The dimensional transition ended with a bone-jarring impact that sent me tumbling across alien soil, my enhanced reflexes barely managing to prevent a face-first collision with what appeared to be crystalline trees that hummed with otherworldly energy. I rolled to my feet, immediately activating my magical senses to catalog threats while taking in my first glimpse of another world.
The forest around me was beautiful in a way that made my chest tighten with unease. Trees of living crystal reached toward a sky that burned with two suns—one familiar yellow star, another that pulsed with deep crimson light that made shadows dance in patterns that hurt to look at directly. The air itself carried a metallic tang that spoke to atmospheric composition fundamentally different from Earth's, while the ground beneath my feet felt somehow more solid, as if gravity operated according to different principles here.
