It is night, and the stars overhead are brilliant. You stand on uneven ground, on a wide ribbon of crumbling black rock and sharp white coral... the edge of a reef. Behind you, it borders a calm lagoon, but it's a long swim or a trek along the coral to reach the strangely distant shore. The reef curves away from where you stand in both directions.

To the left, it makes a wide arc until, far away, it runs into the sand of the beach. Waves crash against its outer edge, filling the night with their steady, hollow boom and beading your skin with cool salt spray.

To the right, it continues for only a few feet before it drops off abruptly at a gap, much too long to leap across. The sea pours through the break, a deep current pulling steadily down and out to sea. The seaward edge of the gap shelves out shallowly enough that you could wade into the current a little way.

Directly in front of you, the water is oddly still. Tiny, gentle waves lap at the edge of the reef. You can see the stars reflected thickly in the water. They form a shining path, leading out to sea, and up... the stars themselves continue the path, unbroken, into the heavens.

*he knows this place from Mau's memories and descriptions, and while it's nice to see the Nation...

...heading out to the right, the water supporting his weight, his aura flickering slightly as he invokes his magic*

You can feel the tug of the current under your feet, deep and powerful. The sea is choppy and ahead of you, in the open water, the swell runs high. Something silver glimmers, under your feet...

*looking down...?*

Below the waves, moving in the current just on the edge of visibility, a silver thread hangs in the water.

*well. okay. silver ping.

letting the magic lapse, but keeping a bubble of air around himself as he sinks. getting a closer look at what's down there.*

[just...soaking it up for a moment]

[and then. whoa. starpath. clearly I need to hop on the shining path dino yes.]

The water wobbles under your feet, but bears your weight, and as you follow the path across the water it slopes gently up into the air, a glittering path of white light, unsteady but solid enough. The air gets colder as you climb.

[walking carefully, light on his feet and ready to drop into a glide if something gives out. shivering a tad]

You climb up and up, leaving the sea behind more rapidly than should be possible, until you find yourself walking among stars -- close-hanging, brilliant globes of white fire. Although you continue to move upwards with astonishing speed, a weight seems to be pressing down on you. It drags at your limbs, settling into a deep ache across your shoulders, and now it is so cold that you can see your breath.

[this is so beautiful and wondrous, but...reaching around to rub at his shoulders, looking around and above above, he doesn't like that, and he definitely doesn't like the cold, brr brrr]

[well then '-' after taking a good look around, heading to the left. even in a dream I do not trust water to take my weight.]

The coral crunches and crumbles under your shoes, and your progress seems strangely slow. The beach remains distant, almost as if it's moving away from you as you move toward it.

[well, keeping that up for a bit; if it seems like this will be a problem indefinitely, turning towards the water itself]

It seems like you will get there eventually, it will just be a long, slow slog. And after a bit the air pressure changes suddenly, pressing down on you like a great weight, making your ears pop.

[pausing at that, looking around warily]

What--?

[...The right seems to be a long drop into the abyss, so clearly I must check it out.]

Are you wading out or diving in?

[The fact that you have to ask...Wading out for now.]

The waves swirl cold around your ankles, pulling toward the open sea. You can only wade out to about knee-depth before the reef drops off abruptly and there's nowhere to go but down.

]...Welp, now I'm diving in.]

This is...

[heading for the left, hesitantly]

The coral crunches and crumbles under your shoes, and your progress seems strangely slow. The beach remains distant, almost as if it's moving away from you as you move toward it.

[that's mildly infuriating but I am very stubborn. still heading for the beach!!]

It's a long, long walk... the beach hardly seems to be growing closer at all. And then the air pressure increases, sudden and painful, making your ears pop.