A cold dread gripped Li Chen's heart. He stood up slowly, his silver-gold eyes narrowing, scanning the ground around him. The life energy of the plants, the very essence of their existence, had been silently, irrevocably, absorbed. Consumed. The withered patches of grass had spread, the stunted vegetable shoots were entirely brown, and the vibrant yellow flowers were now shriveled, brittle, like ancient parchment. They weren't merely dying; they were unmade.
And the center of this radiating circle of decay was their hut. Their temporary home. The place where he, the Shard of the Guardian's Will, lay constantly.
It's me, he thought, a chilling wave of understanding washing over him. My very presence. My essence. It consumes life. Even without my intent. In this Qi-barren land, I am a sile
