Beyond The System
Chapter 137: Horns in the Void

“Bring her forward!” a man shouted, voice sharp with cruelty.

“Please!” a woman screeched. “You don’t have to do this. I’m begging—”

My heart jumped.

A dagger slashed across her throat, silencing her forever. Only a few choked sobs slipped out as her gaze stayed locked on the young girl being dragged forward.

Rage and fear burned in my chest. The flames of burning buildings, the reek of blood, the corpses of my people strewn across the town...

We hadn’t done anything. Why had this happened?

“P—please, sir. She is just a child,” the elder begged, gripping the dirt, tears cutting down his face. “This is too much.”

“Too much?” one of the intruders repeated with mockery. “We tried asking nicely. Asked you to share. But you refused. Now we take.”

She was trembling so hard her pink skin had gone pale. Younger than me to the extent where her horns had only just started to grow.

The man pulled out a cruel-looking tool. I’d already seen him use it on other young ones. I still didn’t understand why.

It really was too much.

“There is nothing to share!” the elder cried, helpless. “It is in us, that’s all. I swear it.”

One of them smiled at the leader. A soft smile. Almost kind and caring. Something horribly out of place, especially with the device in his hand. He stepped toward my cousin and said, “I believe you.”

I couldn’t help it. I wanted to believe someone had seen reason. After what I’d seen… I needed that.

“Ahh!—uh…” A high-pitched cry broke through her shattering my momentary illusion. A scream twisted into a groan, then faded into nothing.

“H—how could you! You…” The elder grieved.

My mind couldn’t handle it. Her body, limp, tossed onto the pile of other children like useless trash.

“This is. I. You. Impossible…” I could barely register the last thing the elder heard.

“I know the truth, old man,” the man said, calm now. “But it was your misfortune to meet our head.”

He exhaled. “There’s no point posturing. That thing inside you… it simply works too well with us.”

Thud.

The elder’s body dropped and his purple skin dulled, drained of color as the blood left him.

“It’s a shame we can’t use them,” another muttered.

“Only the children have the seed…”

I saw one of them point. “Bring him next. I’m getting tired. Let’s finish this.”

“Youuu…” I growled through the sorrow, teeth clenched. “I swear. I will—”

"Shhh". He pressed a hand over my mouth.

“You won’t be doing anything,” he said softly. “I’m sorry. I truly am, but without power, you’re nothing.”

Something plunged into my Nexus. Scraping, searing, pulling.

“I have my own revenge to take. So does my leader. This is just fate.”

The pain faded into numbness, but I held onto one thing.

The unspoken promise.

The one aimed at him, all the others, his leader hiding in the shadows. To myself. To anything that could hear the depths of the rage burning through me.

I will find you. I won’t forget. Won’t forgive.

I seared every face into memory. Every laugh, every breath, every strand of hair.

I will kill you.

I feel cold… Is this death?

#

Peter! Luna’s voice crashed into me.

What was that? I opened my eyes and wiped the tears from them.

I’m fine, I told them both.

But all that anger... It was too much. Experiencing that kind of tragedy firsthand...

Fine? Peter, check the root, Wyrem said.

The seed. This thing in my body, was it taken from those people?

My fist clenched at the thought.

I didn’t know. Didn’t have a choice, but it was still there. I had benefited from that horror.

Hey! Luna’s voice crashed into me, startling me. Are you—no, obviously not. You know you can talk to me, right?

Of course she could tell. Sometimes, it felt like she was connected to me in ways I wasn’t to her.

I took a breath, trying to ground myself. The others were still deep in cultivation and barely any time seemed to have passed. The only ones moving were Bristle and a young girl sneaking after him, caught up in a quiet game of cat and mouse. 

Dog and mouse? Wait no, she was the dog in that scenario… Whatever.

Thanks, I murmured, shutting my eyes again to focus on what Wyrem had mentioned. The root looked normal, pulsing slightly, but offering no resistance. Wyrem, I don’t get it.

Your channel, he said. I moved away just in case. I’m not sure it’s safe for me yet.

Safe?

I glanced toward where he had been and sure enough, he’d shifted farther from my Nexus. Because there was in fact, something there.

I always described things in color, it helped make sense of World Force. But the Nexus? It defied that. If I had to name it, maybe... Nexus-colored was the best I could do.

But the channel, where the new root had integrated, was now Voidroot-black. Empty, dark, and faintly pulsing.

Still, the energy flowed like usual. No disruptions or differences from the norm.

Peter, you should say something, Luna pressed.

“I don’t want to talk about it right now,” I replied.

Then I’ll be rude, she threatened lightly. I’ll wait for you to let your guard down, hijack your voice, and shout to everyone that you’re hiding something.

Pretty sure forced confessions aren’t healthy coping mechanisms, I said, shifting uneasily.

Neither is bottling everything up.

Luna, give him time, Wyrem cut in gently. But she’s not wrong. Suppressing this could mess with your future. Breathe. Make sure everything’s fine. Then face it.

I’ll tell you first, alright? Just give me a moment to think, I promised.

Back to the root. I don’t feel anything wrong, Wyrem. Maybe just stay cautious and return after testing it?

I found his body, and traced a fine energy thread he sent out. It flowed cleanly through my channel, dipped into the darkened section, then looped back, causing no reaction.

Alright. I’m heading back, but keep watch. If I go silent, pull me out.

Got it, I said.

Wyrem returned quickly, resuming his place near my Nexus, watching closely.

Wyrem?

Still fine, he confirmed. Doesn’t even feel different. Just looks off. I wouldn’t worry about anything yet.

How many main branches did your root form, Luna? I asked, realizing I probably should’ve paid more attention to learning the finer details of this process.

I don’t remember, she replied. I wasn’t exactly keeping track.Plus, everything changed after my transformation.

Not super helpful. Marcus had mentioned struggles with constructing his. But mine? So far, no big issues.

Then again, I hadn’t had to form a reservoir at the chest, extend a root to the same place, and deal with a scar all at once. That might complicate things in terms of space.

I could only hope this all standardized eventually.

Thanks… I saw someone’s memory, I began quietly, deciding to just confess now.

Like how we did in the trial? Luna asked.

Sort of, I replied, then explained everything.

The brutal memory. The helplessness. Becoming someone else, some boy looking at strange humanoids. Just not me.

Feeling every emotion, every scream, every vow. The promise. I could still feel it echoing inside me.

I just feel a little guilty. I admitted.

I see. I don’t know if this helps, but… in my experience, people like that don’t last long, Wyrem offered. Greed for power is one thing. But that level of cruelty? I’d bet the greedy one was eaten by someone greedier, then by someone even worse. On and on.

Or they all lived, Luna added bluntly. But either way, you only got the object. You didn’t cause what happened, and maybe it’s better to focus on ourselves now. Still… why would the trial reward that thing?

She had a point. There wasn’t much I could do about the past. All I could do was keep moving forward. Still, it felt good to say it aloud.

I’ll just keep training.

So I did, feeding the root, trying to balance it with the growth of my Tuning Scars.

The black hole within still wasn't stealing, but I knew soon it would draw in anything that got too close.

No new sprouting from the Voidseed, but slowly, a new branch curled from the top of my stalk. It looked normal enough, or at least it matched its parent, so I let myself feel a little satisfied.

Even better, when I reached for it, gently pulling, it responded, threading through more of my injuries until it simply stopped, refusing to go farther.

But it finally struck me. The issue the others would soon have to. What Marcus was experiencing. What Velea soon would, or any others that we taught.

Now I could really see the issue. This branch stretched from the main root near my chest, right where my first reservoir used to be, toward my shoulder. Where one other reservoir once existed. Without those existing wounds guiding the way, weaving roots naturally through such a tight space would be almost impossible.

But for now, it worked. And hopefully, the temporary core method would work for the others.

I turned my focus inward again, filling my reserves until nausea crept in.

Then I opened my eyes.

Elric was up, stretching. Moonlight filtered through the cave mouth like a slow, silver tide.

He noticed me and grinned. “Oh good. Let’s do some sparring.”

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