It was Kael, the Scavenger King, who brought a sliver of hope. His people, who had lived and adapted in the harsh real world for generations, had their own remedies, brewed from the mutated plants and fungi of the Dead Zones. They viewed the "Echo" not as a disease, but as a "Reality Sickness."
He brought a thick, bitter paste made from a phosphorescent moss. "It is strong. It burns away the weakness. But it is dangerous. It can burn away the person, too."
It was a brutal, primal form of gene therapy. The moss contained retroviruses that forcefully rewrote cellular DNA, forcing the body to adapt to the present environment. The survival rate was fifty percent.
Lena, her voice weak, made the choice. "I didn't fight my way out of a simulation to die in a bed, Elias. I'll take the chance."
The treatment was a torment. For three days, Lena burned with fever, her body wracked with convulsions. Elias never left her side. On the fourth day, the fever broke. The tremors were gone. Her eyes were clear, filled with a new, hard-won strength. She had survived. Many others did not. The cure was as merciless as the disease, a stark reminder that their new world offered no easy solutions.