Chapter 1094
As Anton entered the next system, he was overcome with a feeling of dread and death. He almost instinctively called for a retreat, but he recognized the source as outside of himself before the words could reach his lips. It was not his own instincts, nor was it an active projection of energy.
“Do you feel that?” Anton asked Varghese.
His apprentice swept his senses around the system. “Is there some problem?”
That told Anton enough, and his further exposure to the sensations was making the situation more clear. “Not anymore, I think.”
During his previous scouting, Anton had not entered this particular system. At most, he had scanned it from outside. Normally, that would have picked up anything of note… but upon further consideration the feelings around him were extremely faint. It was only upon being completely surrounded by them that they were magnified.
It was quite possible Varghese did pick up on what Anton was feeling and simply did not interpret it the same way. A thin haze of spectral energy could have any number of reasons for existing. But something that made Anton react in this exact manner could only be the result of a great number of deaths.
Many had died in the system they had just come from- some allies, and many more enemies. However, their grievances upon death were broadly spread out with little lingering spite. To have the same results as in this second system, something truly terrible had to have happened to the inhabitants. Or the previous inhabitants, since the Imbued Fragments and Broad Eyed Harvesters were clearly inhabiting this system quite happily.
Normally, Anton would have expected traces left on conquered planets- but he also would have expected that said planets hadn’t been torn apart, stripped of the majority of what made them a planet in the first place. So perhaps whatever had taken place here would remain a mystery, except that the fear and spite was denser around the planets.
As they moved further into the system, Anton let the feelings flow over him. It wasn’t pleasant to dwell in negative emotions, but sometimes one had to move through them. Anton himself couldn’t resolve the negativity of a whole system… ordinarily. But in this state, perhaps he could. Before any of that, however, he needed to bind the star. He took special care, uncertain if the spectral energy might hinder the process. But aside from the distraction it provided, Anton felt no hindrance as he opened a connection to the star.