The Oracle Paths

1176  World Eater

"A World Eater?" Jake still clearly remembered the shock that had washed over him when he heard the term.

He thought he had heard it mentioned at least once by his mentor, but it hadn't fazed him much at the time. In a way, if one considered a world to be a planet like Earth, then Jake was perfectly capable of bearing such a title.

But hearing the term again today made his stomach briefly clench, giving it a new, more ominous meaning. If a World Eater, whatever it was, could threaten a world-plane as massive as the corpse containing Twyluxia, then it was a creature at least as formidable as an Ancient Designer.

He was wrong. The truth was even more surreal than he could have imagined. Because on the scale of the multiverse's heavyweights, a 'World' was...

"A World, as a World Eater understands it... is a Mirror Universe." The Spirit Artefact had clarified a few seconds later, giving him time to process the blow. But it wasn't over. After an even longer pause, she added, "Whatever you're thinking right now, the reality is worse. A World Eater... assimilates and preys on such Worlds, yes, but what's more horrifying about these walking apocalypses is how they do it."

Jake immediately thought of the Digestors since she had just mentioned them, but she was right. He was still far from the truth.

"What do you know about the Oracle and the Mirror Universe? What determines your belonging to a Mirror Universe, and why are Digestors and Corrupted considered as not part of it?" Claire had then questioned him, seeming at first to change the subject. "After all, there are monsters just as hideous, aggressive, and malevolent as the Digestors, and the Corrupted are not fundamentally different from some destruction-obsessed psychopaths. Why does the Oracle place them in different categories, wanting the extermination of the former while ignoring the crimes of the latter?"

"The Aether signature?" Jake responded, frowning. He was no longer the ignorant Player he had been at the start of his journey in the Mirror Universe. He at least knew this much.

The smaller an Aether Rune or Symbol, the higher its Grade. The principle of Aetheric entanglement posited that since everything is made of Aether, an Aether Rune could also be made up of smaller Runes, and so on.

The Aether Signature was precisely this unique Aetheric sequence specific to a Mirror Universe that appeared in the Aether Code of everything within it, living or non-living, even in the most absolute void of space. Even space, time, and all other abstract concepts existed tangibly in the Aetherdream, not escaping this marking.

According to Cekt, the Aether signature specific to their Mirror Universe was estimated between Grade 15 and 20—closer to 15 than 20—and provided a sort of innate sense of belonging to those from it. This feeling was rather vague, hardly interfering with their free will.

This wasn't the case for all Mirror Universes. Some could enforce a stronger sense of loyalty to their Evolvers, pushing them to attack intruders with irrational hostility.

It was hard to notice during the tutorial where they only faced Players from their Mirror Universe, but Jake had felt the difference in this Fifth Ordeal. Killing Players from another Mirror Universe came much more naturally to him, as if somewhere deep inside, it felt like the right thing to do.

This feeling of hostility was even more pronounced towards the Digestors and the Corrupted, and not just because the latter also wanted them dead. However, Jake had never felt influenced to the point of losing control.

The best proof of this was that fear was enough for most Evolvers to avoid picking fights with Digestors. The fearful Civilians at the bottom of the food chain, who had never enhanced their physical or mental prowess, were no exception, fleeing these monsters on sight as if hell itself was after them. In fact, if this pernicious influence from their Mirror Universe's Aether signature existed, many were probably unaware of it.

"Good answer." Claire nodded, before darkening. "I feared your Oracle System might censor me or make you forget at this stage, but since you already know this, it makes things easier. You know what a Mirror Universe's Aether Signature is, so let me ask you this: Do you know where the Digestors' signature comes from? Or rather, do you know where they come from?"

Jake's eyes widened as he realized he should have suspected that the Digestors couldn't just spawn for no reason. The idea of a simple interstellar virus contaminating all Mirror Universes to an endemic point was too simplistic. It made more sense to assume there was a culprit behind this phenomenon.

"I see from your eyes that you have many doubts already." The Spirit Artefact commented. "Let me dispel them once and for all. Without being able to confirm if a Mirror Universe is a sentient entity or not, it's commonly accepted that it exhibits certain instincts shared by all living beings: growth and self-preservation. Following this premise, the Digestors are somewhat like a virus, parasite, or pathogenic bacteria seeking to devour or conquer its body, while you Evolvers would be more like a saprophytic bacterial flora (bacteria that live in symbiosis with an organism without harming it). Thus, you form its first line of defense. Up to this point, I'm not telling you anything you couldn't have theorized yourself. It gets tricky after this.

"The Digestors, whatever they are, or at least the Aetheric phenomenon leading to their emergence, do come from somewhere: World Eaters. World Eaters are, in a sense, the carnivorous, conquering counterpart of a Mirror Universe. Instead of seeking passive expansion by continuously absorbing the infinite, unclaimed Aether beyond its borders, a World Eater preys directly on other Mirror Universes, disregarding established conventions.

"Mirror Universes like ours also seek to expand by engulfing other Mirror Universes, but this process is more passive, waiting for their borders to touch before entering conflict. When conflict becomes inevitable, you Players and Evolvers come into play, defending your respective Mirror Universe's interests at the risk of your lives in exchange for juicy rewards. If the intention seems the same, there's a significant difference compared to a World Eater: A standard Mirror Universe does not actively seek the extermination of its peers. If two similarly sized and populated Mirror Universes see their borders merge, wars and Ordeals are inevitable, but never coercively.

"The Oracle, as the supreme authority figure of its Mirror Universe, typically does everything in its power to protect its interests, but it could just as easily choose to do nothing and let nature take its course. It will also have normally adhered to the convention established by the High Oracle and co-signed by the Oracles of numerous Mirror Universes, imposing a set of regulations limiting its independence but also protecting it from overwhelming external forces seeking its eradication. You must understand that a multiverse containing a near-infinity of Mirror Universes is incomprehensibly vast. As immense and powerful as a Mirror Universe and its Oracle may be, nothing can withstand an overwhelming number. The populations of just two or three Mirror Universes would be enough to overwhelm the forces of your Mirror Universe if it fell victim to such a conspiracy.

"This framework and these regulations, through the Ordeals you know, make such practices impossible. As such, if the forces engaged are truly equal, it can sometimes take an eternity for a victor to emerge. Once a winner is established, the Mirror Universe and its absorbed population are barely affected. The impact of the Aether signature being negligible, uninformed Civilians and Evolvers would probably never realize that the future of two immense universes has just been decided. An important final point: Mirror Universes like yours only have local conflicts, in other words, when their borders touch.

"A World Eater operates differently. It's not just a Mirror Universe whose Oracle chose not to sign the convention created by the High Oracle, playing the outlaw. No, its very nature is different. For starters, the Grade of its Aether Signature is disproportionately high. Even the earliest World Eater can easily corrupt the Aether Signature of a mature Mirror Universe like yours. This can only happen because the Aether Runes forming its signature are significantly smaller, allowing it to infiltrate the Aether Signature of other worlds and everything within them.

"For a World Eater, conflict through direct contact, by devouring Mirror Universes at its borders, is not even necessary. It can grow directly by making the Aether signature of these prey its own. And unlike the former, it is not passive in this process but hunts proactively. By spreading a sort of virus through the Aetherdream in the form of intangible spores containing its Aether Signature over vast distances spanning multiple universes, it becomes capable of claiming the body of Mirror Universes far from its own. And to stack the odds in its favor by quashing any form of resistance from the start, its Aether Signature is much more intentional.

"This is Corruption."