Richard's consciousness flared to awareness, not in his new physical body, but in a vast, boundless expanse of pure, blinding white. There was no discernible up or down, no end to the shimmering, featureless void.
Disoriented, he struggled to recall the last moments before this impossible reality: the terrifying future vision where every decision he had planned had turned to ash, all because he had held back. He had been consumed by a silent, internal rage. Now, he was here, suspended in nothingness.
"Where am I?" he shouted, his voice echoing into the profound silence. "What is this place?!"
His frantic calls were met by a gentle, ethereal voice that seemed to emanate from everywhere and nowhere at once. [ A'thera. K'nal'tar. Z'rath-el. ] it resonated, the words subtly translating in his mind: "Calm down. You are in your mind space."
