Reed's corruption-touched awareness recoiled as the truth of Shia's words sank deeper than any blade ever could. Each resurrection attempt, every desperate experiment he'd conducted over the centuries, hadn't just failed—they had been systematically weakening the fundamental barriers between life and death itself.
"You don't understand," Reed said, his voice carrying the weight of centuries of accumulated desperation. "I've learned to manipulate reality itself. I can reconstruct consciousness patterns, rebuild the quantum foundations of identity. There has to be a way—"
"Stop." Shia's command cut through his words like her blade through shadow. "Reed, look around you. Really look."
Against his better judgment, Reed extended his perception beyond the immediate confines of the emerald forest. What he found made his damaged consciousness stagger with horror.
