Chapter 153: [153] Cascade Failure
Ashley Martin woke to the sound of scratching quills and hushed voices discussing her like she was a particularly interesting corpse.
The room was white. Not the comforting white of fresh snow or clean linens, but the sterile white of bone bleached by desert sun. Every surface gleamed with volcanic glass polished to mirror brightness, reflecting the golden flames that danced in crystal sconces along the walls. The bed beneath her felt more like an examination table than a place of rest.
"The fracture patterns suggest a recursive feedback loop," said a voice to her left. "Most fascinating. I’ve never seen a Covenant attempt to process multiple simultaneous deaths."
Ashley’s eyes snapped open, finding three figures in cream-colored robes standing beside her bed. Their faces held the clinical interest of scholars examining a rare manuscript, not healers tending to a patient.
"Ah, you’re conscious," the eldest said. "Excellent. We have questions about your Covenant manifestation."
Ashley tried to sit up, but her body felt like it was made of lead wrapped in cotton. The golden fractures that had spider-webbed across her skin were gone, but their absence left a void, a cold, hollow space where her power used to burn. It was the phantom limb of a severed soul.
"Where—"
"You’re in the Temple of the Eternal Flame," the gray-haired woman interrupted. "I am Scholar Miren. This is Scholar Hadwin, and Scholar Osanna." She gestured to each one in turn. "We’ve been studying your condition."
Studying. Not treating.
"Your Covenant exhibited remarkable instability," Scholar Hadwin continued, his pale eyes bright with curiosity. "The ability to absorb damage for others is well-documented, but we’ve never observed a complete psychic feedback cascade of this magnitude. Tell me, when you first manifested this power, did you experience any unusual sensory phenomena?"
"Water."
"Of course." Miren made a note on her tablet. "Dehydration is common after Essentia shock. Scholar Osanna, if you would?"