Chapter 23: Change
The swarm of butterflies descended upon the three women, a masked figure appearing in their place.
"We finally meet," a voice reverberated through the area. "Your domain seems to need a lot of work, but I can see the vision."
The voice spoke with an inconsistent tone, modulating through various pitches.
Dan Woo was left stunned, unable to understand what the figure before him wanted.
"Who are you, and what do you want?" Dan Woo asked as he tucked Cha Ha Rin and Im Nari close to himself.
"You want to know who I am?"
The masked figure asked.
Dan Woo simply nodded. "I do."
"Well..." the figure began before catching itself, as if contemplating something.
Then, suddenly, the blurry figure of the masked person disappeared as brilliant white engulfed its body, forming a silk-like layer that seemed to harden before it burst apart.
What emerged from within was the figure of a woman.
A woman Dan Woo was very familiar with.
"Han Soo Hee?" Dan Woo asked.
"No! No, no—that’s not me," the figure said. "I am but a glimpse of the inevitable."
The figure spoke with Han Soo Hee’s voice and appearance. As it did, that version of Han Soo Hee began to age rapidly. Before anyone could do anything, an old woman now stood before the three women, greatly alarming all of them. The old woman then began to break down before the figure dissolved completely, leaving only a swarm of butterflies in its place.
"What was that?" Dan Woo, in the body of Cha Hwa Rim, exclaimed.
"I was showing you who I am," the modulated voice began. "I am the inevitable."
Dan Woo quickly tried to think of a way to escape the figure before him, but now he wasn’t really sure what abilities this anomaly possessed. So far, it seemed to have shapeshifting abilities, and maybe the ability to read minds—or at least glimpse desires. Then he remembered the wave of death that had just sprawled across the school as the sight of all the dead plants flashed through his mind.
"Actualization," the figure suddenly said.
"What?" Dan Woo exclaimed.
"You asked what I want to do here. I am answering your question. I felt a heavy resonance coming from this direction and couldn’t help but come take a look. After all, how could I not take the time to see a fellow kinsman—one we share the same origin as..."
"I see," Dan Woo simply answered. "So what’s this actualization you are speaking of?"
"I am glad you asked," the masked figure said as it raised what seemed to be its hands.
[Danger! Danger!]
[High-Level Intrusion Detected.]
[Domain Under Siege.]
The system began blaring warnings again as the covered hand seemed to scoop something out of the air. It looked like a piece of swirling mist, a miniature cloud of blue, red, and purple.
"This..." the figure exclaimed as the dark eyes hidden beneath layers of shroud and shadow seemed to twinkle.
"Your raw meaning and domain seem powerful, but you seem to be lacking in how to use them. Watch closely..."
The small piece of white mist the figure had just plucked out began dancing upon its palm. The mist whipped about, slowly turning from white, speckled with red, blue, and purple, into a deep, dark smog still flecked with those same colors.
As this happened, a swarm of spirits—whether ghosts or something else entirely—flew in from every direction, converging upon the point where the figure stood. A cold, eerie energy permeated everything.
Cha Hwa Rim’s vision revealed a host of ghosts and countless spirits now surrounding the entirety of the area.
As Cha Hwa Rim’s vision continued to expand, the initial god-like view of everything around the school was greatly diminished, as if it were being attacked by something beyond her perception.
Dan Woo turned to his system, searching for a way to fight against the intrusion of this so-called parasite, but he wasn’t sure what in his arsenal could help him. Yet when he saw the still-rising Domain Syncing percentage—now at seventy-three percent—he tried to see if there was more information on Domain Syncing beyond it helping him become more attuned to the domain.
Only then did he learn that it wasn’t merely synchronizing him with this domain. It was also synchronizing this domain with all of his others—his original domain, Dan Woo’s Apartment, and the Church of the Forgotten.
The Church of the Forgotten, he thought. Maybe there was a way he could use that.
He turned to his Incarnation tab, contemplating his next steps, but before he could do anything else—
"What do you think?" the voice suddenly cut through, directing Dan Woo’s attention back to the figure.
A mass of incomprehensible matter bounced across the figure’s palm. It was mesmerizing, and there seemed to be something leaking from it—something familiar. But before Dan Woo could get a feel for it or understand what exactly was being leaked—
Suddenly, the two teenage girls across from Dan Woo started to wail and scream as they seemed to rapidly age, their bodies quickly changing from teenagers to adults, racing through the stages of life.
"What are you doing?" Dan Woo asked in frustration.
"I already told you... Actualization."
"Stop it. Stop it right now, or you’re going to kill them."
"We have the same origin, don’t we? Why don’t you try and stop it yourself?"
"What? How?"
"As I said, I am here to help you get better. After all, it’s lonely being alone. Don’t you want us to be kin?"
"You are killing them."
"They are only humans. Why do you care so much for such insignificant things?"
"Stop all this nonsense."
"I am the inevitable... and so are you."
The figure spoke as it tossed the mass of swirling black mist toward him. The sphere churned and writhed, morphing into incomprehensible forms and impossible shapes.
"Look at it. It holds the answers to today’s lesson. Don’t disappoint me."
Dan Woo, still in Cha Hwa Rim’s body, held the spherical mass of mist, gazing into its nature.
Suddenly, he started to see everything.
From the Big Bang to the expansion of the universe. From the evolution of the Earth, from a desolate sphere into a bubble of life. He saw the birth and death of stars. As he witnessed it all, he could feel unknown knowledge seeping into him as he came to understand life and death. He saw the evolution of humanity, from weak creatures struggling to survive to beings that transcended every other animal and became the apex species.
"Change... change is inevitable," Dan Woo stated, as though he had just reached an epiphany.
But before he could fully digest what he had just experienced—the sensation of being thrust through the entire history of the universe—he heard the groans of the two girls before him.
He immediately turned toward them.
Suddenly, he possessed the knowledge of how to stop the rapid aging.
He quickly channeled his meaning and actualized it.
In an instant, time itself seemed to stop.
Everything fell silent.
Everything stood suspended.
Then time suddenly began to rewind beneath the domain, turning back until the moment the girls returned to their original age.
But before they could gaze upon the conceptual fragment of time itself, he shielded their eyes.
"Well done. Bringing forth the actualization of the concept of time."
The figure said as it slowly raised its hand.
"Let’s see how well you can apply the lesson."
The figure flicked its fingers.
Everything went dark.