The first thing Raizen noticed was the color of the light.

Neoshima's sky was usually hard and pale, sliced by towers and exhaust. Here, the clouds below the skyship shifted in soft layers, tinted green and gold like light shining through leaves. The whole world under them looked filtered, as if someone had laid a forest between him and the sun.

He rested his hand on the railing to feel the vibration of the engines. His legs still remembered the Med Wing bed, but the stiffness felt good. It meant he was standing. Moving. Doing something.

Behind him, one of the cabin straps creaked as Saffi shifted her weight again.

He glanced back.

She stood near the window, shoulders straight, eyes glued to the view. The thin folder was concealed under her jacket this time, pressed against her side. Her fingers tapped once along the seam, then stilled. If you didn't know her, you would miss it.

Raizen knew her.

Nervous.

He turned back to the glass as the clouds thinned.

The forest met them.

At first it was just a break in the white, streaks of dark green and hints of brown. Then the view dropped lower and the scale hit him at once.

A tree. No, that word was too small.

The central trunk speared up from a sea of foliage, wide enough to fit entire buildings. Branches as thick as streets twisted out in every direction. Other giant trees leaned close around it, their crowns overlapping until they formed a layered canopy that turned the air into shifting shade.

Raizen couldn't see it before, when they came for the relic, on the ground. Then, it just felt like a big, tall forest.

Built into the bark and branches were homes and halls and platforms. Some were carved straight into the trunk, windows glowing with soft blue lines. Others were circular structures grown outward, ringed with railings and hanging lanterns.

Lanterns. Hundreds of them. Small shapes dangling from branches and wires, swaying gently in the wind. Thin strips of light ran down their sides, warm and golden, like captured pieces of sunset.

Between them, small drones floated, round and quiet. A few carried crates. Some just hovered near the lanterns, little points blinking green.

Wood and metal. Rope and cable. Old and new.

The city in the trees.

A slow whistle cut through the cabin.

Kenzo leaned beside Raizen, arms folded over his chest.

"Never thought I would see an entire city decide the ground was optional" he said. "You couldn't pay me to be the guy who looked up and said "yeah, sure let's build everything on that" like it's simple."

Raizen huffed a breath that was almost a laugh.

"Afraid of heights now?"

"Please. I am afraid of falling. Very different."

Saffi stepped closer so she could actually hear them over the engine hum.

"Statistically" she started, "airship accidents are a lot rarer than ground transports. The failure rate is only around zero point zero three -"

Kenzo lifted a hand without looking at her.

"Do not finish that sentence unless the number ends in zero."

Saffi closed her mouth, then smiled and rolled her eyes at Raizen. Some of the tightness left her shoulders.

At the rear of the cabin, Professor Eiden stood alone.

He was near the second window, but he was not watching the view. His gaze seemed fixed somewhere a little past it, as if he was seeing something only he could see.

The reflected light turned the leather lines of his gloves white. His organic hand flexed once at his side, fingers opening, then curling into a loose fist.

Raizen could not read anything on his face. It was completely emotionless

Eiden had been quiet for most of the flight. It was not the comfortable quiet he was used to. This felt heavier. More deliberate.

Alteea's voice slipped back into Raizen's head.

"This stays between us. No one from Echelon can know. Not the Council. Not kenzo. Not even Eiden."

He still felt the weight of the moment, the way she leaned in, dangerously close to his face, all humor stripped from her eyes. The mission had pressed between her words.

Copy the file. Get it out. Don't be seen.

Raizen had wanted to ask why him. Why he was being sent to steal a secret that could ruin a man like Eiden.

He had not asked.

In the end, it did not matter. He owed Neoshima. He owed the people who had dragged him out of the Underworks and given him a purpose. If Alteea said this needed to be done, he would do it.

He exhaled, watching the platforms grow closer as the skyship slowly banked.

"Docking in thirty seconds" the pilot called from the front of the cabin. "Brace if you are not used to branch ports. They flex."

Kenzo grinned.

"Oh good. Moving floors. My favorite! You know, Raizen, back when the Phalanx was needed, we had a warmup exercise. Small tiles that would move exactly when you were sure that they wouldn't, faster than anyone else could keep up. I absolutely hated those!"

Raizen laughed, as he remembered the balance grid, the one Kori tortured them with for weeks.

The ship slid along the side of the main trunk, following glowing markers that curved toward a wide platform. Ridges in the wood formed a natural pattern like waves frozen mid splash. Thin metal pylons rose along the rim, holding guiding lights and rail lines.

Lanterns hung from the underside of a higher branch, their glow painting soft ovals over the landing area.

As they descended even more, Raizen saw people waiting.

A small group stood near the far edge of the platform. Four wore uniforms that could only belong to guards - bark colored armor over dark suits, with slim spears at their backs and small drones hovering near their shoulders. In front of them stood three figures in lighter clothes that matched the tree's colors but flowed more like cloth than armor.

They did not look tense. They looked patient.

Expectant.

The ship's skids touched down with a muted thump. The platform gave under them, then steadied, the motion gentle but undeniable. Kenzo's hand shot out to the side rail on instinct.

"See?" he muttered. "Ground is supposed to be solid, not wobbly."

Saffi checked the strap holding her jacket closed over the folder, then took a quiet breath.

"You ready?" Raizen asked.

She nodded. "I was ready back in the Med Wing. I just prefer missions that don't involve falling through branches."

"That's a fair preference."

The door hissed and slid aside.

Cool, leaf scented air rushed in, tinged with something metallic from the nearby pylons. The sound of the forest rolled up to meet them - a blend of rustling leaves, distant water, and faint machinery.

Kenzo moved first, as always.

He stepped onto the ramp like he was stepping onto a stage he owned, shoulders relaxed and stride easy. He squinted up once at the endless web of branches and bridges overhead,

"Try not to embarrass Neoshima" he called back over his shoulder.

Saffi made a funny face at his back, then followed. Raizen went after her, feeling the ramp vibrate under his boots. His legs were steady. No weakness, no echo of the Med Wing's slow heaviness.

Good.

The air felt different here. Softer. It carried damp earth and sap, and something faintly sweet he couldn't name yet. Tiny insects drifted near the lanterns but never touched them, as if stopped by an invisible line.

Raizen reached the bottom of the ramp.

Up close, the main trunk felt less like a tree and more like a wall of living wood. The bark rose in ridges taller than he was, lines twisting like old scars. Small pipes and cables ran through natural grooves, disappearing into grown housings. The tech her didn't fight the wood. It hid inside it.

He tore his gaze away and focused on the group ahead.

Kenzo had stopped a few paces from them. Saffi stood slightly behind his left shoulder. Raizen moved into place on his right. Eiden joined them a moment later, footsteps careful on the flexible surface.

The three figures stepped forward.

The one in the middle was a man in his late thirties, maybe older, with skin the color of worn bark and dark hair braided back with thin silver threads. His clothes were a layered mix of deep green and soft brown, fastened with pale metal clasps.

His eyes flicked over them in one smooth pass.

Kenzo. Saffi. Raizen. Eiden.

He did not seem surprised by any of their faces.

A small smile touched his mouth, the kind that had practiced itself in many greetings.

Raizen felt, very suddenly, the full weight of the folder against Saffi's side. The secret Alteea had placed in their hands. The mission that no one here was supposed to know about.

No one.

The man stopped a respectful distance away.

Kenzo opened his mouth, likely to introduce them or crack some line about the architecture, but the man spoke first, his voice clear and warm, carrying easily across the landing platform and into the forest air.

"We have been expecting you" he said.

"Welcome to Ukai."

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