The Shard of the Binary was a world of razor-sharp definitions. As Kael and Mira crossed the threshold, the soft, violet-gray hues of the Draft-Sea were sliced away. The sky was split down the middle: one half a blinding, sun-bleached white, the other a void-like, absolute black. There were no clouds, no gradients, and no mercy.
The mountains of glass were prisms that didn't create rainbows; they separated light into its most aggressive components.
"Watch your step," Mira warned, her voice sounding oddly flat in the vacuum-like air. "If you step into the White, you’ll be 'Idealized'—your flaws will be erased until you’re a hollow saint. If you step into the Black, you’ll be 'Demonized'—your virtues will be swallowed until you’re a monster. Neither one is real."
Kael looked at his boots.
