Thor was momentarily stunned by the starry sky beyond the barrier.
Many guesses flashed through his mind. The first was whether the Chaos Domain was floating in space, protected by a layer of barrier so it wouldn't fall apart in the void or have to withstand the dangers out there.
But the barrier didn't seem to seal everything off completely. After all, there was already a hole in it, and he didn't know whether that hole might eventually become a breach that kept widening.
Thor first inspected the opening the Fate Line had passed through. He found that the Fate Line's passage hadn't changed the shape of the opening. And that tiny pinhole hadn't let anything else from the Chaos Domain world leak out.
Not even a speck of dust.
In other words, the crack was a hole to the Fate Line, but not necessarily to the rest of the world.
After all, even a pinhole-sized crack could let plenty of things through.
Somewhat reassured, Thor continued to guide the Fate Line outward, exploring further.
But as he continued, Thor realized that the outside wasn't actually space.
Or rather, he was in space, but in a place where he could see the universe.
When he'd first emerged through the crack, it had been facing the starry sky, so that was all he'd seen.
"This is like looking at the sky from the bottom of a well."
After passing through the crack and extending a little farther, Thor saw land beneath the starry sky.
Then he realized that his position seemed to be above a plane—or, more precisely, the ground.
The line continued to rise. Once it had climbed high enough, it turned back.
Thor saw a stretch of land.
A stretch of land even more desolate than the Chaos Domain.