The basin did not explode.That, more than anything, unsettled those who had expected it to.After the gunshot, after the invitation, after the quiet confrontation on the river platform, the world did not collapse into violence or resolve itself into peace. It tightened. Like a muscle held under strain for too long, waiting to see which fibers would tear first.Garden Metro woke to another gray morning. Convoys moved. Ration lines formed. The river slid past its banks, thinner now, exposing more stone with every day. Life continued—not because it was safe, but because stopping would have been worse.Lena felt the weight of it in her bones.She sat in the council hall before sunrise, hands wrapped around a cup of bitter tea she had no intention of finishing. Reports lay stacked in careful order on the desk—convoy logs, water levels, ward council minutes, casualty tallies kept deliberately small and precise. Each page represented a decision that had been made instead of another.Vincent
最終更新日 : 2026-02-11
