One moment, Scarlett was in the cold, white medbay, strapping herself into a very complicated and very scary-looking chair. The next, she was somewhere else entirely.
She was standing in a forest. But it was a forest unlike any she had ever seen. The trees were massive, their bark glowing with a soft, golden light.
The leaves above her were a canopy of shimmering, rainbow-colored light, and the air itself hummed with a beautiful, living song. It was the mindscape of the World-Tree. It was the inside of Ryan's soul.
It was the most beautiful and peaceful place she had ever been. And it was under attack.
In the distance, she could see a creeping patch of gray. It was like a disease, spreading slowly from tree to tree. Where the grayness touched, the golden bark of the trees turned dull and lifeless.
The shimmering leaves turned to brittle, gray ash. The beautiful, living song of the forest was being replaced by a flat, monotonous, and deeply unsettling silence.
