Long before the skies above Dominion City erupted into fire and metal, long before Royce's airship tore through the clouds like a blade aimed at the Sovereign Protocols' throat, the seed of resistance had already taken root deep within Nexus, in places where obedience was law and curiosity was a death sentence.
Esta had known from the very beginning that Nexus was never meant to be a home. It was a cage disguised as enlightenment, a paradise built on absolute surveillance, and every corridor she walked through, every council hall she stood in, reminded her that brilliance without freedom was nothing more than slow suffocation.
While others bowed to the Grandmaster's will, Esta learned how to smile, how to lower her gaze, how to appear obedient enough to survive, even as her mind worked endlessly in directions that would have gotten her executed on the spot if discovered.
