boot.sys :: anomaly_detected(); origin_trace = UNKNOWN; priority = CRITICAL

In the deep lattice of the Aetherian Protocol—a vast, unseen infrastructure that governs existence itself—something flickers. A deviation. A foreign thread begins to propagate across the leyline nexus. Somewhere between existence and exclusion, an entity not of Aetheria initializes.

We glimpse Kaelen—not as the wolf, but as something ancient, elemental, a node within the network of divine equilibrium. Aetheria hums in balance until that hum stutters. Kaelen notices the anomaly but cannot trace its source. Not yet.

The stars above Aetheria shimmer in quiet rhythm. Rivers shift with thought. Mountains breathe in time with mana. The world is code, syntax, order—divine harmony.

Meanwhile, Earth.

Fluorescent light flickers over half-empty Red Bulls, energy bar wrappers, and a cluttered apartment. SAM BLAZE, 28, burned-out IT grunt, collapses face-first into his mechanical keyboard. Fingers twitch. Screen flickers. Electricity arcs unnaturally.

In his terminal window:

> runHack.sh
Permission denied.
> sudo runHack.sh
> initializing...

> anomaly_integration: in_progress... > booting consciousness >> external environment. Cut to white.