She quickly moves around the universe, checking how many of the lost ones were left at the barrier. Of the thousands that dotted the barrier just a few quick years ago, only a handful are left. Even stranger, they are just watching the barrier now, no prodding, no pushing, nothing. The pure silence of space even more desolate.
Eta heads back to the spot she had been talking with Chi. It was still empty. Not even a glimpse of a lost one. The black looks even darker than it had been.
"Did this really happen? I talk with one entity that also has a long lifespan and it is malevolent. Why would Chi leave if not to figure out how to break into the universe?" Eta paces by the barrier. Her form reverting to the eldritch being she first appeared as.
She pulls out each of the tools that Chi had copied. The rainbow glass brush of her creation, the orb of space, and the scroll of laws.
"The exact wording for the void is, 'The Void has no place in this universe.' Is there a loophole in this statement." She writes the law down on the notepad she had been using for the conversation with Chi. "There must be a connection with how both Chi and Omega had a different emphasis on the word Void. Is the Void a thinking creature?"
Parts of the universe glow brighter in response to the question, the nearby galaxy showing a luminosity very rarely seen outside of supernovas.
She nods to the galaxy. "Seems their essence will be helping me now. This really must have been a mistake. Alright, so the Void is a creature that can think, then by extension, it must be some kind of hivemind like that of insects on Earth. The lost ones would be the drones, mindless forces I guess." She paints herself a picture. The Void made as some abstract horror connected to various of the creatures that make up the lost ones.
Eta fans out the painting to cover a large amount of space. Her idea of the Void as some being like that of Alpha, yet instead of containing beautiful lights and stars, it was completely black with tendrils reaching out to each of its mindless minions. Chi was off to the side of the piece, a question mark placed next to him.
"That first lost one I tried to interact with was already significantly stronger physically than anything living in the universe." She pauses. "Fighting. How would I even go about such a thing? I'm too young compared to whatever the Void is, its older than this universe and then some at the very least. What has it encountered, what has it conquered, what has it felled? Am I anything more than a foot note?" Eta scratches her head raw as small drops of blood freeze and float off her head. Her blood flowers into frozen roses that gently knock on the barrier.
"I need more on the barrier itself, how it acts and what it really is. I can send objects out through it. It is not a solid object, more of a piece of cloth. Can I stretch it with my force?" Eta places a hand on it and pushes. While it does deform slightly, it is less so than that of the lost ones that would push on it. "I wonder if there's a reason I do not pass through the barrier."
Reaching down to the painting, she extends it and places her universe off to the side surrounded by the lost ones. She places her own self in the universe as if caged and watched by those mindless drones.
Something resounds in her mind, telling her to test the void. Eta crafts a miniature star in her hands and pushes it through the barrier. The light seeps into the pure black of the void, illuminating the empty space revealing thousands of lost ones just a few feet out of view normally. There were even some that weren't completely grey-scaled like Chi. As soon as they were illuminated, they vanished, retreating into the black darkness. The star slowly fizzled out until its material had burned out.
"So not everything is the void out there. It's just emptiness then. Alright, that doesn't really answer any questions, but at least I know where the lost ones went."
Eta makes another star, this time much larger and places a soul within it. A soul meant to burn brightly and angrily. The star passes the barrier and sits outside illuminating a huge area that grows larger and larger. It lays claim to the emptiness, almost daring the drones to come closer and take back their domain.
"Hopefully that will distract any agents that come near the universe for a time. Now, what could Chi have learned that would allow him to stop testing or speaking with me? Does his scroll contain the laws that written, would it be able to alter the laws if it entered the universe?" She frowns. "If I'm to assume the worst, he knows every law of my universe so him or the Void are trying to find a loophole. I don't think there is a loophole in the law keeping them out, but, it is relatively vague in what it considers the Void."
Eta pulls out the staff of time and dives into the flow. The flow now a forest with the time stream softly flowing throughout. She walks to the very beginning of the flow, where all time sprung forth. Watching the creation of her parents, she pays close attention to Omega to see exactly what they were seeing when they wrote the law of the Void.
"What was going through his mind? It had to be purely logical, no possibility of imagination at this point of time. I guess I could take it as though they saw no chance for potential to break it. It could mean that it really doesn't have a loophole, or it could mean that there are potential thousands of unforeseen possibilities." She dives into the flow to watch it closer.
Omega seemed to stare into the darkness for just a brief moment, but there was some sort of understanding that they reflected. Omega saw the true Void, that of the master, that of the spawn of them and their siblings. Despite the inability to feel true fear, their instincts took over as Omega wrote the law in one stroke.
Eta leaves the flow, feeling the fear for Omega in that moment. "They made it solely for the Void itself, whatever that may be. Could a being that is only influenced by the Void bypass it then?"
She returns to reality with more questions than before. Her imagination running rampant, trying to picture every possibility.