The transition through the bridge of light felt less like travel and more like being dissolved into a monochromatic sea. There was no sky, no ground, and no gravity, only a swirling expanse of white, chalky mist that clung to Elara's skin like cold, damp wool.
She felt the heavy crystallization on her arm begin to c***k, the black corruption from the Curator’s poison turning into fine, harmless powder that drifted away into the void.
Beside her, Julian hit the surface of the First Realm with a muffled thud. He didn't rise. The golden fire that once radiated from his skin had completely extinguished, leaving him looking frail, his chest heaving with the effort of simply existing in this airless expanse.
The First Realm was not a place of comfort. It was the raw substrate of reality, a
