The space was suddenly silent.
Kaelen stood alone at the center of the hollow, and for the first time since arriving in this world, he heard nothing. Not the distant crash of water. Not the low hum of ambient energy. Not the whisper of his own breath.
He opened his mouth.
"...System?"
No answer came. The translucent windows that had followed him since awakening flickered once, twice, then dissolved into countless blue fragments that scattered upward like startled birds. His heartbeat quickened. The absence of that familiar interface left a hollow space in his awareness, a gap where information should have been.
For the first time since arriving in this world, he felt alone.
Then the space cracked.
Thin lines spread across the air like fractures across glass, zigzagging patterns that pulsed with a deep violet light. Beyond them was no sky, no ocean, no stars. Only darkness. Endless, ancient.
