As they crossed the threshold, the world around them shifted. The sky, which had just moments ago been dark and tumultuous, now stood clear and transparent, like a newly born world unaware of time or space. A light breeze brushed their faces, but the air held no scent—neither earth nor water—only a purity that carried both coldness and mystery.
Before them lay an endless plain. Yet, this was no ordinary land. There were no trees, no grasses—only rocky ground, covered by a thin layer of dust that seemed to breathe with them. The blue world stretched to the horizon, without end or beginning, and every step they took resonated through this vastness, creating sounds that vanished before they could hear them.
Antem felt his heart quicken. He had seen this place in his visions, but nothing could have prepared him for the reality of it. It was a world without rules, without the sense of time, yet filled with a deep, all-encompassing feeling of power that could either lift them to the heavens or swallow them into darkness. His eyes narrowed as he tried to understand what was happening.
“This is not quite what we expected,” he said, gazing around. His voice was low, filled with tension.
“There is nothing familiar here,” replied Ayna, stepping closer. Her eyes had an unsettled look, mixed with a strange calm, as if she understood more than the others. “We have stepped beyond what we knew. Here, time and space work by different laws.”
Lumis, reluctantly taking a step forward, listened intently to each of his movements. His feet left marks on the endless stone, but these marks vanished before he could even look at them. It felt as if they weren’t moving at all, as though they stood still, and every time their gaze crossed the horizon, everything seemed the same again—unchanging, as though they had not moved at all.
“This place… it gives us no clues,” Lumis said, his eyes reflecting the depth of an ocean that could not understand where its reflection began and ended.
Tarik remained silent, his gaze focused somewhere in the depths of the infinite space. He felt no fear, but he sensed the presence of something greater, a force that encompassed everything around them, watching them, testing them. He had the distinct feeling that this place could sense their very essence, all that they had hidden from themselves.
“We are not merely on a new path,” Tarik said, his voice calm yet tinged with an undeniable strain. “We are at the edge of something much bigger.”
Ayna turned to him, her eyes deep and penetrating.
“This place demands a choice that will change us forever. And only we can decide what to do,” she added, as though she understood more than she could articulate.
Quietly and in harmony, they continued forward, exploring this uncharted world. Each step echoed with a feeling of heaviness in their hearts, as though reality itself was pressing down on them. But with this weight came energy, urging them forward, offering opportunities even amidst the disorderly silence.
It seemed they had entered a realm where every movement mattered, where every choice would not only affect their own fates but the very fabric of all they had ever known. And though their steps were quiet, inside each of them, a storm was brewing: a storm that would alter everything they understood about the world, as they once again walked into the unknown.
Stopping, they saw before them an immense stone obelisk, stretching toward the sky, where there were no stars, only light shining through the endless space. The obelisk was covered in strange runes, glowing with a light of their own, as if each symbol held a story. It was a marker, pointing to a crucial point on their path—a place where they must make a choice that would be pivotal.
With caution and silence, they approached the obelisk, ready for the moment that would forever change their destinies.