The news of the Dissonance Engine sent a cold shock through the quiet writer's room. The conflict in the Verse was not a philosophical one. It was a war. A war they had not even known they were fighting.
"An intelligent antagonist," the Chorus's voice was a low, humming chord of pure, analytical concern. "This variable was not accounted for in my initial projections. The narrative has escalated."
"It's the Critic," Nox said, his voice a flat, hard line. "It has to be. He's the only other reader with the power to interfere on this scale."
"The Curator took him," Serian reminded him. "He was being… re-educated."
"Maybe he didn't like the curriculum," Nox countered. "A being of pure, cynical nihilism doesn't just change its mind because it's shown a few happy stories. It learns. It adapts. It finds a new way to prove its point."
