Marcus emerged from the transition between dimensions gasping, his lungs burning as if he had just surfaced from drowning in deep water. The caves surrounded him, stone walls that seemed to shift between different states of existence. One moment they looked solid and real, carved by natural erosion. The next moment they appeared translucent, as if he was looking at them through frosted glass, seeing the emptiness behind their physical form.
The Void Caverns existed in a state between realities. Marcus could see his own hand sometimes as flesh and blood, sometimes as an outline of energy, sometimes as pure thought taking physical form. The experience was deeply disorienting, but after the intense training with Kirin, he had enough control to keep himself anchored to his primary body.
He t
