The Core: The Dark Enemy

39. Whispers in the Tree

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The Designer and the Creator were forcibly expelled from Kevin's dimension, torn apart, and slammed back into their permanent constructs. They allowed themselves only a brief moment to recover before investigating the anomaly that had just unfolded. Both wondered, "What cascade triggered this disruption?"

The Designer immediately attempted to reconnect a fragment of its consciousness to Kevin's dimension, only for the effort to be rebuffed. The Creator, anticipating its colleague's approach, chose instead to analyze the dimensional pathways, searching for a severed branch.

"I cannot reconnect," the Designer said, awestruck. This denial of its power was unthinkable—like a bodybuilder failing to lift a pebble. Its kind had traversed dimensions for eons, and such failure was unprecedented.

"Do not try again. We have a serious problem," the Creator warned, sharing its observations. They watched, seconds ticking by, as the reason for their disconnection unfolded in real time.

"The branch is shaking!" the Designer exclaimed, its voice laced with horror. This couldn't be happening. Dimensions didn't move—they were fixed extensions of the Tree, eternal and unyielding, woven into the fabric of reality itself. The Tree linked them all, a colossal structure anchoring countless realms in harmonious stasis. Branches grew, branched further, or withered under rare cataclysms, but they never trembled. Yet here, at the far end of Kevin's chain—a fragile, outlying extension teetering on the edge of the known multiverse—vibrations started from the tip, sending tremors cascading inward like ripples from a stone dropped in a pond.

The Designer's consciousness reeled, reality algorithms fracturing under the weight of the anomaly. What force could disrupt the Tree's immutable geometry? Kevin's dimension, so remote and insignificant in the grand hierarchy, shouldn't possess the power to unsettle the core. If this propagated further, it could fracture neighboring branches, unraveling the delicate web that sustained their existence... or worse, meld existing pathways together. "This is impossible," it whispered, awe warring with dread. The cascade had begun, and the Tree—guardian of all dimensions—now felt the effects of that ripple.

And so did beings sensitive enough to feel it.

"Tell the others. We must evacuate what we can from that region of the Tree. This disturbance will draw attention."

"It might draw attention," the Designer corrected.

"We cannot risk it."

"Agreed."

"I've warned the Council," the Creator said. "They'll alert the citizens to withdraw from this far out. Efforts to reclaim the city have already failed. Perhaps we will be able to find a solution somewhere in the future to get it back." It said while continuing to study the branches, plotting its next experiments elsewhere.

The Designer, however, sifted through its memories, reviewing what it knew about Kevin, the Silver Orb, and the entities Kevin called Void Seedlings. The Silver Orb never directly affected the Seedlings; instead, it transformed their black spores into cells resembling new life by channeling its energy. When first weaponized, the Orb had thinned the Void Seedlings' spread, but a single Orb proved insufficient against the Seedlings' continuous ability to spread, leading to the creation of the cage artifact that siphoned the Orb's power and a barrier to contain the Void.

The Void Seedlings were like mold, invading the Silver Orb's dimensional habitat and using it as a platform to propagate. They weren't native to the Orb's dimension, having infiltrated through unknown means. Their origin point on the Tree still remained a mystery.