As I stepped through the portal, it felt like I was slipping into a tunnel made of swirling light and pressure. There was no ground, no sky—just motion. Then, in the blink of an eye, I was no longer in the realm.
I was high in the sky, surrounded by clouds and moonlight.
Before I could even fall, wings burst from my back with a familiar rush of energy. I steadied myself in mid-air and took a breath.
My perception flared out instinctively, spreading wide across the landscape like a wave of thought. I scanned everything around me—land, wind, movement, Essence.
"Oh. A desert."
I looked down and saw endless stretches of golden sand.
"Where the hell am I now?" I muttered.
I didn't sense any people nearby—no humans, no Abominations, nothing moving except the sand itself.
I ran through the possible regions in my head. There were dozens of desert zones on the planet, maybe more. A few known for Abomination activity, others for isolation or testing grounds.
