I was suddenly standing in the middle of a world dyed entirely in blue.
It's strange that I could breathe underwater and be perfectly fine.
There was no water pressing against my skin, or a suffocating weight dragging me down. It only looked like an underwater world.
"We must make a decision, ▓▓."
The man who spoke possessed skin the color of the open sky, though the most striking feature among their kind were the gems embedded within their foreheads.
And among them all, his shone the brightest.
A large golden crystal rested at the center of his forehead, radiating authority without the need for words.
Another scoffed softly.
"I still fail to understand your obsession with unifying our races, ▓▓. You speak as though harmony is possible between beings born from entirely different worlds."
His gaze darkened slightly.
"Trying to unite us is no different from forcing two planets to collide. The result will only be destruction."
"I agree."
A third voice joined the discussion coldly.
"The Pyrekins are driven by greed above all else. Give savages like them partial authority to our side's system, and they will bring us to ruin."
Murmurs of agreement spread quietly throughout the chamber.
"But if we continue dividing ourselves," ▓▓ replied calmly, "then extinction is inevitable."
System? Are they talking about the system?
I tried calling out to my constellations, but there was no response at all.
Nothing.
And judging from the reactions around me, no one here could see me either.
The man with the brilliant golden gem embedded in his forehead slowly rose from his seat.
"We are constantly at war over resources," he said calmly. "It is only a matter of time before we drain our world dry."
His voice echoed throughout the massive chamber.
"If we continue fighting over the planet's remaining energy, then what future awaits us? Endless conflict? Endless ruin?"
The golden gem on his forehead glimmered faintly.
"Our duty as the High Council is to preserve peace. That is why our elders entrusted the System to us in the first place."
Silence spread briefly across the chamber.
The other council members seemed deep in thought after hearing his words.
I noticed it earlier too, but whenever their emotions intensified, the skin around their bodies shimmered in rippling rainbow colors, almost like light passing through water.
It was strangely beautiful and unsettling.
Honestly, more than their confusing conversation, I was overwhelmed by everything around me.
The chamber itself was unlike anything I had ever seen before. Towering crystalline pillars stretched endlessly upward, glowing softly with shifting colors that resembled stars trapped beneath glass. The air felt unnaturally light, almost weightless, and every surface seemed alive with flowing energy.
At first, I thought that this was water, especially because they definitely seemed to lean more like aquatic animals, but if I can breathe and the sensation is nothing like water, only looks, then it must not be water.
"How can we speak of peace while clinging to war?" one of them argued. "At some point, this fight over resources must come to an end."
"And what of the Pyrekins?" another countered sharply. "Have you considered what will happen to the common citizens?"
"It is for the sake of the future," someone replied coldly. "Sacrifices are inevitable."
The chamber quickly descended into divided debate.
Some expressed concerns while others openly supported the proposal.
Their voices overlapped one after another, and with each rise in emotion, ripples of iridescent color spread across their sky-colored skin like waves reflecting sunlight.
Finally, after a long exchange of arguments, the being with the golden gem embedded in his forehead stepped forward once more.
The chamber gradually fell silent.
Among all of them, his presence felt the most composed, calm enough to suppress the tension in the room without effort.
Then he raised a hand.
With a graceful flick of his fingers, countless streams of unfamiliar symbols burst into the air.
Glowing lines of data unfolded one after another, layering together like a living network. The symbols continuously shifted and reorganized themselves faster than the eye could follow, forming massive structures of light throughout the chamber.
"There is a recent discovery I made through the System," he announced quietly.
None of the others looked surprised by the declaration.
"It is hardly unexpected," one of them responded. "You are the greatest researcher among our kind when it comes to the System."
A ripple spread across the creature's body, lighter and brighter than before, as if it were pleased by the praise.
...It was strangely amusing how naturally I could understand their emotions.
"I was able to utilize the System to determine the exact fate of our world."
The atmosphere changed instantly.
The surrounding ripples darkened into deeper shades of blue, unease spreading among them almost immediately. It was also almost impossible for them to hide their anxiety.
"And what of our kind?" one of them asked.
"I will show you."
The space around them distorted.
Then, like a massive holographic projection, an entirely new scene unfolded before everyone's eyes. It wasn't merely visual. The simulation reproduced everything perfectly, the cold air, the scent of decay, even the faint sensation of ash drifting through the atmosphere.
Their world, once painted in endless shades of blue, had become colorless. Black, grey, white... It was a dead planet now.
Bodies were scattered everywhere, countless remains of their species left abandoned across the ruined landscape. Not a single living presence could be felt anywhere.
"This," the researcher spoke calmly, "is the future of our world in approximately three stellar cycles."
"The cause," it continued, "is the depletion of the galaxy's remaining energy and resources."
A collective murmur spread through the gathering. Some stared in disbelief while others remained frozen, unable to fully comprehend the scene unfolding before them.
"Have we all gone extinct?"
One of them finally asked the question everyone seemed too afraid to say aloud.
The researcher shook its head slowly.
"Not necessarily. Before the System fully degraded, our people worked together with the Pyrekins to create a second version."
More streams of data appeared around its fingers as it continued explaining.
"A System capable of symbiosis."
It seemed to be an unfamiliar concept to them.
"It can bind itself directly to a soul and continue functioning even after the original core collapses. However..." the creature paused, its ripple dimming slightly, "the burden is immense. The host must remain in a permanent state between consciousness and unconsciousness."
"...A living coma?"
"In simpler terms, yes. Their mind would remain awake indefinitely."
A wave of discomfort spread through the surrounding creatures.
"What happened to the original System?" another asked.
"As the planet's energy continued to wither, the original framework began to deteriorate alongside it. The High Councils of both races gathered what remained of its core and used it to construct the second version instead."
The researcher lifted its hand again, and the holographic scene shifted.
Beyond the ruined planet appeared endless darkness.
"It seems the final objective was to search for a new galaxy capable of sustaining us."
...Wow.
Wasn't that too extreme?
They had already drained their own galaxy dry, and now they were planning to move onto another one? Somehow, they sounded even worse than humans. And here I thought we were the greediest species in the universe.
After the meeting ended and the others gradually dispersed, I continued following the creature with the golden crystal without really thinking about it.
At some point, the surroundings changed.
It was replaced by a strange open space covered in iridescent sand that reflected countless colors depending on the angle I looked from. Tall structures stood in the distance, yet completely empty, as if this place had long been abandoned.
There was no one else here besides the two of us.
I continued trailing behind them aimlessly until they suddenly stopped. The creature slowly turned around. For the first time since arriving in this strange world, its gaze landed directly on me.
"A being from the future," it stated calmly.
My body froze.
Wait... they could see me?
The creature stepped closer before extending its hand toward me.
"Give me your hand, child," it said softly. "Allow me to see what has happened."
I was startled for a moment, but strangely enough, I didn't feel any hostility from the creature.
If anything, there was a calming presence surrounding them, something that made me instinctively lower my guard despite knowing absolutely nothing about them.
So after hesitating briefly, I reached out and placed my hand in theirs.
The moment our skin touched, the crystal embedded in their forehead glowed softly.
"...I see."
Their expression shifted into something almost knowing, the colors across their body rippling between deep blue and crimson red.
"So that is what became of the future."
I frowned slightly, unable to understand the meaning behind those words.
"It cannot be helped," they continued calmly. "Perhaps it was always the fate of our world to collapse so that others may continue thriving in its place."
...What was that even supposed to mean?
None of the things they said made any sense to me.
"I don't understand anything, but if the system is the culprit, why not just destroy it?"
At my words, the creature let out an amused sound that almost resembled laughter.
"The High Councils exist to make decisions for the prosperity of the Aquacorls," they explained. "As for me..."
What? What are they saying... Are they ignoring me..?
"I am quite different from them. You could say I am somewhat of a genius, hoho."
...Somehow, the way they spoke felt strangely familiar.
"No one understands the System better than I do," they said proudly as they continued walking. "The awakening process for undeveloped species was one of my creations."
I frowned slightly.
"Undeveloped species...?"
"Species that have yet to perceive the truth of existence," they explained casually. "Civilizations confined to singular worlds. Beings unable to comprehend higher dimensions, time divergence, or the structure of reality itself."
So that was how they saw us.
Not because we lacked intelligence, but because our understanding of the universe was still incomplete.
To the Aquacorls, civilizations that still think in terms of one planet, linear time, limited reality, etc. are basically primitive species that haven't awakened to the true structure of existence.
"The System exists to bridge that gap," they continued. "It is both a tool and a foundation, a mechanism capable of interfering with the laws that govern reality itself."
Their fingertips brushed against the streams of floating data surrounding them, causing the symbols to distort and rearrange endlessly.
"It was discovered at the very edge of the universe," they said calmly. "A region where nothing should have existed."
"No light. No sound. No matter. No pressure. No flow of time."
An empty domain where existence itself seemed absent.
"It was a place completely detached from the laws of reality, a void so absolute that even our kind believed nothing could survive there."
The colors across their body rippled faintly.
"But the darkness was never truly empty."
"Within that void existed foreign elements, substances that did not belong to our universe and could not be analyzed through conventional means. They ignored the laws of physics, causality, even time itself."
I stayed silent, listening carefully.
"We extracted fragments of those unknown elements and used them as the foundation for the System."
"The result was something capable of creation on a universal scale."
Their gaze turned toward me.
"A tool that could interfere with probability, alter fate, reshape matter, create worlds, and accelerate the evolution of species."
"...In simpler terms," they added lightly, "the closest thing to omnipotence ever created."