The arrival on Mount Mathieu was like a slow descent into a sea of fog. The flying artifact slid silently between the clouds, opening like a celestial boat on the green depths that stretched as far as the eye can see. Through the opening, Yuto and Ju Won contemplated a landscape that seemed unreal: a dense, lush, almost infinite forest. The massive trunks, sometimes smooth as if polished by time, sometimes gnarled like carved columns, rushed towards the sky. Between them, giant ferns opened in fans, and thick lianas fell back into green curtains, forming moving veils under the effect of the breeze.
The floor, invisible from the heights, gradually revealed itself in the form of a wet carpet, covered with moss and decomposing leaves. With each drop falling from the foliage, a clear noise resounded, similar to a pearl crashing on a copper bell. The air smelled of resin and rain, a fragrance of antiquity that enveloped everything. In places, silver fringes adorned the ferns, and the palms of the trees widened into protective domes. The impression that emerged was not that of a simple forest, but that of a forgotten forest palace, where each step seemed to awaken the echo of a promise made in the past.
Ju Won, sitting behind the sun visor of the artifact, turned to Yuto. His eyes reflected the glow of the woods below, filled with questions that he ended up expressing in a low voice:
- Young master, now that we have arrived... could you tell me what we are looking for here?
Yuto inhaled slowly, torn between the need for truth and the prudence that dictated him to keep quiet certain things. Finally, he replied:
- One day, one of my brothers told me that a meteor shower would fall today. I believed it... and that's why we're here.
Ju Won remained silent for a moment, then nodded slightly. His gaze suggested both a respectful understanding and a reluctance that he did not formulate. Instead of adding words, he simply activated the Disk Array. A luminous barrier immediately stood around them, enveloping their immediate space. The halo, translucent like a veil of mother-of-pearl, landed on the grass and neighboring trunks. In one breath, the outside world seemed to go out: the sounds became muffled, the air taking on a calm and almost supernatural tension.
The night came slowly, enveloping the forest in a vibrant darkness. The trees seemed to hold their breath. Then, suddenly, as if the sky had triggered a secret mechanism, the meteor shower began.
A first trail splits the starry vault, fast, flaming. Then another, and another. The sky zebras with incandescent glows, flames racing at a dizzying speed. They crashed into the forest with dull splinters, producing small luminous sheaves. Some hit the trunks, marking them with smoking scars; others break into the air, projecting sparks that fall into fine rain, similar to a cloud of diurnal fireflies.
The show intensified: multiple colors ignited the vault. The incandescent red mixed with the golden orange, the icy blue poured out like steel blades, and sometimes a strange green gushed out, coloring the ferns with an unreal glow. The entire forest became the scene of cosmic choreography, a celestial fireworks display that seemed to be orchestrated by divine hands.