TIER THREE: SEEKING THE DIVINE
The Awakening Break & The Imperfect Truth
The room felt like a preserved specimen. Trophies gleamed coldly in the display case. Photos of her on the wall—nine, twelve, fifteen—smiling, eyes clear, believing perfection was a prize to be won.
Stella sat on the edge of the bed, looking at that girl's remains. The girl who thought love was an A+ on a report card, belonging an empty space on a trophy shelf, self the sum of others' expectations.
She opened Hunter's full file. Not just confirmation. Dissection.
First bite: Data sinking into the epidermis of consciousness.
Are you just a sample? Code to be optimized?
She stood, walked to the display case. Her hands trembled—those hands that had known nothing but practice and signing legal documents. She opened
