The void wasn't empty.
That was my first coherent thought after the light swallowed me whole. I'd expected darkness. Silence. The kind of sensory deprivation that drives people insane after a few hours.
Instead, I found myself standing in what looked like an infinite library.
Shelves stretched in every direction, rising toward a ceiling that didn't exist. Books lined every surface, their spines glowing with text in languages I couldn't read. Some of them pulsed with light. Others seemed to absorb it, creating pockets of shadow that moved when I wasn't looking directly at them.
Hello, Satori Nakano.
The voice came from everywhere and nowhere. It resonated in my bones, my teeth, the spaces between my thoughts.
Or should I call you Kaelen Leone?
I turned in a slow circle, searching for the source. Nothing. Just endless rows of shelves and the soft glow of impossible knowledge.
