A few days later, Lucien received the report from Marie, Kaia, Sylra, and Marina.
He opened it expecting another strange geological explanation.
Instead, he stopped halfway through the first page.
The dead region was not truly dead.
It was a memory field. A vast one.
The battlefield scars, the distorted terrain, the diverted rivers, the strange familiarity buried beneath everything, all of it pointed toward the same conclusion.
The region was preserving something.
Lucien continued reading.
Then his expression changed.
The traces surrounding the field carried Creation. Familiar enough that the four elemental women had connected it to one existence.
The Primordial Slime.
Lucien read that section again. Then a third time.
The report did not claim certainty.
The traces were too ancient for that.
But the possibility alone was enough.
The Primordial Slime might have created this entire preservation field.
But why?
Lucien leaned back.
