The scent of antiseptic and dying embers clung to Bayu Kartika’s robes, thick and suffocating. His fingers, raw and trembling, traced the crystalline patterns blooming across Ratna Sari’s forehead. Each shimmering fractal of frosted rime crept along her temples, marking the sickness that had defied every healer in Pradipa. The infirmary’s quiet hum, usually a balm, felt like a mocking drone. Outside the viewport, the endless sea of clouds drifted by, indifferent. Ratna’s skin, once warm like sun-kissed tea leaves, was now cold, brittle marble. Her breaths, shallow and ragged moments before, now hitched on a dry rattle. He leaned down, murmuring her name toward cold skin. Her eyelids fluttered, a brief, hazy glimmer of her deep, thoughtful eyes, then sagged shut. A shudder wracked her frail body, her limbs twitching violently as if caught in a cold, invisible snare. “Ratna!” he cried, the sound tearing ragged from his throat. He clutched her hand, the sensation of ice meeting ice sending a chill through his own veins that had nothing to do with the frigid affliction. A faint, almost imperceptible tremor ran through her, then her chest stilled. The monitor beside her bed, a simple contraption of glowing runes, flickered. The steady, reassuring pulse line flatlined. A high-pitched, insistent *beep* pierced the silence, then died, leaving only the oppressive quiet. Her breathing stopped. His world fractured. Just as a choked sob tore its way out of him, a blinding crimson text erupted in his vision, searing itself onto his retinas. It floated, stark and alien, against the blurred panic of the infirmary. [Essence Absorption Activated] Bayu didn’t understand. He didn’t care. His mind was a maelstrom of terror and a primal urge to *do something*. Anything. His gaze darted around the sterile room, landing on a small, clay jar on the bedside table. Inside, a handful of common Spirit-Replenishing Pills, the cheapest, most basic revitalization aid, sat innocently. He snatched one, his fingers fumbling with the tiny pellet. It was barely the size of a bean, chalky white. Worthless against the creeping frost. But it was *something*. He shoved it into his mouth, swallowing hard, the dry pill sticking in his throat for a painful second before sliding down. The moment it hit his stomach, a sensation unlike anything he had ever known exploded within him. It wasn’t the familiar dull thrum of minor spiritual energy. This was a supernova. His very bones vibrated, his muscles tensed, and a searing heat unfurled from his core, spreading through every vein, every nerve ending. His vision swam with blinding light. Another crimson message flashed, even larger, more urgent than the last. [Spirit-Replenishing Pill consumed. Esensi Amplification: 100x] His body was a furnace, overflowing with a raw, untamed power that threatened to rip him apart. Incandescent pressure coursed through him, a raging river where before there had only been a trickling stream, battering his ribs to escape. And Ratna, lying lifeless beside him, was the only thought in his mind. Without conscious thought, Bayu reached out, placing his palm gently over Ratna’s still heart. He imagined the surging energy within him, felt it gather at his fingertips, a torrent of pure, unadulterated life force. He pushed. He poured. He emptied himself into her. The golden current surged from his palm into her sternum. The crystalline frost on her skin shimmered, then began to recede, melting like ice under a summer sun. Her chest gave a faint, almost imperceptible tremor. Then another. A gasp, weak but undeniably there, escaped her lips. Just as the last vestiges of the frost vanished, and a faint flush of color returned to Ratna’s cheeks, the infirmary door burst open. Elder Padma rushed in, followed by two younger healers, their palms already lit with pale green light. They skidded to a halt, taking in Ratna as she took shallow, steady breaths. The monitor, miraculously, showed a slow, rhythmic pulse. Ratna’s eyes fluttered open, hazy and unfocused. She stared up at Bayu, a faint, ethereal smile touching her lips. “Bayu… the lotus,” she breathed, faint as dry grass, “A dream… of a Sunpetal Lotus… in the caldera…” Her eyes closed again, her breathing evening out into a deep, restful sleep. Bayu gazed at her, a name for his desperate hope now etched into his heart. Sunpetal Lotus. A cure. A possibility. But as he looked, another crimson notification flared in his peripheral vision, silent and ominous. [Catalyst Primed. Threshold: 1%]

A Taste of Starlight