In the dark, suffocating void of her sleep, a horrifying new question bloomed: What happens if the actual Heena forgets who she is?
For three days, time completely ceased to exist.
Heena drifted in and out of a heavy, feverish coma back at the Vanguard estate, vaguely aware of her grandmother weeping quietly by her bedside, the bitter taste of useless herbal tonics being spooned past her lips, and the heavy, silent presence of Samuel sitting by the window, reading medical texts until his eyes bled.
On the evening of the third day, the suffocating fog in her mind parted just enough for her to open her eyes.
The room was bathed in the dim, golden light of sunset. And hovering right beside her pillow, flickering with a weak, glitching light, was the System.
It had been entirely absent for three full days. In the brutal, fast-paced world of system-bound transmigration, going offline for seventy-two hours was practically unheard of.
