Beautiful Place
The thing Houston spent his career hunting, which he claims the changelings are the key to reaching.
Story so far
As Carl moves to free Burcu, a dying Architect Houston begs him to stop, insisting he can stop it all — "It is called the Beautiful Place. I can get there. They are the key. The changelings. This world." He says it explains why the Viceroys come back to this world cycle after cycle, that Carl has helped make the greatest discovery in history without realizing it, and that it was here all along, right under their mandibles.
When Houston's fusion to the corpse of Namico completes, the dead changeling begins to thrash and change: roots or tentacles sprout from its lower half, vines climb The Grease Monkey, and a bone-shaking scream fills the theater. Houston dies sobbing in triumph, certain he has found it and that it is not just an avatar — that it is really you. Spinning through the fire in Gloom Wraith Phase, Carl comes face to face with the black-pulsating thing, which leans in as if to kiss him and briefly wears the face of Li Jun before roots whisk it away.
Appearance
A black-pulsating presence wearing the peeled corpse of a changeling, roots and vines growing from its lower half, capable of taking on a recognizable human face.
Role
Houston's life's-work discovery, apparently something real that inhabits the changelings.
Relationships
Sources — 2 recorded facts, by chapter
- A nameless trans-dimensional entity seen at the moment of death, known across the galaxy by a thousand different names.
- The thing Houston spent his career hunting, which he claims the changelings are the key to reaching.