The sterile glow of the university library felt suffocating. Elias, surrounded by towering stacks of legal tomes, couldn't focus on Roman jurisprudence. Senator Dubois’s shadow loomed too large, a suffocating presence that tainted even the academic sanctuary he sought. The Senator had declared open season on psychics, framing them as a menace to society, a threat that needed to be contained, controlled, and, implicitly, eradicated.