The rift-rail drop platform sliced through the barrier between known fractures and the unknown. Aiden stood at the front with Sienna on his left, Thalira on his right, and Elyra from the Aetheric Dominion beside her.
The platform shook as it punched into the Veiled Expanse. Wind whipped across the open deck while the stabilizers hummed.
Below them stretched a broken world that no map had prepared them for. Massive crystal formations floated in mid-air, connected by thin energy threads that pulsed with soft blue light.
Ancient sky-cities lay half-buried in thick cloud layers, their metal spires cracked but still standing after who knew how many centuries.
Herds of strange beasts moved across floating islands—creatures with shifting scales that changed color and shape when fracture energy washed over them.
"Landing zone confirmed," the pilot called out. The platform dropped fast, then slowed at the last moment with a heavy thud on a wide crystal plateau.
