Dead Zone Moraveth-2 was different from the beginning.
The void felt thicker. Heavier. More oppressive. Thirty-one million years of predation had changed the space itself. Had made consciousness-absence more profound. Had created depth of nothingness that younger dead zones lacked.
Kaine approached with weapon-self fully activated. Boundaries reinforced as much as possible in minimal preparation time. Compartmentalization functional but untested under current stress levels.
The predator's presence was vast. Larger than previous nine. More distributed. More complex. Thirty-one million years of existence had created something that approached Echo's scale. Something that existed across the entire dead zone like web of ancient hunger.
