Avery hardly had time to celebrate her win against the shadows within her when the stadium around her began to distort, as if reality itself was melting away. Her surroundings twisted, and the partitions of her chamber vanished, leaving a vista of boundless stars and blackness. She was alone on a platform suspended in the void, feeling the expanse of space bear down on her.
A chorus of voices echoed about her, disembodied but effective, as if 1000 voices were speaking as one. "Avery Chen," they said, their words resonating in her bones. "You stand before the Celestial Tribunal, charged with disrupting the material of the universe, of tampering with powers past your right."
She took a shaky breath and forced herself to stand tall. "I do not comprehend. What exactly is this region? "Why am I here?"
