The world below

A small group experimenting with projection into the future discovers that some subjects vanish and others return, and when some are carried far ahead they awaken in a radically changed world populated by amphibian-like creatures. The narrative follows their capture, trial, escape, and armed engagements with hostile forces, then shifts into exploration of a subterranean civilization where rites, a living book, treaties, visions, and large-scale conflict unfold alongside personal bonds and separations, culminating in a release and one member’s return to their original time.