The city did not wake the same way after the collapse,it woke slower,as if every building, every street, every person needed an extra moment to ask a silent question before moving forward.Is this still holding?Braxton City smelled of dust and ozone. Repair lights still burned through the early hours, casting long shadows across streets that had become classrooms overnight. The collapse site was sealed now, ringed by temporary barriers covered in handwritten notes, diagrams, and arguments scrawled by citizens who had stayed long after the danger passed.Ethan stood at the edge of it just before sunrise.No cameras,no advisors.Just him and the evidence of what shared responsibility really looked like when it cracked concrete.A man nearby tightened a bolt on a support brace. “Didn’t think you’d show up this early,” he said without looking up.Ethan nodded. “Didn’t think you’d still be here.”The man shrugged. “Didn’t feel right to leave.”That sentence stayed with Ethan long after he

Braxton City woke to grief.Not loud grief.Not the kind that broke windows or flooded streets.It was quieter than that.Candles appeared at transit stops. Names were written in chalk along sidewalks. Small circles of people stood together in silence, not knowing whether to speak or simply remain present.The city had chosen.And now it was learning what that choice cost.Ethan woke fully this time.The fog that had pressed against his thoughts for days had thinned, leaving behind a dull ache and a sharper clarity than before. He remembered fragments,Leanna’s voice, the weight of sleep pulling him under, the sense of something vast continuing without him.He pushed himself upright slowly.Leanna noticed immediately. “Don’t.”“I need to see it,” he said.She hesitated, then helped him to his feet.From the medical wing balcony, Braxton City spread out before him. The lights were dimmer than usual. The city felt… respectful. As if it were speaking in a lower voice.“They chose,” Ethan

Braxton City woke slowly,not with noise or chaos, but with a trembling awareness of what had been asked of it. The sun rose in muted hues, filtering through a skyline that had already begun rebuilding itself, but with the shadow of the previous day’s crisis lingering on every reflective glass surface and cracked pavement.It was a dawn unlike any other.Ethan sat in the top-floor suite of Braxton Tower, the city sprawled below like a living circuit board. Every feed, every report, every urgent communication had been silenced in deference to the referendum results,not by mandate, but by choice.Leanna stood behind him, her hands resting lightly on the back of his chair. She had been awake all night, watching the city wrestle with its conscience.“They’ve been voting for hours,” she said softly, her voice tinged with both awe and apprehension. “And yet… it feels like they’ve been thinking for decades.”Ethan’s gaze remained fixed on the city below. “Because it isn’t just a vote about me

Braxton city woke slowly, like a body that had survived trauma but had not yet learned how to relax again.The streets were calm, the towers steady, the transport lines running on time,but beneath the surface, vigilance had replaced comfort,people watched shadows longer,conversations lowered when certain names were mentioned,trust still existed, but it was no longer careless.At the top of Braxton Tower, Ethan had not slept.He stood before the panoramic window of the command floor, coffee untouched beside him, eyes fixed on the city that now felt heavier than ever. Leadership had once meant vision and progress,now it meant constant readiness,anticipating threats that came not with explosions but with ideas sharp enough to wound a society.Leanna entered quietly, her footsteps soft against the polished floor,she looked tired too, dark circles beneath eyes that refused to dull,still, her posture was steady, her presence grounding.“You should rest,” she said gently.Ethan didn’t turn. “

Braxton City stood on the edge of something it had never faced before,not collapse, not invasion, not even rebellion,but redefinition.For decades, the city had been built on an idea so powerful it had begun to feel natural, that systems could be perfected, that governance could be optimized, that fairness could be engineered if enough data, care, and intelligence were applied. Braxton City was not supposed to break apart,it was designed to include.Yet now, entire districts had slipped beyond its reach,not by force, but by quiet withdrawal.Ethan felt the weight of it pressing down on his chest as he stood before the council chamber doors. Behind those doors waited men and women who believed in order, continuity, and precedent. Beyond the tower walls waited millions who believed,still believed in him.And beneath the city waited Korrin, smiling in the dark, convinced that no choice Ethan made would leave him unscathed.Leanna stood beside Ethan, her presence steady but her eyes searc