Dr. Zara Okafor had always been able to see the threads.
Not literally—she wasn't gifted with any supernatural sight or mystical awareness. But twenty-seven years of studying narrative mechanics had trained her mind to perceive the invisible connections that held reality together. Cause and effect. Action and consequence. The delicate weave of causation that ensured existence followed logical patterns, even when those patterns stretched across dimensions and bent through impossible geometries.
Which was why the readings on her Causality Analysis Engine made her break into a cold sweat at 3:47 AM on a Tuesday morning.
