solid form, increasing entropy, making the universe more fluid. A living engine of chaos
.
The septar/wental attacked the marauding faeros, but it also exploded Ildiran battleships, razed cities, blasted empty asteroids, not recognizing the difference between ally and enemy. Finally, the combined might of six faeros fireballs dragged the tainted wental into a sun, where the entity was dissociated into molecules. The rest of the water entities could not even grieve.
A tainted wental is a mutation locked into physical form
, the voices tried to explain.
Because of its twisted nature, a tainted wental cannot propagate, and the energy buildup can be released only in violent bursts. Trapped in a loop of itself, it is separate from the rest of the wental mind. And because of this it hates us as much as it hates any other enemy
.
“How often does it happen? Just because you had one bad experience—”
Another shower of images cut him off. This memory seemed even older. The creature was like a giant upright beetle with gray-green leathery skin, the breedex of a Klikiss hive at war with all other hives. A rival infestation had appeared on an adjacent continent, and the new Klikiss reapers had already devoured armies of drones and builders. If the breedex did not destroy the enemies, consume them, and incorporate their chemical memories into its progeny before the next great Swarming, that hiveline would become extinct.
At the time, the wentals had just begun their war with the hydrogues and the faeros. The Klikiss race was a strange civilization new to the elemental beings, and the wentals considered recruiting the insectoid creatures into the struggle. The breedex had communicated its need to them, and the wentals did not understand the consequences of acquiescence. Linked with wental power, the swelling breedex had devoured all ten of its domates without even listening to their songs, then burst its carapace and sprouted new segmented limbs without fissioning to create a new swarm. Infused with the tainted wental, it smashed the rival breedex and turned all the new Klikiss towers to dust. As the storm built inside her, unstoppable, the breedex tore the continent itself apart.
The rest of the wentals fought back, unable to believe the monstrosity they had created. The rampant release of so much power cracked the planet to its core. Though the tainted wental was finally extinguished, the battle mortally wounded the world. Gravity shifted, the landmasses were turned inside out, and all life there died.
That is a tainted wental, Jess Tamblyn. That is what could happen here
.
He still didn’t understand. “Why? Just because I want it so badly? Cesca is a good person, the leader of the clans. How could she create such a horror?”
We only know the danger
.
Jess had made up his mind, though. “Enough! You distract me with esoteric and meaningless philosophy while she’s dying. I accept the risk. I know her heart. Bring her out here, Nikko. Carry her if you must.”
“It’ll hurt her even more, Jess—”
He had hurt her so much. “She is already dying.”
At the young man’s urging, Cesca began to stir. Nikko draped her arm over his shoulder and helped her out of the
Aquarius
. Somehow, she saw Jess, focused on the sunlight and sea, and clung to a faint thread of life. She swayed, and Nikko let her gently down onto the dark, exposed rock of Charybdis.
She must come to the water herself. You cannot help her
.
Jess knelt beside her and felt his heart ripping in half. Without Cesca, how could he live? He stood at the edge of the reef between the slick stones and the crackling ocean, cursing the wentals and their ridiculous rules and restrictions. “You’re killing her!”
It must be entirely her decision, entirely her action
.
“Cesca, if you love me, do one last thing for me. Drink the water and live. Let the wentals join you, and you’ll be like me.” Only a few feet away, the ocean stilled itself. Wentals
.
The septar/wental attacked the marauding faeros, but it also exploded Ildiran battleships, razed cities, blasted empty asteroids, not recognizing the difference between ally and enemy. Finally, the combined might of six faeros fireballs dragged the tainted wental into a sun, where the entity was dissociated into molecules. The rest of the water entities could not even grieve.
A tainted wental is a mutation locked into physical form
, the voices tried to explain.
Because of its twisted nature, a tainted wental cannot propagate, and the energy buildup can be released only in violent bursts. Trapped in a loop of itself, it is separate from the rest of the wental mind. And because of this it hates us as much as it hates any other enemy
.
“How often does it happen? Just because you had one bad experience—”
Another shower of images cut him off. This memory seemed even older. The creature was like a giant upright beetle with gray-green leathery skin, the breedex of a Klikiss hive at war with all other hives. A rival infestation had appeared on an adjacent continent, and the new Klikiss reapers had already devoured armies of drones and builders. If the breedex did not destroy the enemies, consume them, and incorporate their chemical memories into its progeny before the next great Swarming, that hiveline would become extinct.
At the time, the wentals had just begun their war with the hydrogues and the faeros. The Klikiss race was a strange civilization new to the elemental beings, and the wentals considered recruiting the insectoid creatures into the struggle. The breedex had communicated its need to them, and the wentals did not understand the consequences of acquiescence. Linked with wental power, the swelling breedex had devoured all ten of its domates without even listening to their songs, then burst its carapace and sprouted new segmented limbs without fissioning to create a new swarm. Infused with the tainted wental, it smashed the rival breedex and turned all the new Klikiss towers to dust. As the storm built inside her, unstoppable, the breedex tore the continent itself apart.
The rest of the wentals fought back, unable to believe the monstrosity they had created. The rampant release of so much power cracked the planet to its core. Though the tainted wental was finally extinguished, the battle mortally wounded the world. Gravity shifted, the landmasses were turned inside out, and all life there died.
That is a tainted wental, Jess Tamblyn. That is what could happen here
.
He still didn’t understand. “Why? Just because I want it so badly? Cesca is a good person, the leader of the clans. How could she create such a horror?”
We only know the danger
.
Jess had made up his mind, though. “Enough! You distract me with esoteric and meaningless philosophy while she’s dying. I accept the risk. I know her heart. Bring her out here, Nikko. Carry her if you must.”
“It’ll hurt her even more, Jess—”
He had hurt her so much. “She is already dying.”
At the young man’s urging, Cesca began to stir. Nikko draped her arm over his shoulder and helped her out of the
Aquarius
. Somehow, she saw Jess, focused on the sunlight and sea, and clung to a faint thread of life. She swayed, and Nikko let her gently down onto the dark, exposed rock of Charybdis.
She must come to the water herself. You cannot help her
.
Jess knelt beside her and felt his heart ripping in half. Without Cesca, how could he live? He stood at the edge of the reef between the slick stones and the crackling ocean, cursing the wentals and their ridiculous rules and restrictions. “You’re killing her!”
It must be entirely her decision, entirely her action
.
“Cesca, if you love me, do one last thing for me. Drink the water and live. Let the wentals join you, and you’ll be like me.” Only a few feet away, the ocean stilled itself. Wentals
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