Chapter 26: EVOLUTION OF POWER
The air reeked of burnt flesh and ozone. Reed stood amid the carnage of what had once been a thriving village, now reduced to charred timbers and scattered corpses. His handiwork. His evolution.
Blood seeped between his fingers as he flexed his hand, watching how the crimson liquid no longer simply stained his skin but seemed to sink into it, absorbed like water into parched soil. The territory’s expansion had changed him in ways he was only beginning to comprehend.
"You’re getting stronger," Shia said, materializing from shadow at his side. Her form flickered between solid and vapor, a new manifestation of her own transformation. Where once she had been merely Reed’s lieutenant, now she was becoming something... other.
"Not strong enough," Reed replied, his voice carrying a resonance that made the air vibrate. Another new ability—voice laced with command essence. "The Archon’s sentinels were merely scouts. What comes next will be worse."
He closed his eyes, extending his senses outward across his domain. This was perhaps the most profound change since claiming the territories of the three fallen Lords. His consciousness could now stretch across the entirety of the Hollow, feeling every footstep, every breath taken within his borders. A thousand lives flickered like candle flames in his mind.
"There," he murmured, attention caught by something anomalous at the eastern edge of his territory. "Do you feel that?"
Shia’s eyes—now completely black, without sclera or pupil—narrowed. Her consciousness brushed against his, their mental bond deepening with each passing day. What had once been mere tactical communication had evolved into something more intimate, more invasive.
"Ancient power," she whispered. "Buried. Sleeping."
Reed nodded. "The map showed nothing there."
"Maps only show what cartographers know," Shia said, her form solidifying as she prepared to move. "The Wild Cartographer’s maps show the future, not the past."
Without another word, they abandoned the ruined village, moving across the landscape with inhuman speed. Reed no longer ran so much as flowed, his body breaking down into amber motes when necessary, reforming meters ahead. The Soul Forge’s energies had rewritten his physical form at some fundamental level.