Time passed within the First One's domain, his golden gaze ever-watchful within the unchanging void.
She held onto him.
Her Chosen. Her Champion. HerArbiter
Or what remained of him.
The world within Her perception was locked in a silent embrace. They drifted without direction as Her being continued to unravel. Slowly and endlessly, She crumbled.
With every fracture, thousands of voices went silent. Solaris screamed and yet She could do nothing.
Then She felt it.
The world pulsed and another presence manifested from beyond the First One's domain.
A human.
But… wrong.
She released her embrace. Her remaining arm lifted, power gathering instinctively.
The anomaly should be erased before it could root itself into existence.
It tried to flee. It tried to shield itself.
Futile.
But before She could strike, another presence stepped through the threshold.
A monster. No. Him.
Her form stilled.
A message crossed the void between them, not through sound, but through intent.
'What kind of abomination have you brought into this place?'
The response came twisted with amusement.
'My~ how hurtful. Aren't you happy to see more of these worthless scraps of sub-strata trash? Oh my! It seems your little "pet" has… how do they say this? Ah! Kicked the bucket.'
His voice still carried that sing-song tone of an old-time radio.
'If you're here only here to mock, then leave.'
'Oh~ giving up already? Fine, fine. I'll let you off this time... But. perhaps~, you could be a dear and bless this one, and send him to Solaris.'
Her light dimmed further.
'You truly believe I would comply with that? to sen-'
'You. Owe. Me.'
Silence followed.
She lowered her gaze. Her remaining hand curled into a fist.
…Fine.
At Her gesture, Her Arbiter drifted forward. Lifeless. Hollow. Broken. She lingered for only a moment, then plunged her fractured arm into the corpse's chest.
She felt it immediately.
The last vestiges of Her power.
She pulled.
A sphere of golden light was grasped within Her broken hand, tendirlls of light going taut, each snapping tendril felt like another wound.
They clung to him like dying roots, once thick vines coiled around his frequency, shielding him. Now their reduced to thin strands, barely holding to decayed bone.
She stared at the fragment in her grasp.
Once, this amount of power would have been meaningless. Now, it might sustain Her form for only a few more centuries.
Her gaze shifted to the anomaly. The one He had brought.
She took its hands and guided the blessing into its Frequency. The tendrils latched instantly, too easily. Where her Chosen had required time, gradual assimilation, this one absorbed it completely. Effortlessly. Like water into sponge. No rejection. No resistance.
Wrong.
'What are you?'
Before the question could fully take shape, She pushed the anomaly from the domain. Cast it outward. Into Solaris.
She looked at Him with a questioning gaze.
"Ah~ you have questions? I see, I see. But first…"
A black hole materialized beside him. His current form was dragged into it, space warping with a low, distorted hum. The singularity shrank, collapsed and then vanished.
In its place stood a new figure.
Lean, athletic. A simple white garment draped across his body. White hair. Blue eyes. And a grin far too pleased with itself.
"It seems you've taken quite a liking to theatrics."
"Ehe-ehem." His voice shifted, now sounding almost… normal. Like a neighbor you might hear arguing through thin apartment walls.
"Well, I must admit. Watching that fool squirm and struggle almost made dragging him here worthwhile. if there's one thing these lower life forms are good at, it's finding ways to waste time."
"Must you flaunt your status over them at every opportunity?"
"Oh~ I'd love nothing more than to erase every last one of them on that rock you adore so much."
He paused, glancing at the corpse She was holding tightly.
"…Well. I suppose not all of them are worthless."
He pointed. His own finger was beginning to crumble from the tip. just like Hers.
"This one uncovered something interesting."
"You-"
"Yes-Yes. I went to Solaris, But unlike you, however, I did not synchronize with the planet's frequency. First One knows~ how much disruption that little stunt of your affected this sector."
He continued, unfazed.
"Still, credit where credit is due. The Tethys System is… remarkable. Especially the entity known as The Shore Keeper. You felt it, didn't you? Her presence."
"She was… like us. But weaker. More attuned to Solaris than even I."
"Precisely. I descended there with only a sliver of my consciousness active. I reached the Black Shores. and watched as The Shore Keeper successfully integrated herself into the Tethys System. You should have sensed it, approximately… one month, two weeks, four days, and twenty-nine seconds ago."
"…Yes. She is… gone."
"Assimilated, yes. But the result was fascinating. That sudden pulse of the Tethys reverberation spread across the cosmos. Most nearby sectors possess frequencies strong enough to suppress it. But one…"
He raised a finger.
"A single planet. In a distant sector. It received the signal. And it took root."
Her gaze sharpened.
"In mere weeks, hundreds. thousands of unknown points reconnected to the Tethys System."
"That is impossible. technology like that would take eons for beings to emerge, even in Remnant-rich worlds. Inner worlds untouched by the Lament should not even possess compatible materials. For thousands to manifest-"
"I know. And yet the data is accurate. These signatures bear frequencies similar to Tethys itself."
He folded his arms.
"So I sent a fragment of myself into one of these points. To investigate the source. The planet was distant, difficult to reach… but the anomaly was too significant to ignore. I eventually committed my full presence."
He smiled wider.
"So I sent a fragment of myself into one of these points. To investigate the source. The planet was distant, difficult to reach… but the anomaly was too significant to ignore. I eventually committed my full presence."
He smiled wider.
"And what I found… were humans."
"Humans…? That is impossible. Habitability in inner sectors are-"
"Improbable," he corrected lightly. "Not impossible."
He tilted his head, amusement returning.
"Do you know what's truly amusing? These pitiful evolutionary offshoots are a plague upon their own world. They betray one another for wealth, for pleasure, for power. They would sell their own kin for the smallest taste of dominance."
"Still again I'm impressed even without the innate abilitie to manipulate the world's phenomena, this offshoot of humanity conquered its entire planet. No Lingering Reververations shaped their evolution. No rival species rose to challenge their dominance.
And do you know what I find truly amusing? To them, this planet. Solaris, its tragedies, its struggles, its very existence is nothing more than a game."
He let out a soft, delighted laugh.
"A pastime. A way to pass the time by repeating the same meaningless tasks, over and over, all that for the Chance to obtain what they desire. And they accept it. They enjoy it."
His grin widened.
"Honestly? It ranks among the top one hundered most absurd things I have ever witnessed."
His eyes gleamed.
"Yet still they showed that even without the Lament, they prove their insignificance."
Her voice sharpened.
"Yo-You. What did you have me send to Solaris?"
He smiled.
"A variable."
He stepped closer.
"A being capable of absorbing frequencies, yet born unaligned with any. A being outside this world's computation. A blank sheet thrown into a world of vivid color. Capable of absorbing. Capable of resonating."
Her light flickered violently.
"You're insane! This carries too many risks. What if he loses himself? What if he overclocks? You're making a monster on par with the Lament itself!"
He stared at her calmly.
"And what does that change?"
He gestured outward, to the unseen cosmos.
"As we speak, a human organization known as the Fractidus accelerates Ovathrax's descent in an area known as "Huanglong" They seek to create a Resonator by merging it with Ovathrax and an entity called "Jue". The Black Tide spreads across Rinascita. It's waves crashing on Septimont shore. They're responsible for many disasters blooming across Solaris. This group of traitorous filt attempts to assimilate themselves with the Lament to 'ascend' their place in the natural order."
His voice lowered.
"You know what will happen if Solaris is consumed."
Silence.
"You," He continued softly, "opened the gates of your own existence when you synchronized with that world. If it falls… you will follow."
He met her gaze.
"So pray," he said gently.
"Pray that our little abomination manages to carve light into this world, drowning in the abyss."