And right before the island touched the ground, it stopped.
Just like that, they were beneath the clouds.
The golden-haired man, arms crossed, spoke first. "That Titan… well, the two of them. Shouldn't their bodies be directly beneath us? With their size, we should be able to see them."
Dawn blinked, realizing it too. "You're right… that's strange. Very strange."
He paused, eyes narrowing as he looked out across the pale expanse below. "But setting that aside, I think I know where this is."
"You sure?" Elara asked.
"From the maps I studied back in Rinzard, this area should be near the city of Crysallis."
"Crysallis?" The golden-haired man's brow furrowed. "I thought you said we were near the Tree of Life and Yggdrasil."
"We are," Dawn replied, his tone firm. "But Crysallis sits between them, think of it as the entrance to Flauria."
Elara crossed her arms, glancing over the edge of the floating isle. "If that's true… where are the lights? The city should be visible even from here."
"It's underground," Dawn said, pointing toward a distant ridge. "That mountain there,that should be the entrance. My teacher once told me the mountain with the crystalline waterfall is where the city resides."
"You sure know a lot, don't you?" Elara asked, raising a brow.
"My par-" Dawn stopped mid-sentence.
"Huh? What did you say?" Elara asked, curiosity flickering in her eyes.
"Nothing. Don't worry about it," Dawn muttered, turning away.
The hell am I doing? he thought. I don't even know these people, and I'm about to start talking about my family. Heh… guess I really have gotten too comfortable.
A faint hum rippled through the air, low and rhythmic, like a heartbeat beneath stone. Elara steadied herself as the ground shifted slightly. "Is it me, or is this thing… moving again?"
The golden-haired man glanced over the edge. "It's descending. Slowly this time, but definitely moving."
Then, just as the island was about to collide with the ground, a glowing light erupted beneath it, and the entire mass vanished in an instant.
Fortunately, Dawn's radiant slide still lingered, catching all of them before they could fall.
"Heh," Dawn muttered, chuckling softly. "That's somehow the least surprising thing I've been through so far."
When they touched down on the crystalline ground, something small fell into Dawn's hand, a smooth, glowing object shaped exactly like the island they'd been standing on.
Elara leaned closer, eyes wide. "Did… did the island shrink?"
"Seems like it," Dawn said, turning the tiny replica in his hand. "Guess we've got a souvenir."
The golden-haired man looked up at the dimming sky. "It's becoming night. We should move. Being out here after dark won't be safe."
"Is that why the city's underground?" Elara asked quietly. "Do bad things happen at night?"
Dawn slipped the miniature island into his pocket, his tone turning serious. "Well, if Titans roam during the day… I don't even want to imagine what comes out at night."
Elara's eyes followed his gaze toward the mountain, the one crowned with faintly glowing crystal streams. "Then let's not waste time."
The golden-haired man extended his hand, and that same strange light from before swirled around the two unconscious figures, the black-haired man and the crimson-haired woman, lifting them gently from the ground and suspending them in warm radiance.
The group began to move.
Their footsteps echoed faintly against the crystal plains, each step ringing like soft chimes through the quiet. Above, the sky dimmed into a strange twilight hue, neither day nor night, and far in the distance, something stirred within the mist.
A sound. Low. Resonant. Like the slow cracking of glass beneath the earth.
Dawn glanced back once, jaw tightening. "…Yeah. Definitely not safe at night."
They moved in silence.
The crystalline plains stretched endlessly beneath their feet, glinting faintly with hues of silver and blue. The golden-haired man walked at the front, the unconscious pair floating silently behind him. Elara trailed close beside Dawn, her eyes darting from shadow to shadow.
"This place is a little… scary at night," she whispered.
Dawn nodded. "The crystals are said to power the city somehow." He knelt, brushing his fingers across the ground. They were cold to the touch, but pulsed faintly, like something alive just beneath the surface. "Truly an amazing place."
Elara glanced around. "How did something like this even come to exist?"
"Who knows," Dawn said, standing. "In a world built on sequences, anything's possible."
No one spoke after that. The faint hum of the barrier around the golden-haired man's two charges was the only sound between them. Above, the twilight deepened into dark indigo, the sky streaked with what looked like silver lightning, frozen in place, unmoving.
After what felt like an hour of walking, they reached the base of the mountain. The crystalline waterfall shimmered down its face, flowing like liquid glass. It made no sound when it met the ground, it simply vanished into the crystal surface below.
Elara stared, awestruck. "It's beautiful… and terrifying."
"That's Crysallis for you," Dawn muttered.
The golden-haired man tilted his head slightly. "Then where's the entrance?"
Dawn stepped forward, scanning the shimmering surface. "It should be here somewhere…"
He placed his palm against the crystal wall. The resonance was faint but familiar, almost like it was responding to him. Lines of light spread outward from his touch, thin geometric markings tracing the surface like veins of living energy.
Elara took a cautious step back. "Dawn… what did you just do?"
"Crysallis has a recognition mechanism," he said, brow furrowing. "Only registered people can open the gate. Since I'm from Rinzard, I'm already in their seal."
"Everyone from Rinzard can access this place?" Elara asked, skeptical.
Dawn didn't answer.
The mountain responded for him.
The crystalline waterfall froze mid-flow. Then slowly, the wall began to split apart — the glowing lines forming the outline of a massive gate. A deep resonant hum rolled through the air, followed by a rush of wind that smelled faintly of ozone and cold metal.
As the gates opened, an enormous tunnel was revealed, descending into a vast glowing chasm. Pale light pulsed from the walls like the heartbeat of something ancient.
The golden-haired man stepped forward, his voice calm but quiet. "Such technology is impressive."
Dawn took one last glance at the eerie plains behind them. "Let's get going."
They entered the passage, their footsteps swallowed by the glow of the crystal walls. The gates sealed silently behind them, leaving only the soft pulse of light, and the distant sound of something stirring deep below.