I flailed uselessly as open air extended away like eternity and the astonishing sight made me forget the terrifying danger for a second. The ground lurked so far below, it was like I’d fallen off a plane almost all the way up into space instead of sliding off a road.

After a couple seconds of absolute terror, I realized I felt no rushing wind, no movement at all. I twisted around to look behind me and just stared as I tried to piece together what was happening.

I was floating in the air about twenty yards beyond the end of the road. I had barely dropped after flying off the edge. More like sliding out on an invisible ramp of air. My heart beat so fast it threatened to hammer a hole in my chest. Panic made it hard to breathe as I looked around wildly.

Were we just hovering? Confused, I looked down again.

Bad idea. My heart nearly stopped, frozen with icy terror as I noticed something I’d missed in those first panicked seconds after sliding off the road. Far, far below, the ground was receding at unbelievable speed.

That wasn’t how gravity worked. I’d jumped out of countless airplanes, but one did not fall upward.

A hole that had to be 10 times the size of Lake Tahoe was ripped right out of the middle of Colorado. Edmund was right. We had all fallen into the sky. Entire mountains had ripped free and blasted straight into the air.

The sight was so mind-boggling, I couldn’t process it. Instinct kicked in and I shifted to a standard skydiving pose, but that didn’t accomplish anything. I looked around again, trying to understand. It was like the planet had rolled over on its side and part of Colorado had simply fallen off. Were we going to fall all the way up into space?

The sky turned black. We were moving way too fast.

We weren’t in space, though. We couldn’t be. Space was cold and empty and void, but I could breathe and the air felt hot, not freezing.

For a second I could see the entire curve of the planet like in the photos from the space shuttle. Stars blazed everywhere by the millions, and the moon peeked around the back side of the Earth. In any other situation, I would have exulted to see that awesome sight. Today it just made me feel small and helpless.

I hated feeling helpless, but fought down the urge to flail and scream and do, well, anything. I needed to think.

Then everything winked out to black. Darkness consumed my vision so complete it was like my eyes had fallen out without me realizing it.

An invisible force flung me through the total blackness, as if a giant had decided to throw my body like a fast ball. My stomach twisted and I tasted bile. I couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, couldn’t feel anything. I had no point of reference. My mind was on the verge of shutting down from nightmare overload.

Then sight rushed back and all I could do was gape.

We’re so far from Kansas, Toto.

I floated in space, even though I could still breathe. I didn’t feel cold, or feel anything at all. No air, no atmosphere, no wind. An absolute absence of sound left me hearing only phantom ringing. I just hung in the air, looking down at a planet.

Not our planet.

I’d seen enough pictures of Earth from space to realize something was very wrong. The planet seemed somehow too small, even though it filled space beneath me.

On the surface, land masses made up of a patchwork of browns and greens might be mountains and forests. I had no idea what the orange or yellow sections might be, though. I saw no oceans.

I couldn’t move my neck, but my eyes worked. Craning them to the side, I realized I was not alone. All around me, more people floated, hanging helpless and silent in space like a mob of corpses who hadn’t realized we were already dead.

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I tried to shout in defiance, but could not make a sound. I could not twitch a finger. I was totally frozen, except for my eyes. So I watched and tried to find a shred of calm.

Relax, Lucas. Maybe you just had a stroke, and this is just a nightmare triggered from your oxygen-starved brain before you die.

Not helping.

The mountains, the valley, all the land, and everything that wasn’t people swept past and fell toward the planet. I caught a glimpse of wooden palisade walls in the midst of it. That clump of Colorado moved so fast, it was already shrinking to a brown mass of dirt, heading toward the surface of the alien planet like a meteor.

“Congratulations contestants from Earth! I am thrilled to welcome you.”

The voice boomed across the empty expanse of space. It was a male voice with a distinct British accent, and he sounded extremely pleased.

Beneath us, the land mass we’d ridden from Colorado smashed into the side of the planet, but did not explode or even make a crater. The land just seemed to sink into the surface of the planet. The mosaic of colored sections of ground, each the size of Texas, shifted and twisted, as if making room for one more part.

I was starting to feel decidedly sick, but didn’t want to throw up in space. I’d never thrown up during a jump, and refused to do so now.

Far below, the land that had been part of our home world writhed on the surface of the planet, shifting between various bright colors before settling back to brown and green like one should expect earth to be.

“Welcome to Arasha,” a different voice spoke. This one was a warm, female voice with a subtle French accent.

The invisible man added, “I must apologize for the abrupt nature of your travel. I should have at least supplied peanuts. I believe that is the preferred travel ration on your world. I don’t understand why that might be, given so many better options even on such a basic planet, but who am I to judge?”

“Ha!” he laughed like a sudden pealing of thunder before continuing in a more conversational tone.

“That’s exactly my job. More about that later. Anyway, I hate to make such a jarring experience the foundation of our first meeting. Unfortunately, I had no alternative. Your entry was approved at the very last moment and some sacrifices must be made to keep schedules on track. Certainly you understand.”

Maybe this was all a dream? The stroke idea was sounding more and more plausible. I didn’t want to die, but that would be better than lingering as a vegetable, my mind stuck in a crazy nightmare.

Or maybe one of those newbs swinging a fake sword had lost his grip and threw it across the tent and clobbered me in the back of the head. I’d still end up lying paralyzed in a hospital bed, suffering morphine-induced hallucinations, but somehow that seemed preferable.

The voice didn’t care and continued on with that gushing good humor.“What schedule, you may be asking? Again, more on that to come. I don’t want to bore you with the details. You are no doubt distracted by the inspiring view I’ve given you of the integration of your lands into the challenge world.”

Yeah, the view was way more than distracting.

“I did choose the most remote chunk of land that fit the parameters of the contest, but I suppose a lot of your countrymen will be asking a lot of very entertaining questions right now. Oh, well, seeking for answers beyond what one considered possible in the past is healthy for one’s ongoing progression. Think of the unique real estate opportunities.”

More like panic. People would definitely not react well to having a major chunk of a state suddenly excised from the planet and teleported away. How long before anyone realized some of us had gotten caught in the disaster? How long before Isabella knew I was missing? How about our parents?

“Back to the game, then, since that’s what you’ve been selected to join. That’s right, the one thousand of you are the lucky few chosen to represent your planet in a contest unlike any other! Prove yourselves worthy, and you’ll win prizes beyond your wildest imaginations.”

After a pause, the voice continued. “On the other foot, if you fail, you’ll all die and your entire world will be destroyed, along with every living soul on it. How are those for fantastic stakes, right?”

The voice laughed as if that was somehow hilarious, then added, “On to the show!”

We started falling toward the planet.

I tried moving, but was still locked in some kind of stasis. Screaming in my mind still worked, and I unleashed all my terror in the recesses of my own thoughts as I accelerated like I’d been fired from a cannon. We all zoomed toward the surface of the planet just like that chunk of Colorado had.

Did the voice not realize we were flesh and blood? Crashing down at this speed would splatter us like bugs against a windshield. This was going to be the shortest game in the history of the universe.

I tried to find a sense of thrill I usually felt pushing the limits, but this time I got nothing. I closed my eyes, willing myself to wake from the coma. I felt no wind, but when I cracked open my eyes again the planet was rushing up to meet me with terrifying speed. Whatever was really going on, I was about to die.

If only I’d asked Isabella to marry me already. Idiot!

What a stupid game.

I shot past tall mountains like a ballistic missile and barely had time to tense before smashing into the ground with unimaginable force.