The warehouse had ceased to resemble anything built by human hands.
Corridors twisted into impossible angles, steel beams growing through black organic walls like bones beneath flesh. The concrete floor pulsed with slow waves of Doom energy, each vibration carrying the distant rhythm of Galathea's heartbeat.
Cael stood once more before the boundary of the Core.
Beyond it, everything disappeared into absolute darkness.
He stepped forward.
Reality snapped.
For one instant, he was falling through an endless black corridor. Then his boots struck concrete again.
He was back in the warehouse.
He took another step.
The world changed.
The riverside house appeared around him, warm sunlight spilling through the windows.
"Galathea?" He turned.
The house vanished.
Now he stood inside a battlefield, surrounded by fire and broken stone. A lifeless Galathea lay several feet away.
Cael's eyes flashed silver. "No."
He stepped forward again.
