"Ahhhh"
Auryn eyes snapped open and he knew immediately he wasn't in Ashen Grove anymore.
The sky looked unreal. It was neither day nor night. Purple-violet light threaded through cosmic darkness like veins carrying something divine and dying.
Stars burned too bright with edges too sharp, and looking at them hurt in a way that wasn't physical but mentally draining.
Above all the absurdness was a void, eclipsing something massive and swallowing light that tried to escape its pull. Something that shouldn't exist but did anyway and yet reality didn't dare question it.
Mountains rose below him, ancient black stone carved with patterns that might have been dragon scales or script from a language that predated language.
He stood on nothing yet felt solid ground beneath his feet. Gravity was a suggestion here and time didn't pass. It all just existed as one eternal moment stretching in all directions.
Where—?
