As Sol stepped past the shimmering barrier, he mumbled to himself, a little offended. "What does he mean, 'you can't understand crazy'?" His eyes flicked to Peach, who wiggled its tiny arms excitedly. He sighed, then patted the floating bear fondly. "Don't listen to that old man. You're perfect."
As he looked around the world around him shifted. The air felt different—thicker, like reality itself was pressing down just a little harder here. The vibrant lights of the megacity-ship dimmed as if this part of the city operated on an entirely different set of rules.
The streets ahead twisted in ways that didn't make sense. Buildings leaned at impossible angles, and floating walkways stretched in loops that seemed to defy gravity. The neon signs flickered erratically, their messages shifting mid-sentence as if unsure of what they were supposed to advertise. WELCOME TO LU… ERROR 404… NEW REALITY LOADING…
Peach, Sol's absurdly cheerful holopad, hovered beside him, wiggling its tiny arms. "WOOHOO! YOU'RE IN! LET'S GET LOST IN THE UNKNOWN!"
He let out a small chuckle, glancing at Peach. "What do you think, buddy? Ready to explore?"
As he moved deeper into the district, he realized that even time felt off. A man tossing a coin into the air stood frozen for just a moment too long before the coin finally landed in his palm. A billboard replayed the same two seconds on loop before suddenly skipping to an entirely different advertisement. And through it all, the people here acted like nothing was wrong. Or at least, they tried to—until they saw Peach.
They moved with purpose—shady traders whispering in alleyways, cloaked figures inspecting artifacts that pulsed with faint energy, and street performers twisting their bodies in ways that should have been physically impossible. A six-limbed woman contorted through the air like she was moving through water, her eyes glowing with an ethereal light as she performed for a small, entranced crowd.
Sol exhaled slowly, feeling the weight of dozens of stares burning into him. This place was built on the bizarre, filled with the inexplicable, and yet somehow, he and Peach were what had them doing double-takes. People who had seen gravity ignore its own rules and witnessed buildings breathe like living things were now pausing mid-step to gawk at the floating, pastel-colored bear waving its tiny arms and shouting motivational nonsense.
A group of robed figures whispering over a floating, glowing cube briefly halted their discussion to glance at him before exchanging confused glances. A street performer twisting through the air like liquid hesitated mid-motion, blinking at the absurd sight. Even a vendor selling what looked like bottled red lightning stopped mid-transaction, his glowing eyes flicking between Sol and Peach, as if trying to process how this particular brand of insanity had entered their domain.
What made it even worse? They all knew that Sol wasn't from here. The district's reality-warping strangeness could no longer be blamed for this one.
It was all him.
He could almost hear their unspoken thoughts: How does something like that exist OUTSIDE of the Luminara District?
And yet… he liked it.
Sol didn't mind the stares. He walked with a sense of pride in his steps, taking in the strange sights with a smile on his face. Peach hovered slightly behind him, wiggling its tiny arms like an overexcited child seeing the world for the first time. If anything, their absurdity only made this place feel more like his kind of place.
For the first time in a while, he wasn't running. He wasn't being hunted. He was standing in a place that truly felt unknown, where nothing followed the rules, and that made it worth exploring.
His eyes flickered to the vendors lining the warped streets, their stands filled with bizarre trinkets and devices. If there was anywhere to start understanding this place, it was there.
He took a step forward—then everything changed.
The air grew heavy, thick with unseen static. The neon signs flickered wildly before their light peeled away from their fixtures, floating into the air like glowing ribbons. For a moment, the entire district was drenched in liquid color, the lights swirling, stretching, and twisting around Sol as if inviting him to a dance. The world bent, not in a violent way, but with an eerie grace, as though the city itself was shifting to a new rhythm only it could hear.
Then—
SNAP.
Everything slammed back to normal. The lights zipped back into place, the buildings solidified, the air returned to its usual weight.
Except Sol was somewhere completely different.
The alleyway he had been about to step into was gone. Instead, he stood in the middle of a broad marketplace, lined with vendor stalls that hadn't been anywhere near him seconds ago. The transition had been seamless—no sense of movement, no warning, just... displacement.
And the strangest part? No one reacted.
People walked past as if nothing had happened, unfazed by the sudden shift in space. This kind of thing was normal here.
At least, until they noticed Peach.
Sol watched as a few passersby did a double take, their expressions twisting into pure confusion. They weren't shocked by the district's warped reality—they were shocked by him. Or, more specifically, by the absurd bear floating beside him.
One particularly grizzled merchant muttered, "What the hell is that?" before shaking his head and turning back to his stall, unwilling to question it further. Another just sighed, rubbing their temple as if experiencing second-hand embarrassment. A hooded figure paused mid-step, staring at Peach for a long moment before simply walking away, as if deciding they didn't need whatever this was in their life.
Sol, unfazed, adjusted his jacket and smirked. "Guess we made an entrance, huh, buddy?"
As he scanned the strange marketplace, his eyes landed on something that stood out even in this reality-bending district—a bar floating upside down, its neon sign flashing in swirling, iridescent letters: THE SPARKLING DEN. It defied gravity in the most casual way possible, its entrance perched on what should have been the ceiling, yet somehow still accessible from the ground. Patrons came and went with ease, flipping their orientation seamlessly as they crossed the threshold.
Intrigued, Sol made his way toward it, recalling what he had been told—there was no better place for gathering information than a bar. If Luminara had secrets, this seemed like a good place to start.
As he reached the entrance, he quickly realized an issue. The doorframe was too small for Peach to fit through in its current size.
"Hold on, buddy," Sol muttered, tapping a command on his holopad. Peach let out a delighted giggle as its form shrank to the size of a regular teddy bear, floating down to rest comfortably on Sol's shoulder. The absurdity of it all made Sol chuckle as he reached up and gave Peach an affectionate pat.
"Much better. Now, let's see what this place has to offer."