4

"Exactly," says Masfiwi's disembodied voice. "Anaru Katariki was the one who first discovered the Surgeons, and contacted them, and showed them how they might send a small number of scouts to this world. Well done."

You smile to yourself, feeling fresh confidence in this otherworldly environment.

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Another question," says Masfiwi. "Why did Anaru Katariki bring the Surgeons to this world?"

"The theory is…interesting," concedes Masfiwi. "But no, Katariki's ultimate goal was nothing like this."

A freezing wind then, and a thousand points of ice that pierce your skin effortlessly and threaten to shred your soul.

"Anaru Katariki was suffering from cancer. He had an inoperable tumor in his brain. When he received the news last year, his life expectancy was measured in months. But Katariki was never a man to meekly suffer the indignities of fate. He contacted the H'ssurru'ssurri—the Surgeons, those masters of biology—and offered them a means to travel to this world if they could cure him. It took a little work, but they succeeded. Now, a shard of your inner being is the price of this knowledge…"

You can barely hear the words. The pain from the wind that freezes and crushes you is intense.

You open your mouth to scream, but no sound comes out. A fragment of your soul gets ripped away.

At last, the assault ceases.

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