(BLUE'S POV)
The portal tore open like a wound in the fabric of reality, and we stepped through into a realm that stole the breath from my lungs.
One heartbeat I was still in the mortal forest, moonlight silver on the leaves and the scent of pine thick in the air. The next, the world flipped.
We emerged onto a wide obsidian platform overlooking a city that looked like a dream someone had dared to make real. The sky stretched above us in an endless, breathtaking blue — rich and alive, softening at the horizon into warm brushstrokes of gold and rose gold, as if the sun itself was reluctant to leave. Two moons hung low and impossibly close, one pale and luminous like polished silver, the other darker with a faint crimson tint that painted the clouds in soft, bloody light. Twin moons. Twin rulers watching over a world that shouldn't exist.
