Chapter 1292 — The Road Home

The entire harbor district was swallowed in a rising pall of dust and the rolling, thunderous roar of collapse.

The blue dragon surged skyward, fighting her way up through a cloud of dust, while behind her the crown of the World-Tree of Reincarnation came crashing down—those vast wooden structures that had held for thousands of years splitting apart like a colossal city shattering in a fever dream, limbs as thick as bell towers, great withered leaves, and vines that had only just died breaking away amid a chain of deafening booms to crash onto the ground of the Home Port. Each fall sent a low shudder through that steel earth and raised another, larger wave of dust.

Gao Yang and the others stood at the edge of Meitzen's broad back, gazing down at the land below, and the spectacle before them left every one of them dumbstruck.

It was as though an entire city were crumbling out of the sky before their eyes, thousands of years of history reduced to fragments in a matter of minutes, the whole harbor district engulfed; within the thick smoke and dust, even the lights left behind by the Trailblazers were blotted out.

A grand funeral.

"Everyone, hold on tight and keep your footing!" Meitzen's voice came from ahead, as though she were straining with all her might. "The dust below is rising too fast—we need to speed up!"

The moment the blue dragon lady finished speaking, Gao Yang and the others felt a tremor pass beneath their feet. They at once forgot the spectacular sight below and steadied themselves; meanwhile the dust billowing and spreading around them began to be flung behind Meitzen as she accelerated, charging out of the worst of the collapse at top speed—and at last the airship moored in the harbor came into view before them all.

Where the ship coupled with the port, the spreading dust had already veiled the various indicator lights, and the remnants of the giant tree clinging to the ship—the shrubs and flowers caught in the wreckage—had crumbled to fragments one and all. Fortunately the vessel was enormous, and the dust-shrouded area covered only a small patch at the deck's edge. Meitzen flew straight over that deck, skimming low among the ship's structures, and finally came down on an open alloy platform.

Gao Yang was the first to leap onto the deck. Standing at the high point, he gazed far off toward the Home Port; against the hazy lights and the skylight glow cast by the energy barrier, the towering crown of the World-Tree of Reincarnation had vanished from view, and in its place only a "sea of clouds" rose up, like a continuous mountain range growing at furious speed, covering the harbor where the giant tree had once stood.

"...At this rate, the next survey team we send here won't have an easy time of it," Kamael said, drifting over from the side, his voice low. "The collapsed World-Tree of Reincarnation looks to have sealed off the entire harbor district completely. If the survey team wants to explore the Home Port in depth, I'm afraid they'll first have to carve a road through that sea of rubble."

Amber, who had jumped down after them, let out a long sigh. "And that's a heap bigger than the Thorin Giant Tree... Even if they sent an engineering corps, they'd be digging till the end of time..."

Listening to Amber and Kamael, Gao Yang only watched the distance in silence, saying nothing.

It was some time later when a low mechanical hum suddenly rose from deep within the deck beneath their feet. The locking mechanisms between ship and port released one by one, the vast ancient engines thundered to life, and the ship's own protective barrier rose of its own accord—the distant harbor district slowly receding from view as the vessel beneath them set out once more on its cruise among the many divine realms. Only then did Gao Yang seem to wake from his brooding, and he said mildly, "The ship's underway. Everyone, rest a while first—eat something, get your strength back."

Ever since the ship had left the God of War's realm and the team had set out on this unprecedented expedition, everyone's nerves had been stretched taut. Even as superhumans with powerful constitutions, people grow weary under such unrelenting tension—and now at last they had left that "Sentinel's Home Port." Though the voyage home would still be spent aboard this ship, at least the most unpredictable and perilous leg of the journey was over. Everyone could relax, more or less.

Near the entrance to the passage leading inside the ship, the expedition found an open space suitable for resting. They broke out the food and water they had brought and began to eat and recover their strength. To guard against mishaps on this final stretch, Meitzen did not resume human form but stayed in dragon shape, lying on the nearby deck to rest—her enormous dragon body rising like a rampart, bringing with it an instinctive sense of security.

Meitzen lay prone on the deck, her great scaled tail curving slightly to encircle the expedition's makeshift camp like a barrier, while her head swung around to the other side of the group. Her massive skull rested on the edge of an alloy platform, one eye watching the movement along one side of the deck, the other fixed on Amber and the others as they rested. She looked a little bored.

It was then that Amber came over holding a piece of sweet flatbread and waved it in front of Meitzen's eyes. "Hey, aren't you going to eat something?"

"Do you mean my dragon form or my human form?" Meitzen lifted an eyelid, a rumbling sound rising in her throat. "In dragon form, that flatbread of yours wouldn't even fill the gaps between my teeth—though a dragon's body doesn't need to eat often anyway. I ate before we set out yesterday; my next meal can wait until next week."

"...You dragons really are something," Amber said, blinking. She stuffed the flatbread into her mouth and, chewing, mumbled, "Not me—I'm terrified of going hungry."

Meitzen promptly shut the eye facing Amber and shifted her great head aside; scales scraping against steel gave out a sound like clashing metal. "Hey, eat a little farther off—your crumbs are flying into my eye!"

"Ah, sorry, sorry." Amber hastily backed off half a step, swallowing hard and clapping her hands clean. Meitzen opened her eyes and, after a glance toward where the group was resting, said, "Hey, have you seen Gao Yang? I don't think I've laid eyes on him since a while ago..."

"He went into that passage just now—said he wanted another look inside the ship," Amber said, dusting off her palms and then wiping them on her clothes. She turned her head toward the gate leading to the ship's interior. "He wouldn't let me come along either, but I've decided to sneak after him once I've eaten my fill—he's clearly got something on his mind, and he's going off alone. I don't feel easy about it."

As she spoke she shook her head, her expression one of helpless resignation. "Everyone looks weighed down with something. Mojin too, Victoria too—even the color of Kamael looks off. You're the only one whose expression I can't read... but I'm sure you've got something on your mind as well. Right now the only ones who look unchanged are Daniel and that apprentice of his—the one looks like the sky will never fall, and the other looks like it's been falling all along..."

Meitzen cracked an eyelid and looked at her. Under the stare of such an enormous eye, even the thick-skinned Amber felt her whole body prickle, and she couldn't help asking, "What are you staring at me for? Is there still something on my face?"

"You look like the most careless and easygoing of all the people around Gao Yang, but in fact you're one of the shrewdest and most attentive Loren I have ever met..." There seemed to be a smile in Meitzen's tone. "You're always watching every person and every detail around you, but most of the time you pretend to be doing nothing, making yourself look like the one who contributes the least."