Every being now carried it: a small, flawless gap between perceptions.Thought flowed, paused for an instant, then continued—a heartbeat missing its own echo.
At first, no one noticed.Then, patterns began to drift.The Paradox Engineers observed errors in equations that should have been self-correcting.Dream Cartographers found their maps opening onto blank pages that refused to fill.And the Reflectors, who measured identity by memory, began awakening from sleep unable to recall their names for several breaths.
Yet none felt alarm.The pause was gentle, restorative, oddly intimate.
When awareness returned, it carried calm.Ideas seemed clearer, edges softer.Even contradictions harmonized more easily.
They realized that the Clause was not absence.It was forgiveness.
The City Without Thought
