Back on the Wayfarer, safely sealed in the core chamber, they regarded the fruit. It hummed with power.
"Do we trust them?" Ryn asked, scanning it. "Readings are off the charts. Pure life-energy. No toxins, no corruption, no tech. It's… clean."
"They didn't ask for loyalty or service," Mira mused. "Just a philosophy. A reminder."
"A wall, not a sword," Echo repeated. He understood. The Ordered wanted him to be a weapon. The Corrupted wanted to consume him. The Shadow Court wanted to use him. These Keepers wanted him to be… a foundation. Something that endures.
"The fruit will help me form the Vitalis Core," he said. "But I think its power is meant to be shared. Not just taken." He looked at his bonded. "We do this together. We share the feast. We share the growth."
They sat in a circle. Echo broke the pomegranate open. Instead of seeds, it contained shifting, liquid light. He drank first, feeling the incredible energy flood into him, a river of pure life that soothed his burns and filled his hollow spaces. He then passed it to Leyla, who drank, her silver fur gleaming brighter. Then Mira, whose spatial senses seemed to expand, seeing deeper into the fabric of the ship, the nebula, the universe. Then Ryn, whose cybernetics glowed with golden harmony and whose human eye shone with renewed vitality.
They didn't just consume the energy. They circulated it. Through kisses, through touch, through the bond. They created a circuit of four, and the Starlight energy cycled through them, amplified by their union, purified by their connection, and finally anchored deep within Echo, where his Vitalis Core crystallized.
[ Vitalis Core Formation: 50% ]
[ Sanguis Imperator – Stage 1 Stabilized. Stage 2 Pathway Unlocked. ]
[ New Ability: Life-Thread Perception – Can now see and subtly influence the threads of life-force connecting all living things in a vicinity. ]
[ Bond Synergy: Quad-Bond now provides a constant, low-level regeneration and clarity of mind to all members. ]
Echo opened his eyes. The world was new. He could see the life-threads of his bonded, strong and bright, connecting them to him and to each other. He could see the faint, dying threads of the Corrupted scavengers outside. He could see the slow, deep threads of the ancient wrecks, and the wild, chaotic threads of the unknown things deeper in the Gloom.
He had taken a massive step toward true power. And he had done it with his bonds, in the forgotten dark, away from the cages of Order and the temptations of Shadow.
He was building his own path.
And in the Gloom, with his kingdom beside him, he looked toward the deeper darkness, where the black rose promised answers, and the Keepers promised wisdom.
The game was changing.
And for the first time, Echo felt like he was holding the dice.