The Silence That ScreamsDisconnection in the Desert
The Sahara sun fell mercilessly upon the outer base of the Sanctuary.The temperature had surpassed 48°C.But inside the communications module, the cold was absolute.
Ali was trying to reestablish contact with his interior squad.
"Central base, this is Ali. Do you copy? Mohammed, are you online?"
Static.Then distortion.And finally… a voice that belonged to no one.
"Why do you come here, if you don't remember who you were before you fought?"
Ali stepped back.
"That didn't come from the radio…"
Warning Signs
In La Paz, Alan received an automatic alert from the Survival System:
SAHARA SANCTUARY: CONNECTION SEVERED – INTERFERENCE LEVEL: CRITICALDIMENSIONAL DISTORTION SIGNALS DETECTED
María projected the data into the command room.
"This isn't physical," she said."This isn't a normal attack.It's as if… the air itself is speaking."
Victoria felt pressure in her chest.Rob, meditating in the adjacent room, stood up abruptly.
"I heard it," he said.
"The message?" María asked.
Rob slowly shook his head."No…The silence."
Immediate Response
In less than an hour, Rob, Thea, and Mohammed boarded an aircraft bound for the Sahara.Before departing, Rob gathered his elite Guardians.
"This is new.This doesn't aim to kill immediately.It aims to unravel what we are."
Thea, focused, asked:"Do you think it's one of the Heralds?"
"I don't think so," Rob replied, looking up at the sky."I know it."
As the aircraft flew toward the desert, Rob remained silent.But deep inside him, only one sensation echoed:an alien consciousness was watching him.
And it didn't do so with rage.Nor with hatred.It did so with hunger.
Echoes That Don't Come from the Wind Entrance to the Sanctuary
The transport module descended with difficulty onto a dune that no longer existed on any map.The wind was still.The heat, stagnant.And the Sanctuary… sunken.
"This wasn't like this two days ago," Mohammed warned, checking the coordinates.
"It's not that it sank," Thea corrected, frowning."It's as if the ground swallowed the structure on purpose."
Rob was the first to step down.His feet touched the sand.And he felt it… pulsing.
The Signs
As they approached the main entrance, they found the first symbols:incomplete spirals.Circles interrupted by branching lines that looked like roots.
Rob recognized them immediately."This isn't writing.It's a call."
Thea placed her hand on one of the symbols.Her body trembled.
"I heard voices… many… whispering all at once."
Rob pulled her back firmly and placed his own palm over the symbol.The sand parted.Revealing a descending tunnel coated in living stone—vibrant, breathing.
The Corrupted Sanctuary
They descended without artificial light.The stone itself emitted a faint yellowish-white glow…that turned red when they came too close to certain symbols.
At the heart of the Sanctuary, they found the central chamber.Empty.Silent.Contaminated.
The spiritual altar was cracked.And from its cracks… black threads were growing.
The Manifestation
Suddenly, Mohammed dropped to his knees."It's here!" he shouted, covering his ears. "It's… inside me!"
Thea tried to hold him up but was thrown against the wall by an invisible force.
Rob stepped forward, eyes closed…And he saw.
A figure made of concepts floated above the altar:It had no form.It was the fear of forgotten peoples.The despair of those who died unheard.The corrupted echo of humanity.
The First Herald.
Rob opened his eyes, his spiritual energy activating as a translucent shield.
"You're not here to destroy…You're here to infect."
The Herald didn't speak.It whispered to every wall at once:
"You… see me."
Rob clenched his fist.And ignited his inner flame.Because in that moment, he knew—he could not let that thing speak for anyone else.
The Light That Burns Without BurningMohammed in Collapse
The Guardian of India screamed in a language none of the others recognized.His body wasn't bleeding.But his mind… was shattering.
Thea, still dizzy, tried to rise."He's… trapped… inside himself."
Rob approached without hesitation.Every step he took made the Sanctuary's walls creak—as if they wanted to collapse on him.
The Herald hovered over the altar, shifting form constantly,faceless, voiceless.But when Rob raised his hand,the figure froze.
Invocation of the Flame
Rob placed his palm on Mohammed's chest.He felt the dark spiral turning inside him.A presence trying to take root.
Then he spoke in silence.Not with words—with purpose.
"This doesn't belong to you.This belongs to no one.This… I return to the abyss."
His chest lit up.A white light—soft, embracing.But as it expanded, it also burned.It didn't destroy.It purified.
Flame of Unity
The Herald shrieked.Not with sound—with conceptual noise.
The walls began to warp.The spirals ignited.The stone wept ashes.
Rob shut his eyes.His spiritual energy burst out like a wave of light.
"Flame of Unity!"
The light rippled through the Sanctuary, breaking the symbols, sealing the cracks, and pushing the Herald away from Mohammed.
The Guardian's body collapsed, unconscious—but free.
The corruption was torn from his spirit.And for the first time…the entity felt fear.
The Retreat
The Herald was not destroyed.It was expelled—like a virus that found no host.
It dissolved into a mist of broken symbols, retreating through a fissure in the altar.Before vanishing completely, it whispered:
"Now they know you…And they will come to break you."
Rob remained silent.Thea approached him.
"What was that?"
"A warning."
"A warning of what?"
Rob looked at her, solemn.
"That… there's no turning back."
As the Sanctuary slowly regained its original light,Rob lifted Mohammed in his arms.
The Earth had endured the first echo.But he already knew what would come next:The resonance of all the Heralds.
The Invisible ShieldThe Report
Hours after the confrontation, Rob, Thea, and a still-weak Mohammed were back at the La Paz base.Alan and María were waiting with critical information.
"It's no longer a hypothesis," María said."We've confirmed that the Heralds don't need physical bodies to attack.They only need symbols… and receptive minds."
Alan projected a simulation."If we don't seal the Sanctuaries soon, they won't need to fight.They'll corrupt the planet's roots from within."
Rob's Decision
Rob remained silent for a few moments.Then he spoke with a firm voice.
"Defending the Sanctuaries won't be enough.We need people capable of feeling what the Earth is trying to transmit.Not warriors.Guardians of harmony."
A New Order is Born
María understood immediately."You mean… a spiritual unit?"
Rob nodded.
"People capable of syncing with the planet's energy,feeling distortion before it materializes,and neutralizing it before it infects."
"We will call them…Initiates of the Core."
The First Filter
Thea proposed that only those who passed a minimum threshold of emotional balance, empathic intelligence, and energy control should be trained.
"Anyone can get there…But not everyone is ready to 'see.'"
Rob concluded:
"We need to teach them that the enemy now attacks with ideas.And that the defense is no longer in weapons…It's in the spirit."
The Eyes of Rex
Deep within his throne dimension, Rex stood.One of his creatures whispered the truth to him:
"We failed.The human purified the core."
Rex didn't roar.He smiled.
"Perfect…That just makes it shine brighter before I extinguish it."
And with a single motion of his claw,he sent the next Herald.
Not toward a Sanctuary.But toward a place far more vulnerable:the heart of a human city.
Weaving Shields with Faith and ScienceThe Need for Something More
After the retreat of the Herald from the Sahara, the data was clear:
The Sanctuaries were vulnerable.
The creatures sent by Rex could attack from the symbolic plane.
Rob's spiritual energy was effective…But he couldn't be everywhere at once.
Alan was the first to say it:"We need shields.But not physical ones.Spiritual vibration shields."
María nodded."One for each Sanctuary.And maybe… one for each city."
Design of the Spiritual Mantle
In the La Paz laboratories, using artifacts collected by Rob during his travels, María and Alan combined quantum resonance technology with natural crystals attuned by Rob himself.
The result was a suspended ring-shaped device, powered by a core of living energy.
"It reacts to the emotional and spiritual balance of the user," Alan explained."And it generates a barrier that blocks symbols, dimensional distortion, and psychic attacks.But it only works if fueled by true spiritual energy.Only those who have begun the Path of the Spirit will be able to use it."
Experimental Activation
Rob volunteered to test the first prototype at the Altiplano Sanctuary.He extended his energy without aggression—like someone embracing his surroundings.The structure recognized the intent… and responded.
An invisible dome formed in the air, detectable only by advanced sensors.Inside it, the air was lighter.Sound was clearer.And the stone no longer vibrated with fear.
SPIRITUAL MANTLE LEVEL 1 ACTIVATED – COVERAGE: STABLE
Victoria, present beside him, smiled as she felt the calm."This… could change everything."
Global Multiplication
Within days, Alan and María replicated the designs.
They began distributing them to the active Sanctuaries and to the first civilian bastions showing spiritual affinity.
Only the most sensitive Initiates of the Core could keep them operational.
Thea commented:"We're not just defending anymore…We're becoming fertile ground for the planet's soul."
Rob, watching the first Mantle activated by his youngest disciple, whispered:
"This is more than protection.It's faith made structure."
And as the Second Herald Descended
Silently, the second Herald drifted down toward a distant city…
For the first time in centuries,the Earth was able to breathe without fear.
[End of Chapter 42 – The Echo of the Heralds]