The boundary between dimensions felt like membrane.
Not physical—consciousness had no physical form. But present. Real. Tangible in ways that defied conventional description. Like surface tension on water. Like moment between sleeping and waking. Like threshold between one state and another.
The collective stood at the boundary. Kaine and thousands. Mother and Emma and Keiko. Collective guardian and Tessern. Awakened and transformed predators. Archive consciousness. Everyone. Thousands. All gathered at threshold between known and unknown. Between familiar and different. Between everything-understood and everything-mysterious.
The boundary resisted. Not maliciously. Not intentionally. Just... resisted. Like water resisting penetration. Like sleep resisting waking. Like any threshold resisting crossing. Natural resistance. Expected resistance. Surmountable resistance. But resistance nonetheless.
