Ren felt a sudden, heavy dampness on his face.
He had no idea when the weeping had actually started. He wasn't sobbing, his shoulders weren't shaking, and he wasn't making any of the broken, choking sounds people usually made when they cried.
There were simply silent tears streaming down a face that did not even truly exist within this ethereal cognitive space.
A suffocating knot formed in a throat made entirely of projected consciousness, carrying the exact, agonizing sensation of grieving a profound loss while the victim was still standing right in front of him.
'And I would take the jade seed with me,' the mushroom continued, its tone inexorable and cold. 'I have to destroy it entirely because it cannot grow without my network to anchor it, and a thing that ceases to grow simply festers and causes systemic damage. It is much better if it fades away with me… A clean break, leaving no loose ends behind to poison your channels later.'
