Chapter 34 - Deciphering Decay

True to their word, House Solarius transmitted a vast amount of data to Elara almost immediately after the fragile accord was reached. Resonance mappings, historical core frequency readings, geological surveys of the Pillar structure, records of Stellomancy reinforcement attempts, analyses of star-fracture occurrences – it was a deluge of information, all detailing the accelerating decay of Luminora Prime.Elara, Thalassa, and I sequestered ourselves in the Choir archives, shielded from external observation and the city's ambient psychic noise. Elara's datapad interfaced with the resonant crystal archive system, displaying complex graphs and equations alongside ancient Krakenborn script. Thalassa, despite her traditionalist leanings, proved surprisingly adept at interpreting the Solarius data, her millennia of experience observing Pillar resonance providing insights that pure technical analysis might miss.My role was different. I couldn't decipher the complex mathematics or the archaic script like Elara, nor did I have Thalassa's deep historical context. But I could feel the data. As Elara projected the resonance signatures recorded by the Solarius scholars, I could sense the wrongness, the decay, the specific frequencies that were out of tune. It was like listening to a recording of the Heartbeat Altar, but distorted, fractured, filled with static and pain."The core frequency degradation is severe," Elara confirmed, tracing a declining graph line. "It's not just weakening; it's becoming unstable, fluctuating wildly. Their Stellomancy reinforcements are like patching cracks on a crumbling foundation – they slow the collapse but don't address the core issue.""The dissonance… it resonates with the ancient scars," Thalassa observed, her mental voice distant as she focused on the data streams. *"The points of weakness exploited during the Godswar, the pathways deliberately damaged… Luminora's decay seems concentrated around these old wounds.""Which supports the sabotage theory,"* Elara added. *"Something, or someone, knew where to strike, exacerbating inherent weaknesses or perhaps even actively poisoning the Pillar's resonance over time."I focused on the specific discordant frequencies shown in the data, comparing them to my memory of the Abyssal Pillar's Heartbeat and the faint echoes I sensed from Luminora across the network. The decay wasn't uniform; it was a specific kind of disharmony, a grating frequency that seemed to actively unravel the Pillar's structure."It feels… intentional,"* I projected, struggling to articulate the sensation. *"Not just decay, but like something is actively pulling it apart, focusing on those weak points Thalassa mentioned. It feels… similar to the Weaver's probe, but slower, more insidious."Thalassa and Elara both turned their attention to me."The Weaver?" Thalassa questioned sharply. *"You sense its influence in Luminora's decay?""Not directly,"* I clarified. *"Not like the probe I felt here. But the nature of the dissonance, the way it targets structural weaknesses, the unraveling quality… it feels like the same underlying principle. Like threads being deliberately snipped."Elara cross-referenced furiously. "If the Weaver, or a similar entity, is actively accelerating Luminora's decay… that changes everything. It's not just a natural cycle or residual damage; it's an ongoing attack.""An attack on one Pillar is an attack on the network," Thalassa stated grimly. *"If the Weaver seeks to unravel reality, weakening the Pillars is the most direct method. And if it targets Luminora now, it may target others later. Abyssal Mariana included."The stakes had just risen dramatically. This wasn't just about potentially aiding a desperate Great House; it was about defending the fundamental structure of reality against a cosmic entity actively working to destroy it."Can it be countered?"* I asked, looking at the complex data streams."Countering the Weaver directly is likely impossible for us," Elara admitted. "But countering the effects? Addressing the specific dissonance it's amplifying? That might be feasible. Your idea of broadcasting a corrective harmony, Kaelen, becomes much more relevant if we're treating a targeted attack rather than just natural decay.""A counter-resonance," Thalassa mused. *"Not just reinforcing the core frequency, but actively neutralizing the unraveling frequency the Weaver employs. It would need to be precise, powerful, and sustained.""Can we formulate such a frequency?"* I asked."The Solarius data gives us the target frequency, the dissonance we need to counter," Elara said, pointing to a specific spike in the resonance graphs. "And your experience at the Heartbeat Altar gives us the baseline, the stable Pillar resonance. The challenge is creating a harmony that incorporates the stable frequency while actively nullifying the specific discordant one, and then finding a way to broadcast it effectively and safely across the damaged pathways.""The conduit in the plaza could serve as an amplifier," Thalassa suggested. *"Powered by the Abyssal Pillar itself. But the broadcast… it would require immense focus from you, Pillar-Singer. You would be the lens, shaping and directing the counter-resonance. The strain would be enormous, and the feedback, if the Weaver resists, could be lethal.""And we still don't know the full state of the pathways,"* Elara added. *"Broadcasting blindly could waste the energy or, worse, cause unintended damage elsewhere in the network.""The Chrono-Shard,"* I suggested, remembering Elara's earlier comments. *"You said it contained echoes of the pathways. Can we use it to map them, to find the clearest route to Luminora?"Elara considered this. "Perhaps. The temporal echoes are fragmented, but they might contain enough data to reconstruct a partial map of the resonance pathways as they were, and perhaps infer their current state. It would require careful analysis, cross-referencing with known astronomical data and Pillar locations." She looked at Thalassa. "High Priestess, access to your deeper archives, particularly celestial charts and records of past network activity, would be invaluable."Thalassa hesitated for only a moment. The threat of the Weaver, combined with the Leviathan's decree, seemed to override her usual secrecy. "Granted, Chronicler. Our knowledge is yours, if it aids in defending the foundation."And so, our task shifted. It was no longer just about assessing the possibility of helping Luminora; it was about understanding an active assault on the Pillar network and formulating a desperate defense. We needed to analyze Luminora's specific dissonance, map the damaged resonance pathways using the Chrono-Shard and archives, devise a precise counter-resonance, and determine if I, the Pillar-Singer, could safely broadcast it from the heart of the abyss to a dying star thousands of light-years away, all while under the potential scrutiny of the Weaver itself. The fragile accord with House Solarius had become the prelude to a far more dangerous undertaking.