(An Internal Monologue)
The buzz in my head isn't the usual anima static. It's more... an echo. Of a scream, maybe. Or a choice. They call it pragmatic. Necessary. The greater good, framed in quarterly reports and projected impact ratios. I signed off on it. The data was irrefutable. Three hundred souls. To save a million. The math is simple. Elegant, even.
But the silence in the apartment now, it's not elegant. It's just... heavy. The city outside, a thousand lights blinking, each one a life humming with mundane purpose. Did they feel the ripple? The tiny void I punched in the fabric of their everyday? Probably not. That’s the point, isn’t it? The secret war. Clean. Efficient, Invisible.
My hand trembles a little as I pour another drink. Not from fear. Never fear. Maybe from a residual charge. Or just fatigue. Yeah, fatigue. It’s been a long week. Another long week. How many long weeks make a lifetime?
Sometimes, I wonder if the Templars are right. All their talk of righteousness and ancient oaths. Maybe there's a comfort in believing in something truly good, truly evil. With us... it's all shades of gray, meticulously categorized and optimized. We trade one horror for another, always with a profit margin in mind.
Is this what winning feels like? This cold, quiet ache behind the eyes? This persistent hum of justification? I look at my reflection in the dark glass of the window. Just another face in the crowd. Just another cog in the machine. Just another Wednesday.
And tomorrow, the cycle begins again. More data. More choices. More echoes.