"Lukas, I need to speak to you, go to the entrance to The Sanctuary and enter the door in front of you. If anyone attempts to stop you, ignore them, I will talk to you there." A mysterious voice told Lukas from within his dreams. "Who are you? Hello? Tell me who you are!" Lukas demanded. "Leave the orb in your room, if you take it with you then I won't talk." The voice spoke, ignoring Lukas. "Lukas, get up, come on! I'm not going to sit here doing nothing for hours, just wake up already!" Another voice yelled that Lukas recognised as Beth shouting at him. In an instant, Lukas woke up out of his dream. "Oh, finally!" Beth exclaimed. "How are you still able to talk to me? I put the orb down on the table specifically so you wouldn't wake me up!" Lukas asked as he was annoyed to have been woken up. "It rolled off of the table! It landed on you so you could hear me, I'm surprised that you didn't wake up when it landed on you to begin with!" Beth explained. "Can you be quiet? People are trying to sleep!" Lukas whispered." Well it's not like they can hear me!" Beth replied.
"Whatever, well I'm lucky, I've got somewhere to be going and I'm not bringing you with me." Lukas responded. "Oh. you mean that person who was telepathically communicating with you? I heard it too and don't you dare think for a second that you are going to go somewhere and leave me alone to be bored." Beth replied. "How did you hear that? Oh, never mind I don't care. What do you think you can do when I leave you? That's right, nothing, so I'm leaving and I am going to let you sit there and bore yourself to death, see you later!" Lukas said in a joyful tone as he was happy to finally be free from Beth's annoying rambling. "No, you won't leave me here! I won't let yo-" Beth was saying but Lukas set the orb down before she could finish thus leaving her to talk to herself.
"The entrance of The Sanctuary, where is that?" Lukas asked himself as he slowly pulled his door open and looked down the hallway to make sure he wasn't spotted in the darkness. "Darkness? How is it dark? The Multiverse itself seems to be glowing so how can it just go dark?" Lukas whispered to himself. All of a sudden, Lukas remembered why he was sneaking about at 'night' and continued to look for the entrance before he heard a voice from around a corner. "I don't care Dream, it's not my job to make everyone have happy thoughts whilst they're sleeping." One of the voices said in a tone that made Lukas think that they were tired of being told something. "Yes I know but I could really use some help tonight because everyone seems to have become resistant to my power of dreams, I think it has something to do with my brother because he seems to be getting stronger as well." The other voice replied. "Wait, do you mean Nightmare? I don't see how he can be getting stronger when everyone feels safe here." The voice explained as if the other voice was crazy.
"It may have something to do with Lukas... the newest person here... he did seem terrified of pretty much everything, it may have given Nightmare a sudden burst in his power." The other voice which Lukas finally recognised as Dream theorised. "Speaking of Lukas, how much power did he have? The kind of explosion that he could've made if we wouldn't have saved him could've levelled the entire Multiverse, I can't say that I wasn't expecting him to show up eventually but that was quite the fright he gave us just by suddenly appearing didn't he?" The other voice asked. "Wait, what do you mean by 'you expected him to show up eventually'?" Dream answered the question with another in response. "I didn't mean it like that, I mean that someone was going to show up in the same way that Lukas did eventually, after all, we haven't had anything that terrifying happen in trillions of years." The voice said in response to Dream.
"Oh, since we're on the topic of Lukas, did you see if he could read that prophecy?" The voice asked before Dream could respond to his last statement. "Yes, I did, he could read it perfectly. It apparently said something about four people... he only told me the names of three of them though; Catastrophe, Cataclysm and Xeroc." Dream replied. "The brothers of The Great Calamity and then Xeroc, the one who supposedly built existence itself. Did it say anything in particular about them?" The voice inquired. "From what I can assume, Catastrophe and Cataclysm are going to start a war and then when they die, the air will become unbreathable and their sister will arrive to continue the war. Then, they will awaken Xeroc and it's presence alone will destroy reality... although I doubt that Xeroc would intentionally destroy it's own creations, the destruction may just be the aftermath of it's awakening. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to ask a question of my own; how is this information going to help us currently?" Dream questioned the other out of curiosity.
"Of course, Xeroc would never wish to destroy us, why would it? It is the most pure being in existence after all." The voice explained, ignoring Dream's question. "Michael? Can you please answer me?" Dream asked. "I need to do something quickly, I don't have time to answer your question." Michael replied before Lukas heard loud metallic footsteps running away from Dream. Dream sighed before walking in Lukas' direction and Lukas stopped waiting around to listen any longer... instead, he ran through the hallway right in Dream's line of sight and he was prepared to just carry on running and ignore Dream just like the voice told him to do.
To Lukas' surprise, Dream didn't go chasing after him, instead he stood there looking at him. Lukas stopped running and stared at Dream with a confused expression. "People always go walking around at night, you're not in trouble if anyone sees you. If you want to go for a stroll then nobody is going to stop you, that is, if you don't try to go somewhere that you're not supposed to." Dream explained before waving and walking away. "I can go there without anyone stopping me?" Lukas asked himself whilst continuing to walk down the hall. Soon, Lukas reached some stairs that lead down to a wide open area that looked like a field except for the fact that there was no plant life anywhere and there was a giant gate leading out into seemingly nothing. "I know that The Multiverse looks like an endless white void and those gates lead towards that white void so this must be the entrance that I'm looking for." Lukas thought to himself. "I'm looking for a door though, not a gate, especially not one that leads out of The Sanctuary." Lukas told himself as he turned around to see a giant door towering above him with a white orb in the centre of it. It was amazing, Lukas simply couldn't believe what he was seeing but still he walked towards the door and pressed his hand against it. In the distance, Lukas could hear some people talking about him, it was loud enough for him to hear the words they were saying. "Hey, look at this kid! He thinks he can just open that door! I've only seen Protectors do that and sometimes people that the Core has chosen but there's no way that a little kid could be chosen!" The voices practically yelled.
After a while, Lukas realised that the door wasn't going to open even though someone told him to meet them here, there was no way that he was getting in. Lukas then heard someone run past him from behind and drop something heavy, he turned around to find nothing out of the ordinary until he looked down and saw the eye laying on the ground right in front of him. Reluctantly, Lukas picked it up despite him being told to leave it behind and then he heard Beth singing. "Was it really that important? Did I really deserve that just because I felt that way for you? You said every thing was alright but it wasn't. Now all your friends and your army hate me too." Beth sung to herself. "That's strange, I never thought that The Great Calamity herself had time to practice singing, it makes you seem a lot less intimidating." Lukas explained which made Beth shocked as she didn't know that anyone else was listening. "Of course you had to start listening to me when I'm singing. Yes, I can sing pretty well or so everyone says... that song was just one I heard from a universe a while back and it pretty accurately describes my life." Beth replied. "How does it describe your life?" Lukas asked as he was genuinely curious.
"Well that part specifically is about a part in my life when I thought that I had found someone that I loved he seemed to be fine with the idea of me liking him like that but then I found out that someone that he loved in the same way that I loved him died a long time ago and since I learned that, he treated me like I was nothing until I became the heartless creature that you know me as now. I've had some time to think ever since we arrived here and I am truly sorry for what I did to you and your friend, I did it because I was afraid, for the first time in my life, the future told me that you had the power to kill me and I now see that you may eventually have the power to kill me and I now realise that you may not have used that power for that specific reason if I didn't do what I did, I'm sorry, I was incredibly foolish." Beth hesitantly told Lukas as she actually seemed to be sorry. "Wow, I never thought that you could be this emotional... don't worry, I accept your apology. She may be dead but I know a way that I can see her again. I read a book in the library that mentioned things about The Sanctuary, it said that in every anniversary that The Sanctuary has, the dead will come back for a short amount of time to meet with their loved ones again, she'll be there almost definitely." Lukas said to reassure both Bethany and himself as tears started to form in his eyes. "Hey, Lukas, don't you think you might want to hide somewhere where people can't see you talking to 'yourself' and crying?" Beth suggested. Lukas then realised that the people that were talking about him had watched him have this whole conversation with "himself". After a moment of Lukas standing there talking to 'nobody', he slowly walked behind a wall to stop the moment from being so awkward and once he stopped, both Beth and Lukas looked at each other before they started laughing as quietly as they could.
"That was, without a doubt, the most awkward situation that I've ever been in." Lukas admitted whilst trying to hold in his laughter. "All of that emotion just turned into the most uncomfortable moment in the history of The Multiverse!" Beth agreed whilst laughing hysterically as nobody but Lukas was going to hear her. "Anyways, we have to get into that door right? How are we going to do that?" Lukas asked whilst calming down from laughing. "Don't worry, just walk up to the door, it'll sense my presence and then it will open. Don't ask about who got me to you by the way, it was just your friendly neighbourhood psychopath Draedon." Beth replied." That's what I expected... honestly, you're going to have to tell me more about him when we're done with this." Lukas spoke as he walked back towards the door and the white orb in the centre of it turned red as he approached and then the orb disappeared. "Go ahead Lukas, you can enter now." Beth explained. Lukas pushed the door open slowly as he heard the nearby civilians gasp in shock. "No way, he was chosen? That little kid right there was chosen by the Core? How is that even possible?" The voices thought out loud. Lukas walked in with a smile on his face and his head held high and as the doors closed behind him, the whole room lit up and Lukas heard the voice that was communicating with him.
"I thought I told you not to bring the orb Lukas, why did you deliberately ignore my request?" The voice asked. "You see, I did come here without the eye but the door wouldn't open and then when I had the eye and I came back, the door opened for me. I literally could not enter here without it." Lukas replied. "I see that now, I suppose it is time I show you who I am." The voice replied. Suddenly, the floor opened up in the centre to reveal a giant multicoloured sphere that floated up into the centre of the room. "I am The Core of The Multiverse, please just call me Core. I am the being that created The Multiverse and all of the life within it, I am also the energy source that stops The Multiverse from collapsing." The voice explained. "Oh, well that was a lot of information to take in all at once... are you sure that it's alright for me to be in here? I've heard that I'm not supposed to disturb The Core, what are the limits as to what I'm aloud to do in here?" Lukas questioned the Core as he was worried about accidentally causing a Multiversal collapse. "It is fine if you are in here as long as you don't touch me... I think, no one who has come in here has done anything that disturbed me but no one has touched me and I would rather not take the risk in checking if that destroys The Multiverse or not." Core replied.
"Lukas, how did you get in here?" Dream's familiar voice asked from above. "Oh, Dream, I just came through the front door." Lukas replied. "What do you mean by that? The front door is always locked, were you chosen and the door unlocked for you?" Dream inquired. "Well, the door did open by itself but I'm not sure what being chosen means so I don't know if I was chosen or not." Lukas responded. "Lukas, there is a reason I called you here you know." Core explained as they were getting impatient. "Oh right, I'm sorry, what is that reason?" Lukas inquired. "You were chosen by me, I believe that you have the power to become a Protector of The Multiverse, you just may not realise it. There is something weighing you down however; the death of your loved ones. I have seen through your past and I have seen what has happened and I'll be blunt; your loved ones will not appear to you on the day of the anniversary of The Sanctuary. You see, certain souls can be lost if they are killed in a certain way such as a Brimstone blast and I cannot bring those spirits back, not even for a second, all of your loved ones were killed in such a way." Core clarified. Lukas' expression changed from excited to despair in only a fraction of a second when Core was finished talking... he had hope that he could see her again, he had hope that he wouldn't have to say goodbye to her forever but that hope was ripped to shreds and burned to ashes right before his eyes by somebody he trusted. "I admit that it was hard to say that directly to you but I needed to be honest and the sooner that you learn the truth, the quicker you can get over it and the quicker that happens, the better." Core said in a rather cold tone. "Lukas, please don't cry again, look, if there's anything I can do to help I will do it... not that I can do much." Beth spoke in an attempt to console Lukas. Lukas said nothing, he just stood there and smiled.
"That was the most pathetic attempt to upset me ever, I've heard of some horribly disgusting ways to upset people but that has to be the most disrespectful thing that I've ever heard. I've been grieving over my losses for months now, I have come to terms with what has happened and I had a feeling that what I read wouldn't help me in anyway because the dead can't come back to life, I bet that you don't even bring them back to life, do you? You just create illusions that look and act exactly the same right?" Lukas asked. "How... how did you-" Core was saying but they got cut off by Lukas. "Oh it's really easy to figure out, necromancy is dark magic, what kind of holy figure would use dark magic? I had my suspicions the second I read those words in that book. You know what I'm going to do when I get some power and join The Protectors? I'm going to find every single thing that is wrong with what you do and tell every single civilian in The Sanctuary and you won't be able to stop me because all you do is sit in one place all day, lying to everyone's faces and you know what, I'd prefer it if you did that for the rest of your life because that seems to be all you are good for, some god you are." Lukas explained.
"Lukas stop this now!" Dream shouted. "No, I won't Dream, I'm only telling the truth and if you were listening, Core basically admitted to doing all of what I said they did!" Lukas yelled. "That is quite enough Lukas, you can stop now." An unknown voice stated as someone who looked identical to Dream only with all black and white clothes and a red eye emerged. "Who is that?" Lukas asked. "My name is Cross, not that it matters, I'm going to have to ask you to leave Lukas, go back to your room." Cross demanded as a bunch of other people appeared around him and Dream. "Fine, I'll leave but don't expect me to remain silent about this." Lukas retorted as he walked back towards the door before leaving.
"Wow, Lukas you... I'm not sure how to describe what you just did." Beth explained as she was surprised about everything that Lukas said. "To be honest, I'm even impressed with myself, I always wanted to say stuff like that to other people but my emotions always told me not to and I always listened to my emotions. I guess it was just too much for me then." Lukas admitted whilst trying not to praise himself too much. "Honestly though, I think you should go back there at some point, not to apologise for what you did but instead, we can use Core to our advantage." Beth suggested. "How would we use them to our advantage?" Lukas asked. "Well, it depends what our goal is." Beth replied. "Oh, right, we don't even have a goal that we're trying to achieve yet, well let's think of one in the morning... do you think that you'll be able to wait that long without me talking to you?" Lukas questioned as he was now worried about how Bethany felt. "I'll be fine, I couldn't do it before because I was really stressed." Beth clarified. "What were you stressed about?" Lukas asked. Beth had a frightened expression when she heard that question and she struggled to find a response. "W-well, I um... you see it... uh... you know what, I'll just say it, this isn't the first time that I've been in a situation like this, that's how I transferred my consciousness into the eye so quickly, I've done it before." Beth explained. "Wait, who else have you done this with?" Lukas inquired. "I'll tell you when we get back to your room, remember, people are allowed to wander around here and they might just find you talking to "yourself."" Beth stated.
Lukas continued to go back to his room but as he turned a corner, he bumped into something and it felt strange; like nothing Lukas had ever touched before. He looked down at his hand to see a blue dust like substance float away from whatever he had touched. "What the heck?" Lukas whispered. Just then, Lukas' hand was trapped by something with a tough, cold grip so much to the point that Lukas could barely move his arm, he looked up to see that the arm came from some kind of metallic object. "What are you?" Lukas asked. "Oh, sorry about that." The featureless machine replied as it loosened it's grip. "I'm sorry, that was just my instincts from all my battles that I have faced. My name is Michael, I'm assuming that you are new here considering the fact that you don't know my name." The machine explained as a poor excuse for an apology. "Yes, I am new here, so you're Michael? I'm assuming that you're a Protector?" Lukas guessed whilst holding his wrist in pain.
"Yes I am a Protector, I am mostly known as the strongest Protector to ever exist although I don't quite agree with that." Michael stated." I'll be sure to keep that name in mind when I join The Protectors." Lukas replied. "Oh, a kid with big dreams huh? I can't say I'm surprised, it's nice to have a goal in life isn't it?" Michael asked. "I'm not just dreaming about joining The Protectors, I have been asked by Core themselves to join The Protectors when I'm strong enough." Lukas answered. "Oh, that would mean that you are... Lukas." Michael assumed. "Yes, how do you know that?" Lukas wondered out loud. "Core hasn't stopped talking about you since they saw you in their visions." Michael explained. "Oh... they have future sight?" Lukas asked in shock. "Indeed." Michael simply replied. "I'm sorry to cut this conversation short but I must be going now." Michael bluntly said as he began walking off. Lukas stood there and watched him walk away for a bit before going back to his room.
"Taen sir!" "What is it now?" "An unexpected complication in our invasion has appeared." "Well go on then, spill it! What's happening?" "Subject X-WDG has appeared in The Multiverse sir." "Damn it, why does he insist on getting in our way?" "What shall we do sir?" "I'm unsure at the moment... oh, I have an idea, Reukra won't be happy but it's the only way that we'll survive." "What would that be sir?" "The plan is to get every single troop out of that Multiverse and close off any portals that are connected to it then we wait and see whether The Multiverse gets destroyed or if it's inhabitants are strong enough to destroy something that we can not even harm. Do I make myself clear?" "Yes sir." "Good, I will contact Reukra immediately."