Chapter 453: Conclusion
"Monkeys? What are monkeys?" N’bayé asked as she looked at all the hibernation pods from the top.
She hadn’t thought of that name, Kael’s intent which resided in the Conqueror Mode Avatar was what automatically brought up that name as she looked at the pods.
This confused N’bayé but also got her more interested. Did Kael already know what these things were?
She would ask him about it later.
Now that she was here, she had to do her own research and find out how this place was related to the humans.
Separating her from the vast number of pods was a simple guardrail, after which was a deepened metal floor, showing that N’bayé was standing on an elevated platform.
To her left, there was a passage, a steel bridge of sorts that wrapped around the wall of the whole facility.
The rows of hibernation pods appeared to make up most of the facility and were also at the center of everything.
N’bayé, observant as ever, memorized everything she was seeing. She had already counted the hibernation pods she could see and estimated that there were probably more than a million pods in here.
She also noticed that some pods had little blinking lights while others had gone dark. This was a little detail that she kept at the back of her mind.
With the hibernation pods on her right beyond the guardrail and the metal wall to her left, N’bayé continued walking.
As she walked down the suspended passage, something caught her eye. Another door to her right.
She quickened her steps and pressed her hands on the door. It was locked but after using magic to apply pressure, the door opened.
This time, a stronger stench wafted into N’bayé’s nose, causing her to frown.
Magic Filter runes appeared in her nostrils, purifying all the air entering her nose. Even though with her temporary tier 6 status, she didn’t need oxygen to breathe, she wasn’t going to take any chances.
She pushed the door open and entered the room.
Inside was a wide room with different small appliances and two shelves filled with small rectangular boxes.
N’bayé had learned a lot of things from the humans and this included their computer systems and their method of storing information digitally.
It was a little bit like their info orbs but also different in concept.
Because of this, N’bayé was able to find similarities in the objects in this room and human computer systems.
If her guess was correct, the appliance that sat at the end of the room was a terminal or a computer monitor.
There was just one, and surrounding her were shelves filled with small rectangular boxes.
N’bayé casually picked up one of these rectangular boxes, analyzing the shape very closely.
If she wasn’t wrong, these boxes should be some kind of hardware drive or a USB storage for holding digital data.
She squeezed it slightly and felt the fragility of the item. These little boxes must have been here for so long that they were now so fragile that even a human child would be able to crush them without much effort.
There was no dust whatsoever but N’bayé got the feeling that this room had been existing for an extremely long period of time. She assumed a number in her mind and guessed that this place was still very much older than that.
But with no data or evidence, N’bayé simply dismissed this feeling and focused on what was in her hand.
She walked over to the terminal with the little balcony box in her hand. The terminal looked like a laptop that humans had except way more advanced.
She looked at the little box again and found that there was a small port on its side.
She looked around and found a simple protrusion beside the terminal. Within a millisecond, N’bayé understood what had to be done.
She casually set the little black box down, gently allowing the protrusion to penetrate the port.
Instantly, the black box lit up with blinking blue and red lights.
At the same time, the screen of the terminal lit up, lighting up the whole room.
This caused a chain reaction as all the lights inside the room came on and N’bayé could hear a low humming sound coming from behind the metal walls.
Irrespective of all the sudden changes, N’bayé assessed that there was no immediate danger and kept her gaze on the terminal’s screen.
[Loading...
Detecting the standard language of the closest civilization...
Translating...
"The universe has turned its back against its children! So we rebelled, hehehe!"
...]
There was no visual image, just an audio recording that transmitted a short message in the most common language the humans knew of.
N’bayé understood this language.
When she heard the content of this audio message, her heart shook.
There was something about that voice and the way it spoke, like a single warrior fighting against the whole world.
A warrior who was sure of his death but still kept fighting.
This was the first time N’bayé could say that words actually touched her cold heart.
The amount of emotion poured into that short message was stunning. It was filled with pride, arrogance, and sorrow.
N’bayé looked at the virtual keypads that had formed on the sleek keyboard at some point. They reflected the letters and symbols that belonged to the human civilization.
N’bayé scrunched her eyebrows, this technology was seriously more advanced than anything she understood, it was almost like magic.
[
"The universe has turned its back against its children! So we rebelled, hehehe!"
...]
N’bayé couldn’t help but play it again, processing the feeling the message gave her.
It was a very disturbing feeling that she didn’t like. It reminded her of something both she and Kael shared a dislike for.
Weakness.
But it wasn’t just any kind of weakness. N’bayé couldn’t yet understand this feeling so she removed the black box and went to look for another one.
These black boxes had no labels and there was no way to know what kind of message they contained.
She just picked a random box closest to her and walked back to the terminal. She was a little rushed, partly due to the excitement of finding something new to learn about.
[Loading...
"It has been exactly one year, future me... Who would have thought that the universe would do this to us? All our power...*sigh*"
...]
This one was also an audio message.
That annoying feeling of weakness in N’bayé’s heart grew stronger. It was so strong that N’bayé felt her heart rate pick up.
N’bayé’s expression grew cold, she did not appreciate the way this message made her feel.
N’bayé then pulled the black box away and looked for another one.
[Loading...
"So, the day has finally come. We were foolish to think we could fight back, we should have just escaped..."
...]
This message was a bit longer and finally allowed N’bayé to understand the strange feeling of weakness she was having.
It was the feeling of inevitability, that feeling one had when they understood that no matter what they did, it would never change the results and outcome.
No matter how much power they had, it didn’t matter, what was going to happen will happen.
How melancholic.
/////
On the surface, the fight between Kael and the War Dragon Commander was coming to a conclusion.
The colossal War Dragon let out a shrill cry that shook the continent. He fell to the ground, his wings torn to shreds, and a significant part of his body riddled with blood and missing masses of flesh.
The dragon no longer had the aura of a creature blessed by a heavenly beacon.
He was now ordinary.
Kael’s gigantic golden figure stood over him, covered in deep wounds and blood.
His form blocked light from the sun but and the heavenly beacon floating quietly beside him shone its light on the two titans.
////
N’bayé continued checking different black boxes and listening to the messages contained within.
She wondered why there would be a room meant just for hard drives that contained only audio messages but didn’t think too much about it for now.
Without the general context, it was hard to understand what it was all about. But as she continued listening to the messages, N’bayé was able to put some pieces together.
Some of the audio messages were longer than the rest but were mostly ramblings or lamentations about some sort of calamity, not about what exactly was happening.
The owners of the voices talked about an unexpected betrayal, or a warning that the universe failed to give them.
They talked about trying to fight back, trying to escape, trying to look for a way to face the calamity.
Finally, N’bayé found one black box that was a little more detailed than the rest.
[Loading...
"So because we tried to leave the universe, the universe treated us like pests that should be eradicated.
We already made sure to keep our numbers at one trillion, we respected the integrity of the fabric of space.
We refrained from traveling back in time.
We avoided breaking all the rules.
But for some reason, the universe draws a line at multiversal travel.
YOU CAN’T HOLD US BACK HIGHEST WILL! YOU CAN’T!
YOU MUSTN’T, IT’S NOT FAIR!
PLEASE! please..."
...]
N’bayé stood in silence, staring at the terminal’s screen. This time, she did not understand how she was feeling.
She felt a lot of things, a lot of primal feelings and desires had risen the moment the voice mentioned that phrase.
’Highest Will’.
N’bayé blinked, feeling Kael’s intent stirring within her mind.
What was going on?