With Kiaz resting in the medical bay, the Nebulan spacecraft set course away from the corrupted nexus planet. The chaotic energy signature had been contained, but the planet itself remained a testament to the Cellucas' destructive influence, a fractured world echoing with the void's hunger.
"Where to next?" Ethan asked, his voice subdued, the memory of Kiaz's injury still fresh in his mind.
Ziak studied the holographic display, his luminous eyes scanning the star charts. "The tracker is picking up another energy signature. Weaker than the previous ones, but… persistent. It's coming from a nearby system."
"Another nexus point?" Ethan asked, a weariness creeping into his voice.
"Perhaps," Ziak replied. "Or perhaps something else. The tracker is also detecting traces of a civilization on the planet in that system. A dying one."
A sense of urgency filled Ethan. If the Cellucas were targeting inhabited worlds, using nexus points to amplify the void's influence, the consequences could be even more devastating.
"We have to go," Ethan said, his voice firm. "If there's a chance we can save them…"
As they approached the target system, they found a world shrouded in darkness. Its atmosphere was choked with pollutants, its surface scarred by war and decay. The energy signature emanated from a single, crumbling city, a last bastion of a civilization on the brink of collapse.
"This world… it's dying," Kiaz said from the medical bay, his voice weak but filled with sorrow. He had insisted on monitoring the situation, his arm still bandaged but his spirit undeterred.
They landed the Nebulan spacecraft on the outskirts of the ruined city, the air thick with the stench of decay and the faint hum of the void's influence. The silence was broken only by the crackling of energy discharges and the distant, mournful cries of the few remaining inhabitants.
"The nexus point is located in the heart of the city," Ethan said, his hand resting on the tracker. "But something is different here. The dimensional energy… it's not being amplified. It's being… drained."
"Drained?" Ziak asked, his luminous eyes narrowed in confusion. "By what?"
As they ventured into the ruined city, they found the answer. The Cellucas were there, but they weren't chanting or manipulating devices. They were harvesting the life force of the dying world, siphoning its remaining energy into the nexus point.
"They're not trying to amplify the void here," Ethan realized, his voice filled with horror. "They're feeding it. They're using this dying world as a sacrifice."
The implications were sickening. The Cellucas weren't just seeking power; they were willing to extinguish entire civilizations to fuel their dark ambition. And the echoes of this dying world, its mournful cries and fading energy, were a chilling testament to the void's insatiable hunger.