The quiet after the spin felt strange, like the ringing in your ears after a bomb goes off, an empty space left after so much power was used at once. Aris pushed himself up, his muscles shaky, and the taste of bile rose in his throat. The world felt off-kilter, like the Obelisk's sudden, strong movement had messed with everything.
Kaito was still on his knees, staring at the now-still thing with scared, wide eyes. The wonder he had felt before was gone, replaced by pure terror. "It… it reloaded", he stuttered, his voice cracking. "The first balls were dropped when it got here. This… this was a second drop."
Before Aris could say anything, the air itself seemed to twitch. A deep, low groan came from the Obelisk, a sound that shook the ground and vibrated in their bones. It was the sound of a huge machine moving, of openings appearing in the shiny silver area near the top.
And then, it started to rain.
But it wasn't water. Instead, silent, silver balls of doom fell from the sky. Hundreds of these six-meter spheres came pouring out, not randomly, but in a planned, grid-like way. They fell without a sound, no rushing air, no whistling as they came down. Their silence was scarier than any explosion.
"All units, fire! Target the spheres!" Rostova yelled over the radio, her voice tinny and desperate.
The military on the edge of the area started firing. Tracers shot up in bright red lines. Missiles flew from launchers, quickly hitting the falling spheres, exploding in orange fire and pieces.
But it didn't work. The spheres took the hits without a scratch, their smooth surfaces unmarked. They kept falling silently, ignoring everything thrown at them. It was like they weren't being attacked at all; they were just ignoring the weather.
Aris watched, frozen, as the first silver balls hit the ground. They didn't crash or make craters. They touched the earth and simply… sank. The dirt and rocks moved aside like water, swallowing them whole with a soft, sizzling sound. One after another, they disappeared below the surface, leaving only round holes that seemed to let out a faint mist that smelled like ozone.
It was just like Jakarta, but awful. The same silent fall, the same weak defense, the same underground invasion.
But for Aris, it was more than just a repeat. It was like a key turning in his mind.
As the spheres rained down, the pressure he had felt since arriving grew stronger and stronger. The humming in his head wasn't a memory anymore; it was live. The patterns flashed behind his eyes not as memories, but as real information—a targeting plan, a map of the forest's resources, a countdown to something called the Draw.
He stumbled, holding his head. The sharp pain he remembered from Jakarta started again, like a cold wire, a sign that he was about to lose himself. He saw the woman from the café in Jakarta turning to dust. He saw Ben's scared eyes. He felt a huge awareness looking at him.
"No..." he gasped, falling to one knee. "Not again…:
Kaito ran to him, grabbing his arm. "Aris! What is it? What's wrong?"
"The pressure… the Draw…" Aris choked out, his vision blurry. "It's starting. It's taking note of everything, the trees, the animals… us."
He could feel it now, not just guessing, but knowing for sure. The spheres weren't just buried. They were turning on, sending out energy, sensing the life in the forest. He could feel the old trees, the birds, the foxes—all being measured and counted. The Obelisk was taking inventory, and the feeling of that process was flooding his head.
The last sphere went into the ground. The rain stopped. The Obelisk stood still again. The military stopped firing, the only signs of their fight being the smoke and the round holes in the ground.
The forest was quiet. But it wasn't alive quiet. It was the quiet of a storage about to be stocked.
Aris looked up at Kaito, his face pale. "It's not just a repeat", he whispered, realizing the truth. "Jakarta was a test of how many people could live in one place. This… this is a test of what types of life are here. It's learning. It's changing the way it harvests."
Rostova's voice was flat and empty over the radio, the anger gone, replaced by acceptance. "All personnel, move back to the inner edge of the area. The event is over. Thorne, Tanaka… get back here, now."
As Kaito helped him up, Aris looked one last time at the silent machine. The pain was the same, but he understood more now. They weren't just victims of a harvest that happened sometimes. They were being tested, and the rules were being changed with each new Obelisk that appeared.
The forest was quiet. But below them, the silver seeds were awake, and the air already felt like something was about to be taken away.