The landscape warped as they moved—no horizon, no true direction, only an endless expanse of shifting geometry. Light bled into form and then back to abstraction, like the world itself couldn’t decide whether to exist or dream.

Hale kept his eyes fixed on the distant sphere. The black core pulsed with rhythm now, an irregular beat that grew faster the closer they came. With each pulse, the environment rippled, distorting beneath their feet.

Gray stumbled beside him, breath ragged though ...