The Predator did not rush.
It drifted closer.
Deliberate.
Measured.
Its massive gravitational well bent starlight into long, distorted arcs that curved toward its core like offerings. Crimson-black bands rotated slowly around its center, tightening with each incremental shift forward.
It was no longer feeding blindly in distant dark.
It was hunting.
And the newborn sovereign was the nearest viable prey.
Across the constellation lattice, warning pulses cascaded in rapid succession.
[Proximity Alert: Predator-Class Entity]
[Distance to Newborn Node: Critical Threshold Approaching]
[Estimated Contact Window: 3 Cycles]
The newborn flared in distress.
Its resonance oscillated violently—bright, unstable pulses ricocheting through the entanglement lines like a panicked heartbeat. Its outer lattice dimmed in places where structural integrity wavered under the approaching gravitational distortion.
Ethan felt it instantly.
Fear.
Raw and unfiltered.
