Author- Sorry for such a late publication, I had some life problems.

[Location unknown] .3300-04-10. (Three hours after Eric fell into the Void)

[PoV. 3p]

In a dark and quiet room with obsidian walls, ceiling and floor, stood three hooded figures in velvet robes trimmed with golden thread. One almost indistinguishable from the other, no visible features and only impenetrable black in the hoods, the only difference was the color of their robes, one was in blue, one in red and one in yellow. Figures stood silently, waiting for something or someone to arrive. They didn't wait long.

A carved obsidian door showed on one of the walls of the room through which a black she-wolf in tactical gear entered. She came to the figures and stood in front of them, ready at any moment to run away or fight.

"Has it been done?" The yellow-robed figure spoke to the newcomer, the voice was cold and mechanical, and it was impossible to tell, it was him or her.

"Yes, it has been done." She replied, her voice firm and steady but with an audible hint of fear.

"Great, Sophia, really good job." Said the figure in blue robes, this one voice was different from the first and clearly male and rather strange, each word sounded as if it were spoken in a different voice, some spoke at the same moment, other faster and others slower. The voice was not attributable to anyone but also attributable to anyone "Give back the spear."

Without hesitating, Sophia did as she was told and took a silver cylinder from one of her pockets and displayed it to the blue-robed figure. He stretched a limb towards the object, levitated it to himself and grabbed this when it was a few inches in front of him. He looked at the object in his grip then nodded at the last figure in red.

"As agreed, here's your reward, shadow." The last figure's voice rang out, the voice was clear and quite pleasant to listen to and sounded clearly female and it seemed to come from all over the room, the same as from the figure itself. The figure in red stretches out a limb, in which a holopad appeared, which a moment later levitated to Sophia. "On this holopad are the data confirming the independence of the dimension 35755629.SAW, and thus of all beings coming from this dimension. Take it, take your freedom and that of your world, and leave."

Uncertainly, she stretched out her paw and grabbed the holopad, turned the door and left the room quickly, leaving three figures where they were. After Sophie left the room, there was a deathly silence for a minute. Which was quickly interrupted by the figure in red.

"How do we know she wasn't lying?"

"If my sensors are well calibrated, and they certainly are, With all the readings I received, I'm 100% sure she wasn't lying." Said the one in yellow. There was silence after these words, but then a thousands of different chuckle could be heard, which quickly turns into laughter

"Ha ha, I can't believe that he is dead, really DEAD! Hahaha, Ahhhahaha, all the years of trial and failure it finally happened, that damn human is dead!" Shouted one in blue, spreading out his limbs, laughing and screaming like a complete madman, ecstatic happiness was perceptible in his voice. He felt like the happiest creature in the world.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." The person in yellow replied. At his words, the other two figures turned to face him.

"What do you mean by that?" Asked the figure in red.

"I'm not 100% sure he's dead." Yellow one explained. "We influenced events and made choices so as to maximize the chances of our plan's success and negate other outcomes. However, with almost infinite possibilities, it is not possible to eliminate all possibilities, it means that there is still a possibility that he is alive. More specifically, the chance he survived is 0,0...00001 procent."

"That doesn't sound like a problem to me. Chance that he is alive is almost non-existent" Replied the figure in blue robes with confidence. "And even if he's alive, I doubt he'll  disturb our plans by being trapped in Void. Besides, there is always plan B"

The other two figures were silent, but nodded in agreement. Then the three figures disappeared in the blink of an eye leaving only silence in the obsidian room.

[ERROR] [ERROR] (probable location, Void)

[PoV. Eric] 

"What the hell is this place...?" That was the only question that was currently on my mind.

I was in an infinite white space with no sign of anything or anyone else, just an infinite white that is slowly but surely driving me crazy! How long was I here? Minutes? Hours? Days? I don't know. The only thing I knew was that there was literally nothing here! Literally Nothing! but this little spot in the distanc-

In the distance, I spotted a small blurry dot, almost imperceptible blemish in the overwhelming sea of white, from this distance I could not tell whether it was something or someone, but it didn't matter to me at the time, what mattered to me was that there was something, it was like a gift from the gods, salvation for my troubled mind and it was something I wanted to have!

So I started walking slowly towards in and then walk turned into run and the run turned into a mad dash. At first it didn't seem to be getting any closer, It even seemed to be getting further away. But after, I don't know how long, I started getting closer to my goal and a few minutes later I was right in front of my target and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. There stood an exact copy of me.

"Who are you?" I asked, I had met shapeshifters before, but this looked like my one-to-one copy, there were few shapeshifting races capable of copying human appearance, but these became extinct after or during the war. "And where am I anyway?"

"Who am I? I am you of course silly, well not quite but close." He replied chuckling, in a playful tone. "As for where you are, you should know, it is, after all, related to the last thing you remember. You just need to think a little."

What? The last thing I remember?! It's not an answer! It's a question! I was about to scream and lash out at him/myself out of frustration. But I stopped myself, what is the last thing I remember? Oh yes, a shadow/wolf named Sophia stabbed me with a magic spear and threw me into... That's when the grim reality struck me (in a non-literal sense, of course).

"So the place where I am now is..." I began, my voice breaking with fear of eternal imprisonment in this hell. "Is Void?"

"Oh man, that's a tough question." Not me said, then he snapped his fingers and two armchairs, one wooden table with a bottle of something that looked like Whisky and a glass appeared next to us. "Okay, how about this, I'll start explaining our current position and you have a drink to make it easier to understand, sounds good?"

Yes, it sounds good, even too good to be true, there's a trick in there somewhere, I can feel it in my bones, but I can't tell you where it is. Besides, I'd rather have a drink than not, and even if what's in that bottle is poison it's even better.

"Yeah, man, I don't see the problem." I replied, sitting down in my armchair, getting comfortable and pouring myself a glass. My copy sat down on the other armchair and did literally the same as me.

"Alright, where to start?"

"Best start from the beginning." I said taking a sip of my drink. Eh, it's not poison, such a shame. Well, at least it's whisky. I wonder how many bottles will be emptied before he finishes speaking? Meh, at most there will only be a few.

<Multiple bottles of whisky later>

"Okay, man, I think I understand what *hic!* the hell you're saying to me." I answered, babbling like a drunk, which was true, I was drunk like the seven hells. "This place I'm *hic!* currently seeing is my great and fucked up subconscious?"

He nodded his head in confirmation, tossing the empty bottle aside and pulled a new full one out of the air and placed it on the table.

"And my body is falling down *hic!* through the void. Which in turn causes me to *hic!* slowly fall apart into dust and cease to exist *hic!* due to the lack of hume energy in the void." I continued, reaching for the bottle and drinking it all at once. "Did I miss something? *hic!* Oh yeah, I almost forgot the most fucked up thing! So you're telling me that you're this evil part of me that wants to take over my body and you're that voice in my head that *hic!* urged me to commit war crimes, murder and *hic!* so on and so forth? Also, you're the one who *hic!* gives me these damn nightmares, did I miss something?"

"Nope, that's all." Moments after he spoke, everything shook, and the armchair I was sitting on disappeared along with everything else and I fell on the floor, no longer drunk. Eh, it looks like not only are all things and the evil me are gone, but the alcohol in my body is gone too. Damn, well at least I don't have a hangover. Okay Eric, time to get up and see what the hell is going on.

I rose to my feet and looked around, throughout the infinite white space began to appear a web of cracks that grew larger by the second and from them began to pour darkness on white, slowly flooding the entire space. I felt like I was in an underwater city under a huge dome and the dome began to crack, but in this case, instead of water, darkness was pouring in. Well, it looks like my mind is breaking, I wonder where the bad me is now?

"BEHIND YOU." Said the voice, sounding like my own, but deeper and hoarse. I guess that answers my question. I looked behind me and there he was in all his monstrous glory.

His clothes were torn to rags, patches of skin were missing from his body and in their place were tar-black muscles. His lips and cheeks were torn apart, revealing yellowed and sharp teeth. Instead of fingers, his hands had long and sharp black claws. 

His appearance was not the most frightening thing to me, I've seen scarier things, what scared me was his size, he was as big as a mountain, literally. How was I supposed to fight something like that without my powers and proper weapons? This guy had a good 2000 meters!

"WELL MY FRIEND, IT LOOKS LIKE YOU ARE WAKING UP." Every word he said made the world shake. He raised his hand and the ground on which I was standing was torn up and lifted to be right in front of him. I felt like an ant standing before a dark god, which was not far from the truth. "AND SINCE I DOUBT WE'LL MAKE IT OUT, I WANTS TO SAY GOODBYE. SO GOODBYE ERICK KNIGHT."

When he finished talking he swung his claws at me, I had no way to defend myself or escape, it was my end. I fell on the ground, cut to pieces, within minutes I was dead and the last thing I saw before my image was filled with darkness was his terrible smile.

...

[WARNING:]

[Power level of personal reality shield at 4% and falling.]

[Time to discharge: 04 hours 00 minutes 00 seconds]

[WARNING:]

[Dangerously low hume level for the user.]

 [Recommended immediate evacuation from the area.]

Then I woke up to the sight of warnings displayed in front of my eyes by the multiwatch. Oh thank gods, it was just a dream, right? Okay, what the hell is going on?

I tried to open my eyes, but I did not have the strength, I felt as if my eyelids are heavy as lead, similar situation was with the rest of my body, I could still feel it but it was so weak I could barely move. I also felt that I was falling, and quite fast and I also felt the wound inflicted by the silver spear, but I couldn't do anything about it at the moment. The only thing I could do at that point was to look at the warnings. And that's what I did, I checked the previous notifications, from the moment when I was unconscious to see what was going on.

[WARNING:]

[Dangerously low hume level for the user.]

[Activate a personal reality shield?]

[Y/N]

[User does not respond.]

[Scanning...]

[The user is not currently conscious.]

[Activating the user life protection protocol.]

[Activating a personal reality shield]

[Power level of personal reality shield at 21% and falling.]

[Time to discharge: 21 hours 40 minutes 32 seconds]

[Transmitting all power to shields, turning off all unnecessary systems.]

[Switching on the emergency power supply]

[Power level of personal reality shield at 71% and falling.]

[Time to discharge: 71 hours 30 minutes 21 seconds]

[Sending a rescue message...]

[Transmission failed, no quantum relay detected in range.]

[Analyzing...]

[Switch to sleep mode until ambient or user status changes.] 

[Power level of personal reality shield at 74% and falling.]

[Time to discharge: 74 hours 37 minutes 41 seconds]

...

That explains how I'm still alive, apparently my multiwatch turned on some function that saved my ass from ceasing to exist. Thank you again Max for this birthday present. Okey, now I just have to.... wait for something to happen?

Having nothing better to do, I did just that and waited for something to happen. Time flowed peacefully, in front of my eyes continued to display the power level of the shield and the time until its discharge and my inevitable end.

I don't know at what point or how, but I managed to recover my strength and I opened my eyes.

I looked at myself, there was a faint gleam of a personal shield on my body, or rather what's left of my body. My already skinny figure has now turned into just skin and bones, effects of lack of hume energy is taking its toll. Black liquid poured out of the wound I received leaving a sizable stain on my shirt, but apart from a slight burning sensation, the wound didn't bother me. Improvised nano-armor from my cabinet mostly disintegrated, only a few barely clinging plates remain on me. All in all I wasn't in the best shape but it could have been worse. After a short self-examination I looked around.

Void, as many called the place I was currently in, was not exactly empty, quite the opposite. Everywhere I looked I saw some sort of flying "islands" with various buildings, vehicles, and sometimes whole chunks of cities, passing me as I fell, partially disintegrating into dust and ceasing to exist.

Looking at the world passing me by was strangely reassuring and I felt resigned to my fate. Don't get me wrong, I still wanted to live and so on. But I had nothing that could help me survive in this godforsaken place. 

It was so until two things happened at once, first I fell on one of the islands and ended up hammered into the ground, the next was the notification.

[WARNING:]

[Power level of personal reality shield at 3% and falling.]

[Time to discharge: 03 hours 50 minutes 00 seconds]

[Large amounts of hume energy were detected detected in the vicinity.]

[Distance from the area: 400 meters]

[Recommended immediate evacuation to this location]

I couldn't believe it, Does the multiverse give me a chance to live, or is this another trick to crush my hopes? For me it did not matter, like any other creature, I wanted to survive and this is my only resort, so I took it.

The island I was on was a chunk of the city, many parts of it have long ceased to exist but buildings did not collapse despite the absence of many important structural elements, hell several skyscrapers literally levitated with their bases reduced to dust! Ah, Clearly gravity was not in effect here. Ok, let's go, slowly and steadily to the goal.

I picked myself up from the ground and started walking to that place. Or rather shambling toward it. Apparently I broke something falling. It's a good thing the multiwatch turned on the HUD with a compass pointing to that spot, otherwise I would have been wandering aimlessly. 

[WARNING:]

[Power level of personal reality shield at 3% and falling.]

[Time to discharge: 03 hours 10 minutes 00 seconds]

[Distance from the area: 360 meters]

I limped through the empty and lifeless streets leaving a small trail of pitch-black blood and gray nano-armor plates behind me.

[Power level of personal reality shield at 2% and falling.]

[Time to discharge: 02 hours 10 minutes 10 seconds]

[Distance from the area: 300 meters]

With each passing minute, I was getting closer and closer to my goal. But I was also getting tired and started slowing down.

[Power level of personal reality shield at 1% and falling.]

[Time to discharge: 00 hours 53 minutes 30 seconds]

[Distance from the area: 260 meters]

Then I saw and felt what I was aiming for, in a place where once there was probably once a skyscraper, there was a mass of rubble, glass, metal and dust orbiting a single floor floating in the air more than 200 meters above the ground.

I'd probably avoid the place by a wide margin, I don't know what the hell it is and I'm in no hurry to be torn apart by whatever it is. However, I felt something in the center of this mess, a feeling so familiar, so indescribable, so pleasant even addictive and unmistakable from anything else, a feeling of hume energy. This drew me to itself, like a magnet or like a moth to the light or like a siren song.  

I couldn't resist, didn't notice when I got even closer, didn't pay attention as I was lifted off the ground and drawn to the center. However, when I was already on the floor I somehow snapped out of my trance a few meters away from a blurry figure surrounded by a white glow.

 [WARNING:]

[Dangerous anomaly detected.]

[Power level of personal reality shield at 1% and falling.]

[Time to discharge: 00 hours 02 minutes 30 seconds]

[Scanning...]

[ERROR]

[Inability to scan the object]

[CRITICAL ERROR]

[Corrupt!on of the main $yst3m]

[Fi+ing the prob[em: Fa![3d]

[C̷̢͉̐̾%̸̩͌̄!̶̖̮͛T̷̜͎͐I̶̪͝Č̴͕̯^̶͖͋L̴͕͋̃ ̴̢͑E̴͠ͅ%̴̗̤̋́%̵̧̣̇0̶̛̣́%̶͚̦̓]

[D̴͚̼̒͗^̵̞̓̍t̴͌͜͠^̵͓͖͐͌ ̸̦̓c̵̘̅̾0̷̹͈̒͌%̷̤̥̋̈́%̴̗̈́͝ú̶̙b̵͙̎t̷̳̒͆ë̴̜́͊&̷̨̑]

.̷̬̟̔̚.̵̱̉.̵̱̳̀̀

Multiwatch started displaying rows of errors, corrupted text and code in front of my eyes, then it shut down, the poor machine couldn't figure it out. I myself was close to the same thing, but somehow I still held on. Then it spoke

"̶̻̾̀W̴̞̆̔H̶͇́̔A̵̬͔̋͝T̶̲̀ ̴̢̿̑D̷̞̓̏Ỏ̵͇͎̐ ̵̘͘Ý̶̭̑Ö̶͉͋Ù̶̼͖̏ ̵̼̣̍́W̴͖̻͠I̸̤͒̈́S̴̡̿͌H̴̢̩̒͠ ̸̝̜̄F̶͎̠͐Ō̵̦͝ͅR̸̠̪̉̒?̸̺̤͌̀"̷͓̭̉ Void shook from the power in the voice of the being in front of me. Each word carried with it a great wave of energy that pushed me back several inches. I have met many beings and entities in my life and killed just as many, including gods, and I can say with certainty that this is not a god, it is something beyond that.

I could only stare at it stunned with my mouth open at the sheer absurdity of the situation. I fall into the void, I