"The foundation is built on what you take, not what you earn."
The deadline was three hours away, and Elias was desperate. His architecture thesis—a sprawling, intricate model of a sustainable community—sat trapped in a file format his old software couldn't open. He needed SketchUp Pro 2022, and he needed it now.
The computer went black. In the reflection of the dead screen, Elias didn't see his room. He saw the distorted, digital ruins of his own design, and a shadow standing right behind his chair.