Location from Pale by Wildbow
Reality's junk drawer — spaces between worlds where fragments of discarded realities clump together into navigable routes for Finders brave or desperate enough to run them.
The Paths exist between worlds, and what fills them is everything that reality decided it didn't need: coins with one face, buildings with no interiors, roads that lead to places that used to exist. Finders navigate these spaces using knotting techniques (twine patterns that establish routes) and the Gates of Horn (shared perception) and Ivory (solo deception-based observation). Avery specializes in Path-running — her hockey stick implement and rope-based abilities make her one of the fastest Finders in the series. The Paths are dangerous not because they're hostile (though some are) but because they're indifferent to human survival. Getting lost here doesn't mean you can't find your way back. It means you become Lost — an Other created by the Paths themselves, like Snowdrop.
The Paths are the 'detritus of reality' — fragments of discarded worlds, incomplete objects, and abandoned spaces clumping together into semi-coherent routes. Each Path has its own character: some are structured (Station Promenade), some are wild (Forest Ribbon Trail), some are devastated (the Ruins). Navigation relies on knotting techniques, Gates of Horn and Ivory, and the intuition of trained Finders.
Also known as: The Between, Path Territory