The light came without announcement, without precedent, without any of the natural laws that should have governed such things. One moment, Selena and Dante existed in the colorless void, wrapped in grief and transformation. The next, something was changing in the space around them—not darkness giving way to illumination, but rather the void itself remembering that light was a possibility it had forgotten to consider.
Selena lifted her head from where it had rested against Dante's shoulder, her tears still wet on her cheeks. The light was unlike anything she'd ever seen, even in a life that had taken her through the Gate itself and into the foundations of reality. It didn't come from a source—there was no sun here, no star, no flame. Instead, it seemed to emerge from everywhere at once, as if the void had decided to become luminous through sheer force of will.
"Do you see that?" she whispered, afraid that speaking too loudly might shatter whatever was happening.
