Chapter 634: Wall of Divide
Max was utterly stunned as he stepped out of the Void Shuttle, his boots pressing against the clouds that, somehow, felt as solid as any stone pathway back in the Lower Domain.
He turned slowly, taking in the sight once more—the majestic floating city hovering in the sky, supported not by visible pillars or mountains but by massive, ever-spinning runes that glowed faintly beneath the surface, like celestial gears turning in silence.
"This is magical!" he muttered aloud, his voice barely more than a whisper as awe overwhelmed him.
"It certainly is," Aria replied with a gentle smile, clearly amused by his reaction. She had seen this reaction from many first-timers, but Max’s wonder still brought a flicker of pride to her eyes.
Max furrowed his brows, trying to piece things together. "Wait... is the Middle Domain in the sky or something?" The confusion in his tone was genuine.
From what he’d experienced, they had ascended through layer upon layer of clouds, then suddenly arrived at this seemingly divine stronghold. To him, it almost felt like they were nearing outer space. "So are we just going higher and higher?"
"That’s not it," Aria said as she disembarked from the shuttle, the fabric of her clothes flowing with the ethereal breeze. Her tone shifted into something more thoughtful as she explained, "Our world—Acaris—is actually hollow from within. At least, that’s what the oldest records and legends suggest. From the outside, in what we call the starry sky, it appears like a star, just one among countless others twinkling in the darkness. But the truth is, we don’t live on the outside surface of a world. We live inside it."
She turned to him as her boots touched down gently on the cloud-surface, which offered no hint of instability—only a firm, warm solidity, as if it were made of condensed essence rather than water vapor. "No one’s ever gone beyond to the starry sky or even confirmed what’s truly out there. The starry sky is unreachable. But what we do know is that within Acaris, from the Lower Domain to the Middle Domain, everything is layered like chambers inside a grand shell—connected by pathways, dimensions, and forces far beyond common comprehension."
Max fell into deep thought as he stood there, eyes scanning the ethereal city built on clouds, gears, and mystery. The idea that their world was hollow, an inverted shell of endless realms stacked upon each other, stirred something within him—an instinctive desire to explore it all. Every layer. Every secret.