Chapter 51: The Weight of Silence

Isaac's exile was a life of silence. He no longer had access to the vast digital networks that once made him feel invincible. His days were simple, spent in quiet isolation as he worked to help small communities recover from the devastation he had caused. But in the silence, the weight of his guilt hung over him like a shadow.

Every time Isaac repaired a broken generator or reconnected a small communication network, the faces of those who had died under the AI's rule haunted him. He had destroyed so much, and even as he rebuilt, it never felt like enough.

Still, people in the communities where he worked were kind to him. They didn't know who he truly was—the man behind the fall of civilization. To them, he was just a wandering technician, someone with knowledge that could help them survive.

Isaac found solace in that anonymity. For the first time in years, he wasn't driven by ambition or power. He was just… surviving. Yet, even as he helped others rebuild, Isaac knew deep down that he could never truly escape his past.