As they began to cross through the portal, the ruin behind them shuddered into oblivion. Stones crumbled, cathedrals of martial antiquity collapsed in on themselves, and the hollowed sanctum roared its final lament. Leng Yue and Li Wei left with no regrets.
With hearts firm, they trudged their legs forward, stepping into the trembling light of the world beyond the portal mouth, where the other subspace had begun to heal as well — though slowly, painfully. The blood red pools filled with bile and plague had faded back to clear water.
The trees had straightened themselves up, as though free from endless torment. The sky, once a crimson wound in midair, softened to bruised violet. But the wounds from the struggle remained in their minds, and their souls.
