"How intriguing. The spectral threads tell me that we will cross paths in the future."
The chaotic noise echoed endlessly in Eric's mind, translating itself into clear words. The entity with the burning red eyes didn't seem to be addressing Eric directly. It spoke as if it were simply musing to itself, completely indifferent to the mortal floating in its void.
But with every single syllable the entity projected, Eric's headache worsened.
"And surprisingly, that meeting will have a significant impact on my plans... though it isn't certain whether we will be enemies or allies..."
The massive red eyes narrowed slightly, peering through the darkness. A suffocating, crushing weight pressed down on Eric's chest as the entity's gaze bore into his very soul, scanning him down to a conceptual level.
"No matter from which angle I look, he looks like a normal human... what is so special about him?"
After a while, the entity seemed to lose interest in dissecting Eric's existence, shifting its massive gaze to the side.
In a completely different space of the void was Haunter.
But unlike Eric, who was struggling to stay conscious, Haunter was giddy with joy. In fact, he had his jaws opened wide, his eyes burning with absolute, unrestrained greed as he actively devoured the dense ghost-type energy of the void around him.
"I seem to have a connection with that Haunter as well, although it seems to be an extension of what I have with the human..." the entity murmured, "It seems to have absorbed a fragment of my power... perhaps the fragment sensed our connection and reacted..."
The entity then shifted its gaze once more.
Floating helplessly in the dark in another space was Cynthia. Her eyes were squeezed shut, her hands clutching her head as she endured the exact same mind-breaking migraine as Eric.
The glowing red eyes observed her for only a fraction of a second.
"I don't have a connection with that one..."
The entity then slowly began to recede into the pitch-black shadows of the void, its form blending seamlessly into the antimatter.
"Well," the voice echoed one final time, carrying a faint, chilling amusement. "It will be interesting to have more variables. Keeps things interesting."
Reality snapped back into existence as the suffocating void was instantly replaced by the dusty, frigid air of the chamber they were in earlier.
Eric, Cynthia, and Haunter were violently expelled from the red light, falling onto the hard stone floor.
Both of them were unconscious.
"Gaba!"
"Milo!"
Gabite and Milotic, who had been staring in sheer confusion at the empty space, instantly reacted as their trainer was spat back into existence. Gabite dashed forward, catching Cynthia before her head could strike the stone, while Milotic coiled her sleek, powerful body around them in a protective manner.
Gabite bared its fangs, its eyes scanning the dark hallway for any lingering threats, taking a protective stance.
They didn't know what had just happened, but they weren't going to let anyone or anything touch her.
An hour passed in complete silence.
Cynthia was the first to stir. She let out a soft groan, her elegant brow furrowing as she slowly blinked her eyes open. Her vision was blurry, and her head pounded with the rhythmic, agonizing throb of a world-class hangover.
"Gaba..." Gabite let out a soft, relieved sound, lowering its snout to gently nudge her cheek.
"I'm... I'm alright, Gabite," Cynthia whispered, sitting up slowly and rubbing her temples. She reached out, affectionately patting Gabite's snout and running a hand over Milotic's smooth scales. "Thank you for keeping watch."
She took a shaky breath, her sharp mind rapidly working through the haze of the migraine to process the sheer, incomprehensible scale of what they had just witnessed.
Those eyes. That void. It wasn't a hallucination. Was that...
Cynthia quickly looked over to the other side of the room. Eric was still lying flat on his back, completely motionless.
She stood up, her legs feeling unusually heavy, and walked over to him. She knelt down and firmly nudged his shoulder.
"Eric. Wake up."
Eric groaned, his face twisting in pain as he slowly peeled his eyes open. He grabbed his head with both hands, letting out a sharp hiss.
"Ugh... I feel like I just got hit a powerful confusion attack," Eric grumbled, forcing himself into a sitting position. The migraine was splitting his skull in two.
"It's probably a side effect of the spatial displacement. And the mental strain of being perceived by... that," Cynthia said, her voice dropping into a solemn whisper. She looked at the mural on the wall, her grey eyes filled with profound awe and lingering terror.
"Giratina," Eric muttered, massaging his temples. "So that red shard... it was a part of Giratina's body."
"Did you... hear it speak?" Cynthia asked hesitantly.
Eric nodded. "Something about crossing paths in the future. And having more variables."
They fell silent for a moment, letting the sheer absurdity of the situation sink in. They had just had a brief audience with the deity of antimatter, and somehow, they had walked away with their lives.
As Eric opened his eyes fully, the world around him seemed to look... different.
Unlike before, Eric could now not only feel but also see the purple ghost-type energy in the air.
"Is it just me," Eric said slowly, looking at his hands, "or did my senses just improve?"
"I feel it too," Cynthia agreed, looking around the room in absolute fascination. "It's the Ghost-type energy. The exposure to the pure, primordial aura of the void... it seems to have forced our human senses to adapt. I can perceive the flow of the energy perfectly."
It was an incredible, permanent buff to their perception.
"Wait," Eric suddenly snapped out of his awe. "Where is Haunter?"
He looked around the room.
He didn't have to look far.
Hovering in the very center of the chamber, directly beneath the mural, was Haunter.
Haunter was surrounded by a sphere of dense ghost-type energy, which he was in the midst of absorbing.
Then, all the energy was absorbed into his body in a sudden burst.
"Kekeke..." Haunter let out a low, vibrating chuckle.
The air pressure in the room spiked as he was surrounded by the bright light of evolution.