All thirty-seven billion stars on Primordial Origin's cloak went dark. They had not been devoured; they had voluntarily suspended their existence-the Zero Era Obsessions knew that here, "existence" itself was a risk.
The three waited in silence.
On the fourth day, the Rift changed.
A point of light appeared at the center of the black vortex. It was neither white nor gold, but a color none of them had ever seen: Negation itself. It did not illuminate its surroundings; it made everything around it no longer need illumination.
The point of light expanded, and a figure emerged from the Rift.
It was not a physical entity. It was an outline condensed from "Negation." It had no features, no limbs, no fixed form, yet every being who saw it formed a clear image in their mind-the thing they feared most.
Harmonic Leaping Note saw an immense, silent blankness that would never hear her harmonics.
Myriad Faces and Forms saw countless mirrors shatter at once, with no reflection in any of the fragments.
Primordial Origin saw the moment the Zero Era was destroyed, when every civilization vanished in silence, without even a scream.
"Ants of the Ember Era." The figure spoke, its voice rising from every being's impulse toward self-negation. "I am the First Emissary of the Nullifiers."
Harmonic Leaping Note gritted her teeth and broke free of her fear. "What do the Zeroers want?"
The emissary raised a tentacle condensed from "Negation" and pointed into the depths of the sea of stars-toward the three hundred and seventy million civilizations.
"In the previous cosmic era, the Definition System collapsed, and the Zeroers carried out the cleanup, making room for your era. But your era completed its transformation before collapsing and gained the ability to create definitions of its own. This violates the