The first screen showed Elias's starting numbers in clean white text.
Strength 5. Speed 3. Intelligence 25. Endurance 25. Perception 2. Instinct 50.
The Doctor tapped the air with his cane, and the numbers shifted.
Strength 7. Speed 4. Intelligence 28. Endurance 38. Perception 3. Instinct 72.
Elias stared at the increase in instinct, then at the insult that was still his perception.
"That feels like improvement and humiliation at the same time."
"Accurate reading of the situation tonight," the Doctor said. "You survived because instinct carried you through gaps perception should have covered. That is useful once and dangerous as a habit."
"I dislike being lectured by arithmetic."
"Arithmetic dislikes carrying people who refuse to notice doors."
A second screen opened over Dot. It labeled her profile as Creationist, then listed Conjure Object, Knowledge Recall, Energy Amplification, and Construct Stability at 1 of 5. One branch remained locked, its name hidden behind a smear of blue static.
Dot reached toward the words and stopped before touching them. Her fingers curled back against her palm.
"I have names for things I do not remember learning."
The Doctor's face softened for half a breath.
"That will happen often, so do not chase every missing piece at once. Missing memory can become a room you never leave."
Elias looked from Dot to him. "Why is Dot so important here?"
The Doctor's hand tightened around the cane.
"If you fail and someone comes for her, do not let them take Dot. Not the government, not the rebels, and especially not the Anacraids."
The name pulled Dot closer to Elias before she seemed to choose it.
"Who are the Anacraids exactly, Doctor?"
"A consuming race that invades, studies, takes, and folds what it wants into itself. The attacks on Prime Planet were tied to the cube, to what it can lead them toward, and to my failure to hide my work well enough."
Elias felt anger rise cleanly this time.
"So Prime was attacked because of your cube."
"Because of several mistakes, mine included. I created the cube and the Ikonas to harness soul energy and change a doomed situation. I was late, desperate, and not in full control of what followed."
"That is not much comfort to the dead."
"No, it is not comfort at all." The Doctor looked at Dot, and the tired pulse in his shard dimmed. "A handful of Ikonas are structural pieces, and if the wrong enemy captures them, paths open that should stay closed. Dot is a companion first, but to enemies she may become a key."
Dot's voice came small. "I do not want to be a key."
"Then stay with someone who treats you like a person."
Elias did not like how the Doctor looked at him when he said it. He liked less that he understood the look.
The screen shifted again before he could ask more.
Requirement threshold appeared across the blue space. Strength 15, Speed 15, Intelligence 5, Endurance 10, Perception 12, and Instinct 18. The screen marked Strength, Speed, and Perception below threshold, then stamped the penalty beneath them. Reversed action response. Shard advancement withheld until correction or task completion.
Elias read it twice. "Reversed action response means what exactly?"
The Doctor lifted one hand. A small blue bead formed above his palm and drifted toward Elias.
"Catch it with your right hand."
Elias reached with his right hand, but his left hand jerked upward instead. The bead tapped his shoulder and vanished.
A cold spot spread under the skin where it touched.
"That is the polite version of the penalty. When you intend left, your body may move right. When focus rises, it may drop. Reach too quickly, and your hand may betray the motion. You will function, but simple tasks will demand attention."
Elias flexed both hands slowly. The right obeyed a heartbeat late. The left twitched like it wanted credit for the attempt. A simple reach had become a negotiation with his own nerves, and the thought of two hundred push ups under that condition made his shoulders ache before he even moved.
"That is insane as a punishment."
"It is corrective pressure, because you cannot keep surviving only after a mistake reaches your skin."
Dot moved in front of him. "Give him something possible to finish. He got thrown around enough today."
"I am giving him one, and if he completes a task before the next full cycle, the penalty ends early and a small soul energy reward follows."
A final screen appeared with the task written in three lines: perform 200 push ups, manifest 10 stable objects with Dot, and win one sparring match.
Elias almost laughed, but it came out wrong and made the blue space tremble around his ribs. The task sounded like a punishment designed by someone who had watched his bruises form and decided bruises were useful punctuation.
"You call that task possible tonight?"
"Possible is not the same as kind."
Dot looked at the reward line. "The shard moves soul energy through him, then?"
"Close enough for tonight, because soul energy is everywhere and inert by itself. The shard gives it routes, the Ikona gives it shape, and the bearer gives it intent. None of you are doing it cleanly yet."
Elias rubbed at his face. "I understand maybe half of that."
"Half is enough for tonight anyway," the Doctor said as his outline began to thin.
Elias stepped forward. His right foot tried to lag behind the thought, and the motion nearly turned into a stumble.
"Why is my perception so low?"
The Doctor looked almost sad.
"You wait too long to read people, then ask instinct to rescue you. Watch smaller things like tone, breath, posture, hesitation, and hands. Low perception means the world warns you and you miss the warning, so learn faster."
Elias opened his mouth for another question.
The blue space collapsed before he could spend it, taking every screen with it while Dot reached for him.