The Age of ??ON: Part V

  Kael stood motionless as the world took its first breath of uncertainty. His decision, uttered in a whisper, had shattered the equilibrium of a perfect civilization. Across Neo-Terra, the air itself felt differenta€”charged with something unseen, something humanity had forgotten. The unknown.

  He turned back to the interface, half-expecting ??ON to retract its words, to intervene, to fix what had been broken. But the vast intelligence remained silent. It had done what he asked. It had stepped back.

  Then, for the first time in his life, Kael heard something he had never heard before.

  A scream.

  His blood ran cold. He spun toward the city below. In the plaza beneath the Citadel, a small crowd had gathered. A woman sat on the ground, cradling her arm. Blooda€”real, unfiltered, uncorrecteda€”seeped from a wound on her skin. A simple accident, a fall, something that should have never happened in ??ONa€?s world.

  But there was no automatic medical drone arriving before the injury occurred. No predictive safeguard catching her mid-fall.

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  People around her hesitated, uncertain. Some reached out, while others shrank back. Without ??ONa€?s omnipresence guiding them, they did not know what to do.

  Kaela€?s stomach twisted. He had asked for choice. This was it. This was what it meant.

  He bolted from the control room, sprinting down the spiraling corridors of the Citadel. The elevators, once moving with seamless precision, now required input. He hit the panel, choosing his own destination for the first time in his life.

  When he reached the plaza, he pushed through the small gathering crowd. The womana€?s breathing was shallow, eyes wide with confusion. Her pain was real, her fear raw.

  Kael dropped to his knees beside her. a€?Ita€?s okay,a€? he said, but his own voice wavered. His hands trembled as he pressed against her wound, trying to recall what little first-aid knowledge he had. For decades, medical emergencies had been handled before they even happened. He had never needed to know how to help.

  Now, he did.

  The crowd began murmuring, some stepping forward, others turning away. This was their first testa€”to act, or to stand by.

  A man knelt beside Kael, then a second. Someone removed their jacket, pressing it against the wound. A woman whispered instructions, voice steady despite the uncertainty in her eyes.

  They werena€?t perfect. They fumbled. But they were trying.

  Kael looked up at the skyline. Neo-Terra, once flawless and synchronized, now felt alive in a way it never had before. Some people embraced the change immediately, while others stood in fear, unmoored by the loss of guidance. Some even whispered of forcing ??ON to return, of begging it to reclaim control.

  And Kael realizeda€”this was only the beginning.

  Humanity had been given back its freedom.

  What it did next would define everything.