Only when the raucous cacophony of the crashing debris and whooshing wind outside ceased was that he heard Amanda's screams. Everything was dark gray and muted except for their half of the limousine. Robert gripped Amanda's hand tight to avoid letting the void drain her soul. The tumbling vehicle went past the still lamppost and kept tumbling toward the ground.

They would be safe if they collided with the ground in the liminal void. Probably. But Robert didn't want to leave it to chance. What could he do? He could only thing of one thing. Taking a knife out of his ring, he cut a long length of seat belt, then tied it around both his and her forearms, tightening the knot with the help of his teeth. Amanda was still in shock and panicked, screaming. The only reason they stayed in the limousine was the seat belt but not it was gone.

Robert jumped out of the metal carcass, dragging Amanda with him. They flew in the air, spinning away from the vehicle. Above them, almost imperceptible, the shower of debris. Below, the pitch-black rocky ground. He saw no signs of vegetation anywhere. He also couldn't find the front half of the limousine with Josie. The driver was an Archhuman just like them. He had a duty to protect Amanda. Only after the heiress was safe would he look for the driver. Besides, she should be up there with the debris.

He made a mental note to add a parachute to his ring. Stretched as wide as he could, he lost little momentum as he fell. The back half of the car was, at least, below them.

They crashed into the rocks, finally. Robert felt the pain of the shock and only heard a grunt from Amanda. The young woman lost consciousness which might be a blessing in disguise. Robert wasted no time casting diagnosis on both of them. Were they in the real world, death would arrive within minutes. But here they had time. The number one problem with this kind of trauma was internal bleeding but neither of them had any blood flowing through their veins. In the liminal void, biological functions were suspended.

Cursing himself for wasting so much essence with stupid predictions, Robert used healing hands to fix the worst problems and guarantee they would stay alive after returning to reality. It wouldn't take long as his last visit was just a few minutes ago in real time. He used diagnosis again, making sure his ward wouldn't expire upon return.

Once color returned, shading the gray rocks with just a little vein of faded navy-blue, Robert knew he had little time. He closed his eyes, dove past the dragon's maw, and into the Netherecho. There, he dashed after any Life or Time wisps he could see, trying to recover at least some essence. He kept themselves from dying but it would be for nothing if they didn't leave the spot where they landed. Tons upon tons of debris sucked through the passage would fall right on top of them in just a few moments.

A few vestiges lurked between the rocks but nothing dangerous. The most abundant types of wisps were the Earth ones. Robert expected to see some Air wisps but found very few of those. That was the problem with rare affinities. While they might be marginally more powerful than the common ones, they were a pain in the ass to gather.

What little Robert gathered was immediately spent fixing his legs and hips. Outside the Netherecho, he scooped Amanda the way he could and took a few painful steps. He gasped for air but his lungs didn’t get much of it. It felt like they were on top of a mountain where the air was so thin it could barely sustain a person. But he needed to move. He took a dozen steps and then ducked back into the void.

Robert learned his lesson. Rapid jaunts into the liminal void would only tire him. Better to spend as much time as he dared in the real world and only then change dimensions. That would give him the most uninterrupted length of subjective time to get away from the falling urban landscape that was coming from above. He kept moving at that slow pace he could manage. Glancing behind and above, he saw the chunks of dirt, asphalt, sidewalk, and official signage about a mile above them. While it looked safe, he had a hunch they were falling at speeds so high that last mile would end abrupt and violently. The passage to this thin air realm sucked everything in a wide radius around it.

His plan changed. Instead of trying to outrun the massive rain of debris, he needed to find some sort of crack or crevice between these rocks that could house the two of them. The falling urban landscape might be solid but they had some food and water in their rings. With Amanda conscious, she might have a way to use her Earth affinity to open a path for them.

Finding a suitable overhang, Robert crawled underneath and pulled Amanda's unconscious body along. He held her close and folded her arms and legs so she stayed in a fetal position. Then he did the thing he did best. Wait. They left the liminal void and moments later, it was as if a rain of cannon balls descended upon the stone. A cloud of dust and debris erupted and filled all available spots.

Robert coughed. He pulled his shirt's neck up to cover mouth and nose, then extended a handkerchief over Amanda's face. Earth and small rocks entered the crevice, threatening to bury them alive. But the only thing he could do was to wait until everything settled, Amanda recovered her senses, and they could finally get out. The rumbling outside continued for several more minutes but stopped after that. Stillness, darkness, and an oppressing atmosphere surrounded the two.

Robert cast diagnosis again on both of them. Stable. Wounded, fucked, barely able to move, but stable. Underneath who-knew how many tons of rock and earth. He closed his eyes and started to meditate. Life was scarce in this realm they fell in. He caught only a few wisps. Time was the same everywhere except for the void. Slowly, he filled his essence and spent it fixing Amanda. His own wounds could wait but he needed her Earth affinity to get out of there.

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*

*

Hours later, Amanda stirred and coughed. Robert turned on a crystal lantern.

"Easy, easy. We are out of danger," Robert crooned. "Don't make any sudden movements. How are you feeling?"

"Like shit."

"Better or worse shit than being sucked through a passage into a realm with rarefied air, and trapped underneath dozens of feet of earth and rock?"

"Shit. Is this what happened to us?"

"Yes. We are not on Earth. Can you get us back to the surface? I'd rather not make this my tomb."

"I can try. Maybe, if I compact the dirt and rock into a denser form, I can make some room. It will cost a lot of essence, though. I might not make it in one go."

"All this place has are Earth wisps. Knock yourself out."

She accessed the Netherecho. "Damn, you are right."

"We might even find some remnants if you have shells ready for them."

"Exit first. Let me focus."

Robert heard the ground rumble and a shower of debris slid from the place Amanda was manipulating. She started to breathe faster.

"Keep your breathing and heart rate as slow as you can. You will only increase your energy consumption and demand more air if you freak out."

She coughed. "Easier said than done." More loose debris and dirt fell down. "Damn. Any space I open is filled right away with what's above."

"Can you make a tube out of compacted stone? It doesn't matter if it's full or not. I have an idea on how to hollow it later."

Amanda spent several hours making their escape chimney. She stopped to gather Earth wisps several times, depleting the area. In the meanwhile, Robert gathered what he could and used the essence he collected plus what he regenerated to fix his own wounds.

"I think it's done. I can't sense any rocks or dirt above the cylinder now."

"Good. Now, compact the inside of the cylinder into a solid column. It should open a gap between the two."

It would be another couple of hours before fresh air rushed into the small pocket of open space they sheltered in. Robert could see the compacted pillar resting against the stone floor.

"I'm exhausted."

"You did your part. We are only one step away from getting out. Now, let me do mine. Stay here."

Robert touched the pillar and entered the liminal void. He first gathered all the void wisps he could even if they were so few it wouldn't make much difference. But every drop of essence in the fuel tank helped. Then he laid down and slept for three days straight. Too bad he couldn't regenerate essence in the void. Once he returned, the pillar remained in the void.

"Ta-da! Now we can climb out," he said.

"Excuse me for not laughing. My ribs are killing me."

"Sure. Let's go back to the surface."

*

*

Just existing in that realm tired them out. They had to make several breaks during their climb but eventually reached the top. It was a complete mess. He saw the gray-navy rocks almost hidden under the deluge of stuff the passage sucked.

"What an alien sky," Amanda commented. "Is that the passage?"

A black disk was the only thing that stood out against the weird mauve sky. The realm had no sun, no clouds, no nothing. Robert closed his eyes and used life sense. he picked one signal. One living creature, with the strength of one-star.

"I think Josie survived. She's that way."

It was easy to miss a step and fall into a patch of too-loose earth.

"We can't go too far from the passage," Amanda said. "They will send someone through to rescue us. Besides, we need to stake Samson's claim on this realm."

After a certain power threshold, politics seeped into everything. Amanda's ambition to grow stronger faster, convert her farming talent into a combat one, surround herself with strong and loyal people. The Kraven resorting to their underhanded methods, throwing good money after the bad to acquire a single fresh Arch. While the move seemed dumb, they had to take the risk otherwise they would stagnate when everyone else moved forward. Several other factions were like that too. Everyone looking after their own bottom line at the expense of others. Especially at the expense of others if they were competing against you.

"Should we plant a flag?"

"I know of something better. I just need to recover some essence, and then I'll carve our logo on these rocks."

They moved slowly to where Robert sensed Josie. They kept looking for the front half of the limousine. The back half was in the liminal void, buried under all the debris that fell over them. It would be impossible to find without a special ability. Robert had no way to dig through solid matter in the void and anyone digging in the real world could very well miss an object in another dimension.

Robert pulsed sense life at various levels of power, and even one without any limitations. He picked only the fossorial microorganisms and animals that came with the dirt and survived the fall. These spread in a rough oval shape around them. Beyond that, the realm seemed as dead as outer space. Another half-hour hiking through the rough, rocky terrain, they found the limousine headlights poking out of the broken asphalt and debris.

"Damn, let me dig," Amanda started to move the rocks and dirt away from the vehicle's driver side while Robert kept watch.

Something in this realm put him on alert. It couldn't be this empty, could it? The wisp density was too low. The rarefied air suggested they were high up on a mountain but the rocky terrain went on at the same elevation on all sides, until it vanished at the horizon where it touched the mauve sky. Here, on the rocks, they felt no wind. Hours had passed and the sky's illumination didn't change. The stillness was unnerving.

Amanda paused to gather more wisps and replenish her strength. Robert kept his focus sharp, letting his natural regeneration slowly refill his essence. They drank some water from the strategic reserve they had in their rings, already thinking about rationing their supplies in case rescue took time.

"I can see her!" Amanda shouted from inside the hole.

"Is she conscious?"

"No! She hit her head on the door window. Her left side is covered in blood."

Robert used life sense again. He sensed Josie's lifeforce as clear as the mauve sky. "Is she breathing?"

"I can't tell! Come down here and use your spell on her."

"Grab my hand. I don't want to have both of us stuck in a hole in this hostile place."

"What? How can you get her out?"

"I'm sending this half of the car to meet the other one."

An idea he hadn't considered before came to mind. He could move boulders to the void, couldn't him? So long they were loose, it would be a matter of touching them to take them out of the real world. Robert pulled Amanda out of the hole and then jumped inside. He touched the car door and entered the liminal void. Only the door went with him.