[Scene 1: Tactical Flight and the Haunting Truth]
The terror of the Echoing Trainyard dissolved into the blur of a forced dimensional jump. Team Sloth—Tank carrying the paralyzed Leo, Astrid reeling from the exposed trauma of her past failure, and Lys desperately guiding the route—were sprinting through chaos.
The name, "Bishop Graves," a rival human known for necromancy magic and morbid philosophy, resonated with the chilling echo of Astrid's failure. He knows.
"He knows your past, Laura!" Leo managed, his voice strained, still fighting the paralysis. His Consciousness was active, but his body was locked down by the psychic sabotage.
Astrid, however, was fighting harder against the truth than the immediate physical danger. "It's a fabrication! My data analysis was sound! I did not cause the collapse! Facts first, feelings later! That echo is a lie!"
"Your logic is failing, Analyst Laura," Lys interjected, guiding them toward a shimmering, golden light in the distance. Her own face was pale from the fear that was not her own. "The Bishop feeds on guilt and regret. He is using your secret to hunt us. We must reach the Somnus Fountain—it promises restorative sleep, a necessary anchor for Vance's recovery."
Tank, fueled by a mixture of adrenaline and loyalty, was running with impossible speed. "Let's smash AND grab! Anything that looks like a skeleton gets smashed!"
[Scene 2: The Somnus Fountain Trap]
They burst into the Somnus Fountain, a space that should have offered peace. It was a cavern illuminated by a glowing spring at the base of a massive, ancient tree. The waters shimmered, promising visions and vivid rest.
But the area was silent—too silent. The air was heavy, viscous, and immediately began to induce a profound, unbidden fatigue in everyone but the paralyzed Leo.
"It's a trap," Leo whispered, recognizing the psychic signature immediately. "The Bishop used the Trainyard's trauma to lure us to a place of forced passivity. He wants to induce a deep sleep so he can harvest our memories and data."
Suddenly, a tall, gaunt figure materialized near the fountain's edge. Bishop Graves. Bald, skeletal features, wearing dark robes, and perpetually rolling his bone dice.
"Welcome, dreamers," Bishop Graves intoned, his voice morbidly philosophical. "All things return to bones. And all minds return to despair. I merely expedite the process. Sloth King, your paralysis is perfect. Your friends, however, are now experiencing the weight of your collective failings."
[Scene 3: Battle of Consciousness]
Bishop Graves initiated his attack: pure psychological warfare. The air flooded with a low, draining wave of self-doubt and pessimism. Tank's massive body slumped as the despair eroded his courage. Lys's Consciousness struggled against the philosophical assault.
The focus of the attack, however, was Astrid. Bishop Graves pointed a skeletal finger at her. "Analyst Laura. You failed the safety audit. You sacrificed your mentor. Your logic is flawed! You are the source of the collapse!"
Astrid gasped, clutching her head as the guilt manifested as physical pain. Her logical mind, unable to find a counter-argument to the psychic facts, began to shut down. Her knees buckled.
Leo, witnessing Astrid's total psychic collapse, felt a surge of compassionate fury. He couldn't move his body, but his mind was clear. He had to use his Zeroness against fear.
His sacrifice must be psychological.
Leo focused his entire being, not on stabilizing the fountain, but on counter-anchoring Astrid's psyche. He visualized a perfect, golden wall of Inertia around her mind—a denial of the Bishop's attack through absolute philosophical opposition.
"It's a lie, Laura!" Leo projected, forcing the words through the psychic attack. "Your data wasn't flawed! His philosophy is flawed! Your guilt is just a frequency! Zeroness! Anchor to the fact that I am here!"
[Scene 4: The Emotional Anchor Turns the Tide]
The psychic battle was invisible, but devastating. Leo's raw, emotional Inertia pulse—fueled not by comfort, but by Pure Consciousness Love and empathy—slammed into Bishop Graves's psychic wave.
The Bishop staggered, recoiling from the pure, selfless energy. "Impossible! Your inertia should be absolute passivity! This is spiritual counter-force!"
Astrid felt the golden pulse slam into her. It wasn't gentle; it was a powerful, commanding stillness that negated the paralyzing fear. Her logic was restored by the sheer fact of his compassionate commitment to her safety.
She pushed back against the psychological attack with her own mental force, screaming the only truth she knew: "My feelings are irrelevant! My mission is critical!"
The dual force shattered the Bishop's concentrated attack. He was a creature of subtle manipulation; this raw, dual-layered power was too direct.
"Pessimism is the only constant! You will pay for this audacity, Sloth King!" Bishop Graves hissed, dissolving into shadow and a cloud of psychic ash.
[Scene 5: Vulnerability Shared and The New Clue]
The attack was over. Leo remained paralyzed, but the psychic block was lifted. Astrid was breathing hard, her posture finally broken. She knelt beside Leo, her rigid façade dissolved.
"You risked your anchor... for my mental state," Astrid whispered, avoiding his gaze, deeply ashamed that her logic had failed her. "That was statistically the most inefficient, reckless decision you could have made."
"It's a necessary calculation for anchor stability," Leo rasped, using her own catchphrase to mirror her affection. The intimate understanding that passed between them was far more powerful than any physical touch.
Lys Delmar, recovering, used her Echo Lens to scan the area where the Bishop had retreated. "The psychic residue is fading... but he left a temporal anomaly at the fountain's edge."
The anomaly was a small, pulsing orb of psychic energy, focused on a specific coordinate.
Astrid scanned the orb. "It's a coordinate for the Celestial Garden —the healer's retreat. The location of Sanaa Trinh's base of operations."
"But why leave the coordinates?" Leo managed, his voice gaining strength.
Lys pointed her Dreamweaver Scepter at the orb, extracting a final, horrifying fragment of data—a shadow memory left behind by the Bishop. It was a memory of Sanaa Trinh injecting a small, shimmering piece of corruption into the Celestial Garden's healing springs.
CLIFFHANGER:
The memory showed that Sanaa hadn't just escaped with the Comfort Cruncher; she had used the time jump to activate a devastating final sabotage.
Astrid read the psychic residue, her eyes wide with terror. "The corruption... it's designed to turn the healing springs of the Celestial Garden into pure poison! And our current course, programmed by the Protocol, is taking us directly there!"
Leo's eyes snapped to the wall, where a faint, mocking echo of the Bishop's voice pulsed in the stone:
"Pessimism prevails, Sloth King. Your compassion will lead you directly into the Healer's Trap."