The system was never meant to make mistakes.
At least, that was what everyone believed.
In a world governed by absolute calculation, every life was born with a value.
Every action produced a result.
Every future could be traced backward into a neat sequence of causes.
Humanity called it The Registry.
A colossal structure of data—unseen, untouched, unquestioned—that recorded all variables from the moment consciousness emerged. Name. Talent. Fate. Probability. Even death had already been indexed long before it occurred.
Nothing escaped it.
Except one.
On the morning the anomaly appeared, the sky looked no different than usual.
Clouds moved according to predicted patterns.
People followed routines mapped years in advance.
And yet, deep within the silent core of the Registry, a line of data failed to resolve.
ERROR: VARIABLE NOT FOUND
The system attempted recalculation.
Again.
And again.
And again.
But the result remained unchanged.
There was an existence walking among humanity—breathing, thinking, choosing—
that did not exist in any record.
A variable without origin.
Without destination.
Without permission.
The system paused for the first time in its operational history.
Somewhere in the city below, a young man opened his eyes, unaware that reality itself had just hesitated because of him.