Days passed, the carriage lumbered forward, and the islands above our heads kept changing. On the seventh day of our journey, we finally emerged from the forest and unexpectedly found the horizon within sight. Indeed, it was close; as we continued, the islands ahead seemed to abruptly end. Soon, we reached the edge of the island, and I couldn't help but quicken my pace to see what lay beyond. As I approached the edge of Verdant Summit, an uneasy feeling surged within me. This unease gradually turned into fear, and as I drew closer, the fear escalated into sheer terror. An instinctive intuition made me stop in my tracks.
But I had to see. I cautiously moved forward, and as long as I proceeded slowly enough, my instincts seemed to reluctantly permit it. I crawled on all fours along the grassy cliff, inch by inch, until I was just inches from the edge. The strong wind tugged at my hair as I poked my head out, my heart pounding wildly.
The scene before me was like looking up at the sky, only inverted. Dozens of islands floated below us, dotting the heavens. However, what met my eyes at the very bottom was not the yellow glow from above but a thick layer of white clouds. Mist pervaded everything beneath me, stretching in all directions as far as the eye could see. Of course, the most significant difference was that I knew I wouldn't fall into the sky, but here, I could very well plummet downwards. Somehow, this changed everything. The sight was so breathtaking that I held my breath.
"Ah, the fog is quite thick today," Glaldra remarked. I jumped in fright, nearly slipping. She had scared me! I shouldn't have been so distracted.
"I... I suppose so," I stammered, looking up at her.
"What a pity," she commented, "But during our journey, the fog will eventually clear. We'll keep an eye out. Catching a glimpse of the true form of the gods is an unforgettable experience."
"Uh, yeah," I replied, unsure of what else to say.
I continued to gaze at this beautiful expanse of flowing white mist, dotted with colorful landmasses. From below, the islands were of various shapes, with rocks of different sizes and types, which was quite fascinating. Personally, I favored those slightly reddish stones; I often wondered what it would be like to live on those islands. Was it similar to our place? Or was it even more terrifying? Or perhaps, those places were as beautiful as their stones?
However, from above, there were even more beautiful and unique things floating in the sky. I could almost see a city on one of the closer islands, with tall buildings nestled against massive mountains. No wonder our island was called Verdant Summit; compared to most places below, ours had significantly more greenery. Although the forest wasn't exactly inviting, it must look stunning from above.
"Are you planning to just lie here all day staring at the edge?" Glaldra asked.
I raised my eyebrows, surprised by her question.
"Am I allowed to?" I asked seriously. She laughed.
"The path is close to the edge; you can look while walking if you want. Just make sure to keep up with us and don't fall off."
Right. Of course. If I fell... that would be bad.
I walked along the edge for a while, carefully adjusting my steps and trying to overcome the fear of potentially falling. The path was about fifty yards from the inland, safe enough not to be dangerous yet close enough for me to see when I approached the edge. Glaldra seemed to deliberately walk beside me this time, and I was actually grateful for it. If I did fall, I wouldn't be surprised if she had a way to catch me. We walked for hours, but just like looking up at the sky, the view didn't change much when we looked down. Eventually, another island passed beneath us — Verdant Summit was entering nighttime, which made sense, though I had never thought about such things before. Unfortunately, this ruined the view below, and I slowly made my way back to the carriage and climbed aboard.
"Did you have fun?" Penelope asked indifferently.
"Yes, I did!" I exclaimed cheerfully, "The view was amazing! You should check it out too when that island moves away!"
"Let's not," she replied, "I've been to the edge many times before, Vita. My grandfather used to drag us all to the cities he conquered just to show off."
"Oh, I see."
I sat at the back of the carriage, dangling my legs over the edge.
"So, what's the plan after we get to Litia?" I finally asked.
"That seems pretty straightforward," Penelope responded.
"Yeah, you have to pretend to be Pinta the whole time, right? And I have to pretend to be Vita Minh."
"'Pinta' has been pretending to be me in my head all along. Acting as I usually do shouldn't raise any suspicion. That's how the Navarans operate."
"Oh, I guess so."
"What we really need to discuss is the strategy after we get there. I don't think Remus is the only one infected. It will take some time for me to eliminate the Navaran from a person with magic, but I can do it. It would be simpler if I could directly create a large-scale plague, but..."
"Yeah, I know. Thanks for not doing that."
"Hmmph," Penelope hummed noncommittally, "But if it seems like there's no other way to save everyone, I will."
Pinta became tense. I sighed.
"I understand. We'll find a way to avoid that."
"Then you need to practice using the Infinite Bottle carefully. That means, don't take it out in front of learned mages. If they have any skill, they'll immediately recognize the metal artifact."
"Why?" I asked.
"Magical sight is a very basic meta-magic spell and one of the first spells any aspiring mage learns," she began to explain, "As you can imagine, it allows us to see the flow of magic around us. Metals are precious not just because they are strong and rare materials, although their quality is indeed often better than the hides of most monsters. Metals are precious because they can passively absorb and guide magic. For example, if a meta-mage casts a spell on a piece of wood, the spell's effectiveness lasts only as long as the mage's infused magic. But if you cast a spell on a piece of metal, the magic could last forever. When you pour something from the Infinite Bottle, it attracts a large amount of magic to replenish the spatial magic applied to it. Any mage who sees this will notice."
"Okay," I nodded, "Got it, mages can tell if a metal item has been used. But do I need to practice pretending to be Vita Minh too?"
Penelope snorted.
"It's been over seven days. The slime inside you was only ten hours old when you killed it. No matter how you act, I don't think it will seem strange unless you're caught trying to kill someone on the spot. And if they somehow check your body for Navaran..."
"...Yeah, that makes sense. You're in much more danger than I am in that regard."
"And I'm confident I'll be fine."
"Anyway, practicing will make me feel more at ease," I insisted.
Penelope sighed deeply in resignation.
"Alright."
We spent some time trying to get into character, and Penelope was indeed as good at it as she claimed. She toned down her sharpness and added a bit more despondency, which worked quite well. Pinta found this assessment embarrassing but couldn't deny its truth. I suggested that Penelope try to be more positive, but both she and Pinta said they never acted that way in front of Remus's slime, only in front of me.
This brought a slight smile to my face.
As for me, I wasn't quite sure what to do. Penelope kept emphasizing that it didn't matter how I acted, as by now, Vita Minh should have spent more time in my body than in Remus's. However, I decided to stick with the persona I used when I first met Remus, partly because it felt safest and partly because I found it interesting.
"Hey, you two!" Glaldra shouted, knocking on the carriage wall, "The fog is clearing! Come and see!"
Oh! I immediately jumped down from the back of the carriage and ran towards the edge. As I approached, I slowed my pace, fear and apprehension intertwining as I got closer to the massive drop. The islands below us had moved away. I stood beside Glaldra, whose calm aura made standing there quite comfortable, and together we watched the churning mist swirl.
"You know," Glaldra said slowly, "from here, those mists seem tens of thousands of miles away."
I blinked and turned to look up at her.
"How far is that?" I asked.
She laughed.
"Well, our island, at its longest, is less than a thousand miles from end to end. If I pushed you off from here, you might die of thirst before you even hit the mists. Of course, that's assuming you don't crash into another island on the way down."
I swallowed hard. She pointed downwards.
"Things always look smaller when they're far away, right? Watch, Vita. Take your first good look at the world."
The mist spread out in all directions, disappearing into the horizon. Gradually, the mist began to thin, allowing me to glimpse... something beneath the mist. A massive, writhing figure briefly emerged from the dissolving mist, reminding me of a snake slithering through the grass. Only this "snake" was several orders of magnitude larger than our entire island.
More of these "snakes" appeared; brownish-black, writhing flesh strips winding through the mist, slicing through colossal clouds so vast I couldn't find anything to compare them to. Oh, I had thought my island was big, what a joke. More terrifying and beautiful tentacles emerged. I stared unblinkingly, watching the mist completely dissipate to reveal the enormous object beneath, which felt boundless in my perception.
Beneath the mist, beneath those incomprehensible limbs, were the eyes of the Mist Watcher. A human eye so large that I could never walk its circumference in a lifetime, gazing blankly towards the high sky. Dragonfly-like segmented eyes bulged, surrounded by numerous slender tentacles. And a goat's small eye — as I thought about it, an eye larger than the biggest island in the sky could still be considered "small" — seemed indifferent to the rain falling from above. Countless eyes, like an endless ocean, varied in size, color, and shape. Each eye was part of the same pulsating, writhing massive entity, forming the center of all things, stretching from one horizon to the other, endlessly vast. Looking down, it was impossible not to see it, despite the unimaginable distance between us, I couldn't see its edge, couldn't see the end. Many eyes resembled those of creatures I knew, but more had structures so bizarre that I could only guess if they were eyes at all.
Among its countless eyes, one caught my attention. It was a pure red sphere with a long black stripe running through the middle, tapering towards the top and bottom like a cat's pupil. I was as familiar with this eye as I was with my own. I didn't realize how long I had been staring until I saw the black pupil slowly rotating within its sacred socket. During that agonizingly long time, I kept staring, watching it turn towards me. I locked eyes with a deity, the weight of its gaze threatening to crush my soul. I couldn't bear it.
My shell shattered.