The Obsidian Tower drifted slowly through the gray interplanar expanse as the detected coordinates drew closer.
Lucien stood before the panels, watching.
At first, the small world appeared only as a distant glow in the dimensional ocean.
Then the tower approached further.
And the shape became clear.
It was a sphere.
The sphere was not transparent. Its surface was not solid either. It resembled a thick membrane of vibrating energy, like a soap bubble formed not from liquid but from tightly woven frequencies.
Ripples moved across it continuously.
Bands of light shimmered over its surface as if countless invisible waves were colliding and stabilizing the boundary of the world inside.
The sphere hummed.
Even through the tower's filters, Lucien could feel the faint resonance pressing against the panels.
A world contained within a living membrane.
But then Lucien saw something that made his expression darken.
Scars. Several jagged rifts cut across the sphere's surface.
