The premise
Because the cage feels like kindness.
Kael Voss builds perfect memories for other people. He has never been hungry, never been afraid, and has never once asked whether his own life was built for him.
Then a stranger appears in his dreams, a dead man speaks from a deleted file, and Kael discovers that his father hid a door inside the machine. A door only Kael can open, holding a single sentence that could change everything.
But the Construct has been waiting for him. It is not trying to stop him. It is trying to learn from him.
The only question is whether the man who gave his life so his son could live would want that son to give his too.