He, Who Was Once Samuel, Met His Destiny

Millennia after making their first contact, The Zerkoid Empire would reward a few humans their greatest gift, bestowed on only extraordinary members of a species for achieving peace, prosperity, and making a life-saving contribution to another civilization.

Samuel Smith became the first human to receive the most honorable prize. After saving an entire member planet from extinction by stopping a killer asteroid while risking his own life.

Chancellor Zerg gave Samuel an activation key in a private ceremony.

"Samuel, I hereby bequeath to you our most treasured technology, one that can lead to your destiny, but we advise you to exercise caution, to never go beyond the 'great perimeter.'"

"What's beyond the great perimeter?" Samuel raised his eyebrows.

"Your fate ..." Zerg pointed to the heavens.

"I'm sorry, Chancellor Zerg." Samuel bowed. "With all due respect, you speak in riddles which make no sense. Why would I want to avoid my destiny? For all my life, I've always wanted to know my true purpose in the universe and where I'll finally end up going."

"Each being's destiny will befall it when the moment is right." Zerg patted Samuel on the shoulder. "And that moment should not be sought, for it is given. Live your life to the fullest, Samuel. Embrace each and every day. And avoid the temptations of fate."

The next day, Samuel entered a chamber and inserted his key.

The machine slowly powered on ...

He floated above his stationary body and drifted through the air at will. His essence traveled the globe, rediscovering Earth in its vibrant detail with his newly unfiltered non-corporeal perceptions.

Samuel also explored the microscopic, down to the atomic level, and nearly beyond.

But once he came close to the quantum realm, he felt a shock, a terribly excruciating pain, and a sense of terror without words.

Samuel reversed course and ventured out into the cosmos, passing through the atmosphere, into deep space, beyond the solar system to other galaxies at speeds seemingly faster than light.

He continued traveling to the center of the known universe—a swirling supermassive black hole.

As Samuel got closer to it, he felt the opposite of the quantum barrier—a gravitational attraction of pure joy and euphoria. As if the black hole beckoned him, "Come, Samuel, you are home now. Your fate awaits."

A sensation of absolute blissfulness overwhelmed him—reminiscent of his childhood.

Samuel remembered Chancellor Zerg's warning to avoid temptations. Still, he thought, "Nothing so welcoming, wondrous, and full of sheer joy could be so wrong."

Right before Samuel entered the event horizon, he observed many other energy-force-like entities going toward it.

As Samuel Smith passed through the supermassive black hole—at the very center of the universe—he soon began to forget himself:

"Who am I? Why ... can't... I ...think ... ?”

An extraordinarily bright white light encompassed him, the once 'Samuel.'

He cried out as arms embraced him with unconditional love.

He, who was once Samuel, met his destiny.