Truth

Joseph slowly lowered himself onto his knees as his breathing became shallow and sped up along with his heart rate. His shook violently as he scrambled for his medication in his pocket. After barely managing to open the bottle, he went to tap one out but ended up shaking the whole contents out onto the forest floor. A single pill landed in his hand which he gripped tightly in a fist. His hand went in and out of focus and he felt like he was going to throw up at any moment.

Amy and Aniello stood watching without any idea what was happening or how to help. Amy quickly ran towards Joseph and turned to Aniello telling him to help as well. Amy held Joseph's arm that was holding the pill to steady him while Aniello moved behind him to help him sit down.

"Joseph! Joseph it's alright! You saved the deer and no one is hurt. Just try to focus on my voice and calm down." Amy spoke softly but tried to get their attention. Aniello felt their heart rate and breathing slow down and gave Amy a thumbs up to keep going. "There we go. Slow deep breaths and keep focusing on my voice."

It was a few minutes of reassurance from both Amy and Aniello that brought Joseph back. The three of them walked back to the pub in silence and it was only broken once they got to the stairs.

"Wait!" called Joseph. Amy and Aniello stopped and turned to him. "Thank you... For what you did earlier. You don't deserve to have the truth hidden from you. Especially when it's to do with your grandfather Amy."

"What do you mean? What do you know about my grandfather?!" asked Amy.

"Follow me.. both of you." Joseph lead the way into the cold room behind the bar and to the far corner of the room. He opened a fuse box a opened a second panel behind the switches. Behind that second panel was a keypad which Joseph typed something into. He looked back at Amy and Aniello, took a deep breath, and pressed a final button. The concrete floor began slowly lowering down in segments creating a stair case below the pub. Joseph continued to lead the way down many flights of stairs until they reached a metal door that opened automatically.

The room the metal door lead to was a gargantuan, metal plated cuboid that seemed to a mile long and 15 metres high. Tables piled up with paper and tools were scattered in one corner, shelves filled another while the rest of the room was taken up by a spherical device made up of two circular sections that reached the top of the room. On both sections there were four long spikes spread out evenly pointed into the centre of the sphere. A countless amount of wire burst out of the base of the device and weaved into a large console covered in dials and switches. A thick glass wall separated the two sections of the room keeping the device contained.

"Three decades ago, I woke up on a small island not far from this one with an old man who claimed to be from space. He showed me blueprints and research notes he had made of a device that if used correctly would be the most powerful weapon ever created. Capable of erasing gods from existence. Together we planned to escape from the island as beasts you only see in your worst nightmares threatened to find our camp and do who knows what to us. We were able to make a working aeroplane but things didn't go so well. I lost control of my ability and... I was only one who made off the island with the man's blueprints and notes.

I ended up landing on this island but stayed when I found the town. Ever since I devoted myself to creating weapons that would mean people could defend themselves and not risk having what happened to me happen to them." Joseph walked over to the shelves and pulled a small knife off on one. He presented it to Amy and Aniello and then swung it downwards. The blade extended to many times it's original length and the end became two prongs that sparked with electricity. A single button press later and it shrunk back down to it's normal size. "No matter how many weapons I created or how deadly I made them I just couldn't feel satisfied. So a set to work creating the weapon from the man's blueprints.

Eight beams of gamma radiation with enough energy added to them to make their wavelength as short as the planck length. When they all collide in the centre, it's enough energy to rip a hole through the universe, dimension, and realm all at the same time creating a gateway into a realm known as the void."

"The void? That's what Dr Warble was talk about that one time. A place where time and space don't exist and everything exists in perfect limbo." remember Amy.

"Well, yes! That the basics of the void. Too bad this device does make things simpler. I call it the 'Void-engine'. It operates in three different stages of connection to the void. Stage one is the appearance of 'void-particles' as they escape through tiny unstable gateways. These particles can interfere with time and space in our dimension creating anomalies like random objects teleporting or time even rewinding. Stage two is when these tiny gateways gain enough energy to become stable and stay open. Luckily it also seems to form a barrier by itself preventing void-particles from pouring out allowing objects or even people to safely travel into and out of the void... theoretically. However, stage three is when the gateway gets to a point where it starts to absorb matter and energy like a black hole making itself self-sustaining and grows to a point where it completely assimilates our universe with the void. Hopefully that's just a potential outcome and will never happen." explained Joseph.

"So is that third stage the reason it's the most powerful weapon?" asked Aniello looking over the Void-engine.

"No. The weaponized version is much worse. I haven't created any designs but I have the basic idea in my head. A handheld weapon that creates the tiny gateways in a barrel, holds them open, and then fires them at a target. The kinetic energy will hold hem open into they collide with a target draining them of mass and energy of all forms..." Joseph looked up at Amy and Aniello then at a clock on the wall. "Come on! We should get to sleep. The pub re-opens tomorrow and people are going to be thirsty. Joseph herded the two of them out the door and closed it behind them.

He pulled the pill from earlier out of his pocket and stared at it. If he been taking his medication the deer wouldn't have been put in danger. But if he had taken the pills he wouldn't have been able to save it. This wasn't medication anymore, it was a restraint. He threw it in the bin and opened the metal door. A sheet of paper fell off one of the tables and glided to his feet. It was a flyer about a big festival and dance happening this year in just over a month. Maybe Amy and Aniello would like to go. He picked it up, turned off the lights in the room, and left. But one thing still stuck with him.

Dr Warble. Why did he recognise that name.