Day fifty. The morning sun filtered softly through the trees, bathing the camp in a deceptive peace despite yesterday's violence.
Draven sat by a small fire. His shoulder was completely healed thanks to Sylvara's skilled work, but a deep exhaustion lingered—not physical, but emotional. The weight of the mercy killing settled deep within him.
The Pack spread around the camp. Zor was perched on a branch overhead, keeping watch. Velnar rested against an ancient oak, radiating the quiet patience of four centuries. Sylvara sat with a scholarly focus, reviewing the pages of the Genesis Codex. Feyra was curled nearby, her green roses adorning her white fur, catching the morning light beautifully. Across the fire, Malvorn, twenty-five stories of earth-element Overlord, sat with his presence settled at magnitude zero, watching Draven quietly. Understanding was visible even in his crystalline features.
"How are you feeling?" Malvorn asked simply.
Draven considered the question. "I am tired, and I am sad. But I am okay. We did what had to be done."
"You always do what is necessary."
Malvorn's gaze drifted toward the zone boundary, the purple-white glow visible through the trees. It was still wrong.
"I keep thinking about the Thunder Wolf," Malvorn said quietly. "It used to be someone's bonded beast. It had a person who loved it, and it had a life before the corruption took everything away."
Draven nodded. "I know."
"That could have been me," Malvorn continued, his voice carrying weight. "If you had not found me when you did, I would have been that beast. Mindless. Suffering. I would have needed mercy killing."
"But you are not that beast," Draven said firmly. "You are here. You are family. You have control. That is what matters."
"That is because of you. You tried saving before killing. You saw the person beneath the monster."
A comfortable silence settled between them, a shared understanding that needed no more words.
Feyra stretched, her green roses rustling gently. She had been quieter than usual since yesterday.
"I felt what happened through the bond," she said softly. "When you killed that beast, I felt your sadness. It hurt."
"I am sorry you had to feel that," Draven replied.
"You do not need to be sorry," Feyra said, walking over to sit beside him, her size controlled at four feet. "I am Lord-tier now. That means sharing everything. That is what family does."
Zor called down from his perch. "She is correct. We all felt it. Your grief became our grief, but your determination also became our determination. We move forward together."
Velnar clicked his legs thoughtfully. "The shared burden weighs less. The shared purpose strengthens all. You do not carry this alone."
Sylvara looked up from the Genesis Codex, her scholarly focus undiminished. "While we process emotionally, I have been reviewing the data Adhivar collected during the combat. There are patterns here. Information that might help us understand what is happening."
Draven's attention sharpened. "What kind of patterns are you seeing?"
"The kind that raise more questions than they answer. You should see this."
---
Everyone gathered around the Genesis Codex. The pages flipped, displaying the information collected during the encounter with the Thunder Wolf. The data was visualized in complex images that conveyed understanding more effectively than language.
Sylvara pointed to one section. "This shows the Thunder Wolf's corruption progression. Based on the tissue analysis, it was originally King-tier, and the corruption pushed it to peak Lord-tier strength."
"How long did that process take?" Draven asked.
"Approximately three days. Maybe four at most, based on the cellular degradation patterns."
"That is very fast," Feyra observed.
"It is extremely fast," Sylvara confirmed. She gestured, and the Codex pages shifted to display a comparison. "Let me show you the historical data for the Ice Serpent attack on Bloomring."
Draven nodded. "I remember hearing about it. Thousands died before it was stopped."
"That beast was also originally King-tier, mutated to peak Lord-tier. But look at the mutation timeline." Sylvara pointed to the new data. "The Ice Serpent took approximately two weeks to mutate from King-tier to peak Lord-tier. The Thunder Wolf we fought yesterday took only three days."
Silence settled over the group.
"Why is there such a large difference?" Malvorn asked.
"Corruption concentration," Adhivar's presence conveyed understanding to them. "The Ice Serpent was exposed to a stable zone. Those old zones have small spatial tears with light corruption seepage. The new zone you discovered has a much larger tear. It has heavier seepage and a much more concentrated corruption."
"So beasts mutate faster here," Zor said. "Days instead of weeks. That gives us less time to detect them and less time to respond before they attack nearby settlements."
"Can we tell how long this new zone has been here?" Draven asked.
Sylvara shook her head. "Not precisely. But based on the environmental corruption spreading into the surrounding forest, I estimate it appeared recently. Within the last few weeks at most."
"So we have one zone," Draven summarized, thinking aloud. "It appeared recently near a populated area. It has heavy corruption that mutates beasts extremely fast. The question is this: Is this an isolated incident, or are there more zones like this appearing elsewhere?"
"We have no way of knowing that," Sylvara admitted. "We only have data from this one location. We would need to investigate other areas, or receive reports from the other Overlords, to know if this is happening elsewhere."
Velnar clicked thoughtfully. "An isolated incident would be concerning. A widespread phenomenon would be catastrophic."
"What about the forty-seven stable zones?" Feyra asked. "The ones that have existed for centuries. Are they changing too?"
"Unknown," Adhivar conveyed. "Those zones are scattered across the continent. Without visiting them or receiving current reports, we cannot determine if they remain stable."
"So we do not know much at all," Draven concluded. "We only know that this one zone exists, it is dangerous, and it killed at least one beast that we know of."
"Correct assessment," Adhivar confirmed. "The information is insufficient for broader conclusions."
---
The family sat around the fire for their meeting. Everyone contributed their thoughts.
"We know this zone exists," Draven said. "We know it is more dangerous than the old zones. We know it killed that Thunder Wolf. But we do not know if this is happening anywhere else, or why it appeared here in the first place."
Zor spoke first. "It could be random. The spatial barriers weaken naturally over time. Maybe one happened to tear open near here."
"That is possible," Sylvara considered. "But it is suspicious that it appeared so close to settlements. There is a village two days away. If that Thunder Wolf had escaped and reached any of the towns..." She did not need to finish the thought.
Feyra's ears drooped. "Do you think there are more beasts suffering like that one? Trapped in corruption they do not understand?"
"If there are other zones like this one, then yes," Malvorn said gently. "But we do not know if there are."
Draven stared into the fire, thinking. "The timing bothers me."
"What do you mean?" Sylvara asked.
"Think about what has changed recently," Draven continued. "The liberation war ended months ago. But actual peace? Cities rebuilding? Trade routes reopening? People and beasts living near each other again without constant fighting? That is all very recent."
Velnar clicked his legs. "You think the end of the war is connected to this phenomenon?"
"I do not know," Draven admitted. "I am only speculating. But for decades, humans and beasts were at war. Constant conflict kept both populations in check. Now we have peace. Populations are growing. Both species are expanding into territories they could not access during the war."
"Imbalance," Malvorn rumbled. "The curse is designed to maintain balance between humans and beasts. The war did that through killing. Peace removes that pressure. Perhaps the curse is adjusting itself."
"That is a dark idea," Zor said. "Peace triggers a cosmic punishment to restore balance through different means."
"It is just a theory," Draven cautioned quickly. "I have no proof. No data beyond this one zone. No confirmation from other Overlords or scholars. But the timing feels suspicious."
Feyra looked horrified. "So we are being punished for choosing peace?"
"It is not about good or bad choices," Draven tried to explain. "If my theory is correct, it is not about intentions. It is about numbers. About balance. The curse does not care about intentions. It only cares about maintaining equilibrium."
Adhivar's presence manifested more strongly. "Your hypothesis touches on the fundamental curse design," he conveyed. "Fate's curse exists to ensure neither species dominates. When the human population grows too large, threats emerge that target humans. When the beast population grows too large, human capabilities enhance to compensate."
"So it is automatic?" Sylvara asked. "The curse responds automatically to population shifts?"
"That is the design, yes. A cosmic mechanism that maintains perpetual conflict. Peace is possible temporarily, but the balance will always reassert itself through some means."
"Through things like corruption zones appearing near cities," Malvorn said. "Mutating beasts into threats that attack human populations. Forcing conflict. Reducing numbers. Restoring balance."
"Potentially," Adhivar confirmed. "But I emphasize that this is only theoretical. Your hypothesis may be correct, partially correct, or entirely wrong. We cannot know with certainty without more data."
"So we are guessing," Zor summarized.
"Educated speculation based on limited information," Adhivar corrected. "That is all that can be done with a single data point."
Draven stood up. "We need more information. We cannot confirm anything sitting here speculating."
"What is the plan?" Malvorn asked.
"We will stay in this area for now," Draven said firmly. "We will monitor the zone we found. We will see if anything changes or if more zones appear nearby, and we will hope that the other three Overlords are investigating similar zones in their territories. Maybe one of them will have more information eventually."
"And if we encounter more mutated beasts?" Zor asked.
"The same as before," Draven said. "We try to save them first. Always try. Communication, calming, anything that might work. But if saving fails..." He paused, remembering the Thunder Wolf's empty eyes. "Then we give mercy. We do it quickly. We do not let them suffer."
The Pack nodded in agreement. Family united in purpose.
One zone. One dead beast. One hypothesis without proof.
Questions remained. Answers waited somewhere ahead. But they would find them together.
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