As he pulled the last of the Desperation into himself, a final, jagged memory from the shard pierced his mind—not from the hunters, but a hidden message left within the violet energy itself.
"We are pleased with your actions, child. We are watching, little one."
Aden's eyes snapped open as the shard in Eren's chest turned a dull, stable orange. The heat vanished completely and the silence returned.
Eren slumped forward, unconscious, falling into Aden's arms. Aden stood there, holding the boy, his mind a haze of missing years and forgotten faces.
He looked at his hand. He recognized the shape, but the name Aden felt like a word from a language he no longer spoke.
'Did you hear that too?' Aden's asked the Entity with a hidden tremor in his voice.
'Hear what?' the Entity replied. 'The sound of your Void absorbing the energy from the Tetrarchs desperation?'
