The chromed gleam of Ulysses' iconic skull helmet was reflected in the view window of the bathyspheroid as he gazed out onto the edge of a nearby universe. A relic of an adventure long-past, the bathyspheroid was a unique, alchemically-powered machine that enabled a small crew to "dive" through multiversal boundaries and peer into a reality without entering it fully. The size of an average caravan, with only a kitchenette and marine style bathroom, the bathyspheroid was designed for two people at most, but today, five were standing in it's brass-heavy, but tastefully understated interior, taking in the sight through the view window. Made of a section of a massive, flawless diamond, the technology of the bathyspheroid placed a molecules-thick sliver of the window into the "target" reality, allowing observation and only risking being spotted by those with microscopic vision.
Joining Ulysses on the bathyspheriod was a small collection of his most loyal advisors, drawn from both his Hussars and Cataphractii; he had brought them here to witness the beginning of the end. Though most realities were finite in nature, few had an edge or boundary in the way most imagined it, the current example of "The Crunch" being a typical example; a scar of energy across empty space where another universe pushed into this one. Built around this event horizon was The Kyln, an impossibly ancient and cyclopean structure of unknown origin and purpose, currently used as combination power generator and prison for the inhabitants of the Andromeda galaxy. Ulysses raised one hand, palm up, his suit generating a holographic display buzzing with information and analytics, but dominated by a countdown, implying that something was only minutes away from beginning.
Joining Ulysses on the bathyspheriod was a small collection of his most loyal advisors, drawn from both his Hussars and Cataphractii; he had brought them here to witness the beginning of the end. Though most realities were finite in nature, few had an edge or boundary in the way most imagined it, the current example of "The Crunch" being a typical example; a scar of energy across empty space where another universe pushed into this one. Built around this event horizon was The Kyln, an impossibly ancient and cyclopean structure of unknown origin and purpose, currently used as combination power generator and prison for the inhabitants of the Andromeda galaxy. Ulysses raised one hand, palm up, his suit generating a holographic display buzzing with information and analytics, but dominated by a countdown, implying that something was only minutes away from beginning.
At a verbal command from Ulysses, a retrofitted databank began to record the scene outside the view window. The mood inside the bathyspheriod shifted from tense anticipation to muted horror as the Kyln was ripped apart by an explosion the size of a solar system. Though sound did not travel through the vacuum of space, the view window vibrated slightly as the reality they watched trembled, almost as in anticipation, or revulsion. Even at the cosmic distance Ulysses and his companions were from the Crunch, they could see the change that came over it as something ripped through from another reality. The amorphous blob of sickly green that pushed through the multiversal boundary slowly resolved as it spread into the invaded reality, revealing billions of living ships, devouring all in their path.
"It comes, and there is no escape," Ulysses broke the silence, "he has come, the Living Death That Walks. Annihilus is here."
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