The Core: The Dark Enemy

46. Evil Resonates

Sublimis and Meditati had a great time heading to Earth. Their trip was vastly more leisurely than Kevin's, seeing that Sublimis, regardless of how durable her Leva body was, wasn't as invulnerable as Kevin.

"Has anyone seen the Skism around after it vanished?" Sublimis asked Meditati as they swooped past an active system. Ships came and went through the LOW travel lines, and a couple of police cruisers watched Sublimis as she passed around their solar system. Historically, Leva were seen as benevolent titans. They kept invasive species like the Queiie in check and left sapient species to their own affairs.

Sublimis, though, to anyone with an active connection to the LOW transportation system or the common cosmic news feed, was flagged as a level One protected hazard. No one asked what that meant anymore.

The Tela, the LOW, and the U'lennea had once existed as the only three races listed under any level One category. Since Kevin's existence became known, and after the subsequent actions of his swarm, his name sat alone at the top.

The U'lennea no longer existed.

The Tela had lost most of their footholds across the cosmos once their Arbiters were demolished. They still held considerable power through their control of cr and trade, but as a whole, they appeared to be in a defensive state, their fleets remaining close to their Cores.

The LOW were not outwardly warlike, only vast in their networks, control, and wealth.

"No. News has been quiet on that end." Meditati replied as she laughed before sending Sublimis some cartoons that she had noticed in the news from the system that they just passed. There were caricature drawings of a Leva flying through space with a gigantic backpack strapped to its back. Somehow the Leva was using a cane and was sweating profusely.

"Hmm... why is that so funny? Oh, ha ha!!!" Sublimis asked as she noted the massive amount of swarm following her. Along the way, the swarm had been busy capturing large amounts of Queiie that they had come across and containing them in a huge habitat for her. At the moment, true to form, the whole enclosure looked like a pack even though it wasn't touching her, straps and all.

"Seems Kevin's swarm has a sense of humor just like he does," Sublimis said, her tone turning faintly sad.

"Is he doing okay?"

"I don't know. The Tutors on Earth are watching him. All I can say is that he's been acting strangely since coming back from finishing off the Void Seedlings. Since I'm not allowed to predict or influence his path forward, I asked the Tutors to simply keep an eye on him. Most reports show that while he's out and about, living his life as he wants, he remains in a constant state of confusion, stress, or anger. It's only when he's home, around his human family, that his stress levels drop and his mental state stabilizes."

"So being home is good?"

"Yes, but something about not being home keeps bothering him, and it's making his visits fewer and farther between. He seems troubled."

"Well, it's a good thing we'll be in his system soon, then, yes?" Sublimis said as she manifested a small, human-sized child formed from obsidian cr. The inky black exterior slowly shifted, taking on skin tones as Sublimis worked through what she wanted to look like while visiting her father's planet.

Learning to fully control a body, coordinating its many limbs, and making the movements appear natural had been a long process for her. She was getting it, slowly, but progress came all the same.

Meditati often said that Sublimis moved too fluidly, like a professional ballerina caught in a perpetual dance. It was difficult to make bony limbs move with the small, awkward jerks humans produced without thinking.