Darkness. Silence. Depth. Vacuum.

The astronaut couldn’t believe it, with one spark, everything was gone. “Guys! Is there anyone alive? Guys? Please answer me, answer me!” He pleaded in desperation, but only silence was heard. He flips back and forth, as he continues to swim through the infinite darkness. “Please- Please someone answer me…” He broke into tears. Everything they worked for to save everyone from the collapse, all ended because of a spark.

Him and his crew were the last hope, the ones supposed to stop the universe from collapsing, the last beacon of light for all humans and extraterrestrials but they failed. Seconds turn to minutes and minutes turn to hours. He lies adrift through space as the only thought racing through his mind is to die, just die. He feels so ashamed, because at the end, when it really mattered, he couldn’t win.

“Suit power critical, averting all power to life support.” The A.I in his suit alerted him, he thought the collapse would kill him but it turns out it was the suit who’ll deal the final blow. Suddenly, the cracks grew wider. At any moment, everything will finally reach its end. “At least we tried our best, even if it was a long shot.” He thinks to himself, he closes his eyes and accepts the fact that nothing could be done. A breath in and out, he opens them again and sees the severity of the end. Weirdly, he thought it was beautiful, how the cracks in the universe glowed a vibrant blue.

As everything continues to worsen, he looks around to only see the cracks dominate the darkness instead of the stars that he grew up with. “At least it’ll be painless.” He thinks to himself, as he finally closes his eyes, waiting for the cracks to finally end him.

Even with his eyes closed, the cracks were bright enough to illuminate through his eyelids, a faint blue. Then, the colors changed, from a faint blue to a strong yellow. He wonders why it changed colors, so he opens his eyes, only to see a bright yellow orb in front of him.

He freaks out in sight of it, thinking it would burn him but it doesn’t. He tried to get closer but couldn’t, then he remembered that all power was averted to the life support system. He overrides it and finally uses the thrusters on his suit. Finally, face to face with orb, he inspects it. He doesn’t know what it is, he doesn’t even know how it got here. Suddenly, curiosity rushes into him, he wants to touch it. “Either way, if this kills me, it’s alright.” He thinks to himself, so slowly by slowly, he reached his finger into the orb, bit by bit, until he made contact-

Past. Present. Future. Realities.

He pulled his finger back, he couldn’t make sense of what he saw but he also understood it. He wonders to himself, did he see time from the eyes of not only his own but countless others? With fear still in his heart, he reaches out again, bit by bit-

Realities. Dimensions. Creation. Infinity.

He pulled it back again. This time, he saw a race of memories, not his, but from other millions of lives. He doesn’t understand, why doesn’t the orb kill him but show all this instead? So again, he reaches out, until-

Closing. Revive. Saving. Hope.

This time, he was freaked out. It didn’t show him time or memories but rather the cracks in his universe closing, like it was healing but that was not all, after he saw the cracks closing, he saw all life, safe and at peace. He couldn’t understand what the orb was showing him but for him, it felt hopeful. “What if this orb can restore everything and everyone?” He thinks to himself. He doesn’t know what might happen if he completely touches the orb but he also knows what will happen if he lets the cracks destroy everything. “I don’t know why this is here, but this is a second chance, a second shot at everything. Even if this fails, I’ll focus my mind on stopping the cracks and saving all life.” He thinks to himself. He takes one last breath before holding the orb with his own two hands and suddenly-

Universe. Dying. Closing. Cracks.

The astronaut was instantly engulfed in light, a light that was enough to rival the galaxy’s light. As he tightened his grip further, he finally understood. This orb isn’t just knowledge but time and creation itself. He screams as the energy surges through him-

Cracks. Closing. Healing. Repair. Cracks. Closing.

He focuses on stopping the collapse, with every thought and energy surging inside him, all of the cracks in the universe slowly healed away. He tightened his grip further-

Cracks. Gone. Destruction. Death. Still. There. Destroyed. Recombine.

With a single thought, all the damages done to stars, planets, moons and galaxies were healed, it was as if nothing ever happened. He held on further-

**DEATH.** Still. There. Lives. Lost. Graves. Dug. **LIFE. MUST. GO. ON.**

With one final scream, the astronaut directed all of his power to bring all life back, safe and sound, no wound and no sickness. As he crouches to a fetal position due to the immense energy inside his body. He holds on a little bit longer until every single life was returned. The pain was too much and before he knew it, his body was slowly burning away. He looks at the universe one last time knowing that he didn’t fail this time. As seconds pass by, his body finally burns away-

**Not. This. Way. You. Will. Live.**

Minutes pass by...

A crew on a ship are debating how they are all still alive after a single spark ignited their entire ship. “So, what? Are we all going to accept that despite a blast, we’re all still alive?” The engineer asked all of them, suddenly the scientist came running inside the ship’s meeting room with baffling news “I don’t know how this happened, but the collapse, it stopped or vanished instantly.” Everyone went silent, they couldn’t believe it but that wasn’t all. “And look at this, I’m getting long distance messages from countless planets that all damages and deaths were gone, like everything reverted back to being alright.” The scientist shared, everyone was shocked, how could such a miracle happen?

Before anyone could even speak, suddenly a bright yellow light entered the room, blinding everyone. All of them were terrified, they couldn’t understand how everything was saved and were terrified of what was about to happen but as the light slowly dims out its brightness, it slowly reveals its true form, it was a being wearing an astronaut suit. “Everyone, please don’t be afraid, I am not here to hurt anyone.” The Being spoke “W-who are you?” The captain asked him terrified and shaking “How could you forget me? I was with you throughout everything.” The Being answered then it all made sense to the captain, it was his best friend, the other astronaut left outside the ship for a spacewalk to retrieve a sample that could have helped them back when the collapse was still happening “Eli? Eli! What happened to you? Are you sick?” The captain asked his best friend but everyone else was shocked, how could this be their friend? How could this incomprehensible entity be one of them? “I’m alright, all of you don’t need to worry about me, I’m better now.” The Being answered.

“Eli? What happened to you?” The scientist asked him “After the ship exploded, I was floating in space, I felt desperate, I felt so alone.” The Being explained while his voice breaks “At the end, I was just waiting to die. I really wanted to die but an orb appeared in front of me. I didn’t know what it was, it just appeared out of nowhere. Then I touched this orb, oh, it showed me the truth and with that truth I fixed everything. I stopped the collapse and brought everyone back but there was a price. Whatever energy coursed through me, it slowly burned my body away but I held on for as long as I could, so that everyone could come back.” The Being explained to everyone, as he wipes away his tears. “You saved everyone.” The captain says in shock but then followed by joy “Gosh, you really do the most stupid of things.” The captain tells him as he gives him a hug “So, everything’s back to normal? That’s insane.” The engineer said as he sat down to think about it. “Eli, now that everything is back to normal, we could finally get our happy ending.” The scientist tells him as she smiles knowing that everything was finally safe.

“Marcia, I’m sorry, but my stay is not permanent. I have to go.” The Being explained to her “What do you mean? We just got everything back, you can’t go, you can’t.” The captain tells as he pleads for him to stay “Eli, what are you talking about! This is it! This is the happy ending we always wanted! Don’t go!” Marcia pleads with him. The Being smiles at him and silence dominates the room for a moment, he then puts his hand on her cheek to comfort her “My Marcia, I want to stay with you for eternity but the happy ending we both want, is now only for you. I want to be a part of that but I have a greater purpose now. But despite all of that, know that I will always love you, Marcia.” The Being explained to her. Marcia hugs him tightly as The Being returns it “I love all of you, please, take care of our universe. Until we meet again.” The Being bids farewell, as everyone waves goodbye, Marcia holds on for as long as she can, until The Being slowly vanishes away, with a smile.

**The End.**