The Core: The Dark Enemy

44. The Hand that Feeds on You

In the Court of the Tree

"No, no, no. You did not just do that!" the eldest daughter of the Keeper exclaimed at the actions of her elder brother.

Nine of the Keeper's children, their existences tied to the varied existence fruits they embodied on the Tree, had been gathered together and offered a reward based challenge, should they choose to accept it, to secure Kevin's services for the betterment of the Tree.

Summoned to the Court of the Tree, they stood at a distance before the Keeper in his place of power and were shown Kevin, his dimension, and the current state of the disturbance threatening the Tree, along with what the Keeper himself had done to seal it off. All of this was displayed via powerful motes that gave more information than anything in existence known by man.

The expectations set before them were interpreted in different ways.

Three of the fruits briefly stated their inability to see a solution and bowed out. Their existences, Absolutist, Reductionist, and Solipsist revolved around concepts that Kevin's basic existence went against.

"This intervention is the failure," Pilgon the Absolutist said. "Had nothing and no one acted, the outcome would have resolved itself or collapsed entirely. Either would have been acceptable."

Lypp the Reductionist lingered longer. Its power attempted to reduce Kevin's existence into layers, attempting to render a chaotically random human equation into a simple concept.

"There is no viable reduction," it concluded. "Any attempt to simplify this entity for use increases instability elsewhere. The cost exceeds the value of a simple path."

It inclined its attention toward the Keeper and vanished.

The third, Gill the Solipsist, said nothing at first.

When it finally recoiled, its voice carried only inward.

"This thing is not part of me."

The Keeper observed its child. "It was never meant to be."

"That is precisely why it cannot remain in proximity to me."

Its presence folded in on itself, withdrawing completely.

Three bowed out, not from weakness or defiance, but because they could see no path that did not end in failure.

Of the six who remained, Calis, the concept of Dominion and eldest fruit of the Tree, acted without hesitation. He stepped forward, chose command over caution, and sent his voice to Kevin's location, ordering him to kill the Void contained before him.

To Calis, Kevin was not a peer, nor even a servant, but something lesser, a pawn at best and not worth keeping once its purpose was spent.

"What, Refelen?" Calis moaned dramatically, waving absently at his sister's motes of attention as she pressed closer, attempting to disperse them from his face. "And why not? This thing needs to be brought in line with my control for Father's sake. Command it to kill the trapped parasites, resolve the disturbance, then move it wherever Father requires next."

"Your words provoked an immediate resistance response," Refelen, the fruit of Attunement answered, her attention sharpening rather than retreating. "Its kind are heavily influenced by sound."

Her motes drew closer to the image, not in care but to study, arranging themselves along the paths where vibration entered flesh and following it through the human's ears, into his brain, and through his body,

"Patterned pressure in air alters its behavior. Rhythm, cadence, volume. These are not decorations to it. They are levers that cause directional responses. It distinguishes threat, instruction, and reassurance often through tone alone. The words often matter less than the shape in which they arrive."