Using the shovel, I began to loosen the ground. I wasn’t a gardener, but I remembered watching my grandpa work in his garden, so I tried to mimic his movements. Taking my time felt right, even though the work was done long before the watering can finished filling.

  Eventually, the can was full. I soaked the soil, then carefully placed the mycelium and covered it lightly. One last watering finished the job.

  That was it. Tomorrow, I’d come back to plant the seed.

  Leaving the dome was easy—it didn’t stop me at all. Just to be sure, I stepped back inside and then out again. No resistance. Hopefully, it would keep the kobolds out, since they were the only monsters around.

  With that done, I headed in the general direction of Claire’s area, keeping an eye on the Mini Map. Food and water for tomorrow still meant killing at least one kobold.

  A Level 9 showed up on the map, but it was farther away and in the opposite direction. Better to look for a Level 8 instead.

  At least those, I knew how to kill.

  I finally spotted a Level 8 kobold walking alone, not far from the place where I usually met Claire.

  It hadn’t seen me yet.

  I took a moment to line things up, then moved. Illusionary Double went out first, drawing its attention just long enough for me to get into position. Arc Lash followed, cracking across its side and making it stumble. That was all the opening I needed.

  Two quick Mana Slashes finished the job before it could even recover. The kobold collapsed without ever getting close enough to swing that halberd.

  Clean. Fast. Exactly how I wanted it.

  The loot was decent—food and water for the next day, and another Epic Healing Package.

  Nice.

  I was early. Claire was usually early too, but she wasn’t there yet, which meant I was really, truly early.

  I didn’t have to wait long.

  Seeing her smile always did something to me. I know I must sound like a broken record, but in a world that had lost most of its warmth and peace, she felt like a beacon.

  “Danny, how are you?”

  Before I could get a single word out, a System notification flashed into view.

  I barely had time to register it before the word Realignment burned across the screen.

  Even though I knew what was coming, that didn’t make it any easier. I looked at Claire and saw the same expression in her eyes—the look you get right before something that isn’t deadly but is definitely going to hurt.

  The warning came, and this time there was no mistaking what it meant.

  Knowing didn’t help.

  I was already standing near the barrier when it hit. Claire was on the other side, close enough that I could see her face, close enough that I could see the tension in her shoulders before she tried to hide it. For a heartbeat, nothing happened—just that awful, stretched pause where the world seemed to be holding its breath.

  Then the ground shifted.

  Not a clean tilt like last time. This was worse. The street seemed to sag under my feet, like reality itself had softened for a second. My stomach lurched and I had to steady myself, one hand braced against the cold surface of the barrier. On the other side, Claire stumbled too, her hand flying out to catch herself.

  The whispers came back—louder this time. Not voices I could understand, not words, just the feeling of people talking too close to my thoughts. Shadows rippled along the buildings and the pavement, stretching into shapes that almost looked human before breaking apart again. I blinked, hard, but they didn’t vanish right away.

  My head filled with faces.

  More than last time.

  Too many.

  Some of them felt important in a way that made my chest ache, like I was losing something even as I tried to remember it. Names brushed the edges of my mind and slipped away before I could grab them. Across the barrier, I saw Claire press a hand to her temple, her expression mirroring exactly how I felt.

  The air felt wrong—thin and tight, like the space between us had been pulled slightly out of alignment. Sound seemed delayed by a fraction of a second. The city didn’t feel unstable anymore.

  It felt… misaligned. Then the world stuttered.

  A parked car nearby wasn’t where I remembered it being. A window on the opposite building reflected light at the wrong angle. I glanced at my display—time jumped forward, then corrected itself. My heart skipped, trying to keep up.

  Cold crawled down my spine. My skin prickled, and pins and needles spread through my arms and legs until they felt distant and weak. The dull pressure behind my eyes deepened into a heavy, pulsing ache. I stayed on my feet, but only because I was afraid of what might happen if I didn’t.

  Thoughts slipped through my fingers.

  Images of lives that weren’t mine flickered through my head—conversations I’d never had, places I’d never been, people I was suddenly terrified of forgetting. For a few seconds, I couldn’t have said which memories were mine and which had been… changed.

  I looked at Claire.

  She looked back at me, pale, breathing hard, eyes unfocused in the same way mine probably were.

  Then, slowly, it eased.

  The whispers thinned and vanished. The shadows shrank back into ordinary corners. The air stopped feeling stretched. The city settled into something that passed for normal again.

  But it was worse than the first time.

  I could feel it—like something had been taken, or shifted, or trimmed away. Not gone enough to name. Just gone enough to hurt.

  Across the barrier, Claire straightened a little, still unsteady.

  “Are you okay?” I asked quickly.

  “I am—now that it’s over. But… this time it was worse. It wasn’t like a normal bad dream anymore. It was like waking up from the same nightmare twice—only the second time, you know something important is missing. You can’t remember what it was, but you can feel the shape of the gap it left behind.”

  I couldn’t stop wondering what the System had done. The realignment had been so much worse this time. Part of me considered using a Knowledge Stone to ask, but somewhere deeper, I wasn’t sure I actually wanted the answer.

  “Danny?”

  I blinked and realized Claire had been talking to me.

  “Sorry,” I said. “I was just… thinking about asking.”

  She frowned slightly. “I was wondering the same thing. Why was it so much worse this time? What could the System have done?”

  We looked at each other, and for a moment we both spoke at the same time.

  “We should ask the System what’s going on,” I said.

  “Maybe not asking is a good thing,” Claire said.

  We both stopped, then she let out a quiet, nervous laugh. “Okay. That sounded smarter in my head.”

  “I know what you mean,” I said. “Part of me really doesn’t want to know. But if it’s getting worse, pretending it isn’t happening won’t help either.”

  She glanced at the barrier, then back at me. “What if asking just makes it worse?”

  “Then at least we won’t be walking around blind.”

  We looked at each other for a moment, the silence heavy between us.

  “I’ll use mine,” I said finally.

  Claire’s head snapped up. “No. That’s not fair. You’re always the one spending resources first.”

  “I know,” I said, keeping my voice calm. “And I also know you’re saving yours.”

  She opened her mouth, then closed it again.

  “You should keep yours,” I went on. “If this goes wrong—or if we need another answer later—it’s better if at least one of us still has a shard left.”

  She frowned, clearly not happy about it. “That doesn’t mean it has to be you.”

  “I’m the one who brought it up,” I said. “And I’m the one who can live with the answer, whatever it is.”

  For a few seconds she just looked at me, like she was trying to argue and couldn’t find the words.

  “…I don’t like it,” she said quietly.

  “I know.”

  She sighed, then nodded. “Okay. But only this time.”

  “Deal,” I said.

  I took a breath and reached for the shard, already not sure I wanted to hear what the System had to say.