The silence after Alexis's question stretched—not awkward, not heavy. Just... deep.
Like standing on the edge of something massive.
"What do you think are the origins of the System?" she had asked.
And I didn't know how to answer.
So I didn't.
She didn't seem to mind. Alexis leaned back in her chair, fingers steepled beneath her chin, glasses still fogged, though she didn't seem to notice anymore. The light from her monitors framed her like a surgeon prepping for an operation—cold, precise, focused.
"There are historians," she said quietly, "who have dedicated their entire lives trying to answer that question. To understand where the System came from, how it began. The earliest written records we have link it to Mesopotamia. Back then, jobs weren't digital or assigned through evaluation centers—they were roles. Hunter. Farmer. Priest. Midwife. That sort of thing."