The jump from Sector 63 was unlike any transit Jian had ever experienced. Usually, traveling between Shards felt like being pulled through a straw—a pressurized moment of compression. But as The Memory of Water followed the pulsing red needle of the Compass of Light, the world didn't compress; it unraveled.
The charcoal obsidian of the tomb faded, replaced by a thick, white mist that smelled of ozone and stagnant water.
"The sensors are flatlining," X reported, her hands moving across a console that was beginning to flicker with "Ghost-Data." "We aren't in a Shard anymore, Jian. We’re in the Deep Cache. This is where the system stores the 'Deleted-but-not-Forgotten' files."
Slowly, the mist parted, revealing a sight that made Jian’s heart stop.
Stretching out into an infinite gray hori
