Xavier floated in the void—weightless, breathless, caught in that same cold emptiness that came before every vision. There was no sound, no light, no body. Just the echo of his heartbeat somewhere far away, like the pulse of a dying star.
Then, suddenly, gravity hit him like a crash.
The void shattered.
A wind screamed past his ears, burning and dry. His feet hit solid ground mid-stride, knees bending instinctively. His lungs filled with air—real air—and he realized he was running.
The sky above was a swirl of violet haze split by three massive blue suns. Their overlapping halos burned like god's own eyes, casting fractured shadows across a jagged metal landscape. The air shimmered with static, and in the distance, enormous towers stabbed into the horizon—each one caged under a translucent glass dome that curved across the entire skyline. The world itself looked like a locked jewel, imprisoned under its own brilliance.
And he was naked.
Completely.
