She was no longer eternal; a flicker of fear unlike anything she had felt in millennia. And yet, buried within the dread, there was something else: a thrill, a rush of anticipation that made her feel alive in a way she hadn’t in eons.

As she stepped through the breach, the air seemed to press against her, sharp and cold, with an unfamiliar energy that corrupted her very being. This place wasn’t just devoid of magic; it was a void that actively rejected her existence. She had visited barren worlds before, and they had been inhospitable but tolerable. But this world... this world was something else entirely. It wasn’t empty; it was wrong.

Her golden aura, once radiant and eternal, was already dimming, and the strength she had always known as inherent to her very existence was draining away. Something in this world that even she did not know had already tainted her essence beyond salvage.

She blinked against the harsh sunlight, finding herself surrounded by a forest of impossibly tall structures. Towers of glass and steel stretched skyward, reflecting the sun in dazzling patterns. She marveled for a moment, despite herself. To build such wonders without magic... it was audacious, reckless even. But it was also impressive. It fueled her determination.

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She hurried down a crowded street, her otherworldly presence drawing wary gazes. They sensed something about her, even in the human guise she had chosen, a form she often favored, that of an older woman. Perhaps she had grown to feel as ancient as she looked.

Her divine mind, so accustomed to bending the fabric of reality with a thought, struggled here. She could no longer see the tapestry of fate or the web of thoughts in mortal minds. It was a suffocating blindness and made the task even more difficult.

She needed someone good, a mortal capable of making the right choice when the moment came, when she would not have the power to force him. But how could she judge that without the clarity she’d always relied upon?

Each passing second shortened her lifespan. The corruption here was relentless, tightening its grip with every step. Her knees wavered, a tremor of weakness she wasn’t prepared for, and she stumbled.

A pair of hands steadied her.

She looked up to see a young man. He was tall, with agreeable features and kind, unassuming eyes. He didn’t speak but helped her to a bench nearby, his expression concerned.

Her lips curled into a faint smile. “Perhaps fate exists here, after all,” she murmured.

The words meant nothing to him; he didn’t understand her language. But it didn’t matter. The decision was already made. Her divine mark settled upon him, invisible and irrevocable. When the time came, he would be taken to her world. Whether he was ready for it or not.