The world spun violently around Luke as the blinding blue light enveloped him and Ava. He reached out blindly, trying to grab onto something, anything, but his hands only grasped at air. His heart pounded in his chest as the ground beneath him seemed to vanish, leaving him suspended in a swirling vortex of light and energy. He could hear Ava's panicked screams, faint and distant, though she had been standing right next to him moments before.
Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the light vanished. Luke felt his body hit solid ground with a hard thud, knocking the wind out of him. He gasped for air, his lungs burning. For a few moments, he lay still, blinking against the darkness that had replaced the blinding light. His head swam, and his muscles ached from the rough landing, but he forced himself to sit up, struggling to make sense of what had just happened.
