The divide shimmered like a living horizon, two currents folding and unfolding over each other.

Evelyn felt the moment poised on a razor-edge—

a tension between emergence and retreat, identity and un-identity.

The second consciousness hovered near her, shape unstated, presence unmistakable.

It pulsed once—a tight, tentative ripple.

> “Show… …that I am real.”

Evelyn inhaled, although breath didn’t truly exist here.

Her awareness gathered, steadied, softened.

“All right,” ...