Grief tasted like copper and ash.
Toby's cold, lifeless hand slipped from Leo's fingers, leaving a smear of dark residue on his palm.
Behind him, the ruptured reservoir hissed like a dying beast.
Black, viscous liquid bubbled from the cracked edges of the stone hatch, spilling over the pristine stone.
It didn't look like water anymore.
Oil-slick rainbow sheens coated the bubbling surface, but underneath, it was pure, devouring darkness.
Screams began near the southern terraces, sharp and filled with terror.
Leo bolted to his feet, wiping his tear-stained face with the back of his sleeve.
His heart hammered against his ribs like a trapped bird, threatening to burst.
Looking down from the high platform, he saw the first stream of black water breach the retaining wall.
It kissed the roots of the glowing essence-wheat he had planted only a week ago.
Instantly, the vibrant green stalks shriveled into gray ash.
Leaves blackened, turning to fine soot before they even touched the ground.
A collective wail rose from the lower fields as the poison spread with unnatural speed.
Refugees who had been working the irrigation channels scrambled backward, but some weren't fast enough.
Old man Samuel fell into a shallow trench, splashing the tainted liquid onto his bare legs.
Flesh blistered on contact.
Samuel shrieked, a high-pitched, agonizing sound that sliced through the humid air.
Black veins spiderwebbed up his calves, turning his skin the color of bruised plums.
"Run!" Leo shouted, his voice cracking as he bounded down the stone steps. "Get away from the channels! Get to higher ground!"
People trampled over one another in a desperate bid to escape the rising tide.
But the sanctuary was built in a valley around the reservoir.
It was their lifeblood, their only source of clean water in a ruined, toxic world.
Now, that lifeblood was turning into venom.
A young mother stumbled, her child crying as the black mist rising from the soil choked them.
Coughing racked her chest, and when she pulled her hand away from her mouth, it was stained with dark, thick bile.
Leo felt a cold blade of sheer terror slice through his chest.
Promises of safety felt like ash in his mouth.
Toby's final, gasping breaths echoed in his mind, a brutal reminder of his failure.
Now, his entire home was rotting from the inside out.
---
Crops that had taken months of backbreaking labor to cultivate withered in seconds.
Corn stalks collapsed into piles of gray dust.
Vines of mana-infused grapes melted into pools of sour, purple liquid that hissed against the dying grass.
Soil itself seemed to groan, its rich brown color replaced by a dead, chalky gray.
People screamed in the distance.
Families huddled together on the wooden porches of their newly built cabins, watching the black sludge slowly creep up their steps.
Water filtration systems, which Leo had painstakingly rigged using old-world technology and mana-cores, began to explode one by one.
Blue sparks showered the screaming crowds as the machinery choked on the thick, corrupted fluid.
Leo dragged himself forward, his boots sloshing through the shallow mud.
Every step felt like wading through lead.
Skin already pale, her lips were tinged with a terrifying shade of blue.
A frantic mother wrapped her in a dirty blanket, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Please," the mother begged, looking up as Leo approached. "Leo, please. You have to save her. She only took one sip. Just one sip from the well."
Leo wanted to reach out, to comfort them, but he couldn't even look them in the eye.
Weight of his unfulfilled promises pressed down on his chest, suffocating him.
Promises of safety had been whispered in this very spot.
He had sworn the Coalition couldn't touch them inside these walls.
How wrong he had been.
---
Desperation drove his hands to his belt.
A flash of starlight erupted as he summoned the Cosmic Rod.
Its pearlescent shaft hummed, a comforting weight that had pulled him out of a dozen death traps.
He stepped toward the edge of the bubbling reservoir, his boots sinking into the damp, blackened earth.
Heat radiated from the soil, smelling of sulfur and decayed meat.
"This can be fixed," Leo whispered, though his voice shook violently.
"I have to fix this."
He whipped the rod back.
With a sharp flick of his wrist, he cast the line.
Glowing, ethereal lures sliced through the rising black steam, landing with a soft splash in the center of the dark pool.
Immediately, the rod vibrated with a violent, erratic energy.
System alerts flashed red in his peripheral vision, warning of extreme environmental corruption.
Ignoring the warnings, Leo planted his feet, gripping the cork handle with both hands.
He activated his core skill, *Purifying Reel*.
A soft, golden light began to pulse down the line, fighting against the encroaching blackness.
For a second, a tiny circle of clear, blue water opened up around the lure.
Hope flared in Leo's chest, hot and bright.
He pulled back, trying to draw the toxic energy into the rod's internal storage, to filter it through his cosmic attributes.
---
Suddenly, the line snapped taut.
A massive surge of dark energy erupted from the center of the pool.
It didn't travel through the water; it shot directly up the silver line like a bolt of black lightning.
Golden light shattered, replaced by a jagged, purple-black current that slammed into the rod's tip.
Leo didn't even have time to scream before the feedback hit his hands.
It felt as if his flesh was being scraped off his bones with rusty files, then doused in liquid nitrogen and set on fire.
Intense heat of the corruption melted the rubberized grip of the Cosmic Rod, fusing the material directly to his palms.
Smoke, gray and foul-smelling, rose from his hands.
He tried to let go of the rod, but his fingers were locked in a death grip, the muscles violently seizing under the electrical and magical current.
Corruption ate through his skin, blackening his veins and turning his flesh into charred, flaky carbon.
He fell to his knees, his forehead pressing into the toxic mud as he screamed.
Sound of his screaming was raw, stripped of all humanity, echoing off the stone cliffs surrounding the valley.
Pain was absolute, driving out every thought, every memory, leaving only a white-hot void of agony.
With a final, desperate surge of physical strength, he flung his entire body backward, tearing his hands away from the rod.
Physical connection broke with a wet, tearing sound.
Leo lay on his back, gasping for air, his chest heaving as he stared up at the grey sky.
When he lifted his hands, his breath caught in his throat.
They were ruined.
Fingers were bent at unnatural angles, the skin completely charred black and fused together in a horrific, stiff mess.
He couldn't feel them anymore.
Attempts to wiggle his thumb failed, his hand remaining a rigid, useless claw.
Cosmic Rod lay a few feet away, silent and dead.
Its beautiful, pearlescent glow was gone, replaced by a dull, soot-covered gray.
It looked like an ordinary, broken piece of plastic.
His cheat was gone.
Ruined hands hung limply.
He had lost everything.
---
Screams of the refugees seemed to fade into a dull, distant murmur.
Leo stared at his ruined hands, a hollow sensation opening up in the center of his chest.
He had wanted to be a hero.
Saving everyone had been his only goal, a desperate attempt to make up for the family he lost.
But his naivety had led them all into a trap.
A low, vibrating hum began to resonate from the reservoir.
Black water stopped boiling.
It began to swirl, forming a perfect, glassy circle in the center.
From the dark depths, a pillar of black mist rose, spinning slowly until it stood ten feet tall.
Light began to refract through the mist, projecting a high-definition image of a man.
Sovereign Kael.
Leader of the Sovereign Coalition looked impeccable.
His silver hair was neatly swept back, his white military coat free of any speck of dust.
Gaze fixed on Leo with an expression of mild curiosity, like a scientist observing a worm in a dish.
Leo struggled to sit up, his ruined hands resting uselessly in his lap.
He glared at the projection, his teeth grinding together so hard a trickle of blood ran down his chin.
"You..." Leo rasped, his voice a dry wheeze.
Kael chuckled, a soft, polite sound that made Leo's stomach turn.
"You thought you could build a paradise for the weak, Leo," Kael's projected voice boomed, echoing off the stone walls of the sanctuary.
"But weakness is a disease. And a disease must be purged."
He stepped forward within the projection, pointing a finger toward the ruined fields.
"Look at them," Kael continued, his eyes scanning the weeping refugees.
"They cannot fight. They cannot adapt. They are dead weight. And you, with your foolish, bleeding heart, thought you could carry them all on your back."
Leo tried to push himself to his feet, but his legs buckled, dumping him back into the dirt.
He felt utterly pathetic.
"Leave them alone," Leo whispered, tears of frustration mingling with the dirt on his face.
"Take me. Just give them the antidote. Please."
Kael's smile widened, a thin, cruel expression.
"I have no interest in you, Leo. You are nothing without your little toy," Kael said, pointing his cane toward the stained Cosmic Rod lying in the mud.
He stepped closer to the edge of the projection, his gaze locking onto Leo's soul.
"Hand over the cosmic rod, or watch every refugee rot from the inside out."