Recursion

CHAPTER 1: Nil in Void

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. Well, they used to, anyway. That was all before this universe became what it is now. There was no common rule or physical law after the twisted cruelty that had been visited upon the fabric of reality. Now was an epoch of only confusion and chaos. It had been some meaningless amount of time ago that the beings known as the Linile had entered into this universe and decimated the laws of physics and natural order with their terrible recursion weapons. They were wicked machines capable of bending the rules of reality back in on themselves in recursive loops within the void of space until the very concept itself collapsed under the weight of infinite time and limitless malice. Once the universe had become a shredded amalgamation of material nonsense and shattered stars did the Linile leave, and with them, any understanding of their motives or goals. Perhaps it was some grand experiment upon a random plane of existence or a simple vendetta against the sapient life of Plane 526833.559021-Q that led their hands to crush and mold the universe to madness, but no being would ever find any proof one way or the other. In fact, there were very few left within this universe to discover anything at all. Within the void there were only disparate beings here and there, navigating within their own lifeboats in the vast sea of infinity. They navigated between inversion wells and star fragments to perhaps find some rule or law to protect them that had been left untouched from the recursions. But even now, at this point in space, there was nothing left to be found besides broken reality and silent nothingness.

Within these fragments of life, however, one being floated on the black sea aboard an ancient research vessel. Working tirelessly to craft a solution to madness. Their name was Nil and they had acquired this decrepit vessel about ---- years ago, right before the second wave of recursions. Now they sought to find any natural law that remained unscathed even now, at the end of all things.

Today, Nil was performing their basic experiments that consumed most of their endless time. Nil had recently begun to research the laws of force, mass, and acceleration. They found that one law had seemingly been inverted, as when they would apply minimal force to a large object it would travel great distances further than small objects with greater force applied to them. Nil wrote this in their notebook that they kept with them at all times and placed the notebook in a solid box. The reason being that the idea of quantum superposition seemed mostly intact, as long as the object wasn't observed, it made it more resistant to recursion aftereffects, as it both did and didn't exist in a changed state until observed.

Satisfied with the outcome of the tests, Nil made their way to the bridge to continue their nomadic wandering through the cosmos. Passing through the silent halls, they found some fire burning on the metal floor but elected to leave it be for now, if they ever needed to cool down, it would be useful to have around. Through the metal and wood of the ship, Nil could half-see the shapes and motion of the universe beyond and was unsettled by the writhing nature of the cosmos that was his home. Reaching the bridge, Nil inputted the 32-letter code in the console beside the large stone door and was overjoyed when the code worked! They smiled brightly and strolled into the bridge as they prepared to once again take the helm and continue their mission.

On the bridge, someone sat in the captain's ornate wooden chair in Nil's place. Nil attempted to waved them away but when that failed, they grabbed the quadruped and placed the fuzzy being on the floor to reclaim their golden bench. Nil paused and thought, "golden...hm." The thought passed and Nil continued on, sitting on the stone block that constituted their seat. Despite the building annoyance of the shifting matter in the bridge, Nil observed his quantum map and paused...

"That hadn't been there before..."

Lights flashed and sirens blared with a deathly silence, blue fire leapt from metal, and glass from the windows to the interior of the ship began to twist and bend. Air in the mess hall shattered, and the ship coursed with electricity as the ship had drifted into a neutron shard. Luckily, Nil was touching metal and safe from any electrical current, as long as the inconsistency law didn't shift the material they occupied. Void fog gathered on the forward glass that Nil frantically attempted to see through while the ship strained and cracked. The quadruped bolted around the bridge and panicked as the fires of destroyed creation began to tear Nil's home apart.

Thinking quickly, they gave the lightest touch on the throttle and launched at near lightspeed out of the neutron shard in ---- seconds flat. Near instantly and perhaps hours later, the blue star fire faded from sight and the ship continued on its way. The universe passed Nil in moments and the entirety of ruined reality faded into a distant blur of silent chaos. Finally, the ship slowed against the drag that now inhabited the empty void and the light of endless points of distant, broken stars reformed from streaks to distant dots.

Nil breathed a muted sigh of relief as they looked to their friendly quadruped and smiled, seeing the little non-sapient safe and seemingly happy with the current situation. The ship settled and the fog of the void that had coalesced on the glass began to disperse. As the view became clearer, Nil stood from their chair and observed their new surroundings that they had stumbled upon, after the leap halfway across the observable universe. The strangest thing that had ever been seen by Nil loomed before the ancient vessel they inhabited. A metal sphere about the size of 10,000 nebulae floated through the void. A silent god presiding over the nothingness of infinity now stared into the soul of Nil and their pet.

The silent judge and cold divine set its attention to the lone sapient and sent a simple message to the being that flashed in Nil's mind with sound that the being hadn't heard since the recursions began and color that had long since faded into simple blues and yellows after all other light in the spectrum had been damaged beyond repair. The iron god spoke a singular and simple message, "You exist?"