The transition wasn't like walking through a door... it was like being swallowed up by the very fabric of the world. The light enveloped him like a womb, and for an instant, Kael lost all sense of body, time and space. His mana screamed in warning, then bowed. Something... someone - recognized him there. Something immense.
And then...
FOOM.
He fell to his knees on the soft ground. Mossy. Alive.
His eyes opened... and everything he thought he knew about the world fell apart.
In front of him stretched a world. A whole world.
A forest. No - the forest.
Gigantic. Infinite. Organic. Sacred.
The trees were no ordinary trees. Their trunks rose like the pillars of a celestial cathedral, with diameters so vast they could fit small villages inside. The roots wove through the soil like serpents of living wood, some as thick as walls, others pulsing with golden light, like veins that carried the essence of the world.
And the leaves...
Oh, the leaves.
