The light hit like a tidal wave — searing, endless, devouring everything.
Ethan’s body was flung backwards, his vision shattering into streaks of blue and white. For a moment, he couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t even think. Only feel — the hum of raw power pressing against every nerve, every memory.
Then, silence.
He opened his eyes.
The world had changed.
He was no longer in the chamber — or at least, not the same one. The walls were still crystalline, but now translucent and fluid, shifting like the inside of a living circuit. Streams of light rippled through the air, flowing into a central vortex that pulsed like a heartbeat.
Ethan stumbled to his feet. “Maya?”
His voice echoed strangely — distorted, like sound travelling through water.
A figure appeared in the haze ahead. Not Maya
