I Traveled Through a Wormhole, I Think I’m Stuck Here
Written on March 9th, 2023 by Ethan Zhang
Darkness, that’s all that’s left around me. Through all time, that’s all that will be left here in the end. Darkness. Well- Darkness, me, and the Void Keepers. The concept of being alone in the dark for all time scares many, but I am not one of the masses. I have been here for a long time, more than any human should expect to live. This message comes from the start of time, or perhaps the end—time has no meaning in this place. Here, I can move forward or backward in time. Here, I played god. Here, I consumed the knowledge of the universe in an infinite amount of time. Gods do not hold a flickering candle to the brilliance I achieved in the time I spent here. I should start at the beginning by explaining what happened and how this story gets out into the universe.
Wormholes are holes in space and time to connect two parts of the universe, allowing interstellar travel in a vastly shorter amount of time. However, wormholes are incredibly difficult to keep these holes open, and if you can’t keep them open…they collapse. They collapse and pockets or voids of reality form in the spaces between the places the wormhole used to connect. These voids simply fail to exist as the fabric of space and time unfolds. That is where this story of time’s meaninglessness begins.
It started with a wormhole experiment. I was one of the scientists working on the project. The goal was to create a stable wormhole that could be used for faster-than-light travel (FTL for short). We succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. When I stepped into the wormhole, I thought I would emerge on the other side in a new world. Instead, the void tore me apart. I felt my limbs stretching out in every direction as my body contorted into unrecognizable proportions and scales. Time seemed to stop as the light from either side of the wormhole faded away with my consciousness. When I awoke, I found myself trapped in a void of darkness. But I soon realized that this void was not empty. It was filled with knowledge, energy, and power beyond anything I had ever imagined. It was an infinite expanse of darkness filled with the light of the past and the future.
At first, I was afraid. The darkness seemed to swallow me whole, and I felt completely alone. But I began to discover the secrets of this place. I could manipulate time with ease, observing the birth and death of millions of billions of galaxies. I consumed the knowledge of the universe, learning secrets that no other being could ever hope to comprehend. I played with the fabric of time, bending it to my will and creating new pocket dimensions of time within the void. But as time passed, I realized that this power came at a cost. I was alone in this darkness, with no other beings to share the power with. I had consumed so much knowledge that I had become disconnected from humanity. I could no longer relate to mortal concerns, and the idea of living a normal life seemed pointless. I had lost my humanity. However, that wasn’t the worst part. The worst part was that I wasn’t alone in the dark.
As I traveled through time itself, I saw things no human should ever see. Beings made of shadow darker than the very void we were in. They were the Void Keepers. They saw me tampering with time in the void, and they began to chase me through time. I ran. Time flowed around me as light, brighter than any star shone around me like spotlights as the Void Keepers grew in number.
Eventually, I dove into one of my aforementioned pocket dimensions and the Void Keepers turned back, silently watching. Then the pulling began again. The Void Keepers were pulling my pocket dimension of time apart. Their eyes began to glow a brilliant red as the void slowly consumed the pocket of time. So, once again, I was forced to run from the Void Keepers. They tried to block my escape but I squeezed through their grasp. Time froze and I felt my body slowly go numb. The Void Keepers slowly approached me, toying with me as their eyes glowed once more. For the first time in eternity, I felt fear. Raw unadulterated fear coursed through my veins.
“CHILD.” A voice boomed. One of the Void Keepers towered above the rest. His eyes glowed white instead of red. I was stunned. I couldn’t respond. Was this God?
“I am not God, I am the creator of gods. Be a Void Keeper, and you will be heralded with powers even beyond the scattered knowledge of this Void.” I thought about what that would entail and shivered. The Void Keepers were not who I wanted to be. I declined.
“Very well, Void Keepers, have at it. Extract his soul, and use it for the creation of VK-0000. Time is up.” His voice boomed again and I knew what he meant. VK-0000 was the last Void Keeper. There were already thousands. Thousands of souls had already been consumed for their creation. I had no idea what their grand scheme was, but it could not possibly be good. I used my knowledge of the void to push the Void Keepers away. A bubble within a void. The god maker tried to collapse the bubble, but my powers in the void kept me safe.
On borrowed “time,” I created this message, using everything in my power to try and send it out into the universe. I hope that someone, sometime will receive this message and understand the power that lies within the darkness. I hope that someday, someone will join me in this infinite expanse of possibility and help me regain my former sense of humanity before I completely break; before the Void Keepers change me. But who am I kidding? Not myself, and not the Void Keepers; they know they’ve won.
But until then, I remain alone in the darkness. Trapped somewhere between the beginning and end of time, slowly becoming consumed by the darkness. Perhaps this is my punishment for playing god of time, or perhaps it is my destiny. I will never escape the void, at least not as myself. The Void Keepers are closing in. My bubble has burst. All I know is that the darkness is my home, and it will remain so until the end of time, all hope is lost. Goodbye.
DARKNESS.DARKNESS.DARKNESS.DARKNESS.DARKNESS.DARKNESS.DARKNESS. END.
