Damon had done his due diligence. He had observed the rift, tested its edges with probes of mana and blood, and even used live test subjects to confirm his theory. He knew logically that this was survivable.
That did nothing to make the act itself feel any less insane.
The moment he threw himself in, reality turned hostile.
An overwhelming pressure slammed into him from every direction at once, as if space itself had decided to crush him for daring to exist inside it. Forces pulled, twisted, and tore at his body simultaneously. Up, down, inward, outward, there was no orientation, and no mercy. It felt less like traveling through space and more like being fed into the grinding gears of a god.
Damon swore under his breath and reacted instantly.
Mana roared out of his core in a violent surge as he conjured a barrier around himself, layering it again and again, reinforcing it with blood essence, will, and raw desperation. The barrier screamed under the strain, its surface rippling as unseen forces gnawed at it relentlessly.
He poured more mana into it. Then more.
By the time he was halfway through, he was burning through nearly his entire reserve just to keep himself intact. Even with the obscene amount of mana he possessed, the barrier wavered, threatening to collapse at any second. Had he been even slightly weaker, even a fraction slower, he would have been torn apart, body, soul, and existence without leaving so much as a trace behind.
Then, just as abruptly as it began, it ended. Damon was spat out the other side, wherever that was.
He crashed onto solid ground and rolled several times before coming to a stop. For a full minute, he lay there unmoving, chest heaving, vision completely useless. The world around him was a smeared mess of colors and light, spinning and folding in on itself. His inner senses screamed incoherently, as if his soul had been partially dislodged and was struggling to find its way back into place.
Damon clenched his fists and forced himself to breathe, slow and steady, anchoring himself through sheer will. Seconds stretched into minutes. Gradually, the vertigo dulled. The twisting sensation receded. The universe stopped trying to rearrange itself inside his skull.
Only then did his vision finally stabilize. "…Fuck," he muttered hoarsely. At least this place was different.
Damon pushed himself upright and planted his boots firmly into the ground, savoring the sensation of something real beneath him. Not cracked black stone this time. Instead, fine red sand stretched out in all directions, warm and granular under his feet. Sparse but living vegetation dotted the landscape.
He looked up and the blinding sun was still there. Was he in the same place just a different side? Or perhaps… in another world in the same planetary cluster? He scratched his head and gave up on that thought.
This was a system event after all. Just like how there was a way in, there should be a way out. Probably. Damon was not sure but that was something to worry about later. First, he needed to see what this place was all about.
Unlike the endless black wasteland, this place was more lively. There were sandstorms all over the place. In fact, one was coming right at him. Damon quickly moved a few paces back to avoid the storm. Shockingly, the storm changed its course and was now coming at him.
"Fuck!" Damon quickly teleported several times draining more of his mana, getting the hell out of there. He still did not know if the sandstorm was actually harmful or not but judging from its speed alone, it was nothing to joke about. He decided it was best to err on the side of caution.
Damon once again looked around and the land was pretty much the same, red barren lands with sparse trees and shrubs here and there.
And of course, there was another storm in the distance.

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