The image was blurry, but it was enough to tell a complete story.
The old projector stood silently in the sky, projecting a gradually dimming light. The brown filter grew fainter and fainter until the image dissolved completely, becoming a chaotic mess of shadows.
The reel slowed once more, then stuttered to a halt with a creaking sound.
"I thought that by placing my consciousness into a relic, I could avoid paying the price. But I was wrong. A price must always be paid. That is the rule of the abyss..."
"My consciousness is collapsing, turning into a void."
The murky lens turned toward the Eye of the Stars again.
"I didn't lie to you. The convergence of consciousness will inevitably lead to collapse. It's like stars—there's a gravity between consciousnesses. Getting too close only leads to a collision, and then a shared fall into an unknowable abyss."
