In the far reaches of space, the Sharak’tan-Ekthar had long been a whispered legend—a cosmic anomaly that defied comprehension. Drifting like an ethereal plague, it was a writhing mass of 25 billion sentient beings, bound together by gravitational forces and an ancient, collective will. Though each creature retained its individuality, together they formed a unified consciousness capable of bending reality itself. For millennia, they toiled unseen, shaping the raw materials th