Elaine's voice grew softer, the sound of the pool's gentle hum weaving beneath her words.
"The infertility," she said, "was something that affected us deeply. It wasn't caused by any external force. It was born from within us, from the very design of our race. We were… not complete."
Rachel frowned, her brows knitting.
'Not complete? What does that even mean?'
Elaine turned slightly toward her, her expression unreadable beneath the blindfold.
"Error is a universal law, Rachel. Even entities capable of creation are prone to it." She paused. "And we… we were that error."
The weight of those words lingered in the air. Rachel could feel it, the grief of a people realizing they were never meant to exist as they were.
Elaine's tone dimmed, each word carrying a thousand years of sorrow.
"Because of something beyond our control, we faced annihilation. Our numbers dwindled. Every moon, another life lost… and no new one born to replace it."
