With one last, steadying breath, Sunny placed his hand on the vibrating surface of the gemstone.
There was no sound, only a sudden, violent inversion of gravity. The world of the Star Nation, the ship, and the darkness of the room didn't just fade; they were violently ripped away, replaced by a sensation of being pulled through the eye of a needle.
__
[Unknown Realm - Domain of the Dead.]
WHOOSH!!
Space tore open like a festering wound high above a desolate landscape. Sunny was ejected from the rift, plummeting freely into the abyss.
"What the—?!!"
Sunny gasped, the air rushing past him tasting of copper and ash. He was falling from thousands of miles up, the ground below a sprawling mosaic of white and gray.
"You must be kidding me!"
Instinct took over. He flexed his back, and six massive wings of dark energy exploded outward. He caught the air, the sudden drag nearly snapping his spine, but he managed to arrest his fall with a single, thunderous flap.
