The countdown reached zero, and the world folded.
The endless beach, the restless ocean, the layered hills, all of it compressed into a single point before tearing apart. For a brief instant, there was nothing but silence and pressure, like being held inside a closed fist.
Then the mountain formed around them.
It was not natural terrain. The ground stretched into a jagged expanse of black stone, veined with dim crimson light that pulsed unevenly, as if something beneath the surface was breathing. Each pulse carried a faint vibration through the ground, subtle but constant. The air felt dense yet dry, every inhale leaving a metallic trace along the tongue.
Above them, the peak rose sharply into a rotating band of cloud that circled the summit like a barrier.
There was no visible descent.
Only mist.
Thick, heavy, and absolute.
The reaction came immediately.
