A young man entered the pristine white laboratory, the hum of machinery and flickering monitors filling the space.
"Greetings, Professor."
The older man, clad in a lab coat streaked with hints of grease and dust from long hours of work, turned with a warm smile.
"Welcome, Xeno. How was the date?"
Xeno's face turned a faint shade of red as he rubbed the back of his neck. "It was well, Professor. Thank you for giving me the break."
The professor chuckled, waving off the gratitude. "Haha, it's not a problem, kid. After this becomes successful, you'll get all the breaks you need."
Still somewhat flustered, Xeno nodded. But then his eyes narrowed, noticing the slight furrow in the professor's brow, the way his fingers drummed against the metallic table.
"Professor... what's wrong?"
The professor sighed, momentarily lost in thought before shaking his head. "Nothing much. Just a feeling. We ran the math over fifty times—every formula, every calculation—and got the same results each time. But something still feels... off. The company's pressuring us not to delay any longer."
Straightening his back, Xeno smiled reassuringly. "Nothing to worry about, Professor. I'm sure it will be fine. I mean, you're the greatest scientist of all time."
The professor chuckled, giving a tired but grateful smile.
Soon the room was abuzz with anticipation. Technicians, engineers, and researchers gathered around as the final preparations for the portal test commenced. The large ring-like structure in the center of the lab hummed with energy, glowing as power surged through its core.
"Portal integrity at 98%!"
"Dimensional stabilization holding steady!"
The professor stood before the portal, his heartbeat matching the rhythmic pulses of energy. A breath. A moment of hesitation. Then—
"Engage the portal!"
A brilliant light erupted within the structure, swirling with colors no mortal eye should witness. Space itself twisted as reality folded inward, revealing a shimmering doorway to the unknown. Cheers erupted across the lab.
For a brief, beautiful moment, it was a success.
Then, alarms blared.
"Warning! Power source overheating!"
The professor turned, his stomach twisting into knots. One of the main power cores surged beyond critical levels. Sparks flew, and before anyone could react—
BOOM!
A deafening explosion tore through the air. Shrapnel and flames scattered as the shockwave knocked several scientists to the ground. The force sent the professor stumbling backward—right into the open portal.
"Professor!" Xeno's scream was the last thing he heard before the world disappeared.
--- Primordial Space ---
The professor did not fall. He was ripped through existence.
A moment ago, there had been light, sound, matter.
Now, there was everything—and nothing.
His body convulsed as his very essence unraveled. He tried to scream, but he had no lungs. He tried to move, but he had no body. He was a thought, a fragment of self-awareness, tumbling through an ocean of chaos.
The stars screamed in colors unknown. Great cosmic tides crashed through infinity, each wave carrying memories of civilizations long erased. Shapes that defied comprehension shifted in and out of existence, their forms rewriting the rules of reality with every passing second. Planets collapsed and reformed in the span of heartbeats, yet time had no meaning.
Something touched him. A force. A presence. A law of existence so beyond mortal understanding that his mind split apart, fragmenting into a thousand selves, each experiencing a different reality at once.
He saw himself living infinite lives. A king ruling over an empire that had never existed. A beggar dying in a world that had never been born. A god, worshiped by beings beyond stars. A mere shadow, forgotten by history.
The knowledge was maddening. He was not meant to be here. No thing was meant to be here. The very concept of identity was an illusion in this place. And yet—he existed.
Or did he?
Then, a flicker of warmth.
A memory.
The necklace against his skin, the Primordial Stone pulsing with an energy beyond even this place. It tethered him, anchoring him to something real.
The madness receded, just enough for him to grasp at a single thought.
I am still me.
His consciousness coiled around that truth, clinging to it as the chaos continued to rage around him. He had to endure. He had to understand.
And so he watched. He learned. He adapted.
Time did not exist, yet he spent eons within this shifting eternity. He went insane. Then, after growing bored of insanity, he became sane again. Then ultimately something beyond both. He studied, experimented, reached out into the swirling forces of creation and destruction.
Until one day, he grasped something real. A thread of power. A truth hidden within the madness.
And then—
He fell.
Not through space. Not through time.
But through existence itself.
Back into the world he once knew, yet one that would never be the same again.