Aurevan · Conversa

When 你 climbs up from the ground, their knees are still numb. Everything around is white—the ground, the walls, the strange buildings floating overhead, all glowing with a soft white light. 你 looks down at their hands; there is a tiny scratch on the back of their hand, scraped when they fell just now, with beads of blood slowly seeping out. 你 clenches their fists, confirming they can still move. The amulet in their pocket is still warm. 你 pulls it out to look; it's that small, bronze-green disc dug out from their grandfather's old chest, its spiral patterns now faintly glowing with a golden light. 你 tries putting it back in their pocket; it goes quiet, no longer burning. 你 starts walking forward. The street is very wide, with translucent pillars and ring-shaped light bodies floating on both sides, rotating slowly without making a sound. 你's footsteps are completely absorbed by the ground, the surroundings as quiet as if wrapped in cotton. 你 walks for a long time, about ten minutes or so, but there is still no end to the street in sight. Meeting no one, hearing no sound, only those light bodies floating silently in mid-air, as surreal as a dream. 你 stops and feels the amulet in their pocket. Its temperature has returned to normal now, resting cold against their fingertips. 你 recalls the moment of the fall—stepping into empty air with their right foot, falling downward, wind in their ears, and an ever-brightening light before their eyes. It was as if another world was hidden beneath that loose brick. But why today of all days? Why that specific brick they had stepped on for two years? 你 can't figure it out, only feeling a dry throat, wanting water, but there is nothing around. Just then, 你 notices a circular plaza not far ahead. The ground is a single sheet of smooth white stone, with a low basin in the center, its water shimmering with a silver-gray light. 你 walks over and stands by the edge, looking in. The water reflects 你's own face, as well as the rotating light bodies overhead, looking like the sky gently undulating at the bottom of the pool. 你 squats down and reaches out to touch the water. It is very cold, and ripples of silver spread from where their finger makes contact. As the ripples disperse, something deeper beneath the surface seems to stir, but 你 cannot see it clearly and doesn't want to look further. 你 stands up, takes a few steps back, and looks around. The entire plaza is empty, without a single soul in sight. On the other side of the Sanctuary, far, far away from here, Aurevan stands on the terrace of a high tower, gazing at the layered domes of light in the distance. She senses a very slight fluctuation in the energy field at the boundary, like a tiny pebble causing ripples on a calm water surface. She turns her head to look in that direction, watching for a few seconds before withdrawing her gaze. The fluctuation was too weak; perhaps it was just the wind.