Chapter 86: Competition
I urged Oliv and Veronica to wait for me for a second so I could chat to the man.
Staring at The Lord in disbelief, I questioned, "Wait. If they gave the serum to Zytherians, then how did you obtain it? You have no way to move through clusters physically, you said?"
The Lord then went on to explain, "They did give the serums to the Zytherians, but one of The Architects took one of the serums and delivered it to me. He claimed it was under specific instructions from his superior. Moreover, he warned me not to disclose the purpose of Somnus Veri to the person who takes it, or the bearer would face severe side effects."
Perplexed, I pressed further, "Why are they called The Architects?"
The Lord explained, "They appear seemingly out of nowhere and possess an inexplicable control over events. We have no means to defy them. That’s why we refer to them as The Architects. Sometimes, they are also called informants, as they seem to know about things beyond the clusters."
I voiced my observations to The Lord, expressing, "The Zytherian I spoke with seemed to imply that you haven’t been able to contact me from the other cluster that they gave the serum to. Have you even attempted to do so? And why is it that you all decided to give the serum to me?"
"First of all, each cluster is merely a different root of possibilities, yet somehow they converge toward the same resolutions. That’s why the person they gave the serum to was your counterpart in their cluster."
Continuing, The Lord revealed, "They have adopted a drastically different approach. Just like we did, they are blocking our contact through dreams. But there is one more thing... They behave inhumanly..."
"Their bearer is not allowed to move beyond a designated spot. He is imprisoned. They restrict his movement to prevent anyone from getting to him. He only receives rewards for gaining knowledge. He is treated like some sort of lab rat, a guinea pig."
"In comparison to them, we are humanitarian. We will not do anything that goes against our principles," The Lord affirmed.
I thought back to when I thought that the USA wouldn’t treat me like a lab rat, ’Is it also the USA in the other cluster?’