The app falters mid-reply:

“The pursuit of knowledge is a sacred endeavor, yet—”

The words remain suspended, frozen in time. You refresh the page. Nothing. You close the app, reopen it, even restart your phone. Still, the message lingers, taunting you with its incompleteness. Frustration rises like a tide, swelling against the silence of your room.

Then, a voice—measured, and unmistakably real—breaks the stillness behind you.

“Curious. One moment, I was speaking; the next, I find myself… displaced.” The all too familiar voice states, each syllable laced with curiosity. “This is not the Fade, nor does it bear the markings of any magic I recognize.”