This chapter's epigraph comes from the opening lines of the first chapter of the novel, "The Return of the Jedi." It's a quote from the novel's protagonist, Anakin Skywalker, in which he says, "I'm not afraid of the future, but I'm afraid of what it will be like to live in the present." The quote is a reference to the fact that the future will be different from the present because of the presence of the "gods" in the universe. In other words, the gods are like the characters in the novel. In this case, the characters are the same as the gods, but the gods live in a higher dimension than the characters. So, the system is like the novel and the reaper like the pen. The only difference between the two is that the system has the author and the pen has the creator. The existence of the curse is higher than that of the system because the curses are at a higher level than the system. The curses, in the system's eyes, are just like the gods. In the present, however, they are like "the selected few." The only way to get to the other side of the barrier is to cast a protective barrier around the abandoned factory. This is the first step in the creation of a new world.