The High Crossroads did not look like a place meant for the living.
Aria felt it the moment they stepped through the fractured gate, an invisible weight settling on her shoulders, pressing down with quiet, merciless judgment. The air shimmered faintly, neither warm nor cold, but heavy with layers of magic so old they felt embedded in her bones.
Stone platforms floated in vast suspension, connected by bridges of light that shifted and reformed with each passing step. Above, the sky was a fractured mosaic, daylight bleeding into twilight, stars flickering beside burning suns. Below, nothing but endless void.
“This is where realms intersect,” Kael said, his voice lower than usual. “Every law bends here.
Every lie is exposed.”
Aria swallowed.
Figures moved across the platforms, dozens o
