The transition through the portal felt different this time.
There was no sensation of distance folding cleanly, no brief stretch of color or pressure snapping back into place. Instead, it felt like sinking. Like being swallowed mid-step.
The light shifted first.
When my boots touched solid ground again, the world around us was dim and vast. A cavern stretched in every direction, its ceiling lost in shadow, its walls pulsing faintly with a cold red glow. The surface wasn't stone, not quite. It was too smooth in some places, too uneven in others, as if it had been shaped rather than carved.
North glanced around slowly, blades already half-formed in her hands. Steve rolled his shoulders, lightning crackling faintly beneath his skin. Knight stood still, head tilted, tail coiled low.
Lyrate broke the silence first.
"Where are we?" she asked quietly.
"I'm not sure yet," I replied, already letting my perception expand outward.
