Primordial Expanse: I have the Strongest Talent! - Chapter 457

Chapter 457: Mutterings of a Mad Man
He leaned back in his chair, running a hand through his hair as frustration bubbled beneath his skin.

Something wasn’t right.

He knew it, felt it deep in his bones.

But every time he tried to pin it down, to grasp the source of the change, his thoughts slipped away, replaced by that familiar emptiness.

Then, out of nowhere, a flicker of a memory surfaced.

‘Gorath.’

The name came to him like a whisper, pulling him from the fog.

The planet they had visited just before everything began to change. It had been only a few days ago, though to Alex, it felt like a lifetime.

Or perhaps no time at all. It was hard to tell. Time seemed to blur together in his mind, like it had lost all meaning.

He sat up straighter, his heart beginning to pound as the pieces of a puzzle started to form in his mind. Gorath… that was where it had begun.

Before Gorath, things had been normal.

He had been himself.

Mira had been herself.

They had fought side by side, as always. But after they left that cursed planet, everything had shifted.

‘What happened on Gorath?’

The memory was hazy, but one thing stood out clearly.

The planet itself had been… alive.

Sentient.

It wasn’t just a world—they had felt its presence, pulsing beneath the surface like the heartbeat of some ancient, slumbering god. It had communicated with them, though not in words.

It had offered them something.

A gift.

Alex’s eyes widened as the memory rushed back with startling clarity.

‘The gift!’

Both he and Mira had received it, something the planet had bestowed upon them in exchange for their help.

At the time, they hadn’t questioned it.

It had seemed harmless, even benevolent.

But now, looking back…

‘What if…’

His thoughts spiralled as a new, terrifying idea took root in his mind.

‘What if the gift wasn’t what it seemed?’

He stood up, pacing the small cockpit as his heart raced.

It made sense.

Too much sense.

Before Gorath, he and Mira had been different.

More focused.

More… themselves.

But after they left, everything had changed.

Their tempers had flared, their bond had weakened, and they had both started making decisions they would never have made before.

‘Was it the planet?’

He clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms as the realisation hit him like a punch to the gut.

Gorath had given them something, but what if that gift had come with a price? What if it had poisoned their minds, subtly, insidiously, without them even realising it?

But why?

He shook his head, the answer eluding him.

The planet had been sentient, yes, but it had also seemed… indifferent.

Or so he had thought.

But what if that indifference had been a façade? What if Gorath had its own agenda, one they couldn’t see? One they hadn’t even thought to question?

And the gift… What had it really been?

He stopped pacing, his breath coming in shallow gasps as his mind raced.

The gift had felt like power at the time.

An enhancement of their abilities, a deepening of their connection to the universe itself, even bringing them up an entire level without the System’s intervention!.

But now… now it felt like a curse.

A curse that had slowly wormed its way into their souls, twisting them into something they were not.

His thoughts flickered to Mira, to the way she had changed alongside him.

She had been his anchor, the one thing that kept him grounded in the madness of their war.

But now, even she was slipping away, her warmth replaced by cold detachment.

And it all came back to Gorath.

To the gift.

He sank back into his chair, his mind reeling as the enormity of it all settled over him.

How had they not seen it? How had they been so blind?

But then, as quickly as the realisation had come, doubt crept in.

What if he was wrong?

What if the gift had nothing to do with it?

He shook his head, trying to clear the fog that seemed to cloud his thoughts once again.

It was like trying to hold water in his hands, the clarity slipping away the more he grasped for it.

He couldn’t be sure. Not yet.

But the seed of doubt had been planted.

***

As Alex sat in the chair, his breathing slowed, and the flicker of clarity that had sparked the revelation about Gorath began to dim.

He clenched the armrests tightly, forcing himself to hold onto the thought. The planet. The gift. It made too much sense, and yet… the more he thought about it, the more it slipped away.

Like trying to hold smoke.

The fog crept back in, wrapping around his thoughts with an eerie familiarity, a dull comfort.

‘No. That’s ridiculous.’

His mind whispered.

‘Gorath helped us. The gift helped us. You’re just imagining things.’

Alex shook his head, trying to fight the numbness that was overtaking him again.

He couldn’t let himself be pulled under, not now.

He had been onto something—he knew it.

But why was it so hard to think clearly?

Why did his mind feel like it was wading through tar every time he tried to grasp the idea?

He stood up abruptly, pacing the length of the cockpit, his boots clanging against the cold metal floor.

His pulse quickened, the fog pressing harder against his thoughts, urging him to forget, to let it go.

‘It doesn’t matter. It’s over. Focus on the mission. On the revenge.’

The voice in his head was smooth, almost soothing now.

But a sharper, deeper voice in the back of his mind screamed in defiance.

‘No! You have to think. You have to remember.’

His pacing became erratic, steps faltering as he tried to force his way through the mental barrier.

It was as if something else was in his mind—something that didn’t belong.

Something that didn’t want him to question, didn’t want him to see the truth.

The thought terrified him, sending a cold shiver down his spine.