The sky above them… disappeared.
Not shattered. Not broken.
But erased—
like a good intention mocked by the universe.
Nathan looked up.
What used to be the sky… was now the ground.
Flat. Smooth. Hanging upside down
with the texture of an old man's sole.
The distant forest shrank into a rotten silhouette,
slowly dissolving—
like the leftover dust of a bad dream.
"What… is happening?"
The words left Nathan's mouth—
but the echo was swallowed,
as if even sound was being rejected in this place.
The dome around him began to shake.
Not from impact—
but from shame.
Its structure trembled
like a person realizing they had witnessed far too much.
Validia, still sitting weakly,
gazed at the inverted sky.
She said nothing.
But her eyes were calm.
As if she understood—
this floor was no longer ground,
but a final stage
for lies that had lived too long.
Nathan turned around.
One foot stepped on a black fissure—
which slowly spread.
