Elias Grey had always been a good man. At least, that’s what he believed.\n\nA history professor at a small university, he spent his days lecturing about fallen empires and moral decay. His students admired him, his colleagues respected him, and his quiet life in the city was unremarkable. But deep down, Elias knew he was a man of limitations—an observer of history, never a maker of it.\n\nThe first crack appeared on a cold autumn afternoon.\n\nHis funding had been cut. The university, citing “budget constraints,” had removed his research grant in favor of more “modern” subjects. Elias had spent years building his thesis on moral erosion in historical leaders, and now, it was being