Shinji moved slowly toward the wooden pedestal, his hands trembling as they reached for the ancient scrap of paper. Behind him, the others held their breath, their eyes fixed on the relic. It looked incredibly fragile and tattered, as if the weight of a thousand years had gnawed at its edges—it seemed like it might crumble into dust with a single heavy breath.
"Got it!"
Shinji cried out, carefully clutching the paper before sprinting back toward his companions.
"Great! Now let's get out of here!"
Omelet barked, immediately turning to lead the way as the group followed closely behind.
As they ran, Shinji glanced down at the manuscript. It was covered in strange, intricate symbols—an ancient script he had never seen before and couldn't begin to decipher. Seeing his confusion, Omelet reached out, and Shinji trustingly handed the paper to his small friend.
They burst out of the library and raced across the massive balcony toward the wooden stairs that led down the trunk. Lumber and Gumber, still tucked inside their wooden barrels, led the charge at a breakneck speed.
"After this, I bet we're going to be swimming in rewards!"
the two brothers chatted excitedly as they ran.
However, when the group was only halfway across the balcony, a sharp whistle of wind and the piercing shriek of a predator echoed through the air. Before they could process what was happening, the Great Tree Perga shuddered violently. A massive shockwave rippled from the roots to the canopy, throwing everyone off balance and slamming them onto the wooden floor.
"What's happening?!"
Shinji screamed in terror.
Then, an impossible sight unfolded. A clean, terrifyingly precise strike had sliced through the monumental trunk of the Great Tree Perga—a trunk thousands of meters thick. The razor-sharp cut split the massive tree in two. Perga, the ancient symbol of eternity, began to tilt. The sound of wood splintering roared across the sky like thunder, signaling the collapse of the entire ecosystem above.
As the tree gave way, the group was hurled off the edge of the balcony. Shinji lost his grip and tumbled into the open air. Omelet dove after him, grabbing Shinji's shirt with every ounce of strength he possessed. The others were falling too, scattered in the chaos. In the face of certain death, Omelet realized he couldn't save everyone; he focused all his power on pulling Shinji upward.
"Don't worry! I won't be a coward anymore!" Omelet vowed, straining to haul the boy back up.
But the sheer mass of the falling tree created a violent vortex of wind, dragging everything down into the abyss. Despite Omelet's desperate effort, the gale was too strong. He lost control and was sucked down into the plummet along with Shinji.
They fell from a height of over 2,000 meters. The air pressure and the howling wind felt like they were tearing their bodies apart. Shinji tried to open his eyes, but the wind lashed against them so fiercely it felt like thousands of needles piercing his pupils. He tried to call out to his friends, but the wind swallowed his voice the moment it left his lips. In what felt like his final moments, Shinji caught a glimpse of Lio falling in the distance, his body limp and unconscious.
"Lio..."
Shinji whispered his friend's name before everything faded into black.
In the midst of the darkness, Shinji felt a strange warmth enveloping him. His body no longer ached; instead, he felt a sense of profound relaxation, as if he were drifting peacefully down a calm river. He wanted to stay in this tranquility forever.
"WAKE UP!"
A raspy, bitter, old voice barked directly into his ear, jolting Shinji awake. He found himself lying at the bottom of a deep crater, a hole carved into the earth by the impact of his own body. Miraculously, despite falling from such a height, he was completely unharmed, without a single scratch.
Shinji struggled to his feet and looked around. Thick clouds of dust and ash choked the air. The monolithic trunk of the Great Tree Perga now lay prone on the ground, having crushed half of the dense forest beneath it. In the distance, Omelet was hovering over the wreckage, frantically searching for the others.
Omelet found Lio first. He had luckily landed on a massive mushroom that cushioned his fall, though he was still unconscious and slightly bruised. As for Lumber and Gumber, the brothers had tumbled into a hollow mushroom. As they slid down its interior, the mushroom emitted melodic, flute-like sounds that seemed to protect them from the lethal impact. However, their wooden barrels had been smashed into a hundred pieces.
"URNEY!!"
Lumber wailed in agony, kneeling beside the broken wooden slats. Gumber, though covered in mud and dirt, ran over sobbing as well.
Grief quickly turned to white-hot rage. The two brothers gripped their spears tightly and wiped away their tears, their eyes burning with hatred.
"Who did this...?"
"They will pay with their lives!"
Lio slowly regained consciousness in Omelet's arms, weakly signaling that he was alright. Shinji stumbled toward them, but his mind was elsewhere. He scanned the devastation, desperately searching for two familiar faces.
"Akidou and Alba... where are you guys?"