The decision to continue should have felt bold, maybe even a little heroic, but in reality it felt like I had just voluntarily signed up for a problem I did not understand and could not walk away from without wondering what it would have become if I stayed.
Which, in hindsight, was exactly how most of my bad decisions started.
I stood there for a moment, looking at the flickering presence that refused to either attack me or leave me alone, and let out a slow breath that did absolutely nothing to calm the growing awareness that I was being studied like an experiment that had accidentally become interesting.
"Alright," I muttered under my breath, rubbing the back of my neck as I tried to organize my thoughts into something resembling a plan. "We are doing this properly now. No impulsive genius moves, no throwing random objects and hoping the universe rewards creativity. We think first, then act."
I paused briefly, then added in a quieter tone, "Ideally."
