Edwin Lunar Chapter 96: The Forge at the Edge of Reality

Read chapter 96 of Edwin Lunar by MananTayal on NovelPedia.

The journey to the Forge lasted five days. Five days of traveling through regions absent from every modern star chart. Five days of passing abandoned Builder pathways and forgotten systems untouched for thousands of years. Five days of questions nobody could answer. The further they traveled from civilized space, the stranger the galaxy became. Entire sectors appeared empty. Not naturally empty. Artificially empty. As though something had deliberately erased every trace of life. Even Groader seemed unsettled. That alone worried Edwin. The ancient warrior had fought through the Great War. He had survived the Observer. He had endured decades within the Red Box. Yet whenever he looked at the navigation display, concern appeared in his eyes. By the fifth day, Orion had noticed. Carl finally voiced what everyone was thinking. "You're worried." Groader looked up. "I am." The honesty surprised nobody. "What aren't you telling us?" Iris asked. Groader remained silent for several moments. Then he sighed. "The Forge was never meant to be found." The room became quiet. "What does that mean?" Edwin asked. "It means even Orion wasn't supposed to know it existed." Everyone frowned. That didn't make sense. Edlin knew about it. Wingard knew about it. Groader knew about it. Yet somehow it wasn't supposed to exist? The warrior activated a holographic map. The galaxy appeared before them. Then he highlighted a region near its outer edge. A place so distant that even Builder records became scarce. "The Forge exists here." A small golden point appeared. Almost outside the galaxy itself. Almost touching intergalactic space. Almost touching the darkness beyond. Carl leaned closer. "Who built it?" Groader's answer stunned everyone. "We don't know." The room froze. Builders were responsible for nearly every ancient mystery. Every megastructure. Every hidden gateway. Every impossible technology. If even the Builders hadn't created the Forge... Then who had? Nobody had an answer. Not even Groader. The transport continued moving. Hour after hour. Day after day. Then suddenly every alarm on the vessel activated. The entire ship shook violently. Edwin grabbed the nearest console. "What happened?" Iris immediately began scanning. Her expression changed. Then changed again. Finally she simply stared. "What?" Carl asked nervously. She pointed toward the main viewing screen. Everyone looked. Nobody spoke. The stars ahead had vanished. Not disappeared. Moved. Entire constellations were shifting position. Space itself seemed distorted. Folded. Bent. Reality looked broken. The transport's navigation systems immediately failed. Dozens of warnings filled every screen. Groader slowly stood. "We're here." The words sent chills through everyone. Outside the vessel, a massive wall of golden energy stretched across space. At first Edwin thought it was a nebula. Then a galaxy. Then something even larger. The structure was impossible to comprehend. Its scale exceeded imagination. Golden rings larger than solar systems rotated around a central core. Ancient towers floated between stars. Builder pathways connected regions separated by light-years. The Forge wasn't a station. It wasn't a planet. It wasn't even a megastructure. It was practically an artificial universe. Carl stared through the window. "How..." Nobody answered. Because nobody knew. Even Groader looked overwhelmed. The transport vessel approached slowly. The closer they came, the more details appeared. Entire worlds floated within the structure. Ancient cities remained suspended in space. Massive energy rivers flowed between stars. Golden symbols covered everything. The Forge looked alive. As though it possessed awareness. As though it had been waiting. Waiting for someone. Waiting for Edwin. The ring on his finger suddenly began glowing. Brighter than ever before. The scarf reacted as well. Silver light spread through the fabric. The transport's systems immediately responded. Without warning, every screen disp