his vision.
Several beams of light appeared, each carrying faint, indistinct shapesso massive, others bizarrely ford, and still others twisted and amorphous. The true contours of these ghostly lights eluded his comprehension, but their voices did not. They resonated within his mind:
Compatibility severely below expectations, the King of Dreams also failed We must adjust the plan
Shelters cannot safeguard everyone So entities survival conditions are excessively harsh, making it unfeasible to ensure their preservation while maintaining the safety of others
We must draft a list, those not included on it
Who will make this decision? By what criteria will the list be established?
First, we need to determine a compatibility threshold, then simulate LH-01 has formulated a plan, creating a stable anchor to maximize preservation but still, so must be forsaken
A chaotic cacophony followed, suggesting missing parts in the record, which left Duncan with a disorienting headache. But amidst the noise, he discerned clear, distinct ssages:
Entities on this segnt of the list cannot withstand transformation, the costs of their preservation are prohibitively high they must be abandoned.
There is still a 3% redundancy, allowing for further adjustnts
These beings require a specific stellar environnt for their existence, their sunlight is lethal to other entities LH-01s plan cannot accommodate this requirent Ti is running out.
We have no choice but to abandon them.
Suddenly, a thunderous, phantom-like sound shattered the voices and engulfing darkness. Duncan felt as though he had reached the deepest layer of the recorded informationno further data erged. Amidst the booming and ensuing disorientation, his consciousness quickly withdrew from the depths of the crystal.
When he opened his eyes, Duncan found himself back in the familiar surroundings of the cabin, watching the pale golden crystal in his hand rapidly disintegrate into ashes under the glow of a faint green fla.
The information within the crystal had been fully extracted, and with it, the Blasphemous Prototype, an anomaly not ant to exist in this dinsional reality, lost its stability and disintegrated.
Rubbing his hands together, Duncan watched the last remnants of the crystals ash dissolve into the air.
He looked up to et the inquisitive, nervous gaze of Goathead.
What did you see? it asked, its voice tinged with apprehension.
The process of their abandonnt, as recorded in the Book of Blasphemy, has been confird once again, Duncan responded firmly.
He didnt hold back, sharing every detail of the information he had witnessed and heard deep within the crystal with Goathead before him.
However, he refrained from discussing the complexities of concepts like the Dyson Spheresuch intricacies were too elaborate to explain in a brief conversation.
After he finished recounting his experience, a profound silence filled the captains room.
Ti seed to stretch indefinitely before Goathead finally spoke again, its voice carrying a note of complexity: In the Book of Blasphemy, it is recorded that during the Third Long Night, certain clans were cast into darkness
Goathead paused, then suddenly asked, What do you think of this matter? Do you find the actions of the descendants of the sun justifiable now?
In such matters, discussing right or wrong is aningless, Duncan shook his head. The world isnt built on justice. I dont know what state this world was in before the Great Annihilation, before the Deep Sea Age began, how many plans the Kings who tried to build shelters had, how many compromises they made. Critiquing the choices made by predecessors from a position of stability is foolish and short-sighted, especially from our current standpoint Any form of sympathy is both irrational and unnecessary.
You are right, Goathead said softly after a pause.
Duncan said nothing more, simply nodding gently, and then his gaze fell on the small sun obtained by Vanna from the giants hands.
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