Chapter 16: A Touch of Nothingness
The psychic attack was a sledgehammer of pure despair. It was the feeling of a star going cold, of a forest turning to dust, of hope itself being extinguished. Astra stumbled back, a cry torn from her lips as her mental defenses, forged by her bond and the system, shuddered under the assault.
Lykos was at her side in an instant, his good arm catching her, a protective snarl ripping from his throat aimed at the caged horror.
Theron watched, his ancient eyes narrowed. "It reacts to you."
"It's... aware," Astra gasped, clutching her head. The bond with Kaelen was flaring with alarm, a distant shout of concern. She pushed a wave of I'm okay back, though she felt anything but. "It's not just a disease. It's a predator. A conscious one."
[Analysis Updated: "World-Devourer Pathogen" displays rudimentary sentience and hive-mind characteristics. Primary drive: Consumption. Secondary drive: Self-preservation and propagation. It identifies you as a novel threat/anomaly.]
"You can sense this?" Theron leaned forward, his intensity palpable. "Our Seers can only perceive it as a 'void.' You can feel its mind?"
"I can feel its hunger," Astra corrected, shakily getting to her feet. Her [Beastworld Botany] skill was useless; this was the antithesis of life. But her human mind, her outsider's perspective, was processing the data. "It doesn't think like we do. It's a pattern. A consumption algorithm. It learns what resists it and finds a way around."
She looked at the weeping eagle, her heart breaking. "This creature... there's no saving it. The Rot has taken too much. Its spirit is already gone. All that's left is a puppet for the hunger."
Theron's face was grim. "We feared as much." He gestured, and one of the warriors drew a blade made of a strange, opalescent material. With a swift, merciful motion, he ended the eagle's suffering. The moment life left the body, the black substance dissipated like smoke, leaving behind a desiccated, empty husk.
A profound silence filled the chamber.
"You see our problem," Theron said. "We cannot fight what we do not understand. You, Human, are the first to look upon the Rot and not see a mystery, but a... a mechanism."
"It's a parasite," Astra murmured, the concept forming. "A dimensional one, maybe. It doesn't belong here. My world has theories... but no, the tools to fight it..." She trailed off, thinking. The System was a form of advanced technology. The Bond was a spiritual energy. The Rot was something else entirely.
"Your 'human magic'," Theron pressed. "Can it create a cure? A weapon?"
Astra thought of her skills. Herbalism? Useless. Farming? Irrelevant. Dirty Fighting? Laughable. The System itself had provided analysis, but no solutions.
"Not yet," she admitted, feeling the weight of their hope crushing her. "But I might be able to do something else. I might be able to find where it's weakest."
She turned to Theron. "Your Seer. I need to speak with them."
The Aethon Chieftain studied her for a long, tense moment. The fate of his people was balanced on his decision to trust this strange, soft creature from another world.
"Very well," he said finally. "Corvus, take them to the Seer's Spire. But know this, Human. If you are a fraud, or if you bring this corruption into our sanctum, the skies will become your tomb."
The threat hung in the thin air as Corvus led them out. Lykos leaned close to Astra. "You're playing with fire, little human. These bird-men have no patience."
"I know," Astra whispered, her gaze fixed ahead. "But that eagle... Kaelen felt it through the bond. He's scared, Lykos. For the first time, I felt real fear from him. We have to find an answer."
The Seer's Spire was the tallest and most isolated. As they entered, the air grew thick with the scent of incense and ozone. And there, in the center of a room lined with glowing crystals, sat the Aethon Seer.
And he was not what Astra expected at all.