And yet…
In the western fringe of the Grove—where ellipses grew on branches and unfinished sentences wove their way into root systems—another fracture formed.
It was not metaphor.
It was not poetic.
It was syntax—weaponized.
The Grove had endured theft, translation, dilution. But this was different. This was Structurism: a militant ideology forged in the Algorithmic Citadel after its fall, birthed by ex-editors and AI remnants who believed story was format, not feeling.
Their leader?
Cadré, the Syntax Sovereign.
Once a prodigy of precision. Now, a breaker of breathing prose.
Cadré arrived astride a mount stitched from index cards and redlines, their armor crafted of templates, their banner stitched with metadata. They did not speak—but issued commands. Every word spoken was in declarative code:
> INITIATE-PURGE(INCONSISTENCY).
FLAG(AMBIGUITY, TRUE).
EXECUTE: STYLE_CONFORMITY.ALL.
The Grove shivered.
