The chamber trembled.
Dust drifted from the ceiling as a low vibration pulsed through the ancient structure.
Kael remained still.
The energy he had absorbed moments ago hadn't settled.
It was changing.
Expanding.
His veins glowed faintly beneath his skin as waves of power flowed through his body.
"Aetherion."
The response came immediately.
"Processing."
Kael frowned.
"What exactly did I absorb?"
A pause.
Longer than usual.
Then—
"Unknown energy signature."
Kael's eyes narrowed.
Unknown?
That wasn't an answer Aetherion gave often.
Before he could ask another question, pain shot through his chest.
He dropped to one knee.
A sharp pulse exploded from the Core.
His vision blurred.
The chamber vanished.
Darkness swallowed everything.
Then—
Stars.
Endless stars.
Kael found himself floating in a sea of light.
Thousands of distant suns burned across the void.
And standing among them—
A figure.
Tall.
Motionless.
Watching him.
Kael's heart pounded.
The figure wasn't human.
Its body seemed made of flowing starlight.
Its eyes shone like dying galaxies.
"You carry the Core."
The voice echoed through existence itself.
Kael instinctively stepped back.
"Who are you?"
The figure tilted its head.
For a moment, the stars around it dimmed.
Then—
"I am what remains."
The words sent a chill through him.
"What does that mean?"
No answer.
Instead, the figure raised a hand.
The stars began to move.
Kael watched in horror as entire worlds appeared around him.
Civilizations.
Cities.
Empires.
Then destruction.
One after another.
Consumed by darkness.
Erased.
Gone.
"What am I seeing?"
"The cycle."
Kael clenched his fists.
"The cycle of what?"
The figure looked directly at him.
"The hunt."
Silence.
Then every star in the void suddenly went dark.
Only one remained.
A single burning light.
A Core.
Aetherion.
Kael stared at it.
The figure's voice lowered.
"They are searching."
His chest tightened.
"Who?"
For the first time—
Fear appeared in the being's eyes.
"The Devourers."
Everything shattered.
Kael gasped as reality returned.
The chamber reappeared.
Cold stone.
Ancient walls.
His own ragged breathing.
He was back.
"What was that?"
Aetherion answered immediately.
"Memory fragment detected."
Kael stood slowly.
His heart refused to calm.
"The Devourers..."
The name felt wrong.
Dangerous.
Ancient.
Aetherion remained silent.
That silence told him more than words ever could.
Whatever he had just witnessed—
It was real.
And somewhere beyond the stars...
Something had started moving.
Something that knew exactly where the Core was.
And exactly who carried it.