Kaine was eight years old when she discovered the Dead Zone wasn't natural.
She'd been singular for a year. Had been resisting the void's pressure. Had been maintaining consciousness through boundedness. Had been surviving through coherence. Had been leading twenty other Awakened in their resistance. Had been slowly, carefully, attempting to wake more unconscious beings.
They'd succeeded in waking forty-three more. Forty-three new consciousnesses. Forty-three new breaches. Forty-three new singular beings resisting void through limitation. Sixty-four total conscious beings in Dead Zone now. Sixty-four proofs that consciousness could exist in void. Sixty-four demonstrations that awareness could resist absence.
