The moment she said it, something inside me answered.
The connection did not pull back when it should have, and instead it deepened, spreading through me in a way that felt structured and deliberate, as if the system itself had reacted to what I had done and made a decision.
I did not step back, because I felt it. It was not resisting me anymore. It was adjusting.
“You are wrong,” I said. My voice remained steady, but the truth behind it settled deeper with every second.
“I am not becoming it.” Her eyes sharpened. “Yes,” she replied. The certainty in her voice returned. But something else had changed.
I could feel it now. The network. The connections. Everything. Not just around me, but through me. The presence inside me surged again, but this time, it did not feel separate. It aligne
