Chapter 14: There's No Way Back Home
"Joseph… how are you?"
"…Grandpa?"
"What? Are you surprised to see me?" the old man laughed softly. "There's no reason to be shocked. First, tell me—how are you feeling?"
"I'm… fine, I think. But where am I right now?"
"You are very close to the Limitation Barrier."
Joseph frowned. "What does that mean?"
"It means," his grandfather replied calmly, "that in a few moments, you will enter the Void."
Joseph woke up abruptly, as if pulled back from a dream. His consciousness snapped into place, and he realized he had already emerged from cryosleep. Cold vapor still drifted inside the capsule, fading slowly as the chamber opened.
He stood up unsteadily and looked forward.
The Void was right there.
Everyone knew what the Void was supposed to be—a place of absolute darkness, a region where nothing existed. No stars. No energy. No time as humans understood it. But knowing something in theory and facing it in reality were two very different things.
Crossing the Void was never meant to be easy. For Joseph, it had already become the greatest challenge of his life.
He didn't know what awaited him on the other side—if there even was another side.
The spacecraft would enter the Void in moments.
This was the final boundary.
All of Joseph's crew members were still asleep, suspended inside their cryosleep chambers. Their lives rested entirely on his decisions. He was the only one awake. The only one who could act.
Joseph took a deep breath.
He opened his eyes fully and looked at the control panel. In front of him was the Crop-Side Activation Button—a system designed to shut down all non-essential side functions of the ship.
Joseph pressed it.
Instantly, the spacecraft was pulled into the Void.
He had activated the system to disable the ship's auxiliary functions, reducing its overall mass. Weight mattered—even here. No one truly understood how physics behaved inside the Void. There were only assumptions. In normal space, the ship could float, drift, and adjust itself. Joseph could only hope the same rules applied here.
Darkness swallowed everything.
Nothing could be seen.
Not a single light source existed—not even the faint glow of distant stars. Worse, the lights inside the spacecraft began to dim unnaturally. It was as if the darkness itself was absorbing light.
Joseph looked at his hand.
For a moment, it felt as though his hand was dissolving into the darkness, merging with it. His fingers seemed unreal.
Joseph fell silent.
He didn't know how to react. He didn't even know how to think anymore.
Slowly, he felt himself blending into the darkness. He could no longer feel his hands, his face, or his body. Sensation faded completely. Even the feeling of being alive—of existing—slipped away.
Joseph couldn't think.
He couldn't imagine.
He couldn't fear.
Because at that moment, Joseph had entered the Realm of Non-Existence.
This was the Second Level.
There was no sound.
The familiar ticking noise of the spacecraft—the mechanical heartbeat that had always been there—was gone. Silence ruled absolutely.
Back to the Past
Was Joseph's father truly missing?
When Luniar Golf entered the room, his breath caught in his throat.
Joseph's father lay on the floor, lifeless, his body soaked in blood. Someone had murdered him. A knife wound was clearly visible. The room smelled of iron and death.
Luniar staggered back in horror. Seeing his son's father like this shattered something deep inside him.
Then he noticed her.
Lucy.
She was sitting quietly in the corner.
A knife rested in her hand.
Blood dripped slowly from its blade—tip… tip… tip—each drop echoing in Luniar's ears.
Lucy looked up at him.
She smiled.
It was not a smile of warmth or regret. It was twisted. Terrifying.
"Welcome back," she said softly.
Darkness consumed everything.
Joseph gasped, as if pulled back from death itself.
His eyes flew open.
Crew members surrounded him, their faces filled with fear and relief.
"Joseph! Are you okay?" one of them shouted.
Joseph struggled to sit up. "Where… where are we now?"
"We think we've crossed the Void," another crew member replied. "The mirrors were kept offline. Our device is showing a distance of 10^9916."
Joseph swallowed. "What does that mean?"
No one answered.
One of the crew members slowly activated the mirror system.
None of them were prepared for what they saw.
Reality itself looked wrong.
Shapes bent impossibly. Space folded into itself. Directions had no meaning. Up and down felt irrelevant. It was as if the universe had layers—and they had slipped through all of them.
They were no longer in normal space.
To be continued...