1. - Unstable

In the year 2042, the world had become . Scientists called it "Molecular Drift," a side effect of a botched experiment in subatomic cohesion. For most people, it meant their furniture might occasionally phase through the floor or their front door might temporarily forget it was supposed to be solid.

The Bridge wasn't just a way across the river; it was the city's main power conduit. If it went "unstable," Oakhaven wouldn't just be dark—it would literally start to unspool. 1. Unstable

The humming started in the kitchen. It wasn’t the low thrum of the refrigerator or the whistle of a distant train. It was a sound that vibrated in the teeth—a frequency that felt like glass about to shatter. In the year 2042, the world had become

Elias watched as his coffee cup began to . Not the liquid inside, but the ceramic itself. One moment it was a solid, matte blue; the next, it was translucent, flickering like a dying lightbulb. He reached out to steady it, but his fingers passed straight through the handle. The Bridge wasn't just a way across the

“It’s happening again,” he whispered to the empty room.

He stepped toward the window. Outside, the city of Oakhaven looked like a watercolor painting left out in the rain. The skyscraper across the street was leaning at an impossible forty-degree angle, yet its windows hadn't broken. A park bench was hovering three feet off the ground, slowly rotating. His phone buzzed—a solid, comforting vibration.

But for Elias, a "Fixer," instability was a profession. He carried a heavy brass stabilizer on his belt—a device designed to tether local atoms back to their intended coordinates.