"Where's the passage?"

Robert shouted as his hopes of leaving this place and avoiding another shitty encounter with an eidolon that could be considered a god and seemed to have a propensity to just go "I am Atomic!" at the touch of a button. Even the added affinity was a mixed blessing. He had no idea when Cerebelon's taxman would come calling. And neither Amanda nor Freddy were that much better. Amanda flinched when he shouted, and Freddy had his tail between his legs.

"It's still around," Noah said. "And we are still alone. There's no living creature within more than a dozen miles away from us.

Were Robert in his right mind, he'd wonder how Noah had this huge detection range when his own Life sense was only reliable at a distance of a few hundred feet.

"Okay. Amanda, do you have enough essence to cover us in a stone dome?" Noah asked.

"Does it need to be thick? A special ore or something?" Amanda said.

"No. It only needs to be waterproof and somewhere elevated," Noah replied.

"Then it's fine. I can shape some stone to make a mound."

"Okay. Raise the platform, about two feet tall, and hold on to the dome until I say so."

She did as requested, first using stone shape to create a two-foot elevated platform, then preparing the spell.

Standing on the edge, Noah traced a rune out of snowflakes outside the platform. "Natural disaster: blizzard!" After chanting and slamming his palm on the rune, he ducked inward. "Now."

Amanda raised the dome as the blizzard picked up the pace, covering a huge area. It seemed that finesse wasn't a word in their teacher's repertoire. Then they waited. Fifteen minutes later, Noah broke the silence.

"Amanda, could you gather the water drenching our clothes and drain it outside?"

She frowned but did as asked. Noah then took his winter coat out of his storage. Robert and Amanda did the same, and Freddy got a padded jacket for dogs.

"You may dismiss the dome now," Noah said, then nodded. "And thank you."

The air was freezing when the dome came down. Patches of sloshy brown snowy mud covered the floor. As their flashlights searched the tunnel, they found a small trickle of murky water running sixty feet above them and a passage to a dark realm fifteen feet in the air. They couldn't see it before because of the steam.

"And there you go, Robert. Our way out."

"Will this realm recover?" Robert asked.

"Eventually? Yes. it may take years or decades. I sense no essence in the water above," Noah said.

"I need to rest before I can make a ramp to reach the passage," Amanda said.

"That is fine. Sit down and gather. I can keep watch," Noah said with a calm voice.

They meditated and tried to gather wisps passively. Robert assumed the ban on the Netherecho was still in place. When they got a full essence pool three hours later, Amanda enlarged the platform enough to fit their tent. They went to the liminal void to rest and calm their minds. Robert's artifice timepiece told them they had twenty days before finally leaving this place.

*

*

Though he was curious to see what the evolution of his talent was. But he had guests in the liminal void and his presence was their lifeline. He sat down and took one of the books from the cultist's ring that explained how the Void affinity worked.

It theorized that the connected realms in the interspace were like soap bubbles floating and bouncing against one another. Whenever these bubbles touched, they got linked and a new passage opened. The Void, then, was everything else that was not a realm. An endless abyss upon which the bubbles floated. It also said that far away from the bubbles, another disconnected realm existed. One where true gods lived.

Their Pail Priestess was the first human Void Arch that existed. She had dual affinities, Void and Lightning. She also was the first human to contact these gods from beyond the void. She also worked for a certain media company that turned into a cult before the rift cataclysm. That explains the cult ties with Mickey and company. The book speculated that she had a summoning talent and could bring creatures from across the veil. Said creatures from across the veil must be the ones he sensed when Mickey took him to the deep void to gather wisps.

The part about diving deeper might be this. He could now go to the deep void from the liminal void. But what about the Emperor going places?

Robert knew, from the reading material the cultist had, that the Void affinity had movement as one of its key characteristics. The man knew the void walk spell, which allowed him instantaneous transportation through the liminal void. Worked fine for everyone but against Robert it became a liability. Destruction was the other strength of the Void.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

He found a paper stuck to the back cover of the book he didn't notice before. It was yellowed and had some cursive script that was hard to read. It described a ranged spell, dubbed "void lance". By creating a spiral of void essence and compressing it, one could make a long and thin projectile to destroy matter and energy far away from the caster. The spell was very hard to dodge and defend against as the lance traveled almost instantly. It existed partially in reality and partially in the liminal void. Robert approached Noah and showed him the paper. The teacher scanned it with the blue-painted eye, then handed it back.

"Do you think you can cast this? Void spells are a pain to train because of one mishap and you're toast. But you should hold back on using this spell until we return to reality. If the paper is correct and it exists simultaneously in this dimension and reality, it will be constrained by reality's time frame. If you cast it here in the liminal void, I'm afraid we'll see a very slow-traveling chunk of Void energy that's bound to cause us trouble."

It made sense. Robert stored the paper in his ring and went back to reading. He found nothing of note. He played his guitar to Freddy in his room, then grew completely bored. He slept, trained with the sword, and the spear, and even added a pair of daggers to his weapon training routine. The sword was fine but useless in real close quarters.

*

*

Alone in her room, Amanda was anxious.

The tension in the camp rose as time went by. Everyone wanted to get out of there, into a new realm, or even back home. To Amanda, the expedition's goal had already been reached. They ascended to two stars. For good or worse, their talents evolved and they even got a lot of combat training. She believed they should go back home.

She didn't want to deal with all this stress. Unknown creatures destroying an entire realm, the fear of getting stranded in another world, and how Robert was shutting down, isolating himself in introspection and reading those weird cultist books. She feared he would abandon her and join the cult. It was totally irrational and she knew it but the thought never left her mind.

The truth was that the isolation was killing her. She wanted someone to talk to, some female friend to confide in. Robert and Noah were always available but they were guys. She couldn't talk to them about everything. All conversations had to be curated. She also didn't speak Taulusian. While Freddy would hear and understand her, he wouldn't talk back. She was isolated. If at least Robert took care of her other needs but it was no good either. She had to do that herself.

Their relationship would never evolve to the place she wanted it to be. She knew that but the frustration piled up with everything. The princess and the knight's secret affair was fine on bodice rippers but it would be catastrophic if they did it and the world learned about that. Robert would become a fugitive or die. Most likely die. She wasn't willing to destroy him to satisfy a whim. She had her responsibilities and he had his. He would never know and she would hide it from the world in her heart of hearts.

She wasn't free. She was a cog in the great machine that was Samson Corporation. They expected her to ascend to four stars, take over the conglomerate from her granny, and lead it to greatness. For the sake of Samson, she would sacrifice her happiness. Hell, even if she confessed and became an item with Robert, who could tell if it would last? They came from radically different backgrounds. She knew all of that, but why did it hurt so much?

She should recruit a maid or two. Not only it would improve their expedition's combat power, but they would also...

Amanda sighed.

These maids would treat and pamper her and agree with everything she said as if they were words of truth from God himself. They would never be true friends. What if she hired actresses who would forever pretend to be the real thing? Would she one day believe the lie? What if she asked Robert to mess with their memories?

She would really love it if she wasn't so high on the consciousness scale. She could be irresponsible, have an affair with her bodyguard, and then flip the bird at the world. Who would chastise her? So long as she fulfilled her responsibilities, the world was willing to look the other way. She had money, and she had power, so why couldn't she be happy and have fun instead of lying down on her bed and suffering?

Even the secret acts of self-indulgence were starting to feel dull. Mechanical. She rose from her bed and tidied everything up. She put some essence in the air freshener and finished hiding the evidence with her water magic. Then she sat in front of the vanity.

One hour later, impeccably dressed in her uniform and looking prim and proper, she opened the zipper and walked out.

*

*

Robert was in the living room reading a primer on Mental magic when he heard a zipper rip open. Amanda came out wearing her academy uniform. Her braided hair was tidy and without a single loose strand. Her face looked like a porcelain doll, not a single imperfection in sight.

"Hey," he said with a smile. "What's the occasion?"

"Oh, this?" She touched her braid. "Nothing. I just felt like dressing up. How do I look?"

"As gorgeous as ever," he replied with the same smile.

"What are you reading?" She approached and leaned down to look at the book on the table.

Damn. She smelled nice. More than nice. The perfume was sweet and entrancing.

"The Mental magic primer," Robert replied.

She giggled. "How many times have you read this book?" Amanda could see some wear on the page edges.

"More than a few dozen times," he replied. "I got nothing if not time."

Amanda pulled a chair to sit next to Robert. She let out a deep sigh. "I don't know how you endure it."

Robert nodded. "When you have no choice but to endure, you learn and adapt. My talent will drag me to the liminal void every twenty-four hours if I don't use it first. If you allow me one small slight, I believe it's similar to what women have to endure every month."

She raised an eyebrow, then nodded and smirked. "I see. It's uncomfortable but inevitable."

"It's easier when I have a big library to borrow books from."

"Easier for you. You have no idea how much the arcology librarians complained about you," She laughed. "Dad had to shut them down and threaten to replace them."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You weren't making a mess with the books for nothing. You read all of them, right?"

"Yes. Of course, I did."

Amanda patted his shoulder. "Then all is fine. Turn that place upside down if you need to. If you want. Hey."

"What is it?"

"Would you help me with the hundred wet hells tempering now?"

"Not in here. We can't recover essence."

Amanda pouted. She let her back slouch a bit. "I'm bored, Robert."

"Do you want to play a game? I have a chessboard."

"Chess is boring."

"Checkers?"

Amanda yawned. She rested her cheek against the table facing away from him. She mumbled-whispered, "Ugh ee oh-ert."

"What? Sorry, I don't understand."

She sighed. "Never mind."

Amanda either hiccuped or sobbed. Robert wasn't sure what that faint squeal was. He rubbed her back.

"Don't be nice to me!" She whined.

His hand stopped but he didn't break contact. "If something is bothering you, I can lend an ear."

She slowly rose and looked deep into his eyes. Hers flickered to and fro as she tried to read his mind. "Anything?"

"You can even have Mrs. Samson ask me how many times I willingly let someone know about one of your secrets."

She glanced down, pursed her lips, then stared back with renewed intensity. Glad the makeup hid her skin color, she threw caution to the wind.

Amanda pounced. Her arms wrapped around his neck like twin snakes. Then she kissed Robert.