The revelation that Cthulhu was actively hunting Nyx had left the lab frozen in silence. It was a cosmic dynamic so strange and terrifying that it defied any strategy they had conceived. Merlin stared at the energy maps, his face a mask of concentration, while Aria tried to come to terms with the idea that her former mentor was now in the crosshairs of a mad god.
It was Enki who broke the silence, his golden voice tinged with even greater gravity. "There's... more," he said, and the way he delivered it made everyone tense. "The situation is considerably more volatile than even I anticipated with my projections."
The Anunnaki gestured, and a new set of data was overlaid on the holographic maps: energy trajectories, movements of unidentified fleets on a global scale, energy signatures that belonged to neither Cthulhu nor the Netlin.
"The Great Old Ones like Cthulhu," Enki began, "operate on a scale of existence where certain psychic emanations from less evolved species... like yours, or those from other 'young' worlds... are a form of... resonance, of sustenance. Or perhaps, more accurately, a 'tribute' that the cosmos itself seems to offer to these vast indifferences."
A shudder ran through Aria. The idea of humanity as an emotion farm for cosmic horrors was nauseating.
"For eons," Enki continued, "other, older races with a greater understanding of these cosmic dynamics—the Draconic Saurians (my own distant relatives, the Anunnaki), the Grays of the inner systems, and the Insectoid swarms of the galactic periphery—have acted as... intermediaries. Harvesters. They have 'managed' these flows of psychic energy, taking a portion for their own subsistence or advancement, and allowing the rest to flow to the Old Ones, as a form of appeasement, to avoid their direct wrath or maintain a certain... predatory balance."
Merlin looked at him with deep disgust. "A system of cosmic vassalage based on suffering."
"A crude description, but not entirely incorrect, Magus," Enki conceded. "Reality on a grand scale is rarely kind. What matters now is this: Nyx, with her global harvesting campaign of fear, chaos, and, crucially, guilt—a psychically very potent emotion—is not just disrupting Cthulhu's 'feast.' She is cutting the supply lines of these other harvesters. She is robbing them of their share and, more dangerously for them, of the tribute they owe the Great Old Ones."
He projected new trajectories onto the map, showing converging and aggressive movements of reptilian, Grey, and insectoid ships and energy signatures. These trajectories were not directed toward general Cthulhu manifestations, but toward the focal points where Nyx was concentrating the energy she was harvesting.
"She's not just stealing the lion's food," Enki said with a grim metaphor, "she's burning the entire savannah to do it, affecting all the other predators and scavengers that depend on her. The Reptilians see their ancient dominion and their offering to the Great Old Ones threatened. The Grays see their experiments with the psychic energy they draw upon disrupted. The Insectoids see a collective energy source they need for their expansion usurped."
"So they're hunting her too," Aria concluded, feeling the world shrink. The image was grotesque: Nyx, a global parasite, being hunted in turn by other galactic parasites, all while a mad god attempted to devour reality.
"With extreme determination," Enki affirmed. "For them, Nyx isn't just a threat to the planet; she's a threat to their survival, their status, and their precarious relationship with the Great Old Ones. They're desperate to stop her and restore the 'flow' before Cthulhu unleashes his wrath on them for the lack of tribute."
The lab fell silent, everyone processing the terrifying new layer of complexity. Nyx was no longer just Umbra's adversary or a pawn of Chaos; she was the target of a multi-species hunt on a cosmic scale.
Aria felt the new magic she had awakened within her, that ability to perceive the truth of energies, vibrate intensely. She could feel the currents of fear and guilt being absorbed by Nyx, and now, also the cold, predatory intentions of Cthulhu, Reptilians, Greys, and Insectoids converging on her former mentor.
Her plan to mentally contact Nyx, already dangerous, had become exponentially more risky. Not only would she have to navigate Nyx's corrupted mind and Poimandres's influence, but she could find herself in the middle of a psychic and magical crossfire of galactic proportions. The opportunity to act, to understand, shrank with every moment as the net closed in on the Queen of Eternal Night.