The weight of the memories crashed into Aether like a physical force, driving him to his knees on the obsidian floor of the void dimension. His mind reeled, trying to process the cascade of images that flooded his consciousness—fragments of a past both familiar and foreign. The space around him responded to his mental turbulence, beginning to shudder and convulse as if reality itself was coming undone.
The darkness beneath him transformed, its pitch-black surface rippling and morphing into something else entirely. Liquid mercury began to seep upward, its surface gleaming with an otherworldly luminescence. The metallic fluid moved with predatory intent, quickly wrapping around his legs like living chains. Aether watched, transfixed, as his lower limbs slowly sank into the quicksilver surface.
