----
Halfworld
The shadow-raven flew silently through the atmosphere, leaving behind no thermal signature or shockwave. Sam stood on its back, feeling no pressure or cold from the wind of this foreign world. He guided the Raven to land in a clearing at the edge of a vast, metallic forest. This place had giant, crystalline trees intertwined with the rusted remains of old server arrays.The huge bird of shadow landed, its large wings folding. It did not disappear. It stayed, a kilometer-wide figure of living darkness, its star-filled eyes observing the grove with quiet, ancient wisdom. Its presence felt heavy on the world, a wordless claim of power.
Sam stepped off, his shoes making contact with the soft, mossy ground. The shadow at the Raven's feet grew, merging with the area around it.
At that moment, a familiar and deep presence reached out to him in his mind. Its voice resonated like something he had experienced in a past life. It felt like an essential part of him that had been asleep until now.
[Ding – 10,000-Times Multiplier Strengthening System is online]
[Welcome back, host. Took you long enough.]
[Current limit: 100x multiplier ]
[Uses: 3]
A slow, genuine smile spread across Sam's lips, a rare sign of pure satisfaction. It wasn't the smile of a man who had just gained a new tool; it was the smile of a king who had just been reunited with his scepter. The energy of the dying star hadn't just energized the System; it had been the key that turned the lock and opened the doors to a vault of power that belonged to him.
Welcome back, he thought. The feeling was both a command and an acknowledgment. It felt complete.His authority over space was one pillar of his dominion. This—the absolute, unrestricted authority to enhance all of creation—was the other. Now, the throne was complete.
"AetherLink," he communicated, his mental voice carrying a new, unshakable certainty. "Integrate the System's full parameters. All previous strategic models are obsolete. Recalibrate everything."
Acknowledged, Host. The strategic potential has undergone a fundamental paradigm shift. All projections updated. The scope of Project: Infinity and Project: Arcadia has been expanded by several orders of magnitude.>
He turned his attention back to the grove, his perception of the rusted technology around him now fundamentally altered. It was no longer scrap; it was raw, unformed clay, waiting for his touch to become a masterpiece. "Deep-level diagnostic scan of this network hub. I want access to the planetary data core."
As data flooded his consciousness, a proximity alert chimed.
Sam didn't turn. He continued to sift through the planet's history, now viewing it through the lens of his restored power. He saw the logs of the experiments, the creation of the anthropomorphic beings, the Kree's panicked retreat. All of it was merely prelude.
The rustle in the crystalline leaves behind him was loud. A voice, gruff and laced with a guttural accent, barked a command.
"Hey! You! Turn around slowly!"
Sam finished reading. He slowly turned, the ghost of that satisfied smile still playing on his features, which now seemed to the newcomers to be not just calm, but eerily, divinely content.
Facing him was a squad led by a bipedal raccoon, clutching a large, cobbled-together blaster rifle. Behind him stood a hulking otter, a cybernetically enhanced rabbit, and others. Their bravado was palpable, but their eyes kept flicking past Sam to the immense, silent Raven looming behind him, its sheer scale draining their courage.
The raccoon, Rocket, swallowed hard, trying to keep his blaster steady. "You're not a Kree. What are you? This is our scrap. Our world."
"You are the inheritors of a failed enterprise," Sam stated, his voice calm, yet now carrying the unshakable confidence of a man who could reshape the very atoms of their "scrap" into god-metal. "The Kree left you with nothing but their garbage. You fight over scraps while a galaxy of plenty ignores you."
"Yeah? And you're here to help?" Rocket sneered, though it lacked its usual force.
"I am here to build," Sam replied, the finality in his tone absolute. "And you will be the foundation."
Before they could retort, Sam gestured. Not to them, but to the shadows now staining the grove.
From the darkness at the base of the ruined servers, figures emerged. Dozens of them. They were humanoid shadows, featureless and silent, their forms hinting at armor and tools. They moved with an unnerving, fluid purpose. Some began to clear debris with impossible strength, their hands passing through solid metal which then dissolved into motes of dark energy. Others accessed broken terminals, their touch causing corrupted screens to flare to life with clean, geometric data streams. A third group moved past the stunned squad, fanning out into the jungle to gather information and, presumably, to gather others.
Rocket and his crew could only watch, their weapons slowly lowering, utterly forgotten in the face of this silent, systematic takeover.
---
Flashback: One Cycle Prior – The Vault of Broken Promises
Rocket led the way, his cybernetic tail twitching with excitement. "I'm tellin' ya, Lylla, this is it! The motherlode! A fully intact Kree med-bay!"
They slipped into a hidden bunker, sealed for centuries. Inside, amidst dust and decay, stood a single, cylindrical pod—a Genetic Stabilization Capsule. According to the schematics Rocket had painstakingly pieced together, it was designed to correct genetic drift and enhance physical attributes for Kree soldiers.
"This... this can fix us," Lylla the otter whispered, her voice full of hope. "Make us... normal. Strong."
They spent days powering it, repairing conduits. Finally, with a shuddering hum, the capsule activated. Rocket, ever the pioneer, went first. The pod sealed, lights scanned him, and then... nothing. A harsh, error code flashed on the screen: SUBJECT GENOME INCOMPATIBLE. CORRUPTION IRREVERSIBLE. PROCEDURE ABORTED.
One by one, they tried. The rabbit, Jax, received the same message. Lylla, the most hopeful, stepped in last, only to be met with the same cold, final rejection. The machine, built for the pristine Kree genome, could not comprehend or correct the "corrupted," spliced DNA of the animal-folk. It was a promise of salvation, broken. They left the bunker in defeated silence, the memory of that failure a fresh wound.
---
The Grove – Present
As the Shadow People worked, AetherLink's voice echoed in Sam's mind.
Sam's eyes, which had been observing the efficient work of his shadows, gleamed with cold calculation. An animal army, loyal not through fear, but through transcendent gratitude. It was a more durable foundation.
"Location?"
"Retrieve it."
From the swirling darkness at Sam's feet, two Shadow Soldiers detached and melted into the ground. They returned moments later, carrying the cylindrical capsule between them, placing it silently before him.
Rocket and his crew gasped, taking a step back. "How... how did you...?" Jax the rabbit stammered.
Sam ignored him, running a hand over the cold Kree metal. "A crude tool, limited by the imagination of its creators." He looked at Rocket, whose face was a mask of old pain and fresh anger. "This machine told you that you were broken. Irreversible."
He placed both hands on the capsule's housing. There was no strain, no gathering of energy. He simply willed it, accessing the new, permanent authority now bound to his soul.
[Ding! 10,000-Times Multiplier Strengthening System has detected a Kree Medical Capsule.]
[Initiating enhancement… 1%… 10%… 100%… 10000%! Upgrade complete.]
[Congratulations, host.]
You have strengthened the Kree Med Capsule into: "Eternal Genesis Core."
---
Item: Eternal Genesis Core
Grade: Transcendent Divine Artifact
Origin: When science touched the edge of creation, this Core was born. Its data threads run through time itself, rewriting existence like code.
Description:
A relic that merges Kree biotechnology with the breath of creation. The capsule no longer heals—it redefines. Once activated, it emits "Origin Particles" that reconstruct anything it touches back to its perfect, intended form. Even death is considered a correctable flaw.
Abilities:
Absolute Restoration: Can rebuild a being from dust, memory, or concept.
Genesis Pulse: Creates new life forms with predetermined evolution paths.
Law Imprint: Infuses healed creatures with a personal law—flame beasts command fire, water beasts shape oceans, mind beasts bend thought.
Planetary Awakening: When deployed on Halfworld, the planet awakens as a living entity, its biosphere linked to the Core.
Reality Override: The Core's energy is not "used"—it resets reality to a state where depletion never existed.
The transformation was instantaneous and profound. The capsule morphed from dull metal into a seamless, opalescent pearl-white shell. The internal components became flowing channels of liquid light. The control panel vanished, replaced by a smooth, intuitive holographic interface that pulsed with a soft, golden rhythm. It was no longer a machine; it was an artifact of a higher order.
Sam turned to the stunned animals. "The Kree tool was designed for a single, rigid purpose. It saw you as errors." He gestured to the transcendent device. "This sees only potential. It will not reject you. It will perfect you."
He looked directly at Rocket, his gaze absolute. "The meeting is tomorrow. The future is no longer a broken promise."
He turned and walked back towards the waiting Raven, the shadows and their silent workers continuing their tasks around him. He did not need to dismiss the Raven to intimidate them. Its perpetual, looming presence, coupled with the miracle he had just performed, was a more powerful chain than any threat. They were no longer just defending their scrap; they were witnessing the birth of a god, and he was offering them a place in his new creation.