Jack came to with a pounding headache, and a jumbled memory of swinging a pickaxe at where he’d sensed the unmistakable pull of Earth Element, and then pain.

“What happened?” he asked Isaac as he opened his eyes, and then his eyes told him what his brain had been hinting at the last few moments.

Oh. Of course. He’d almost forgotten about this place - had hoped never to see it again. The Void.

“Ah crap” he said to himself as he was reacquainted with the sight of endless night and the drifting haze of distant objects whirling through it.

He took stock of himself; he was still wearing the dusty clothes he'd been mining in, complete with language stone and drained Earth Element bead in the pockets.

Whoever said you can't take it with you was lying, came the sardonic thought.

Then again, this place bore no relation to any heaven or hell that he'd ever heard described either. So maybe it was all wrong.

"And boring to boot" he said to the void at large. Provided nothing else hits me, he added silently.

He felt the space around him starting to warp. “Here we go aga…”.

>>>>

The loud whistling of air rushing past brought him back to his senses.

Blue Sky, check. Clouds, check. All good so far, he thought.

High speed wind. Clothes cracking madly while being whipped by the aforementioned wind. Uhm, not so good. He tried to turn his head against the push of the wind to at least try and get a glimpse of where he was heading.

Somewhere in the infinite Cosmos, a horde of scarab like creatures dined on the unexpected feast that had fallen out of thin air, while leathery buzzards flapped around, tearing off parts of the few larger remains.

>>>>

Some sixth sense instinctively told Jack that wherever that brief glimpse of sky had been, he was no longer there.

“Really? REALLY!?” he shouted into the void that he’d been ejected from what felt like moments ago.

>>>>

Jack spluttered and coughed as he dragged himself onto the muddy bank. He failed to fight back the urge to vomit as the ordeal caught up to him - either from the water he’d inadvertently swallowed after his splashdown, or the gut wrenching nature of his arrival.

Being kicked out of the void was unpleasant enough that doing it twice in short succession was definitely on his list if things to avoid. Not that I seem to have much choice in the matter, he thought.

“At least I survived the landing this time” he muttered to himself.

He pulled his mud covered self further away from the water’s edge onto softer grass before tiredly turning himself over and sitting up.

It was idyllic. He’d splashed down near the edge of what looked like a large pond, surrounded by woodland that reminded him strongly of a Bob Ross painting. All dark greens, with insects and birds starting to chirp again merrily after his rude entrance.

Looks like I’m the ‘Happy Accident’ in this scene.

No waking up a patient in a town of freakishly strong people. Major improvement on his stint as a slave in a desert mine. There didn’t seem to be anything immediately threatening, such as the ground approaching at a high speed.

“This is more like it!” he said, taking in his surroundings.

He sat there until the aches and pains of his arrival started to fade, and then stood up to take better stock of his surroundings.

The pond was mostly still, with a patch of reeds the only feature to disturb its surface. Mostly surrounded by thick woods, apart from where he’d crawled out of it where there was a bit of a clearing.

There were animal tracks along the edge of the pond, but all of the smaller variety. The local fauna seemed to consist of hooved animals, with the exception of several sets of pawprints that could have belonged to an average sized house cat.

It was pleasantly warm, with only the slightest of breezes to ruffle the leaves of the surrounding trees, so he stripped and carefully ventured into the pond to wipe off the muck. He cleaned his clothes as best he could, but they were rapidly turning into rags thanks to his none too gentle travels.

Even a few sips of the water left him feeling amazingly refreshed, which was something he hadn’t experienced in his time as a desert captive. Even his aches and pains from mining were fading fast.

Dripping wet, he started to explore his surroundings. He couldn’t identify the trees, which had straight trunks but oddly round leaves. Once he moved away from the pond the grasses quickly gave way to a sort of moss covering the ground between the trees.

His stomach growled at the sight of a mushroom patch, but he wasn’t going to risk those if he didn’t have to - although I’m already on one hell of a trip.

He didn’t venture too far from the pond. If he was going to survive here, it wouldn’t do to abandon his one source of water without knowing the lay of the land. And the sky was starting to glow the orange of dusk, so he’d arrived late in the local day.