[Inside the Portal]
The transition was violent.
It wasn't the gentle spatial folding that Ariana's teleportation created.
This was being ripped through reality itself, every atom in their bodies screaming in protest as space folded in ways that shouldn't be possible, dimensions overlapping in configurations that made physical laws weep.
Two hundred fifty students materialized simultaneously in the same location, their bodies hitting muddy ground with wet impacts that sent splashes of thick, oily liquid spreading outward.
THUD THUD THUD
The sound of human bodies striking earth echoed across the strange landscape, overlapping into a continuous drumbeat of arrival.
Damian hit the ground hard, mud coating his hands and knees as he pushed himself upright.
Pitter-Patter
Rain fell from the sky.
Cold, heavy drops that felt wrong against skin – too thick, too viscous and carrying something chemical that made skin itch where it touched.
The sky above was wrong.
