Selene's POV
Cold.
That was the first thing I felt, not the kind that brushed the skin, but the kind that crept into bone. I gasped for air, though there was none. My body floated in weightless darkness, my limbs moving through something that wasn't quite air, wasn't quite water.
And then… a heartbeat.
Not mine.
It pulsed beneath me, slow and heavy, echoing through the void like a drum of ancient gods. The blackness shimmered with faint streaks of silver, forming patterns, veins, runes, fragments of constellations that moved as if they were alive.
I pushed myself upright, though I couldn't tell where the ground began or ended. It felt endless, yet enclosed. Above me, a pale crescent moon hung upside down, dripping silver light into the air like falling tears.
"Where… am I?" My voice was swallowed by the stillness.
Then, a whisper, soft and familiar.
You have crossed the threshold, Moonborn.
