View source for Dead God Graveyard (Red Shift)

{{Header
|title=Dead God Graveyard (Red Shift)
|subtitle=True Eternity
|wordcount=~1410
|tags=<nowiki>[A4A][Sci-Fi][Supernatural][Mildly Existential][Fantasy][Submachine Inspired]</nowiki>
|blurb=Where does one go when everything else ceases to exist?
|notes=A better ending. For the alternate version of this script, see [[Dead God Graveyard (Blue Shift)]].
}}

{{Body|
<Void sounds; drifting through empty space>

{Pause}

<Crackle; rift opening>

Hold still.

<Struggle between the two; rift closes>

Easy there. Breathe. ''Breathe''.

The change in pressure is going to be severe on you. You've been in the vacuum of space for quite a long time.

Don't move too much.

[Away, towards a device] SO-1, V-17, Code HDU. Target brought in at 16:23:02 on NA-6 of DGG-1077.

Subject conscious, aware, reactive, non-violent.

[Back to listener] Easy there. Eeeeasy there. I'm sure this is quite a lot to take in. 

This is probably the most stimulus you've had in a good long while. Most people are generally pretty disoriented.

We have the lights turned down pretty low for that reason. I'll try my best to keep a consistent, tame volume.

If you need a break at any point, you may ask directly or indicate it to the best of your ability.

{Listener inquiry}

You're still able to communicate! That's great. As for your question...we'll get to that soon.

Could you tell us what your name and species is?

{Pause; listener answer}

Excellent. Next...do you know about how long you've lasted as the last living organism? You can wager a guess.

{Pause, no answer}

Not sure? That's okay. It's hard to keep track of time after you're up there so lon—[Listener interrupts]

''Please.'' Please. Hold your questions until after my examination is concluded.

What is the nature of your immortality? That is to say, what caused you to become immortal?

{Listener does not want to answer}

It will be much harder to properly treat you and make a smooth transition to the world here if you do not provide us with that information. There's nothing we can do to take it away from you—nor do we want to.

If you're unable to remember it, that's okay, but if you do remember it...

[Darkly] It would be in your best interest to tell us.

{Pause for listener answer}

A flock of birds cursed you? That's certainly unique. Regardless...you'll be okay now.

As I'm sure you've derived, the world we are in is not your own. We are far separated from time and in many regards...from space as well.

You are not in danger, or in trouble. Quite the opposite, in fact. From this day forward, this is your new home.

{Pause}

Free of charge, even.

The man who founded this place went by the name Mur. He was as brilliant as he was hasty. He had mastered the ability to create and use portals to transport across space and time. His skills were second to none.

Mur had an almost obsessive desire to acquire knowledge and explore the various universes surrounding him. With his abilities, he was able to see across multiple points in spacetime at once.

Very shortly before his death, Mur discovered this place. Far outside any boundary he had ever seen before, and required tenfold the power to jump to. It nearly killed the old man getting here and back.

This dimension exists outside of the pull of time, and outside of the regular conventions of space. Much as nothing wilts here, nothing grows, either.

Mur left notes here. Books, letters, paintings, diagrams... 

Billions of words, impossible for anybody to digest in a lifetime. But it never was meant for a single lifetime. One paper hung above the rest: A plea that those who found this place use it to keep knowledge intact forever, and for immortals to guard his wisdom. He hoped to rescue powerful beings from complete isolation—much as he feared his own life was lived.

The name given to our garden was "Dead God Graveyard". How befitting.

Our mission aligns closely to Mur's original goal. We transport across various dimensions to the end of their flow of time, and pluck out any of the remaining immortals before they experience nonexistence or go insane.

In ''your'' case, it seems like you've passed the heat death of your time, too. That's a fairly common outcome for people.

We keep people like you here in this world to live out the rest of existence in relative comfort. You'll be able to socialize, exercise, and possibly participate in activities—if you wish. If you'd rather rest for a millennia, that's fine too.

There's about...50 or so permanent residents of the DGG. Exploring across dimensions is incredibly difficult, and takes an enormous amount of energy to do. It is not something we can partake in often.

We had actually set our sights on you for a while. We just had difficulty finding enough non-consequential stars to absorb to get to where we are now.

This dimension is certainly further than anywhere we've yet to go. The coordinates we jumped to were double digits. Sorry it took so long to find you. Not that you knew we were coming...

Anyways.

The garden here is beautiful. Hundreds of flowers, plants, and lush flora engulf the main area. 

We have a massive library of knowledge in all sorts of languages, if you'd like to do some reading. Don't worry, there's still some fiction too.

There's a recreation space in the main wing. A few sports have made their way there over time, though I don't personally know if you would know any of them by name. There's always time to learn.

Finally, you'll be given your own living quarters. It's single-rooms for people, unless they request otherwise. You'll have plenty of space to yourself if you want to take it.

{Pause, awkward dead air}

I-...I probably should clarify that I use "people" as a general term.

Some of our residents are...not necessarily human. Most are pretty sentient and communicative, but there will be a blend of species. I suppose I didn't want to shock you.

Also...

Do you happen to possess any magical powers? Resistences? Spells? Something along those lines?

{Listener says no, surprised}

Really? You really are unique. A lot of our immortals tend to have some sort of inherent magic. The point is, it doesn't really...''work'' here. We haven't actually quite figured out what does and doesn't get culled out by this dimension, but generally the stronger the magic...the more it gets nullified.

The one thing we did iron out was a spell for mutual communication. Think of it as an automatic translation service, that perfectly construes language between languages. Even ones that didn't exist in your world! It is one of the many pieces of knowledge we protect here.

{Pause for listener inquiry}

Ah. Yes. I neglected to introduce myself. Forgive me. You may call me Thoth. I am the primary caretaker of this garden. 

I have been operating this place for a very, ''very'' long time.

We were chosen to maintain this world very quickly after it was discovered. Mur passed before ever meeting the people selected to protect his legacy. We hope to make him proud with our actions.

It wasn't easy. There was...pushback...to the creation of this place. Mur had a counterpart in his lengthy life, who went by "L".

She outlived Mur by a great margin, and was extremely untrustworthy of the mission here. On multiple occasions, she had attempted to sabotage the development of the garden as it filled with early immortals and more archives of human knowledge from E100.

Ultimately, she too met her end. Our garden persisted.

Everything here persists. That is the point.

[Mildly ominous] You, too, will persist.

We shall be taking you to your room shortly. From there, you may rest and process everything you have learned today. When you are ready, I will meet you again to give you a tour of the facility and gardens. Please do not attempt to navigate the facility on your own. While other residents may be excited to meet a new face, we want to ease into that process and prevent any...overzealous or misunderstood confrontations.

Our ship is large, but it is also quite limited. The boundaries of this universe are quite close: Leaving the comfort of the ship will lead to nothing but the ends of the universe, which fade into nonexistence.

Should you attempt to venture into the space between universes...you will assuredly slip into nonexistence. There is no way to recover you. You may die, you may not. We do not know what happens once you leave DGG.

We hope you enjoy your stay.

Welcome to infinity and singularity.

'''END.'''
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