POV: Riley

The moment we crossed the Threshold, everything changed. Color. Sound. Sensation. All of it rushed back, but not like normal reality. Everything here was more. Hyper-real. So vivid it almost hurt.

We stood in a garden that stretched to infinity. Every blade of grass pulsed with creative energy. Each stone hummed with purpose. Flowers bloomed in colors that shouldn't exist but somehow did, more beautiful than anything I'd ever seen.

"Riley," Aaron whispered beside me. His hand squeezed mine. "Is this real?"

"More real than anything else we've ever experienced," I said. And I knew it was true. This place was existence at its purest. Reality undiluted.

At...