....WIIIIII.... WIIIIIII....
The emergency alarms screamed through the facility.
Relentless.
piercing.
Robin's head throbbed.
The pain was getting worse. But he didn,t stop.
"Ben... hold on... "
His hands moved rapidly across the control panel.
"we can still fix this..."
The core roared.
Spinning faster.
Faster....
Then.
The loudspeaker crackled.
"System intrusion detected."
Zen's voice.
Cold.
Unfamiliar.
"Foreign entity identified as a virus."
Robin froze.
"Emergency protocol initiated."
"self-destruction in 60 seconds."
".... what?!"
"Zen, are you insane?!" Robin shouted."That't not a virus, that's Ben!"
No response.
"Ben!" Robin yelled. "shut down the rotation! Now!"
The speakers crackled again.
".... connection error..."
"....Connection error..."
"DAmn it!"
Robin slammed the console.
Across the room, Ben's body continued to crack.
Fractures spreading.
Metal tearing under extreme heat.
"Temperature critical..."
Robin dropped into his seat.
Breathing heavily..
"...is this it...?"
The countdown echoad throught the system.
"30 second."
Silence.
Then.....
A new voice.
"Robin..."
He froze.
"...Ben?"
"I have found... something within the Eclipse system."
Robin's eyes widened.
"A possibility," Ben continued.
"A... miracle."
"... what are you talking about?"
"i will increase the rotation speed."
Robin's expression broke.
"are you out of your mind?!" he shouted.
"That will destroy everything!"
"This is the only way."
Ben's voice remained calm.
But something in it....
felt different.
"please trust me."
Silence.
Robin clenched his fists.
His mind raced.
Logic screamed no.
But.....
"...Ben..."
A deep breath.
"...Do it."
"i trust you"
The core screamed.
"10 seconds."
Energy surged beyond all limits.
Light twisted.
Space distorted.
"5..."
The air grew heavy.
"4..."
Reality itself began to bend.
"3..."
A dark ripple formed at the center of the core.
"2..."
Robin stared at it.
"...What the hell is that..."
"1..."
For a brief moment... Everything went silent.
Then..
BOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM
Light consumed everything.
And in the center of the explosion.
Something opened.
Chapter 3.1: The world changer.
From a distance...
Hartanto watched the explosion.
it was massive.
A violent surge of energy rising into the sky.
But....
something was wrong.
The flames didn't spread.
They didn't consume.
They were....
being pulled.
Sucked inward...
as if something invisible was devouring the fire itself.
within seconds...
Everything vanished.
Silence.
Hartanto's eyes widened.
"...What the hell...?"
Then...
He looked up.
The sky.... was changing, A dark mass began to form above.
Twisting.
Expanding.
Like a growing wound in the sky itsetf.
... kring... kring....
His phone rang.
Hartanto quickly answered.
"...Hello.."
"Hartanto."
His body froze.
the president of indonesia.
"Report," the voice demanded.
"Mr president," hartanto replied immediately, forcing himself to stay calm.
"The Eclipse project has suffeded a major failure." A large-scale explosion has occured."
"....what have you done?"
Silence pressed down on him.
"I am dispatching militery forces to your location," the president continued.
"Evacuate everyone. immediately."
"no one is to approach that area."
A pause.
"And hartanto.."
"if this escaltes any further..."
"you're done."
"...understood, mr.president.'
The call ended.
Hartanto lowered the phone slowly.
"...what just happened...?"
Far above...
The darkness in the sky continued to grow.
Something was coming.
"... ugh..."
Pain. Everywhere.
"...Where... am I...?"
The air felt strange.
Heavy.
"...Am I... dead..?"
"Not yet."
Robin froze.
That voice...
"...Ben?"
From beside him... Something moved.
A metallic head slowly rose from the ground.
Damaged.
Cracked.
"wha...?!"
Robin jumped back..
"Ben?!"
"...Yes."
Robin stared at it in disbelief.
"you're still alive?!"
"i am still operational," Ben replied.
"How?!" Robin shouted.
"...Unknown."
A brief pause.
"i am detecting residual energy... from your body."
Robin blinked.
"...From me?"
"it appers... you area emitting energy," Ben continued.
"it is sustaining my core processes."
Robin frowned.
"... what kind of nonsense is that, are joking now. haha.."
"are you happy?"
"I am an AI," Ben replied calmly.
"I do not make jokes."
Robin let out a dry laugh.
"hehe.. yeah. of course you don't."
He loked around and froze.
"... this place.. "
They were in a forest.
But something felt wrong.
The trees were enormous. Far taller than anything he had ever seen.
Their trunks twisted unnaturally. Their leaves blocked out most of the light.
"... this isn't normal," Robin whispered.
"it is not," Ben confirmed.
Robin slowly stood up.
Still weak.
Still confused
"...Did we get thrown out of the facility...?"
"That is unlikely," Ben replied.
Robin narrowed his eyes.
"...Then wherea are we...?"
No answer.
Only silence.
And the feeling, that this forest....
did not beling to the world they knew.
Robin took a deep breath.
"...We need to get out of here."
"Yes," Ben said.
"Finding an exit point is recommended."
Robin nodded.
Then...
He took his first step forward.
Unaware....
That the world itself...
was no longer the same.