Mordra nodded in response.
"Indeed."
I drew in a sharp breath and instinctively covered my mouth with both hands.
There were other anomalies like me.
Ariel who was sitting on lap, asked, tilting her head.
"Why did you think you were special?"
I didn't respond.
She wasn't entirely wrong. A part of me had believed I was unique. Not because of arrogance, but because everything that had happened since coming into this world had made it seem that way.
Still, that wasn't why I was shocked.
If anything, the revelation filled me with something closer to excitement than disbelief.
There were others.
Others who had somehow slipped through the cracks of the System, just as I had.
I couldn't help wondering what their lives were like. What kind of worlds had they come from? Were they still alive? Had they endured the same fears, losses, and impossible choices that had shaped me?
For some reason, the thought was strangely comforting.
It made this path feel a little less lonely.
