Askara stepped through the Gate.
For a heartbeat, his vision went blank, nothing but a weightless void pressing against his senses. Then, like a curtain being torn away, sight returned.
He stood in a forest.
But not one of Earth. The trees here were impossibly tall, their bark etched with faint, glowing lines like veins of molten silver. The air shimmered faintly, charged with mana, every breath leaving a metallic taste on his tongue. A low hum resonated through the ground, as though the soil itself was alive, pulsing faintly with the rhythm of some unseen heart.
Askara stretched lazily, unfazed. "Hmm~ this sensation… not too different from the Gates back home, but…" His mismatched eyes scanned the canopy. No sound. No birds. Not even insects. Only silence. "I don't remember Big Sis saying we'd be scattered like this… well~ whatever. It's not like I didn't expect something unusual to happen at the start.l"
