The Shard of the Great Bibliography was a cold, sterile cathedral of judgment. The walls were lined with towering shelves of "Canonical White Stone," and the floor was a polished mirror that reflected not your face, but your "Literary Ancestry." As Kael stepped forward, he saw the ghostly outlines of every "Thief-Turned-Hero" and "Common Scavenger" that had ever been written, flickering beneath his feet like a crowd of ancestors he never asked for.
The Critic adjusted his monocle of "Pure Skepticism." The light it projected stripped away the color of Kael’s techno-organic hook, reducing it to a simple line drawing.
"See?" the Critic remarked, his voice like the snapping of dry parchment. "You are a collection of recycled parts. Your 272nd variable is a charming sentiment, but sentiment i
