White. Blinding white light filled everything. Kaelen couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't feel anything except a massive, roaring energy washing over him, through him. It felt like being caught in an explosion and an ocean wave at the same time. He felt weightless, tumbling, lost. Was this death? Did he finally push things too far?
Then, slowly, slowly, the white faded. Sound returned first – a high-pitched ringing in his ears that made his head ache. His vision cleared bit by bit, showing blurry shapes, then the familiar dark, glassy walls of the chamber swimming back into focus. He was lying on his back on the cold floor, several feet away from the obsidian pillar. His whole body felt weird, tingly and incredibly weak, like he'd run for days without stopping.
He tried to sit up, groaning. Every muscle protested. As his vision fully cleared, his breath caught in his throat. The System interface. It was going crazy.
Red warning messages flashed wildly across his vision, overlapping, glitching, almost too fast to read.
[WARNING! WARNING! EXTERNAL ENERGY SURGE DETECTED! ABYSSAL CORE OVERLOAD IMMINENT!]
[SYSTEM INTEGRITY: 35%... 28%... 19%... CRITICAL FAILURE!]
[Attempting Emergency Energy Vent... ACCESS DENIED! VENT OFFLINE!]
[Attempting Core Regulation Protocol... PROTOCOL CORRUPTED! FAILED!]
[FATAL ERROR! Catastrophic System Cascade Detected... Initiating Emergency... Reboot...?]
Panic, cold and sharp, cut through the lingering disorientation. The System! His lifeline, his power, his only real advantage in this nightmare world – it was breaking down! That stupid gamble, touching the pillar… it had worked on the spiders, but it might have killed the System! "No, no, please no," he whispered, his voice raspy.
He looked around desperately. The Obsidian Weavers? Gone. Shattered. Fragments of black, glassy material, like broken obsidian shards, lay scattered across the floor around the pillar. They weren't moving. They looked… dead. Lifeless. The pillar itself looked different too. The bright blue lines pulsing within it were much dimmer now, pulsing slower, weaker. The humming vibration he felt through the floor was almost gone. Whatever that energy surge was, it had drained the pillar and destroyed the Weavers. He had survived. But the cost…
The System interface flickered violently, then went completely black.
For a terrifying second, Kaelen felt truly, utterly alone. No warnings, no status updates, nothing. Just him, weak and helpless in an ancient, alien chamber. Was it gone for good?
Then, a single line of simple, blocky text appeared, different from the usual blue interface:
[...Reboot Complete. System Kernel v.7.1 Active.]
More text followed, slow, deliberate.
[Core Functions: Online. Running Diagnostics...]
[Energy Reserves: 5/150 (Capacity Increased). WARNING: Critically Low. External Absorption Required Immediately.]
[Biomass Reserves: 8.2/15 (Capacity Increased).]
[Evolution Stage: 1 (Abyssal Resilience Focus - Damaged / Recalibrating...)]
[Skills: Network Offline... Recalibrating Drivers... Partial Functionality Restored:]
- Minor Chitin Reinforcement (+) (Operational)
- Moderate Toxin Resistance (Operational)
- Chemoreception (Basic+) (Reduced Range / Sensitivity)
- Vibration Sense (Basic) (Reduced Sensitivity)
- Glow (Offline)
- Adhesive Slime Generation (+) (Offline)
[WARNING: Abyssal Core Instability Detected. Avoid High Energy Input/Output. Seek Stable Energy Source.]
It was back. But… different. Broken? The interface looked simpler, blockier. His energy and biomass storage was bigger, but he was almost empty on energy – 5 out of 150! Critically low. And half his skills were offline, the others weakened. The System itself warned him its core was unstable. He'd survived the blast, destroyed the guardians, but crippled his own power source in the process.
He felt weak. So incredibly weak. He needed energy, now. The System demanded it. His own body screamed for it. But where could he get it? The pillar? The System practically yelled at him not to touch high energy sources. Touching it again felt like actual suicide this time.
His eyes fell on the scattered fragments of the Obsidian Weavers. They were inorganic, the System had said. No biomass. No genetic data. But they had been full of that pillar energy just moments ago. Was there any left? Residual energy? Like static cling?
It was a long shot. The System didn't even show a "Consume?" prompt when he looked at the shards. But he had no other choice. He was too weak to crawl back up the tunnel, too weak to fight anything else.
Slowly, painfully, he dragged himself towards the nearest large shard of black glass. It lay inert on the floor, the blue light within it completely gone. He reached out a trembling hand. His offline skills felt like phantom limbs – he missed the comforting readiness of the slime.
He touched the shard. It was cool now, smooth and sharp-edged. He focused his will, his intent, pushing at the broken System interface in his mind. Absorb. Consume energy. Anything.
He felt… nothing. No familiar flow of data, no surge of power. Just cold, dead glass under his fingers. Despair washed over him, cold and absolute. Was this it? Did he survive everything just to starve to death on the floor of this ancient chamber next to a dead power source and broken crystal spiders?
He pressed harder against the shard, a silent scream building in his chest. Work, damn you! Eat! Absorb! Do something!
!!!
And then… a flicker. Not energy, not like consuming biomass. But a faint resonance from the shard, connecting briefly with the unstable Core inside him. The System interface stuttered.
[Inorganic Energy Trace Detected... Attempting Non-Standard Absorption Protocol...?]
Hope, tiny and fragile, sparked in the darkness. Maybe… just maybe…