The spherical chamber trembled as the subtractive spawn grew bolder. Their chittering rose into a hungry chorus, translucent bodies sliding across the bone floor with wet, clicking sounds. The one that had lunged earlier now circled wider, its elongated limbs trailing faint voids that erased tiny grooves into the floor. More of them poured through the archway, drawn like moths to the amplified resonance between Jidd and the central vertebra. Their absence-eyes fixed on him with mindless need, as if they could taste the wholeness he carried.
Jidd's right hand glowed brighter despite his will. The titan's voice filled the space again, patient yet insistent, each word landing like a slow stone dropped into still water.
What small thing would you refuse to lose, little brother? Name it. The scream? The rain? The octopus who clings for caffeine and borrowed names? Speak it aloud. Let us see if wholeness can spare it.
Before Jidd could answer, one of the spawn darted forward with unnatural speed. Its too-long arm whipped out, not to strike but to brush the air near Inkwell. A perfect circle of nothing formed where the tentacle passed, erasing a faint trail of moisture from the octopus's skin. Inkwell recoiled with a wet hiss.
"Bad touch! Very bad touch!" he snarled, jetting a thick cloud of defensive ink that sizzled against the spawn's translucent hide. The creature shrieked and retreated, but others pressed closer, their bodies merging briefly into larger, more grotesque shapes before splitting apart again.
Venn slammed a new crystal module into her device. A bright blue flare erupted from the tool, a techno-magical Sigil Anchor. The palm-sized crystal unfolded into a hovering lattice of interlocking runes that spun like a miniature storm. She hurled it toward the nearest cluster of spawn. The anchor latched onto the bone floor with glowing spikes, projecting a shimmering containment dome that pushed the creatures back several paces. Blue energy crackled along its edges, disrupting their subtraction fields and forcing pained clicks from the swarm.
"That will hold them for a few minutes," she panted, already pulling a second tool from her coat, a slender Marrow Disruptor rod etched with Kaelis-era glyphs. "But the resonance is feeding them. Jidd, whatever you say next, make it fast. The core is listening, and these things are learning from it."
Jidd felt the pressure tighten around his ribs. The boy inside him wanted to retreat, to find a way to shield his companions and run. The fragment part noted the spawn's hunger with distant pity, broken cousins seeking the same thing he carried. He spoke clearly, directing his words at the suspended vertebra while keeping one eye on the circling creatures.
"The small thing I refuse to lose is choice itself," he said. "The ability to decide what I keep and what I let go. The scream taught me fear. The colony taught me survival. Inkwell taught me that even lost things can still laugh. If mending takes those choices away, then I choose to stay fractured. Show me a way to mend that leaves room for that."
The central vertebra flared with sudden intensity. Indigo light spilled outward in thick waves, illuminating new visions in the air between Jidd and the titan. This time the images were intimate, tailored. Jidd saw himself not as a monster or a god, but as a bridge. A version of him standing in a stable timeline where the titan's core and his own fragment touched without full reunion. The Depths around them bloomed with new life instead of subtraction. Inkwell regained two tentacles, not through devouring but through restored essence. Venn's grief over Lira softened into memory instead of erasure. Cities above no longer feared the bleed; they adapted to it.
Choice, the titan echoed, the word carrying a note almost like approval. You ask for the rarest gift. Most of our pieces choose only hunger or hiding. You choose balance. Very well. I will show you the first thread of mending. Reach out with your light. Not to take, but to share a single memory. Let us test if wholeness can spare what you value.
One of the spawn took advantage of the moment. It lunged past the weakening Sigil Anchor and slammed into Venn's side. Its translucent arm sank partially into her shoulder, subtracting a thin layer of fabric and skin in a perfect circle. She cried out, dropping the Marrow Disruptor. The rod clattered across the floor, its glyphs flickering wildly.
Inkwell reacted instantly. He launched himself from Jidd's shoulder, all remaining tentacles flailing. He wrapped around the spawn's head and jetted concentrated ink directly into its absence-eyes. The creature convulsed, releasing Venn with a screech. Inkwell tumbled back, one stump now missing a fresh chunk of shadow-flesh.
"Got you, you walking hole!" he gasped, crawling back toward Jidd. "But that hurt more than it should have. Kid, do the sharing thing before these bastards turn us into abstract art!"
Jidd's heart hammered. The boy screamed for caution. The fragment urged him forward. He raised his glowing hand toward the central vertebra. The subtraction light extended in a thin, controlled thread, not devouring, but offering. He pushed a single memory into the connection: the exact feeling of waking in the colony, the cold metal against his back, the raw terror of having no name. Not as weakness, but as proof that even a shattered piece could begin again.
The chamber responded. The vertebra absorbed the thread. For one heartbeat everything stilled. Then new marrow veins bloomed across the walls, glowing with soft, stable light. The subtractive spawn hissed and retreated a few paces, as if the shared memory had burned them. One of them even seemed to shrink, its translucent body gaining faint, temporary solidity.
The titan's voice returned, warmer now, almost gentle.
You gave without taking. That memory lives in me now, unchanged. See? Wholeness can spare it. We can spare more. But the subtracted ones grow desperate. They sense the thread forming. Choose again, little brother. Share one more small thing, or let me shield you from them.
Venn staggered to her feet, blood seeping from the circular wound on her shoulder. She snatched up the Marrow Disruptor and activated it with a sharp twist. The rod extended into a crackling staff that emitted waves of disruptive blue energy, pushing the spawn back further. "Do it, Jidd! The lattice is stabilizing because of the sharing. But the spawn are adapting; they are starting to merge!"
Two of the creatures collided and fused into a larger, more grotesque form, a many-limbed horror with multiple absence-eyes and a maw that opened into pure void. It slammed against the Sigil Anchor, cracking the containment dome.
Inkwell crawled up Jidd's leg, leaving a trail of ink. "Whatever you share next, make it count. I am running low on limbs and sarcasm."
Jidd stood at the center of the storm. The conversation had become a battlefield. The titan waited for his next offering. The merged spawn roared and charged. Venn's techno-magical tools flared and strained. Inkwell clung on, injured but defiant.
He raised his glowing hand again, the thread of light reaching toward the vertebra once more.
The choice hung in the air, small and enormous at the same time.
What would he share next?
And what would it cost when the spawn finally broke through?