At first, Evelyn mistook it for resonance— a faint rhythmic drift between the sub layers of Haven’s pulse,

like the tide shifting against the gravitational pull of a distant moon.

But then, the pulse didn’t return to baseline.

It lingered.

Too deliberate.

Too quiet.

She focused inward, through the strata of the living core.

It responded as always—threads of light folding open around her consciousness, corridors of data shimmering like translucent muscle fibers, electrical breath ...