✴

Wait, you feel.

The star-white exopath outlined in space-black flies down, passing by each avatar in the circle. It draws near you, and some thought rises from the back of your mind, like instinct, a program. You shield yourself in a reflective veil, and NULL passes you by, not seeing you. But you feel a chill deep in you as you catch the sight of its deep black eyes. Dread.

It passes by everyone, not stopping.

“None of you are compatible hosts, this I expected,” Unas says. “But one will be perfectly suitable, this we have made sure of.”

Another student stands next to them, who hasn’t been with the others. The avatar looks like a girl, with skin like glass, and pale blue hair. NULL approaches her. She reaches out her hand, and it takes it. It begins to melt away, collapsing into the girl, until she is alone, staring up with bright white eyes.

“The attachment is complete,” Unas says to the crowd. “Now our NULL shall grow, and learn, and soon, it shall seek out the interloper from the deep æther, and the vessel child that carries it, and balance will be restored to–-“

An avatar rushes up to interrupt them. A familiar face with pale purple eyes, hair of metal fibers, skin glistening with metallic dust--one of the Syntheses. You think they’re talking to each other, but you aren’t part of this conversation.

Something is pushing you away, all of you. You see many other students vanish from this space through portals.