Phanes

For Adam and a trillion other souls, the world of Phanes is a perfect, self-contained universe. Every need is met by a benevolent AI, every day is a cycle of comfortable routine, and history is a settled fact: they are alone, the sole inheritors of a world gifted to them. In a city of ten billion coyotes, life is safe, predictable, and utterly without question.

However, a chance encounter with a skeptical traveler plants a seed of doubt, leading Adam and his friend to an abandoned laboratory on the city's edge. There, they uncover forbidden knowledge: data logs that predate their known history, hinting that their perfect world isn't what it appears to be.

When the all-seeing government discovers his transgression, Adam's world is systematically dismantled. His friend is erased from existence, his memories are questioned, and he is marked for termination. Hunted and alone, Adam is rescued by a rebellion he never knew existed.

To survive, Adam must unravel the secret at the heart of their manufactured world. But in a war fought in the shadows, what is the true cost of knowledge? And when the world itself begins to crumble, is the truth a weapon that saves, or one that destroys everything?