The Mind believes every system can be solved.
Not conquered.
Not feared.
Solved.
⸻
It begins the recalculation at dawn.
New constraints are added.
Guardian endurance curves.
Counterweight tolerance thresholds.
Covenant stabilization windows.
The child is isolated as a variable with undefined bounds.
That is unacceptable.
So the Mind does what it always does.
It simplifies.
⸻
Jason feels the shift as the arrays suddenly fall silent.
Not dim.
Not disrupted.
Complete.
His breath stutters.
“No,” he whispers. “That’s impossible.”
Zane looks up instantly.
“What.”
Jason’s fingers hover uselessly over the stone.
“The system stopped updating,” he says, voice tight. “It thinks it’s finished.”
⸻
Across the land, wolves freeze mid-step.
Not paralyzed.
Paused.
Their instinc
