From the journal of Talon Watch-Agent Arlen Vey

After many nights of investigation, Valguero confirmed the spread.

The first corrupted dilophosaur I recorded stood near the chalk hills at dusk, body still, eyes fixed on nothing I could see. When I approached, it did not flare or posture. It advanced.

No. It charged.

There was no warning cry, no shift in stance. It crossed the distance in silence and fought without the hesitation even a starving predator shows. It fought until its body failed, and even then its muscles resisted stillness long after its blood darkened the stone. I have killed many creatures on these Arks. None have taken that long to accept death. Never have I been so terrified of the humble dilophosaur.

Raptors followed within days.

Not in packs. Not yet. Individual sightings, spread across wider ranges than normal. They climb more than they hunt. I watched one scale a ridge and remain there for nearly an hour, facing outward toward the horizon as if awaiting instruction. A parasaur grazed within reach. The raptor did not react.

Reports from the Island now mirror what I first observed on Valguero. Corrupted raptors have been sighted along the southern riverbanks, pressing closer to settlements and ignoring prey they would normally harry without hesitation. They test structures instead. They linger near defensive lines. Raptors are intelligent even at their best, calculating in ways that make them dangerous long before they strike. These corrupted ones retain that intelligence, but it feels sharpened, directed. They do not wander. They move as though they have been given parameters.

The corruption is adapting across Arks.

Except one, it seems.

I requested status from the Lost Colony before compiling this entry. Their response was calm. No corrupted dilos. No altered raptors. No irregularities in Obelisk output beyond normal variance. Their wildlife behaves as it always has. Skittish. Territorial. Predictable.

At first I assumed delay. Spread between Arks may not be simultaneous. Environmental conditions differ. I reviewed the energy logs again.

Activity across the network is increasing. Load redistribution is measurable on Valguero and the Island. The Colony shows none. Its array registers as stable.

It should not be stable.

I ran the diagnostics twice to confirm I had not misread them. The numbers hold. The Colony’s Obelisk does not flicker. It does not redistribute. It does not respond.

If the corrupted creatures are scouts, then the absence of scouts in one territory suggests intent. I cannot determine whether that intent is exclusion or exemption.

I briefly considered whether the Colony was insignificant enough to ignore. That theory collapses under inspection. Its infrastructure rivals Valguero’s. Its defensive grid is more advanced than the Island’s. It presents value.

It should be tested.

Instead, it remains untouched.

That troubles me more than the escalation elsewhere.

Either something is choosing where to look, or something has already decided the Colony has been accounted for.

I have not yet informed them of this conclusion. The King does not receive speculation well, and I do not possess proof. Not yet.

Still, I cannot shake the feeling that when I stood before him, he was less surprised than he should have been.

Valguero’s sky feels strained tonight. Static lingers in the air near the Obelisk. The Colony reports clear weather.

I do not believe in coincidence at this scale.

— A.V.