Tavian always felt something stirring in his chest, like a flame smothered beneath layers of ash. Some called it madness. Others said it was longing. But Tavian knew—deep in his bones—it was memory.

One night, while wandering beyond the edge of the village, Tavian found an ancient doorway carved into a blackened stone cliff. Symbols older than time itself glowed faintly along the archway, pulsing like the beat of a distant heart. As he touched the stone, a voice—not loud, but eternal—spoke in his mind:

“Rise from thy darkness into the Light.”

He stepped through.

The air smelled of oil and desperation. The underground bunker J. Cat had found himself in was lined with old computer monitors, their cracked screens flickering with market graphs, economic reports, and breaking news feeds. Across from him sat a group of ordinary people—workers, students, small business owners—faces tense with confusion and worry. The financial system was crumbling, and everyone wanted answers.

Cat leaned back in his chair, flipping a gold coin between his fingers. "Let me guess," he said. "You're wondering why the stock market crashing even matters to you when you don’t own a single share?"

A young mechanic named Reggie scoffed. "Man, I don’t even have a savings account. Why should I care what happens to a bunch of rich guys trading stocks?"

The headlines screamed outrage—but not at the real villains. Not at the corrupt elite J. Cat had exposed, not at the power brokers caught red-handed manipulating the world into chaos. No, the media had spun the narrative, twisted the truth, and redirected the anger where it was safest: anywhere but at their own masters.

Sitting in a dimly lit safe house, J. Cat scanned the major networks’ broadcasts. He had expected a backlash. What he hadn’t expected was just how deep their obedience ran.

Cat clenched his jaw. "Experienced leaders." That was rich. The same leaders who had orchestrated wars for profit, tanked economies for control, and sold out their own people—all while the media cheerfully covered for them.

Across the room, Eli was pacing, furious. "Are you seeing this garbage? These networks built their entire brands on ‘truth.’ On ‘exposing corruption.’ And now? Now they’re pretending you’re the bad guy!"