Free Web NovelChapter 200: _The Beauty Of The Multiverse
"Well... here I am." Ambrose spread out his arms with an awkward smile after a few seconds of silence. "I couldn’t just sit around with all these unanswered questions. The system is basically as clueless as me, not to mention it doesn’t work whenever we’re in whatever this place is."
It was only when he was done that he got self-conscious enough to think he was talking too much.
He pressed his lips in a thin line, waiting for his future self to speak next.
The other Ambrose slowly brought a hand to his mask, peeling it off with deliberate care. When it was off, he brushed back his blonde hair.
"Some limitations I still never learned how to bypass myself," he muttered finally, his head tilting just a bit. "And what unanswered questions?"
"For starters," Ambrose inched forward by a few steps, "those riddles you gave me last time."
"Those ’riddles’ were real accounts of actual events, believe it or not."
"Yeah, sure." He didn’t even bother arguing. "Exactly why I’m here. Because what do you mean I’m your replacement? What exactly happens in the future that made you desperate enough to send the system to me? How the heck did the future me end up having a child with another man? Did—"
"What makes you so sure I’d answer you this time?"
"Uhm, I don’t know? Maybe to prevent whatever happened in your future from happening to mine? A little more heads-up would be nice."
"I already gave you a head start by replacing the original Ambrose Hale with your soul, Benji Foster." And there it fucking was.
The potential first piece to solving this conundrum of a puzzle.
Ambrose narrowed his eyes. "So," a pause, "you were never Benji Foster like I was? The soul in you right now is—"
"What the original Ambrose Hale’s soul would’ve turned out to be if I didn’t interfere." An impressed smirk stretched the older Ambrose’s lips. "See? You’ve already answered one of your questions."
"Technically that was a joint effort." Ambrose shook his head, fighting to ignore the headache gnawing at his skull. "But wait—in my original world this entire Guideverse sequence was actually just a random Manhwa."
"The beauty of the endless multiverse." Came the older guy’s response. "Some things that are merely a fantasy on one Earth have massive potential of existing in another. Or several."
Huh... that kinda makes sense.
Or not.
"You sure sound knowledgeable." Ambrose heaved. "And then for someone to be able to move souls through universes and change the course of history forever—I can’t help but wonder what exactly you faced in the future that even you couldn’t handle."
The older Ambrose’s expression dimmed at the question.
For the first time since Ambrose arrived in this endless void, genuine exhaustion flickered across the man’s face. Like someone who’d spent far too long carrying a burden alone.
Then he chuckled softly. "You really do ask the hard questions immediately."
Ambrose folded his arms. "Well excuse me for wanting context before I die horribly."
The older version of himself ignored the sarcasm. His silver eyes lowered briefly before settling back on Ambrose again.
"When I altered the timeline... I didn’t simply change events." He spoke carefully now. "I changed laws."
A pause.
"The universe corrected itself afterwards."
Ambrose blinked. "... Corrected itself how?"
Another silence.
Then: "By becoming unstable in places it wasn’t before."
The darkness around them pulsed faintly.
"Rifts are behaving differently. Dungeon ecosystems evolving faster than they should. Some spaces... echoing." His lips pressed into a thin line. "Entire realities overlapping each other for brief moments."
Immediately, Ambrose thought about the Echo Rift. That impossible recycled dungeon.
The prehistoric world.
His stomach twisted. "Wait." He frowned harder. "You’re saying all these weird dungeon anomalies are happening because you messed with time?"
"Not solely because of me." The older Ambrose corrected. "But my interference accelerated things."
"That is WAY too vague."
"Because you aren’t supposed to understand everything yet."
"Oh my God, there you go again with the mysterious anime mentor bullshit." Ambrose dragged a hand down his face. "You literally pulled my soul into another universe and replaced someone’s existence with me. I deserve clearer answers than this cryptic nonsense."
A ghost of amusement flickered across the older Ambrose’s face. "We share so many similarities, you and I."
"... Huh?"
The future Ambrose merely shook his head. "You’ll get your answers in due time."
"Bullshit!" Ambrose fired back instantly. "That’s the exact kind of thing people say before dropping dead dramatically."
That actually earned a quiet laugh from the man.
But before Ambrose could press further, the darkness around them suddenly trembled.
His eyes widened.
The void was fading.
Little cracks of light spread through the endless blackness like fractures on glass.
"No, no, no—wait!" Ambrose stepped forward quickly. "I still have questions!"
The older Ambrose already looked farther away somehow. Like his figure was dissolving together with the void itself.
Quickly, Ambrose spoke again. "The Void Entity!"
That made the older version of himself pause.
Ambrose swallowed. "Do you know what it is?" His voice lowered carefully. "And how to defeat it?"
Silence followed.
Then the future Ambrose slowly lifted his head. And despite the distance growing between them, Ambrose still saw it clearly—
The grimness entering his eyes.
"The Void Entity," he said calmly, "is the very least of your worries."
Ambrose felt his heartbeat stop. "What the hell does that mean?!"
But the world shattered before he could get an answer.
Darkness collapsed inward violently as his consciousness lurched.
★★★★★
Ambrose gasped awake on the bathroom floor.
Cold tiles pressed against his cheek while his lungs struggled to catch air. Sweat clung to the back of his neck. The black mask rested beside him harmlessly like it hadn’t just dragged him through psychological warfare.
A knock sounded at the bathroom door almost immediately.
"Rose?" Devon’s sleepy voice echoed from the other side. "What’re you doing in there?"
Ambrose squeezed his eyes shut briefly before forcing himself upright. "Using the toilet?" He answered weakly. "What else would people do in bathrooms at midnight?"
A yawn came from the other side. "You disappeared for like twenty minutes."
"Got distracted."
"By what?"
Existential dread, apparently.
"Nothing important."
He shoved the mask back into the system space before unlocking the bathroom door. Devon stood there shirtless and half asleep, red hair messy from bed.
Ambrose avoided his gaze entirely. "Go back to sleep." He muttered softly.
Devon merely hummed before lazily wrapping an arm around his shoulders and guiding him back toward the bed.
Neither of them spoke after crawling beneath the sheets again.
But as Devon pulled him close and slowly drifted back to sleep—Ambrose remained awake.
Because only one thought echoed endlessly through his mind now.
If something out there was somehow worse than the Void Entity...
Then what the hell was coming for them?
