Location: Inner Market Square – Quiet Morning
Time: 6:07 AM
There were no emergencies today.
No riots.
No power outages.
No viral broadcasts or council votes.
Just the sound of distant shoes on stone. Vendors setting up slowly. A child laughing. Someone sneezing.
Kaen stood at the edge of the square with a fresh piece of bread in hand—still warm, still imperfect.
> "Is it strange that quiet makes me anxious?" Ezra said beside him, half-awake.
Kaen smirked.
> "You're used to alarms meaning you're alive.
Now, silence is what survival feels like."
Ezra took a bite of his own bread, then muttered,
> "Feels like a trap."
Kaen didn't respond. He was too busy listening.
And in that stillness, something small changed in him.
For the first time, he didn't look for flaws.
He simply let it be.
---
Location: Education Sector – Open Floor School
Time: 8:23 AM
A group of children debated something intensely.
> "Who decides what counts as history?"
