Once upon a recent time, in the year that the world sought new beginnings, a message pinged in the quiet of an unsuspecting night. It was a plea for camaraderie, a request to weave a surprise for a friend's birthday. But as fate would have it, the message was greeted by silence, for its recipient lay in the arms of Morpheus, oblivious to the ticking clock and the unfolding plans.

The morrow brought with it a storm of emotions; disappointment and anger from the sender, met with a shrug of indifference from the sleeper. "Why bother?" thought the sleeper, "Paths that cross by chance seldom meet again." Yet, the universe chuckled at such naivety, for it had...