Third Person POV
The message did not fade. It stayed where it was, as if the screen had stopped being a display and become a surface of recognition. Not showing information anymore, but insisting on identity. Alaric did not move. Not because he was frozen, but because movement suddenly felt like participation in something he had not agreed to understand yet.
"Do not remember wrong," Lily whispered again, as if repeating it might reduce its weight. Dr. Ward's hands hovered above her tablet, motionless for once. "That is not a directive," she said quietly. "That is a correction protocol." Meadow stepped closer to the main screen. Her reflection overlapped with the words. "They are assuming memory deviation between runs." Alaric's voice was low. "Or they are enforcing it."
