Erend stayed frozen in his chair long after the text dissolved, his eyes still fixed on the empty space above his monitor. His heartbeat remained steady somehow, but his mind did not.
"That didn't come from time power. It's from the system."
The thought lingered, heavy and sharp. He replayed the sensation again and again, dissecting it from every angle.
The System had rules. Clear ones. It responded. It informed him about things that he should do. It never reached out like this in a conversational manner. Never hesitated. Never glitched.
"Corruption? Damage? Or something new trying to piggyback on it?" Erend thought.
Veyrun crossed his mind, but the feeling didn't match. That interference from Veyrun had always been deliberate and precise. This had felt… strained. Like a voice forcing its way through a shattered interface.
