The seam widened just enough for a person.
Saffi slid through sideways, shoulder first. The alloy felt cool against her sleeve. The light inside was steady and pale, the kind of light rooms make when they are meant for thinking, not for showing off.
Behind her, Alteea followed and the door sighed closed. No latch. No lock. The line simply sealed and was gone. Saffi turned back to touch it on instinct and met a perfect surface. No edge. No hint it had ever moved.
"It's... Gone" she said.
"It always is" Alteea answered. "Makes it hard for idiots to wander in"
Saffi looked forward and forgot how to breathe for a second.
A spiral stair fell away under them - a ribbon of pale glass, wide enough for one person: two if one of them kissed the wall.
It curved downward through open space, step after step after step. The drop in the center went so far that her eyes tried to guess at an end and gave up quickly.
The walls were not walls. They were rows.
