Chapter 242 — The Weight of What Remains
Morning came without announcement. No shift in light. No subtle pressure easing. No sense of transition from one state to another. The world did not feel like it had moved forward. It simply… continued.
The eastern city did not wake. It stirred.
People emerged slowly from what remained of shelter. Some had slept. Most had not. Eyes were heavy, not from restlessness, but from something deeper—something that had not yet settled into understanding. They stepped into the open air like it might reject them. Like the world might not fully accept their presence anymore.
A man paused at the edge of a collapsed structure, staring at the broken remains of what had once been his home. He didn't try to move anything. Didn't search. Didn't call out. He just looked. Because he didn't know what he was looking for.
