The medical scanner couldn't identify what was wrong with Rama's hands.
Not burns. Not frostbite. Not radiation damage. The blackened skin didn't match any known injury classification. The tissue was alive but wrong—cells functioning normally while exhibiting properties that shouldn't exist.
"Void corruption at the cellular level," the lead doctor said, reviewing test results with Sekar outside Rama's room. "His cells are partially converting to void-matter. Not dying. Converting. I've never seen anything like this."
"Can you treat it?" Sekar asked.
"I don't even know what I'm treating. Normal healing magic doesn't work—the void energy resists it. Regeneration potions have zero effect. His body is rejecting conventional medical intervention."
"So he's just... corrupted? Permanently?"
