Drearily opening her eyes, a myriad of new pains accompanies the dull awareness as she struggles for clarity. Stifling the pain, she gathers what strength she can divert into reinforcing her fragmenting soul. All that happens is new pains flare up to overshadow the old, as long damaged fragments fray and disappear into the ether. With a defeated sigh she takes account of what she has accomplished since she last past into dormancy. Only one more Kalpa has completed tempering, and the current iteration is still in the middle of its cycle. Counting the three Kalpas already completed that would leave five generations of warriors if she manages to salvage the current one. How long it has been outside of her realm she couldn't guess, but she hoped that her efforts were enough to help stop the coming travesties on the outside. “None of this was supposed to happen, we were destined for more. Instead, the beast appeared without warning throwing all our preparations out to the celestial winds.” Memories of her own family flash before her, a few tears forming at the thought. "No, they are strong, I taught them well, and their father is still with them. They will survive the tribulations ahead." Forcing down the regrets, and to prevent herself from falling into old despair, she throws what’s left of her scattered mind into performing maintenance on the latest in the tempering cycle. Hopefully, she can last long enough to see this one to completion. Looking through the information that flashes through her mind she finds herself Instead growing enraged, sensing an outside energy tainting her creations. “H-how?" she mutters in confusion. "No one could have been able to get into my domain, even if I fell dormant for a time.” She couldn’t sense any direct damage, but the foreign influence hung around her realm like a miasma. “Fucking dammit!” Her whole soul screams in frustration at the realization, desperately struggling to remain in control of herself she pours over what options she has. The outburst of emotion threatens to throw her soul into chaos, she can feel the damage increasing, slowly unraveling at the core of her soul. Once again forcing herself to focus, she merges with her realm again to see if the previous Kalpas were also tampered with. Creaking with barely restrained rage, she delves her mind into the state of her realm, seething with each discovery. The further she reaches out the more fragmented her senses become, as she realizes just how far the corruption has spread into her life’s work. “Billions of potential soldiers lost to us.” She can barely wrap her aching mind around the realization. Her soul still fraying, throbbing and ripping with each passing moment. But what does it matter if she failed everyone? Finally, her defenses tear themselves down in despair. Sobbing as she comes to the realization that this Kalpa is beyond saving, any number of dangers lurking as the souls within grow ready for release. Hundreds of years of work destroyed, tainted, and useless just like that. Struggling to stifle her sobs, she steels herself to destroy her final gambit in giving humanity a chance, with her own two hands. As a torrent of power streams from her shattered soul, she begins to collapse her realm upon itself, to take her and the failed Kalpa with it into oblivion. The echoes of her will resound into the void, closing her eyes exhausted and broken, she waits for death. Yet, as the moments pass, her death eludes her while the realm refuses her will, the cycle unimpeded by its lord's commands. Panicking she redoubles her efforts, and again nothing comes of it except for one change. A slow applause rings through the realm as everything freezes in place, along with her trembling soul. “No, I don’t think that I will let you cast aside all our hard work Lifebringer.” A crisp, almost ephemeral voice sounds out from all around her. Unable to move or protest, the foreign energy begins to coalesce from all corners of her realm, gathering in front of her to form something close to a humanoid being in front of her. “Greetings Lifebringer, glad to see you're finally awake.” The figure says while gesturing to her in a mocking bow. Time passes as the apparition keeps posed before it abruptly jerks upright. “Ah sorry, sorry I forgot that I locked you in place.” With a flourish of its misty hands, reality wrenches back into motion. The sudden change allows her to feel it. All through her being, that same putrid energy flows in and around her broken soul, stitching through her like ghostly threads. Squirming in agony, her mind revolts, seeking to end this invasion into her. “Now now dear don’t struggle too much, I wouldn't want you to expire before we are ready. If anything you should thank us, you wouldn't have made it past the third cycle without my organization's assistance.” Sighing to itself the being slumps in exasperation. “They even had to call me up to help … You do realize I was napping when they so rudely interrupted me, right? I wasn’t even supposed to be on this project, and yet here I am, the ever attentive worker.” Getting up, his ethereal face closes in towards her own. “Do you know why things didn’t go according to plan?” the voice whispers inside her head. Struggling to meet the figure’s gaze, she remains silent in defiance, still trying to dislodge the intruder from her soul despite the pain. “Okay, okay I get it your going to play the strong silent type.” The apparition shimmers several meters away from her, back turned. “I never was good at the role myself, so I’ll just cut to the chase.” With a flick of its hand, the energy throughout her soul tightens, clawing at her soul and filling her with mind-numbing torment. “A certain uppity bitch decided to go out of line.” It screams. As the woman babbles incoherently, overcome by convulsions, the figure shifts again to be beside her, caressing her cheek with its hand. “All your flaws aside you really are brilliant Lifebringer, no Gaia Yggdrasil. In your death throes, you even forged your own realm into a working proof of concept for all your research. Good thing that I got here in time to make sure you didn’t die too early, or else a lot of other projects would have had to be postponed.” Straddling up to her side the ghostly figure continues its self-imposed monologue. “But that was then, and this is now. All of those other projects are already finished up and ready to be extracted. Just in time too, because you really are falling apart.” It flicks a piece of her soul away with a tendril of energy. “We aren’t all bad though, the higher-ups were gracious enough to leave most of the souls untouched. We prefer the quality over quantity approach. If you're lucky then your small Human Empire might still make it out of all of this intact, thanks to you. The potential you few showed us before that detestable creature showed up was worth that much at least.” It says while moving away, brushing itself off. “While this was a lovely chat I wouldn’t want to keep our friends waiting, they have worked hard for so very long, and it is about time we deliver.” Another flick of its wrist and everything returns to stillness and silence, the being turns away from the woman to face a myriad of screens that appear in front of it. “Welcome everyone to what you have all been waiting for. It’s time to bring all the sweat and blood you poured out over these past hundred years to the real world!” With a final bow, the figure begins to disperse and then pours itself into Gaia’s soul, creating a blinding flash of light as the world begins to crack.