CHAPTER 13 –
Ethan and Ivan stood facing each other in silence. Then Ivan spoke first.
"Go and search. Find out which place on Earth is the most isolated."
Ethan nodded and vanished instantly, heading off to search.
Left alone, Ivan exhaled softly and lowered his head as he thought
'The Unicyte…'
'They were once comparable to us — the citizens of the Inner Zone, the Observe race. Observe… that's what we call ourselves in our own language. Observers.'
'The Unicyte were a different race entirely. Unlike us, who used our abilities to capture stories and shape worlds through influence, the Unicyte acted as reviewers. We observed the stories. They judged them.'
'We showed the world as it was. They rated the world according to what they saw. And their rating could change everything.'
'A world that remained low-rated for multiple eons… became a condemned world. And once a world crossed the threshold… the Unicyte did what made the entire Inner Zone fear them.'
'They destroyed it. Vanished it. Annihilated it.'
He clenched his jaw, remembering.
'They used to be part of us — until they decided they wanted more than their role. They wanted our job too. They said the observers were incompetent. That merely watching was meaningless.'
'They wanted to witness the outer worlds directly. Capture them using our abilities. And then pass instant judgment — declare a world perfect, in need of correction… or doomed.'
'The moment they revealed this plan, the Inner Zone and the surrounding sectors united against them. They were banished. Destroyed. Most of them were wiped out… though a few escaped.'
Ivan's expression tightened.
'What made them dangerous wasn't just their authority. It was their power. When they deemed something inadequate — when they judged something to be "bad" — their strength increased to eliminate it.'
'The worse they rated a thing… the more power they gained. And after destroying that thing, their power would drop back to normal. That's how they were defeated.'
He paused, swallowing.
'But it's been ages since they were banished. If they continued judging worlds from the shadows — rating them as worlds that "should be destroyed" — without the ability to actually destroy them…
'Their power might have grown far beyond what we can imagine.'
He exhaled slowly.
'That's why the Amethyst Mythos worries me. Its power isn't impossible to rival — any Inner Zone citizen can achieve similar strength with effort. But what matters is what the Unicyte intend to do with it.'
He shook his head.
'No. Focus, Ivan. You need to find the Mythos. Everything else can wait.'
A sudden ripple in the air signaled Ethan's return. He materialized in front of Ivan.
"I found it," Ethan said. "There's a place on Earth isolated enough."