The Core: The Dark Enemy

53. To Be Forgotten

"So, was it worth it?" I spoke aloud as I flew alongside and above Ess's head, even though she would not have been able to hear me through the vacuum of space.

I had been following Ess for a long time now and the silence was getting to me. I had to speak to her, even if she could not see me. She meant too much to me for me to simply drift along beside her in silence forever. This new existence was slowly driving me crazy.

"I don't know, Ess. Everything was falling apart. I thought I was dying, deteriorating from the Void's influence. Yeah, yeah, they call themselves the Fold, but they have been the Void to me for so long that it just sticks better," I said before getting back on topic.

We had been traveling for almost a month and I had been using Null's power to cheat along the way. I had learned that I could move now, truly move. Space itself felt weak to the Fruits of the Tree, more like a suggestion than an actual barrier. So I had been speeding Ess and the swarm along toward where the battle had happened.

Ess did not even notice.

That was entirely because Null's power was involved. To Ess, this whole space road trip was just a blur of forgotten distance and passing stars.

"Right, so it wasn't the Void. It was the King of all of this!" I said while waving a hand out toward the stars around us. "I know you can only see what light reaches you, but with Null I can see so much farther now. Guess what? We live in a Tree. Like, an actual Tree with a capital T. And we are not even anywhere important on it. We are basically the backwoods branch equivalent of Earth sitting out on the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy."

"I mean, Null's observations confirm that I chose the most correct path. I even agree with it after seeing what would have happened otherwise. Anyways, the Tree King, Keeper, or whatever his title is, got alerted because of what I was doing. Apparently squishing parasites that feed on the vitality of the Tree releases the energy back into the Tree."

I paused and grimaced slightly.

"Like killing a mosquito... wait, no, that is a terrible analogy. I do not think you would want to squish all the blood back into your body after it sucked it out."

I rubbed my face.

"Whatever. Life energy. Tree energy gas. Blood maybe? Yeah, blood works better. The Void was basically draining blood from inside the Tree while the Silver Orbs acted like some kind of immune system fighting them off. Then when the parasites popped, all the energy returned to the Tree."

I nodded to myself.

"Yeah. Better analogy."

My eyes tracked a distant galaxy slowly sliding past us. I only used Null's movement ability while we were between galaxies so I would not accidentally jolt Ess or the swarm by skipping them too violently through space.

"Anyways, the Tree noticed because the energy was not redistributing through the whole Tree anymore. It stayed localized in the dimensions where the Void creatures were being destroyed."

"Right? Dead giveaway."

"So Papa Tree man rounded up some of his kids, who are apparently insanely powerful Fruits with different abilities, and sent them after me to figure out what I was and to make the Tree grow better."

I snorted.

"And which ones did he pick? The worst possible options. Noise Maker, Yeller, and Liar. Plus he let his crazy goth daughter linger nearby so she could fantasize about deleting me from existence. Strange family honestly."

I sighed.

"And I escaped? Yeah. Yes, I did, Ess... but it cost me you. It cost me everything."

The words hurt more the longer I said them aloud.