Light swallowed everything.
Not the burning kind that seared nerves or blinded with sharp edges. This light felt endless. Soft. Wrong. It touched nothing and yet seemed to press against every inch of me. When I finally dragged in a breath it echoed, the sound carried out in ripples across what looked like a silver ocean suspended in midair.
Except there was no water. No sky. No ground.
Only a vast, shimmering expanse. A psychic plane. The core’s heart.
I pushed myself up slowly. My hands sank into nothing and yet something at the same time. My fingers brushed a smooth surface that had no temperature. No texture. It felt like touching a thought.
My body felt weightless. My head felt heavy. The air tasted like lightning moments before it strikes.
Above me, the void shifted. Shapes flic
