The Cosmic Mindscape: the rise of the hidden power

In the vastness of space, beyond the reach of human understanding, a sinister force drifted through the remains of a shattered universe. A cosmic being, once a conqueror of realms, now reduced to a fading wisp of existence, clung desperately to the last fragment of unimaginable power-a shard of origin, a remnant of the universe that had been consumed in a catastrophic battle.

The being's thoughts were fragmented, but one purpose remained clear: survival. It had fled across dimensions, hunted, and hounded until it found the one anomaly that could save it. Alex. A young human, insignificant by all measures, but bound to the same cosmic soul structure. By sheer luck, the being had found its key to escape. If it could merge its existence with Alex's soul, it would survive-and perhaps, regain its power.

The being hurtled toward Earth with malevolent intent. However, the universe it sought to infiltrate was not like the shattered one it had escaped from. The laws here were different, unforgiving. As the cosmic being drew closer to Earth, it realized, too late, the flaw in its plan. The structure of this universe fundamentally rejected it.

An oversight. A fatal miscalculation.

The being screamed silently into the void as its essence began to unravel. Its once godlike power was reduced to a single fragment-the shard. With no other options, the being cast the shard into the only place it could survive. The young man it had sought to merge with-Alex.

---

The evening was quiet in Alex's small suburban home. He was sprawled on his bed, staring at his laptop screen, half-watching a random YouTube video. The hum of crickets outside his window and the distant sound of cars passing by formed a comforting backdrop to the end of an uneventful day.

"Another typical night," Alex thought, closing his eyes for a moment. At 22, fresh out of college, life had settled into a quiet rhythm. He worked at a small bookkeeping company in town-nothing too stressful, just enough to pay the bills. His social life consisted of hanging out with his few close friends, mostly online, playing games or catching up on the latest gossip.

But tonight, as he lay there, something felt off. A strange pressure built in his chest, sharp and sudden. He sat up, gasping for air, his heart pounding as though something was squeezing the life out of him. Before he could even comprehend what was happening, a blinding pain shot through him, unlike anything he had ever experienced.

His vision blurred. Darkness swallowed his senses, and for a brief moment, the world ceased to exist.

---

When Alex came to, he found himself lying on the floor of his bedroom, drenched in cold sweat. His heart pounded in his chest, and he struggled to catch his breath.

"What... the hell just happened?" Alex muttered, rubbing his chest, which still felt strange, like a weight had settled inside him. His mind was foggy, but there was something else-something foreign, like a presence that had forcefully entered him. But there was no one else in the room.

He shakily got to his feet, glancing around his small room. Everything was just as it had been-his laptop was still open on the bed, the video still playing in the background. His phone buzzed on the nightstand. Normal. Everything was normal, except for the strange warmth radiating from his chest.

"Alex! Dinner's ready!" His mother's voice called from downstairs, cutting through the eerie silence.

"Yeah, I'm coming," Alex replied weakly. He wasn't sure what had just happened, but he wasn't in the mood to deal with it right now. Maybe it was just stress from work. Maybe it was nothing at all.

He quickly changed his clothes, hoping to shake off the unsettling feeling, and headed downstairs. At the dinner table, his younger sister, Amilia, was ranting about some group project she was working on for school. Alex half-listened, his thoughts still preoccupied with the strange event that had just occurred.

His parents didn't seem to notice his distraction. They were too caught up in their own conversation about weekend plans. Alex picked at his food, nodding at the right moments but hardly contributing to the chatter. The warmth in his chest had subsided, but a faint tingle remained, as if something was there-something he couldn't quite understand.

---

Later that night, after the household had gone quiet, Alex lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling. He could still feel it-the warmth, the presence. His hand rested on his chest, but there was no visible sign of anything wrong.

"What the hell was that?" he whispered to himself.

Closing his eyes, Alex tried to relax, but instead of sleep, he found himself somewhere else entirely. It wasn't his bedroom-it wasn't anywhere he recognized. A vast, dark void stretched out before him, endless and star-filled.

Alex felt weightless, like he was floating in space. And then, in the distance, he saw it: a glowing, blue shard, pulsing softly, suspended in the void. It was small, but it radiated a strange, ancient energy, something far beyond Alex's understanding.

He stepped closer, though he wasn't sure how he was even moving. The shard seemed to call to him, drawing him in.

"What... is this?" Alex whispered, his voice echoing in the void.

As if in response, a soft voice, or rather, an enlightenment, echoed in his mind. "The fragment of a universe's origin... bound to your core soul."

Alex recoiled, his mind spinning. The words made no sense, but somehow, deep down, he understood them. The shard had fused with him, with his very soul. It was no dream-this was real.

Before he could process anything else, the shard dissolved, and a torrent of information surged into his mind. Alex clutched his head, overwhelmed by the sudden influx of knowledge-fragments of an ancient civilization, war, destruction, and the very nature of the universe itself.

And then, there was clarity. The shard had given him something-a power, a tool he could shape. His mind, in a moment of panic, latched onto a familiar concept. A system, like the ones in the video games and web novels he used to enjoy.

A floating window appeared before him, displaying a simple interface.

[System Initialized]

Alex stared at the screen, wide-eyed. He wasn't dreaming. This was real.

But something else was real too-something darker. Unbeknownst to Alex, the cosmic being that had sought to merge with him had miscalculated. The universe could not accommodate it, and it had been destroyed. Its plan had failed, and all that remained of its once vast power was now within Alex.

And while Alex had received the shard in return, the sinister plot against him had ended in eternal doom for the cosmic entity.