The world went silent.
By week three, Kaelen no longer used a dropper. He chugged from the vial. Solara had warned him about “ego dissolution” and “the tipping point,” but her emails had grown frantic, pleading. The compound is a key, not a kingdom. You must integrate. He deleted them. He was beyond integration. He was ascending .
And somewhere, deep in the system, the universe logged a small, silent patch. blue majik
With a trembling hand, he reached for the vial. Not to drink. To pour.
He downed it.
The recoil hit him like a physical wall. He flew backward into his apartment, shattering the glass door. His vision fractured into a kaleidoscope of blue. And in that fractured vision, he saw what Solara had tried to warn him about. The system didn't just weep . It defended itself.
The vial was gone. The threads were quiet. The world went silent
He crawled to the bathroom, trailing blue blood from his nose, his ears, the corners of his eyes. He stared at his reflection. The blue was fading from his skin, replaced by a mottled gray. His eyes were no longer cornflower. They were white. Blank. Two empty pages.
