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Simon paced back and forth as he read over the summons he’d received from the Multiverse High Council, the words echoing over and over in his mind. How could they have known about his multiversal Joy Ride? He was careful… No, no he wasn’t careful at all. He wasn’t being subtle about his rapid entries and exits of worlds as he blew through the stories they had to offer.
He had been taking his time to ensure he blended in, playing the roles of heroes, villains and artisans as he desired. He’d even come to understand who he was as a person, he was Simon, Simon Vesper . Sierra was gone, the High Council, at least, understood and respected that. They probably caught wind of his incident with the sketchy medical clinic in the Cyberpunk world he’d visited a few hundred odd years ago.
“Never doing that again.” Simon murmurs softly to himself as he continues to reread the summons and ponder how they caught wind of his adventures.
He knew he couldn’t skip out on the summons, once the time came up a member of the Interdimensional Security Force would come to collect him. He would have to leave his current life, everything he’d built up would be gone. He knew his friends wouldn’t remember who he was, his rivals would forget their grudges. His entire presence of peace and happiness would be erased. Everything would be reset to its default state, untouched by his hands.
“A minor inconvenience, a set back so insignificant. I would be sad if not for the fact that these worlds at my fingertips are like books. Merely games with rules to bend to my whims.” Simon murmured softly to himself, reasoning away that all he was going to lose was nothing more than erasing a save slot in a video game.
With a sigh, Simon gathered his belongings. He carefully tucked away anything he’d need to keep on his person if he didn’t want to lose it in the reset. Once he had his few belongings gathered he sat on his bed, and waited patiently for his soon-to-be-appointed ISF agent to arrive.
It didn’t take long. Barely half an hour of time had passed before he began to feel the telltale disruption of dimensional travel. Simon was always surprised by how quickly the ISF could pinpoint the locations of those who traveled the fabrics of space and time. He supposed it made sense for them to be able to track the citizens of Universe Zero , the starting point of the multiverse. After all, they’d had countless millennia to develop their technologies far beyond what any other universe could ever hope to match.
Despite its thriving advancements and supposed natural balance, Simon had always found Universe Zero hollow and void of life/ It was too industrial, too fake, after millennia of tampering with Nature in order to extract endless resources. It was an empty world redesigned to sustain itself indefinitely, no war, no famine, no worries, just eternal production and reproduction. Simon shuddered at the thought. It was the last place he’d ever thought to return to, not after discovering his gift of natural travel. The ability to travel freely between universes unaided was rare, almost unheard of. Most people had long since donated themselves to the Council, becoming immortal batteries that enabled dimensional travel for others, living conduits outliving everything else.
The few who hadn’t ‘sacrificed’ themselves either became part of the council itself or worked at their enforcers, the dogs of the council. These immortals roamed the multiverse, fixing anomalies, erasing or ‘correcting’ unfixable abnormalities, and in some cases, even wiping entire dimensions when the ‘bugs’ were too severe to mend. The High Council didn’t just police reality; they reshaped it to their liking, controlling the flow of existence itself.
Simon’s ears twitched. He picked up the familiar sound of a small dimensional tear being opened. A ripple in space, barely perceptible to most, but a signal to him. The ISF agent had arrived.
He rose to his feet, bracing himself. He knew what was coming next, the formality of arrest, the council’s cold, indifferent judgment. He had been through this before, but this time felt different. This time, they had caught him directly. Despite his gift, despite his endless travels, he knew what that meant.
The door to his small apartment shimmered and rippled, as if the fabric of reality itself was bending. A figure stepped through, tall and silent, their silver and black uniform reflecting the dim light of the room. The ISF agent’s visor glinted, hiding their expression, though Simon could feel the weight of their presence.
“Simon Vesper, you are summoned by the Multiverse High Council. Your compliance is required.” The agent’s voice was measured, mechanical yet undeniably human, at least they’d had the decency to send a real person. Simon raised an eyebrow before he spoke,
“It always is, isn’t it?” His tone was dry, but he knew there was no point in resisting. “Alright, lead the way.”
The agent didn’t respond, simply gesturing toward the portal they had created. Behind it, Simon could see the familiar swirl of the interdimensional gate, its shimmering surface promising passage back to Universe Zero. He hesitated for a split second, glancing around the room he had called home in this world. Soon, it would be erased, like everything else. But, as always, Simon convinced himself that it was just another page being turned, another chapter closed.
He stepped through the portal, feeling the now-familiar sensation of dimensional travel as the world around him dissolved into light. In an instant, he was gone.
When he emerged on the other side, Simon found himself in a vast white chamber. The walls seemed to stretch into infinity, a featureless void that was both disorienting and oppressive. At the center of the room, bathed in blinding light, stood the High Council.
Faceless, ageless, omnipotent, their presence was suffocating.
“Simon Vesper,” their voices echoed as one, reverberating through the chamber.
“You have been brought before us to answer for your transgressions.”