The Gate's light swallowed Hajin whole, then spat him out into a forest stretching in every direction under wet, waterlogged ground.
The air smelled of soil that had not dried in years, and his boots sank half an inch with every step.
Above the trees the sky glowed an unnatural green instead of blue, which felt about right for a Gate.
The canopy turned the forest into a dim green chamber, and the pale Gate behind him had already shrunk to a narrow wound of light.
Hajin looked around with his hands still in his pockets and let out a breath that sounded more bored than surprised.
'Every Gate I enter is nature having a breakdown, and I stopped expecting variety a long time ago.'
It was always a forest, a desert, or a stretch of ruined buildings, as if the system had three moods total.
Today the system had chosen trees again, which Hajin accepted the same way he accepted weather.
The girls had entered before him, so all three were already scattered around the drop point.
