Chapter 47: Immersion

As the neural interface connected, a jolt of pure data surged through Jason. The physical world blurred and faded, replaced by an instantaneous, blinding flash of white light. He felt himself stretching, expanding, his consciousness no longer bound by the confines of his skull but dissolving into a vast, intricate network of information. The transition was less like entering a system and more like becoming the system.

The "dampening fields" Aether had spoken of shimmered around him, a fragile, vibrating aura of distorted data, momentarily obscuring his presence from the Architect's immediate awareness. He was a ghost in the machine, a ripple in an otherwise perfectly still digital ocean.