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Chapter 32: Into the Unknown
Zak’s fingertips hovered just above the being’s outstretched hand.
His instincts screamed at him to pull away.
To run.
To fight.
To undo everything.
But something deeper inside him told him the opposite.
That this was always going to happen.
That his life had been leading to this very moment.
His mind swirled with uncertainty.
Was he standing in front of a savior?
Or was this the beginning of the end?
Zak took a breath.
And he made his choice.
His hand touched the entity’s palm.
And then—
The universe exploded.
A Glimpse Beyond Reality
Zak’s vision fractured.
He was no longer in the QSE chamber.
He wasn’t anywhere.
For the first time in his life, he was weightless.
Drifting.
Pulled through something vast, something so infinite that his mind could barely process it.
He saw galaxies spin in reverse.
He saw civilizations rise and collapse within seconds.
He saw the birth of stars.
And then—
He saw them.
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The Banished Ones
Before him stood beings of impossible beauty.
They shimmered like shifting light, neither solid nor energy.
But their presence was overwhelming.
Their voices spoke directly into his mind.
"Zak Carter. You have freed us."
His stomach churned.
He could feel their power.
It was terrifying.
“What… what are you?” he whispered.
"We are the first. The ones who built the foundations of your world. The Architects feared us, for they believed that only they deserved to rule."
Zak’s heart thundered.
“The Architects… they said you were never meant to return.”
The beings shifted.
"They feared us because they knew the truth. That we were never the destroyers. We were the creators."
Zak’s mind reeled.
He was standing between two ancient sides of a war that predated humanity itself.
And he had just picked a side.
EOSA’s Panic
Dr. Raines stood in absolute shock as EOSA’s deep-space telescopes caught the anomaly expanding.
Whatever Zak had done—it was no longer contained.
The distortion had grown beyond the facility.
Beyond the solar system.
It was rewriting space itself.
“This isn’t just a tear in reality,” an engineer whispered. “It’s… spreading.”
Alarms blared across the EOSA command center.
Raines gripped the console.
“We need to shut it down. Now.”
But as he said the words—
The anomaly responded.
It had heard him.
The Dominion’s Fear
Agent Connors had never felt fear.
Not during classified black ops missions.
Not when standing in the presence of world leaders.
Not when holding the power to shape the future of humanity.
But now—
Watching as reality itself began to bend around the QSE’s output—
He felt it.
Cold.
Raw.
Unstoppable.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” one of the Dominion scientists whispered.
Connors clenched his jaw.
“We were never in control.”
And that realization was the most terrifying of all.
Zak’s Final Revelation
As Zak drifted in the infinite, his mind began to understand.
The 47 Hz frequency wasn’t just energy.
It was a key.
And the QSE wasn’t just a gateway.
It was a beacon.
“What do you want from me?” he asked, voice barely above a whisper.
The beings surrounded him now, speaking in unison.
"To build. To restore. To bring forth the world that was meant to be."
Zak’s breath hitched.
Something deep inside him stirred.
This wasn’t just about unlocking energy.
It wasn’t just about scientific discovery.
This was about reshaping reality itself.
He wasn’t just an engineer anymore.
He was a creator.
Or… a destroyer.
And that choice still belonged to him.
The beings extended their hands once more.
"We cannot move forward without you, Zak Carter. The choice is yours."
Zak looked at them.
At the vast universe unfolding before his eyes.
At the infinite power now within his grasp.
And then, for the second time that day—
He made his decision.