Chapter 1 - The Static in the system

**📖 PROLOGUE – *"Static in the System"***

**White.** Too much of it. Blinding, sterile, silent.

Kairo squinted under the harsh lights, sitting quietly in a room with no doors. No windows. No clock. Just endless, artificial white. He rubbed his wrists where faint red marks showed restraint had once been. The blood under his fingernails was dry. Not fresh.

He didn't feel scared. Just… tired.

A voice crackled to life — low, distorted, genderless.

**Subject: Kairo Valen. Status: Isolated.**

He tilted his head. "That's new," he muttered. "You gave me a name this time."

**You've interfered with societal cohesion. Caused deviation spikes across multiple zones.**

"By asking questions?"

**By provoking thought. Inducing doubt.**

Kairo gave a soft, breathy laugh — not from amusement, but from disbelief.

"I just said what everyone else was thinking," he said calmly. "Why do they all act the same? Why do they all say the same things? Why does no one notice how weird that is?"

Silence.

He leaned forward slightly, resting his elbows on the table. "I wasn't trying to break anything. I was just… curious."

The lights flickered above. Faint hums danced behind the walls — machines, maybe. Or watchers.

**Your behavior cannot be normalized.**

He raised an eyebrow. "I'm not violent. Not dangerous. I never even raised my voice."

**You destabilize balance without meaning to. That is more dangerous.**

Kairo frowned for the first time — not in fear, but confusion. He looked around, finally realizing: he'd been in this room a long time. He didn't know how long.

"I just wanted to understand things better," he whispered.

A soft vibration buzzed under the table.

His fingers twitched.

Lights dimmed.

He blinked, head suddenly heavy. As if something unseen was **pulling** on him. Not violently — but deeply. Like a gravity he couldn't resist.

**Silence will be restored.**

Kairo tried to sit up straighter, but his body slumped. His eyes drifted shut. Slowly. Almost peacefully.

"…Was it really that serious…?" he murmured.

His last thought wasn't fear. It was something closer to wonder.

A quiet, innocent curiosity.