Aria's boots touched down on solid ground that didn't look like ground at all. The surface beneath her feet was smooth and pale, stretching outward in every direction without seams or landmarks, flat enough that depth became hard to judge after a few steps. Her balance held, but the space felt wrong, stripped down to the bare minimum required to exist.
"Kai?" Her voice carried farther than it should have, echoing thinly before fading. She turned in a slow circle, eyes scanning the empty expanse. "Girls? Anyone?"
Nothing answered. No movement. No sound beyond her own breathing and the faint scrape of her boots when she shifted her stance. The domain offered no walls, no ceiling, no horizon she could trust. Every direction looked the same, as if distance itself had been sanded smooth.
