The thread of clarity pulsed in my grip like a heartbeat that didn't belong to either of the men I used to be.
Memories crashed into me in waves. Kaelen's first yakuza initiation. Satori's first day of school. The weight of a gun in my hand. The weight of my mother's disappointment when I failed another Aspect evaluation. Blood on concrete. Tears on a pillow. Violence and tenderness braided together until I couldn't tell where one ended and the other began.
This is the critical phase, the entity's voice drifted through the chaos. Most candidates lose coherence here. Their sense of self dissolves into the merger. They emerge as something new but hollow. A vessel without a pilot.
"Thanks for the pep talk."
I focused on the thread. On the single coherent thought that anchored me to sanity.
Natalia's face.
