The moment Lira stepped through the portal, the air around her didn't feel like air at all. Light bent strangely, refracting into thousands of thin beams that twisted like ribbons around her. She blinked, and for a heartbeat, the world became a white-gold blur. Heat prickled her skin—not unpleasant, but sharp, like tiny sparks dancing over her arms.
Serelyth spread her massive, pearly dragon wings, instinctively curling around Lira as a shield. The dragon's body shimmered in the same radiant light, almost translucent, yet solid. "Hold on!" she roared gently, voice reverberating against the strange physics of this place.
The sensation was strange, disorienting. Gravity seemed absent, yet they weren't floating freely—they were tethered by the pull of something deep, something alive. The stars themselves weren't distant—they swirled around them, and some pulses of light brushed against Lira like a soft but burning wind. She gasped.
