Chapter 12 — Not the Bottom
Kael was falling again.
But this time, he didn't scream.
The air rushed past him, cold and sharp. The ground below wasn't darkness. It was light—dull, pale, like fog that forgot how to float.
He twisted midair.
"Lira!"
"I'm here!" her voice snapped back, too close, then her hand grabbed his arm hard enough to hurt.
They dropped together.
The fall ended suddenly.
No impact. No crash.
They hit something soft that pushed back, like thick fabric stretched tight. Kael rolled, breath knocked out of him, then dragged himself up on one elbow.
They were standing—no, sinking—ankle-deep in a flat white surface. It rippled slightly around their feet, like slow water that didn't want to move.
Lira coughed and pushed herself up. "Please tell me this is still part of the trial."
Kael looked around.
There was no sky. No ground. Just white in every direction. Endless and quiet.
"I think," he said slowly, "this is where things fall when the world doesn't know what to do with them."
"That's comforting."
Something moved under the surface.
Not fast. Not aggressive.
Large.
Kael pulled Lira back a step. "Don't run."
She froze. "Why?"
"Because it wants that."
The surface bulged a few meters away. A shape pressed up from below, stretching the white layer thin but not breaking it.
A face formed.
Not detailed. Just enough to suggest eyes, a mouth, a shape meant to be understood.
It spoke without sound.
Kael felt the words instead of hearing them.
UNPLACED.
Lira shivered. "Did… did you hear that?"
"Yeah."
The face sank, then rose closer this time.
YOU DO NOT BELONG TO ANY LAYER.
Kael swallowed. "Story of my life."
The surface rippled outward in wide circles. More shapes pressed up from below. Not faces—hands. Edges. Pieces of things that never finished becoming real.
Lira grabbed Kael's sleeve. "I really think we should leave."
"Agreed," Kael said. "Just not sure how."
The white ground shifted.
A crack appeared beneath Kael's feet. Thin. Sharp. Dark inside.
A way out.
Or another mistake.
Kael looked at it, then at the shapes rising around them.
"Same rule as before," he said. "Move before it decides for us."
He stepped toward the crack.
The surface screamed.