Arjun learned the shape of his exhaustion by how the world tilted when he stood.
It wasn't dizziness. Not exactly. More like gravity had been renegotiated while he wasn't paying attention, and his body was still catching up to the new terms. Every movement dragged a fraction of resistance with it—subtle, cumulative, undeniable.
He hated how familiar it was becoming.
Morning crept into the territory slowly. The sky lightened by degrees, gray bleeding into bruised violet, fires reduced to embers where they'd been controlled and left to smolder where they hadn't. The city exhaled. Not relief—never relief—but a pause between injuries.
Nyxara watched him from across the room.
"You didn't sleep," she said.
Arjun flexed his fingers, noting the faint tremor he hadn't bothered hiding anymore. "I rested."
She snorted softly. "That's not the same thing."
He didn't argue.
The phone vibrated.
CONDUIT STATUS: ACTIVE
CUMULATIVE STRAIN: MODERATE → HIGH (TRENDING)
RECOMMENDATION: DISTRIBUTION OR REDUCTION
Arjun stared at the screen, jaw tight. "It keeps telling me the same thing."
Nyxara stepped closer. "Because the system doesn't care about your pride. It cares about function."
"That makes one of us," he muttered.
She tilted her head. "You care about function too. You just don't like what it costs."
He glanced up at her. "You make it sound like a flaw."
"It is," she replied calmly. "In a ruler."
Arjun stood anyway, ignoring the protest from his legs. The territory was already awake. He could feel it through the Conduit field—soft pulses of alertness, hunger, anxiety. Nothing catastrophic. Yet.
That was the problem.
Disaster announced itself. Attrition didn't.
They walked together through the intersection, past barricades reinforced with scavenged steel and welded scrap. Survivors nodded as they passed—some respectfully, some nervously, some with open curiosity.
Too much curiosity.
Arjun felt it settle against his spine like extra weight.
"Stop absorbing that," Nyxara said quietly.
"I'm not trying to," he replied.
"That's the issue," she said. "You're letting it."
They reached a half-intact storefront that had been repurposed as a meeting space. Marcus stood inside with three others, voices low but tense. When he noticed Arjun, he straightened immediately.
"Good timing," Marcus said. "We were just talking about patrol rotations."
Arjun nodded and leaned against a counter, careful not to show how much the motion cost him. "What's the problem?"
Marcus hesitated. "People are tired. The longer shifts are getting to them."
Arjun felt the Conduit react—pressure rising as fatigue across the territory brushed against him. He winced before he could stop himself.
Nyxara's eyes narrowed.
Marcus noticed. "You okay?"
"I'm fine," Arjun said automatically.
Nyxara cut in. "No, he isn't."
Arjun shot her a look. "Nyx—"
"He's not fine," she repeated, sharper now. "And pretending otherwise is about to get someone killed."
Silence dropped hard into the room.
Marcus frowned. "What does that mean?"
Arjun exhaled slowly. There it was—the moment he'd been avoiding.
"It means," Arjun said carefully, "that the way I'm stabilizing this place isn't sustainable if I do it alone."
One of the others—a broad-shouldered man with scarred hands—crossed his arms. "You saying you're stepping back?"
"No," Arjun replied. "I'm saying I need help."
That landed worse than if he'd said he was leaving.
Nyxara watched closely, saying nothing.
"How?" Marcus asked cautiously.
Arjun straightened. "I can offload some of the strain. Temporarily. To people who can handle it."
The scarred man laughed incredulously. "You want us to carry whatever freaky thing you've got going on?"
Nyxara smiled thinly. "In simplified terms? Yes."
Marcus looked between them. "And what happens if we can't handle it?"
Arjun met his gaze. "Then we stop. Immediately."
"And if something goes wrong?" Marcus pressed.
Arjun didn't hesitate. "Then it's on me."
The phone vibrated, as if approving the phrasing.
CONDUIT SUBFUNCTION: DELEGATION
CONDITION MET: VOLUNTARY CONSENT + RESPONSIBILITY ACCEPTANCE
STATUS: UNLOCKED
Nyxara's eyes flicked to the phone, then back to Arjun.
Interesting, she thought. He didn't delegate authority. He delegated burden.
Marcus noticed Arjun's focus shift. "Something changed."
"Yes," Arjun said quietly. "It just became possible."
They chose the first candidate carefully.
Too carefully, Nyxara thought.
Arjun ruled out anyone volatile, anyone desperate, anyone hungry for power. That eliminated more than half the territory. He refused to consider anyone who asked what they'd get out of it.
That left one person.
The older woman with gray-streaked hair—her name was Leela. Former civil engineer. Calm under pressure. The kind of person who fixed problems because they needed fixing, not because anyone was watching.
She listened without interrupting as Arjun explained.
"So," she said slowly when he finished, "you want me to take some of the… weight. Whatever that means."
"Yes," Arjun said. "But only if you're willing."
"And if I say no?"
He nodded. "Then nothing happens."
Leela studied him for a long moment. "You're not lying."
"No," Arjun replied. "I can't afford to."
She glanced at Nyxara. "And you?"
Nyxara smiled politely. "I'll know instantly if this kills you."
Leela snorted despite herself. "Comforting."
She took a breath. "Alright. I'll try."
Arjun closed his eyes.
The Conduit field responded immediately—an intricate lattice of pressure and potential. He reached inward, not grasping, not forcing. Just offering a channel.
Leela gasped softly.
Arjun felt it—the shift. A portion of the strain peeled away from his spine and flowed outward, threading into her like warm current.
She swayed.
Nyxara stepped forward instantly, ready to intervene.
"I'm okay," Leela said, voice steady but surprised. "It's… loud. But not painful."
The phone chimed.
DELEGATION ESTABLISHED (LIMITED)
NODE STATUS: STABLE
LOAD TRANSFER: 8%
Arjun exhaled, tension easing from his shoulders for the first time in days.
Nyxara felt it too—and for the first time since he'd chosen the Conduit path, she didn't immediately sense impending collapse.
"Remarkable," she murmured.
Leela looked at Arjun. "I can feel people. Not individually. More like… weather."
"That's exactly it," Arjun said quietly.
She nodded slowly. "Then I'll tell you when a storm's coming."
The relief lasted twenty minutes.
Then the phone screamed.
ANOMALY DETECTED
SOURCE: DELEGATED NODE (UNAUTHORIZED INTERACTION)
STATUS: UNSTABLE
Arjun spun. "What?"
Leela staggered, hand clutching her chest. "Something's—pulling."
Nyxara's expression hardened instantly. "Someone is touching the network."
A ripple tore through the Conduit field—not external, but internal. A tug, subtle but invasive, like fingers testing a live wire.
Arjun's heart pounded. "Who?"
Nyxara's eyes burned violet as she followed the disturbance. "Not a monster."
The realization hit like ice.
"A human," Arjun whispered.
The phone confirmed it.
INTERNAL BREACH
CLASSIFICATION: HUMAN (EMERGENT CAPABILITY)
INTENT: UNKNOWN
Nyxara looked at him sharply. "You just empowered the territory."
"And someone reached back," Arjun finished grimly.
Leela gasped as the pressure intensified, pain flickering across her features.
"Cut it," Nyxara snapped.
Arjun did—immediately severing the connection. The Conduit recoiled, snapping the channel closed.
Leela collapsed into a chair, breathing hard but conscious.
The phone chimed again.
DELEGATION TERMINATED (EMERGENCY)
NODE STATUS: RECOVERING
Silence fell.
Marcus stared at Arjun. "What the hell was that?"
Arjun's jaw tightened. "The first consequence of sharing power."
Nyxara folded her wings in slowly. "You didn't just create a support system."
She looked toward the far end of the territory, eyes narrowing.
"You rang a dinner bell."
Arjun straightened despite the lingering ache in his bones.
"Then we find out who answered," he said.
The Conduit field trembled—not in pain this time, but anticipation.
Somewhere within the territory, someone new had felt the current.
And decided to pull.