The light did not simply surround them.
It consumed everything.
One moment, the chamber had been collapsing—metal tearing apart, energy spiraling violently out of control, alarms screaming through the facility like a warning of the end.
The next—
There was nothing.
No sound.
No weight.
No ground.
Emily couldn't even feel her own body.
It was as if she had been pulled out of reality itself and suspended in a space where time no longer existed. Her thoughts slowed, stretched, and twisted as she struggled to understand what was happening.
Then slowly…
Very slowly…
Something returned.
A faint warmth spread beneath her feet.
Her senses began to rebuild themselves piece by piece.
First came the feeling of gravity.
Then the rhythm of her own breathing.
Then, finally—
Light.
But not the violent, blinding light from before.
This was different.
Soft.
Golden.
Endless.
Emily's eyes fluttered open, and she drew in a sharp breath.
