The video cut back in.

‘Hey again! Sorry it’s been a while, had my hands full-WOAH NERES! No no! Careful! Remember what Papa said about playing with the-AGHH NO!-’

The video cut out with what sounded like an explosion, but after a few moments it came back.

‘Okay, the feeds online..Let’s try that again shall we! Neres, come say hello to Uncle G and if we’re lucky, Mama might see this too!..Unless someone’s hacked our system..In which case, a quick failsafe scan will commence right now and I feel obligated to let you know that, if you are not them, you will shortly be getting obliterated by a Majik charged Supernova, say goodbye void constellation..…’ His voice went low, dark and scary, real quick.

Bloody hell-

‘..Still with us? Great! Come over here you little scamp!’

A cute little girls, smiley face, popped into view; her face appeared remarkably like Serens but her eyes were more slanted, with red glowing flecks shimmering in her violet irises, her complexion was slightly paler, and, she had long, dark brown, wavy hair instead of Serens cyber blush, green, blue mix.

‘Hello Geegee, Hi Momma. I hope you are doing well. Remember to not buy kids books, beat up all the nasty goblins and, um, something about cuntists-’ Her voice was adorable and she twiddled her fingers as she spoke, clearly a rehearsed performance..but the other me visibly panicked as she mispronounced cultists. ‘Ohhh-nnonono my goodness! Hey now girly! It’s pronounced c-u-l, remember! L for la-la-la!..Well done though sweetheart, I’m proud of you! You can carry on playing if you like.’ He gave her a big hug and kissed her on the head and she skipped out of view. ‘She’s so awesome. I can’t describe how much she means to me. It was strange, when she first opened her eyes, she couldn’t talk, or do anything by herself, there hadn’t been any knowledge transference or anything at all, which contrasts what Seren told me about her birth.. It's been..hard, but I've had to teach everything from scratch, even instincts. Based on that..I have a theory...which, if true, would explain a lot..And that theory is that Serens transcendence resulted in Neres’ birth in a similar vein to what Sigura did in the beginning…So you know what that means right?...Gosh..they do say that good things come in sixes..Don’t they?’ He smirked before the video cut off again.

I dared another glance at Seren as the next recording flashed onto the display; She was resting her chin on her hands and smiling so sweetly, completely entranced and enamoured by the recordings, fully leaning towards the screen as if to soak up every beam and shred of light that illuminated her sparkling eyes, just like a kids first experience on their very first video console.

Smiling to myself, I continued to watch, and, this time, the other me looked hilariously worn out, with dishevelled hair and in the background the squeaky clean lab had turned into a bit of a mess, with obvious chalk or crayon drawings scribbled about the place, and mounds upon mountains of drawings and pictures were stacked up in dozens of ‘an attempt was made’ piles.

‘Heyyyy again. Oh man how long has it been?..Ha! I actually don’t even know!..Let me check my..’ He pulled out a tablet and tapped around it. ‘WAAAH! Holy crap man! It’s ONLY been 350 years!??’

‘Ummmmmm!! Papa said a naughty worrrrdd!’ A cheeky girls voice gasped, called him out and then cackled as more girls voices piped up in wildly different ways.

‘Oooo he’s innnnn trouble! Neres! The time draws near!’

‘Oohh noo, bad Papa! You go in the naughty bin now!’

‘Hmmmm yes…Wait, what did he do again?’

‘AHHHHHH! PAPANAUGHTY! AHHH!’

‘Father, you have committed the sin. Unacceptable.’

Seren slipped out a squeak of shock at the different voices.

Exacerbated other me put his face in his hands and groaned. ‘Oh dear, I’ll never hear the end of that now.. Sorry mate, I wanted to do a big organised surprise but, dead gods help me, they are about as controllable as their mum..Girls! Forget what you heard Papa say! Come here please and say hello and introduce yourselves, I’m making another recording-UFF-OI-N-HEY! GET BACK HERE YOU CHEEKY LITTLE-!’’

An older looking Neres dropped from the ceiling and playfully tackled the other me off balance and then ran off.

‘AHHH! LEAD US TO VICTORY NERES! ON THIS DAY, PAPA WILL FALL! AHHH!’

‘Yes! VICTORY!’

‘AHH HE’S COMING! AHHH HELP!’

‘RIGHT that’s it! You girls have made a grave error. I’ll not be defeated so easily..MWUAHA!’

The other me dashed off, clearly using some sort of movement skill to cheat.

‘Uhhh-Waaggh! I’ve been caught..I think?’

‘Oh no. Sisters. Regrettably, we have lost Cylu. But we must press on.’

‘NO! twinkledust! PAPA, I DEMAND you unhand her or face our combined mighty justice!’

‘Ohhhhh? Is that so……..I refuse.’

‘Heh-heh, a wise-WAIT, WHAT?’

‘Your terms are acceptable. I chose justice.’

There was a moment of silence before an adorably hushed voice broke it.

‘...Starling..can he do that?’

‘I..I’m not sure Yulli..I didn’t factor that response in-AHH HE’S COMING! RUN!’

More manic screams erupted as 5 blurry heads whizzed past, followed by the other me carrying a laughing little girl underarm.

‘You’re all a few million years away from besting me girls! Run! Run whilst you still can!-WOAH EASY! WATCH OUT!-’

The video feed cut off mid squeals and cackling..then returned to show the 6 girls and the other me, looking a bit more well rested. The girls were smiling, seemingly standing according to height or age order, and, appearance wise, their ages looked to range between 6-10 years old. Slow aging.

‘Hello again! Sorry, last time we got a bit carried away and obliterated the radrec, all good now though..Alright! Girls, say hello to uncle Geegee and remember! If we’re super lucky, Momma might be watching too! So don’t forget to give her a message as well. Rinya, little one, would you like to go first?’

The smallest one stepped forward, hands behind her back, calm and collected, with raven purple hair, deep red eyes with pink glowing flecks and a pale complexion. She bowed slightly and spoke in an unnaturally mature tone for someone who looked 6 years old.

‘Greetings. I am called Rinya and as you can see, I am the youngest and smallest. Uncle Geegee, I hope you are keeping well, and out of trouble. Mother, if you are watching, warm greetings to you as well and a special thank you for our existence. It is deeply appreciated.’

Her eyes briefly glanced to her side, checking if anyone could see her before she mouthed very clearly, “I love you.” and then stepped back with a subtle smile.

“Ow I love you too!” Seren burst out in a hushed voice.

‘Lovely introduction young lady! Okay, Ninir, your turn-’

The next one looked 7 or 8, and she jumped forward with a peace sign. Surprisingly, she was a heavily tanned girl with thick golden blond hair adorned with fiery crimson tips and sparkling blue eyes. You could tell she was chock full of energy as she grinned wildly, and her eyes shimmered with flecks of red as she first squealed then spoke, or rather, shouted.

‘AHH! Hello! I’m Ninir, or Nini! Ha, I don’t mind either way really, but I super love you Momma and you too uncle Geegee! Although we haven’t played together yet so I can’t decide who’s my favourite..But I do know I LOVE mint choc chip ice cream! Even if Papa says it doesn’t taste the same as REAL ice cream, I don’t mind! Okay, umm I’m feeling shy and hungry for ice cream now so, um, bye! Love you, love you! Bye! Hehe! AHH’

Ninir peace signed and then randomly punctuated her exit with a scream.

“Love you too little flame!” Seren whispered.

‘Nice one Nini, and trust me, one day we’ll get proper ice cream, not the synthetic stuff, and you’ll see what I mean..all the unique and different molecule ratios that are near impossible to reproduce and simply knowing it isn't organic..anyways, that was excellent! So, Cylu, you’re up next, remember, we’re saying hi to Geegee and maybe Mommy.’

The third little girl stepped forward and waved sheepishly. She had messy, peachy pink shoulder length hair, with brown sleepy eyes that glittered with pink flecks.

‘Hi, hello, um, I’m Cylu and I dream lots about you Mommy, oh and also in the dream we have yummy picnics and uncle G comes and has some yummy foods and then we eat so much we take a warm happy nap. Um, love you lots! Was that good Papa?’

“Love you lots, sleepy one!” Serens voice softly croaked.

‘That was perfect angel! Well done! Who doesn't love food and naps right? Phew I’m getting hungry myself now actually..Alright Starling, you’re next chick-’

‘Hey! PAPA! I’ve told you before I’m not the chick anymore! You need to call me the RAV-AGER-OF-EVIL! O-KAY?’

‘Hmm, but chick is much easier-’

‘But ravager is much cooooler..’

The other girls giggled.

‘Tsk, okay ravager please continue..’

Ravager Starling stepped forward, a pale skinned, strong looking girl with half white and half black hair, with silvery eyes with silver flecks glowing in the iris.

‘Heh! Thank you Papa. Hi Mom! My dad says you were the greatest fighter ever and that’s where I got my ultra fighter-spirit from, that’s super cool heh you're awesome..and so, um, I’ll make sure to grow up and be as cool and greatest as you are...I hope…Hi U-Gee! My dad says you’re also the coolest dude he knows, but that you still have a long way to go before you’re a super fighter like mom..But Ganbaru, okay! You can do it!’

She spun around and fist pumped, turning around but then stopping halfway and turned back around.

‘Oh I nearly forgot, love you fiercely mom! Keep kicking butts!’

The other me gasped as the girls cackled.

‘Starling! Language!’

“Love you fiercely back, I will!” Seren pined with a sniff as her face got closer and closer to the screen.

‘Sorry Papa! But sometimes strong words helps people feel stronger, right? And they’ll need all the help we can give them, right?’

The other me smiled proudly and beckoned ‘the ravager’ back.

‘Okay, okay..Ahh, you are undefeatable as always chick..Alright! Miss Yulli, your turn next please.’

A confident 9 or 10 year old looking girl with ice blue wavy hair that had dark tips stepped forward; her charismatic hazel eyes glinted with silver flecks, as she smiled sweetly and looked directly into the recording.

‘Hello Uncle Gee Gee! Hello dearest Mama! I’m sure you are both watching and would love to speak to us..I, would also love to speak to you both as well, but I’m kinda aware of why we can’t..but, I’m pretty confident that me and Neres, and everyone else, we will come up with some way to meet or talk..Even if Papa says it is impossible, I have a tummy feeling that says otherwise..I..um..miss you so much..Um-’ She choked up a bit as her eyes glinted with moisture, but she sniffed and steeled herself, putting on a brave face. ‘Anyways! Yes. We’ll definitely find a way! Don’t you worry. Love you. Talk to you soon.’

She created a heart shape with her fingers and then marched back in line.

Seren returned the gesture with a trembling lip and glistening eyes.

‘Wonderfully put Yulli. Well done…And finally, that leaves you to sign us out Neres, perhaps you could give give a quick tour on what you’ve been working on and our future plans?’

The other me beamed with pride, as Neres nodded thoughtfully and stepped forward.

‘Hello again, we, spoke, not too long ago, back before me and Papa found my little sisters out in the expanse, but we’ve all been very busy with out studies and also working on a very special project..I’m still a bit fuzzy with the concepts, but, kurzgesagt, we’re trying to understand the forces and mechanics behind how the ovoids physically move between the cycles. We hope that we can also do this and elevate this with Majik and maybe even come over ourselves and then we could see each other!..Um, but if not, we want to do something that will help you and all the other universal cycles..because if we don’t, all those cycles will keep looping the same outcomes..forever..And I don’t want that. I love you, Mother. I don’t want you or Papa to get hurt, ever again. We’re going to get stronger and smarter and then heck yeah we'll kick their butts! In ALL cycles! Right sisters?’

‘Yeah!’

‘YES!

‘Huh?-um-uhh-yes!’

‘AHH YES! AHH!’

‘Butts. Yes. Correct.’

‘Language!’

“I know you will! I love you too, brave girl!” Seren hands were clasped over her chest.

The other me groaned and muttered to himself.

‘So that’s where they get it from-OOF!’

The girls all giggled at each other as Neres returned and they started to hop and clutch onto the other me, with Neres making it to his shoulders.

‘Now we have done our introductory speeches Papa, it is TIME FOR THE ICE OF CREAM! ONWARDS!’

‘Gah!-Easy-OW-Right right! Well, sorry guys! We have got to run! We might be gone for a long time so we’ll catch up once we make some progress! Talk soon!’

The screen blacked out and quickly switched to another video, this time it showed the other me in a very old style room, with mahogany bookshelves and soft lights embedded in the walls; He leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head.

‘Hello, it’s me again..Man, it feels like a millenia since I actually got to sit down and have peace and quiet..The girls are doing great. Like, they are super smart and wonderful…but..’

He squeezed his eyes shut.

‘But there’s a few things I’m not equipped to deal with that well! And it has caused a few tensions between us!..You’d think after all this time I’d be some super master of wisdom and keeper of secrets of our dimension..PAH! Sure I can bend reality! Oh yeah, don’t worry about reigniting a sun here and there, that’s a piece of cake!..But when it comes to raising teenage girls? Pffft, yeah good luck with that one...Yeeeeeeh….Especially daemon ones..’

He leaned his head right back and clutched at his face, staring at the ceiling. He groaned and continued to talk through hands.

‘They’re constantly asking about boys. “Are there any left?”, “Can you make some?”, “Papa, I want a boyfriend”, “Why do I feel the need to submit my body to a strong mate? Shouldn’t I beat them into submission first?”, “Father, I require a tall, dark, passionate male to sate my lustrous desires-” I mean come on! Give me a break here! I don’t want to hear that kind of stuff!! Can’t they just like, I dunno, fap it out or something?! Oh dead gods help me..They’re certainly your girls, Seren. That’s for damn sure..I started to suppress those bits of me a long time ago after..well, after I lost another person I loved…And yes, I know…I know that it would be unfair to them to just ignore and hope it goes away…..I need to do something about it. And I will. I’ve got a plan that I’m pretty sure will solve all our problems..But the real question is, will I be able to make in time before they rip apart the fabric of reality, or even worse, what if they set their sights on me?!..’

There was a short knock on the door before a late teenage looking girl burst in-

‘AHHH!’

The other me comically screamed a few octaves higher.

‘Woah! Take it easy old man! You drawing naughty pictures of Mom again? Ugh gross..’

‘W-w-wha-not at all! Where on earth would you get that idea-’

‘Relax Papa! I’m just messing with you! I just came to tell you that Neres has finished cooking…Also, she spilled the gospel that you’ve got an important announcement you wanted to tell us tonight…Sooo, like, care to tell your favourite, strongest, prettiest little girl before the other slutbags?’

The teenage girl fluttered her eyelids and gave a plastic smile.

‘Hey Starling! Don’t talk about your sisters like that!..’

Starling had grown up into a very beautiful, strong looking young woman. She was amazonian tall and wearing a futuristic detailed, fitted jumpsuit, with her half white, half black hair let loose as she gave the other me an unimpressed raised eyebrow.

‘Hmm, but actually yes, I should tell my favourite, strongest, prettiest, little girl….Could you go get Rinya for me please-’

‘WOW! It’s like that HUH? Well guess what, I KNOW your making a video, so hi U-Gee, Hi Mom! Has Papa shard his sketches he keeps in in his, eRoTiC, oH sO HiDdEn dRaW-’

‘PLEASE! OH FOR THE DEAD STARS SAKE! STOP! YOU KNOW I CAN’T ERASE-’

The screen winked out leaving ME feeling embarrassed! I didn’t dare look at Seren, who’s gleeful eyes of joy I could feel burning into the side of my head. The silence dragged on and she bloody snickered.

Oh man why man! Why! I don’t even like drawing!

And all I could do was face palm..

The next video flickered on and what I saw made my heart leap out of my chest.

‘Hey guys! Check it out! We bloody did it! We actually completed it! Look at it!-’

He was on a planet with vast fields of purple grass and dim, yellow skies, but what gave me a heart attack was the-

‘We have made a seververse, penteract CUBE!’

I-HE MADE THIS THING?!

“Holy. Titfuck..” Seren whispered her thoughts as the oblivious other me continued his vlog.

‘Yeah, crazy right!? I mean, if you’re watching this then it means everything has spectacularly worked..This is only the first working prototype, but in a nutshell, it’s designed to be a self contained, autonomous, indestructible, reality-sim space! We’re just finishing up the first machine intelligence that will run the entire thing..But it actually flipping works! We only built this prototype which was only the size of a garden shed JUST a few weeks ago, but it continuously pulled in matter and Majik to grow! Oh! Hey here’s Cylu! Come here you little godling beauty genius! Come explain some of the mind blowing wonders of this creation!’

A very curvy grown up Cylu came into view and gave a timid wave, brushing a pale pink lock behind her ear to join the rest of her hip length hair.

‘Nooo Papa! I didn’t do much..Only the tessellation engines and the..Severspace antenna..Wha-..What!’’

The other me barked a hearty laugh and put an arm around Cylu and gave her a bear hugging squeeze.

‘You hear all that? She ONLY created two miracle grade artefacts. Only two! Ha!...Ahh, alright Cylu I’ll let you get on, I know you’re really excited to get this finished and join the others..I’ll see you later angel.’ He gave her a peck on the head and let her go.

‘T-thanks Papa. See you later. Bye Uncle G. Bye Mommy.’ She bobbed her head towards the screen with a blushing smile and scuttled off. For someone so timid, I realised her outfit was basically a pair of hotpants and a croptop.

“Holy titties my gal certainly has got a pair..” Seren absentmindedly muttered with a proud snort.

‘Alright, well I’ve got to hurry as well otherwise the girls will quite literally crucify me, but this thing right here? It’s going to be our home for the next few billion or trillion years, and it will protect us whilst we await this cycle to end. It’s going to be randomly generated adventures, crazy horror filled lands, utopian paradises..and HAH, yes, there will be boys..and girls..Everything and anything that we have time for...My friend, I know you’ll hate me for this, but I’ve finally become the very thing we loathe..I’ve become the creator of a real life RPG magical world generator…But it’s for the girls. They deserve to experience so much. So I’ll give them everything I can…’

He scratched his stubbly chin. It was remarkable how he had somehow gotten even younger.

‘And don’t worry, we’ve got plenty of safeguards in place, yeah, don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten all those science fiction or fantasy films and books..Heh, although honestly I doubt any of them covered we’ve got going here, but I’m confident we’ve covered every scenario….I think..Ahem. Just to skim over a few examples we have firstly, the resurrection system. Once you enter the cube, your physical body is “copied” and linked with a clone that you sort of remotely into? I guess it’s more like you create a virtual tunnel in space that isolates and redirects the-...um…actually she changed that didn’t she, nevermind then....But! The bottom line is you don’t even notice the transition or difference, and it keeps your original conciousness structure asynchronously updated without exposing the original entangled geometry. Absurdly convenient? Absolutely. Trivial technology to implement? For Cylu, yes. That girl is beyond a genius, smarter than anyone or anything I’ve ever known, they all are.’

He beamed with pride, nodding to himself.

‘And the core directive of this is to protect us in the most secure place of the cube, a place I like to call heaven. There is a quirky side bonus which allows us to, and I beg your forgiveness for wording it like this, “create our own characters” hahahaha! Oh I bet you love that ahaha-’

I reflexively groaned.

‘-Ahhh I bet you groaned!..You did didn’t you! Ha! Oh man it’s too funny, haha...Ahem, alright so there’s a few things I want to implement on top of the control domain system we’ve cooked up. That module is to keep things interesting, balanced and fresh. It will control our Prog-org and Majik levels, depending on how the machine manager, “Management”, thinks best, but there’ll be some decisions made based on rules of whatever world we’re in a the time..Management won’t have direct acces to heaven though mind. It might sound crazy handicapping ourselves intentionally, but, without it, things would be beyond trivial..By that I mean, and not to boast or anything but, I’ve already surpassed preterghast level a long time ago..I’m pretty sure, although I can’t prove that theory, although honestly I think the girls are way past me and are heading towards levels I could never reach..Levels that only them and their amazing mum could reach..’

He looked down and smiled thoughtfully.

‘We’re going to kickstart life again you know? Even if it sounds artificial, it still will be living, breathing organisms. I’m not sure if these neohumans will be tethered like we are to the innerplane, but they’ll still be alive. This cube will keep growing and growing over time and will eventually be able to sustain solar systems and then galaxies. But we won’t get much bigger than that. The cycle will catch us before we get closer to galaxy super cluster sizes…Imagine that man. We might actually see what this singularity looks like! Wouldn’t that be something huh...Not even in our wildest childhood dreams did we ever even imagine the concept, let alone actually have a solid chance of achieving it. The girls certainly will. I know they’ll find a way to somehow harness it…Watch out 5th dimension, you’ve got 6 eternally hormonal daemon girls coming your way….Well, that’s all for now, see you guys later.’

Once again, I was left staring wide eyed at the screen in absolute, ball slapping, shock.

This can’t be real, this..Heaven?..Ressurection?!..No way could it mean-

Another video flickered up.

‘OKAY! YUP! YUP! Those girls MAN..WOW-Oh FF-Argh!......Oh, a question huh? What’s that you ask? Why are you making todays video Godu? It’s only been a couple of decades since your last? OH-OH well, let me TELL you, WHY I’m making todays video!! But first, how about a little story time hm?...So, adventure time begins. A magical world filled with actual quests, kings, queens, a BOATFUCKINGLOAD of lads and ladies!! Huzzah!!..And yet, what’s the first thing the girls do when we enter? THEY FUCKING slaughter half the population because ONE STUPID peasant boy upset Cylu by saying he already had a girlfriend!!! AND THEN Neres and Starling decide to PK EACH OTHER FOR A LAUGH! But FINE! Yeah okay! This poor medievil civilisation can rebuild, there’s still half of them left and to be fair, we’ve got the resurrection system which can actually bring the natives and the girl back and that works flawlessly, right? RIGHT?..YEAH! EXCEPT THOSE TWO STARTED TO TRY AND SPAWN KILL EACH OTHER AND THE NPCS IN HEAVEN! PURELY FOR SHITS AND GIGGLES!!...Lifeless earth give strength!...They failed miserably, thanks to the AI intervening..But honestly!! Do they not realise the sanctity of life? Did I not, nurture and instill the preciousness of existence? Did I..Agh..Anyways. I’ve put in rules and a new system in place that will ensure this kind of stunt can’t be pulled ever again, even if it’s just to reduce the bloody strain they are putting on the management layer..That poor AI man, it really freaked the fuck out and forcifully pulled me out of an alternate life that I was getting quite invested in might I add, all so that I could stop the craziness...I’d gone in with semi masked memories and THE perfect cliche backstory..I can’t tell you what it is though..because I know you’d judge me, heavily.’

He chuckled to himself then sighed.

‘Ohh Celestial level problems, am I right?.....Oh well, at least it gave me a chance to check things over and, I gotta’ say, everything is functioning beyond my expectations..It’s truly unreal….Even though we’re technically the creators of artificial suffering, life and death..Morality aside, I’m quite happy and proud of what we’ve done! And, in our absolute defense, you might die or feel pain here in the cube, but at least you’ll never truly die!...So with that, here’s to more adventures, cheers! Hopefully see you again in more than a few decades this time!’

The video blinked out and we didn’t have to wait long until the next one flickered back. This time around it started off showing a breathtaking view of a lush landscape that seemed to stretch on forever. There were lush green forests, long grassy plains, crisp mountains with snow peaks and peach fluffy clouds, all littered with all manner of creatures as well as a few absurdly sci-fi looking silver and white highly advanced skyscrapers that glinted in the sunlight.

‘Look at all this and promise me one thing. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that there is such a thing as too long a life. We’ve lived trillions of lives over trillions of years. We’ve experienced so much, an uniminginable amount, and do you know what? We still want to experience more. We still want more time..You would think that we’d be sick to death of living by now, ha, sick to death of dying so many times too..But nope. Each new life we live is treasured and loved. Every last death is impactful and beautiful…And..So, we want to keep on going..’

The feed switched to a view from outside the cube and at first it looked like a tiny box.

‘Beautiful isn’t it? That’s home, and I bet you’re thinking “it’s such a tiny box”...Well, we’re about 1 million light years away right now, so I’ll let you do the math on how big it is…The cube exceeded growth estimates by a staggering amount, and it now contains billions of stars and planets, each containing life, all of which it..mostly, birthed itself..Ahem.’

Wait, I’m confused?? Why the shifty eyes-

“But that’s not really what I want to talk about. Nono..Look..Truly look at this.’’

The view switched and the sight was…Exotic. Unfathomable. Divine. Fundemental. Primal.

‘This is the singularity. The end has started to exist.’

There was an unqauntifiable colourless dot from which beams of 2 dimensional light strobed and arced back in on itself like coronal loops, filaments and arcs of space and reality unravelling and..I could..feel it through the video, almost as if, the longer I stared at it, the closer it was getting, even to the point that the screen would expand and overwrite my reality-

The view point blinked to a temple like place, trees with falling red autumn leaves onto a stone paved floor, a gentle breeze blowing through the branches, a large building made of wood and a pond that had a waterfall trickling down some kind of bamboo contraption that would periodically tip over and thud as water filled it up.

‘It’s both beautiful and terrifying. You don’t even want to know how complex and difficult it is to capture what it looks like..Technically it’s like a black hole where light can’t escape, but this thing is worse as not even a shred of radiation or time gets away either..It entangles and tethers ANYTHING it observes or thinks about, and, once entangled, you cannot escape it, not even through time and space...Ha, if that’s confused you, then think about this, I can’t record it with my current methods for too long, else theoretically, it could start to effect YOUR cycle. That’s how absurd it is….And it is what will finally reclaim all we have created here as well as our existence..’

He set us down on something and sat down on a bench looking out into the distance.

‘On some lighter news, we sent some probes out about 500 billion years ago, mainly because Cylu was concerned that there might have been life still out there, especially the preterghasts..which a handful still were surprisingly..But, funnily enough, your Striga buddies were still scraping an existence together, alongside a colony of tardigrades of all things...The Strigas ended up accepting Cylu’s invitation and they’ve now got a plush life in an entire solar system for themselves and live a very peaceful life..Although they make me bloody uncomfortable with their unnaturally ability to find ways to break my artefacts, and their difficulty in taking a joke..And as for the tardigrades, well, they didn’t really have much of a choice since Cylu abducted them and treats them like puppies..But she loves them so much..She even hand terraformed an entire planet to give them the perfect conditions to live on, ha..She’s a good girl…Well, I should say lady, but it’s funny, I still think of them all as my precious little girls..Always will I think.’

He grinned and shook his head.

‘Oh they’re doing amazing by the way, they’ve come up with some serious miracle grade tech, but the specific one most relevant to me and you my friend, is also my best shot at getting all these silly video diaries over to you, and I really hope that it’s going to work because..I hope you, Seren, Marri and Lone when he’s older..perhaps they can see it and..perhaps..you’ll be proud of what we’ve achieved..I mean, I know I’m endlessly proud of the girls, they’re the only reason I feel at peace now, but, I want you to feel that peace as well. I want all the cycles to feel that peace..Selfishly for me and my own first, but I truly believe this is the best way to exist and I want to share it with everything. Not to force it onto anything of course, but, just to give everything another option in existence...And this brings us to our crazy-mad-scientist master plan.”

He rubbed his hands together and tapped in the air, spontaneously producing a pretty diagram made of silver and gold threads.

‘I’ll spare you the gorey exotic physics, but, Cylu, Rinya and Starling accidentally came across a method of carving 2 dimensional Majik glpyhs in a 5 dimensional space. And when I say accidently, they in fact found it out when they were poking around an ovoid carcass; a somewhat strange repeat of events, I know,..It sounds wild and crazy, but bear with me as it essentially means that, if we pull this off, we will be able to ensure that every cycle has an invisible region of space that will activate based on some trigger, and upon activation, it could deploy something like our cube, or an artefact, or perhaps even a clone of us!..But I think the cube is our best shot since it has a lot of tessellation already baked into the structure....Also after some carful thought, I dread to think what would happen if I sent over galaxy shattering artefacts and a bunch of nobheads somehow got access and figured out how to use them…’

He snorted to himself and then sighed before continuing.

‘Me and the girls have spoken about if there’s someway we can find a method to send ourselves, but I don’t think it’s possible. The preterghast couldn’t send themselves, only their annoying ovoids, oh those bloody pesky things that autonomously went on to inhibit all other life in the universe whilst creating optimal conditions for themselves..Man that was so long ago now..We wondered, maybe we could do something with memories and clones..But it simply wouldn’t be us, and from that plain fact, stems a HUGE risk scenario where their personality could alter slightly..And that thought is horrifying, given our abilities..I can’t risk creating malicious, nightmare copies of us, that would be rather, irresponsible.’

The screen once again flickered off and then blinked back to a view of all 6 of the girls, who were now grown up into young ladies, all smiling and standing in the same old lab that still had crayon scribbles and stacks and stacks of paper drawings. It was incredible how little they had aged given the unholy timescales, yet, just by glancing at them you could tell they were beyond mortal; More mature, more knowledgable and far more powerful than anything I could even imagine..

First was the charismatic Neres, with her arms folded leaning back against the wall, wearing a sleek black captains trenchcoat with red trimmings with a military hat, looking like a general of a celestial army. She had a million and one plans going on in her head, ready to execute 50 million moves ahead of you at any given time. A pure leader.

Then Yulli, calmly standing with her hands behind her back, wearing an elegant contemporary japanese themed sleeveless dress, with a silk kimono left undone and hanging off her shoulders. Elegant, poised, unbending loyalty and commitment.

Beside her was a seeming bored Starling, her hair neatly hanging down each side of her shoulders, wearing a skin tight leather one piecer, with a single black metal pauldron and black lace symbols stitched on the leather in vertical patterns. Fearless. Brave. Chaos incarnate.

Looking somewhat out of place was Cylu with her long plush hair falling down to her calves, and she was simply wearing a light creme pink crop top with hot pants and slippers. Kind, warm, endless intelligence.

Nearing the end was Ninir, wearing a crisp white cloth wrap top, loose fitted baggy pants and trainers. She grinned wildly as she lightly swayed to some secret tune, wavy hair flowing free and wild…Full of love, full of passion, full of life.

And finally, Rinya, standing with her hands on her hips, hair tied up in a bushy plume, staring intently into the recording device with a knowing smirk, wearing a black vest covered with a short denim jacket that covered some of the military webbings she was also equipped with. Each shoulder had very advanced and technical looking shoulder pads and she had intricate wrist guards that seemed to subtly shift around and change shape. An enigma, a mystery. Calm, collected, and a keeper of all secrets

It was hard to deny how impressive they all looked.

The other me walked into view wearing plain black combat trousers with boots and a knitted long sleeve top and awkwardly squidged his way into the middle. The last of a long gone civilisation. An old fart with nostalgic tendancies, the body of a young man in his prime, and the coolness of a glass of water that has been sitting indoors in the sun for too long.

‘C-come on girls, make some space for your old man eh?..Nyeeh. Come on, shift up Neres, little bit more Starling, there we go, thanks, thanks.’

The eye rolls could be felt as much as seen.

‘Ahh, all good? Good…Okay! So!..Today’s the day...It’s been an extremely long time coming, but, as we all sadly know, the cube is being consumed by the singularity and it’s only going to get faster…So..’

He looked at the grown up girls with a proud smile.

‘We’re committed to doing this….Right now…No procrastinating. We’ve gone over the plan and ran the sims and we’re confident it will work…So, anything you want to say before we go ladies?’

They all looked at each other and it was like they turned into little girls again as they smirked before chanting in unison.

‘We love you Momma! We always will!’

Ninir piped up. ‘Ah! Don’t forget Geegee too! Ah!’

‘Yes! Bye U-Gee!’

‘Stay safe and look after Mama!’

‘You better take care!’

‘Sayonara uncle.’

‘G-goodbye!’

They turned to the other me and tackled him with a group hug. He yelped in surprise, but the look of pure happiness and contentment as he wrapped his arms around them all was utterly heartwarming.

He squeezed his eyes shut.

‘Perfect..Well done girls..Well done..’

They spent a few moments like this until the other me looked up at the camera and with glinting eyes of serenity and peace, he smiled and held out a hand.

‘I’m going to try and keep recording until the very last moment, and, if this actually works, it will be inevitable for you and certain others to find this; It will be prety hard for you to ignore a giant cube at least..I know that for sure.’

A watery spark filled orb materialisd and drifted to the center of the room.

‘And then once you’ve seen all these recordings, hopefully you’ll understand that, no matter what happens, you can do it. You’ve got this. Just keep going. Never give up, and NEVER bloody let the universe win.’

It ballooned outwards, enveloping them and the recording device, slipfolding us all into outerspace..

The view was..

It was life changing.

It drained all thoughts and fears, and somehow, it put everything into perspective.

The singularity was bigger yet also somehow smaller. The uncountable, 2 dimensional, coronal-loop-light-tendrils were massive, projecting out flat images of universes and realities, and, just by looking at each one merely through the screen, I could feel existences, memories, all impossible to describe or quantify or grasp long enough to retain them.The space all around was becoming illogical and distorted, fracturing and condensing within one moment, then clearing and frozen in the next. The sheer scale and absolution of it all was both utterly terrifying and utterly comforting.

It is the end of all that has shape.

It is the end of all that has logic.

The flat impossibly thin ribbons of light spontaneously twisted into a spiral, and lashed out whilst condensing millions of light years of space in the blink of an eye. It pulled the far distant, celestial sized cube towards it, and simply erased the fabric of reality it was occupying.

Completely.

Ffffffffucking hell!

The other me and the girls slowly drifted out in a line towards the universal anomaly and then spread out, the recording device stayed put, but the physical room we were in darkened as the entire room started to change into their space.

Woah-woah! What the fuck! NONONO-

We were in the same space as them, still sitting and yet we weren’t quite full there either, like ghosts. I gripped onto the chair and held my breath. The oxygen was disappearing anyway.

‘Okay! We all know our duties! You know this better than me, but I’m going to repeat it all for my own sake..Once we begin, no matter what, we cannot stop!’

There were silent nods.

‘Alright then…’

‘Let’s begin!’ And Chaos erupted.

It was like the singularity knew what was going to happen. Neres, Yulli, Starling, Cylu , Ninir, Rinya and the other me erupted with a shroud of plasma flames that funneled forward into a constant beam as Majik casually evaporated at levels that could obliterate dozens of galaxies. Meanwhile the anomaly sent tendrils out to intercept the beams and they erased the flow where they touched-

‘Steady girls! Steady! I’m going to begin the first logic carve!’

There was a flash and impossibly, it appeared like a plasma beam appeared from the anomaly and scarred it-

‘Success YES!-WATCH OUT NERES!-’

In another blink of the eye, a tendril appeared and wiped out the space where Neres had been-

‘I’m good! Keep going!’

But she had somehow seen it coming and distorted space and warped the attack out of the way.

‘Okay well done sweetheart! I’m going for the next one!’

Another flash and another impossible light scar appeared, along with another retaliation from the anomaly-

‘FATHER NO!-’

‘PAPA!!!-’

‘NOOO!!-’

But this time it connected, and impaled the other me. The girls cried out in pure heartbreak.

‘I CAN’T! I’M SORRY! WE HAVE TO HELP-’

‘AGH-DON’T-’

Like an unholy heathen, the other me fought against the erasure. Resisting.

‘D-DON’T-LOSE FOCUS! K-KEEP GOING!’

He rebelled against reclamation. I could start to feel a horrendous pressure on my own body. Reality was offended.

'N-NEVER-G-..GIVE UP!’

With his bare hands, I saw him clutch onto the fabric of reality, and he pulled endless folds of space, and he tore into the tendril.

‘RE-REMEMBER-G-G-GIRLS!-’

The singularity responded by erasing his hands with a pillar of nothing and it naturally tried to do the same to him. I could feel the coldness of it. It froze the surface of my own skin.

‘N-NO-MATTER-W-WHAT-HAPPENS!’

Black triangular shields burst out from his back and snapped into place. Then they snapped further outwards, expanding and unfolding bigger and bigger.

‘YOU-W-WILL-ALWAYS-’

They burst into light, like the birth of a million suns all at once gasping for life and the right to burn, and he pushed back against the pillar of nothing. I could feel the heat searing my hair and skin.

‘ALWAYS!-BE-M-MY-AMAZING GIRLS!-AND I'M-SO-P-PROUD-OF-MMGHH-............................’

But it was futile, as the pillar erased it all. My body and mind was peeled and ripped apart into shards of nothing.

‘PAAAAAPAAAAA!’

The girls cried out in soul crushing, harmonious agony as the other me finally succumbed and was completely obliterated..

…

But I realised that his actions weren’t futile or merely fatherly self sacrifice, no, the girls had fiercely carried on their main mission, and a complex series of patterns and light scars had been vengefully lashed away at the singularity, even as it unleashed an all consuming tsunami of 2 dimensional ribbons of light that ripped the entirety of all remaining space and time to impossible nothingness, leaving only their tiny bubble of existence remaining.

My own consciousness was drowning in a sea of true void.

The girls defied the unstoppable, as they clasped hands and silently cried out together, eyes closed..Their bodies started to crumble and dismantle, particle by particle, whether they were sacrificing themselves or being surgically undone at their fundamental level was impossible to say, but, together, they achieved beyond the impossible, and conjured a ribbon of reality itself, a celestial slice of their own that was filled with moons, planets, systems, constellations, galaxies, super clusters; an entire universe..

And they used that, to carve their final glyph..

…

..

.

…

..

.

They fucking completed it.

…

..

.