Sunlight painted the sky above the human kingdom. A lone figure glided across it, riding a cloud with ease. The golden pole in his hand caught the afternoon light, gleaming like captured fire.
His ear twitched. Before he could react, an explosion shattered the peaceful afternoon. He did not wait. He pushed his cloud forward, using his pole for balance as they flew faster through the air.
The sight that greeted him made him pause. His head snapped left, then right. He took in the impossible scene. "Is this... the Elven Forest?" he muttered. The famous woods were gone. In its place, a writhing darkness grew. Its sinister arms reached for the sky like grasping fingers. The ground trembled under its power, and he could feel the shaking even from his cloud.
He saw movement below.
A figure stood in the shadows. Their every move was dark, yet he sensed no evil from them. His stomach twisted. That kind of power did not belong here, not so close to the forest. His grip tightened on his golden pole. He thought, What is someone like that doing here?
But something else caught his eye. A small shape seemed completely out of place in the middle of all the destruction.
As he drew closer, he realized who it was. His head jerked back in surprise, but he did not hesitate. The cloud swept down in a graceful arc. He scooped up Ai and the cats in one smooth motion before the darkness could claim them.
They skimmed just above the ground, putting distance between themselves and the chaos before coming to a stop. He jumped from the cloud, which continued its path skyward, and set his passengers down with surprising gentleness.
"I take it this chaos has your master's signature all over it?" he asked, looking down at Ai. But before she could respond, a pulse of power grabbed their attention.
A light began to emerge from the heavy darkness. It was not a harsh battle light, but something older and more powerful. A blue-green glow pushed against the shadows. Each pulse of light was stronger than the last. Then, suddenly...
The world exploded.
He drove his pole deep into the earth, pulling Ai and the cats close as debris whipped past them. When the chaos finally settled, he almost stumbled at the sight of the changed land before him.
The forest had vanished completely. In its place stretched an empty prairie, scarred by battle but otherwise eerily bare. Only three figures remained: a massive giant kneeling as if before royalty, the shadow-cloaked elf, and another figure that made him pause mid-breath.
The elf stood wrapped in power, his green eyes blazing like the stars. A rune on his chest pulsed with a light that felt stronger than magic. Something about the elf felt familiar. A thought danced just out of his reach, as if he had met him somewhere before.
The figure glanced their way, then looked back at the scene. Then a sound began. It was like glass breaking, but was also musical. Cracks appeared in the air itself. They spread out with a scary purpose as light of every color began to spill through. Each new crack added its sound to a rising song of change.
The Monkey King blinked. His face almost blank amidst the unprecedented event. The cracks spread out like the veins of a dying creature, yet their song filled the air with a strange, beautiful harmony. His tail whipped then became stiffed, bracing himself for what he knew would come next.
He rose slowly, pulling his pole from the earth as the cracks in reality kept growing wider.
Then, like a soap bubble reaching its breaking point, the barrier between worlds burst.
Reality rewrote itself before his eyes. From the battle-scarred prairie, massive trees erupted upward. From a center point bloomed outward, Trunks that were wider than houses and spiraled toward the sky.
But this was no ordinary forest. At its heart rose a living tower. It was as huge as the World Tower. This structure lived and breathed. Huge branches twisted together, forming different floors that pulsed with their own light.
The forest grew around the three figures, its branches swallowing them in moments. The magical growth rushed outward, fast and unstoppable. It closed the distance to where he stood with Ai and the cats, leaving nowhere to hide.
He remained frozen, his mind struggling to understand the change happening before him. Each breath brought new smells: fresh sap, blooming flowers, and ancient wood. But the last smell was something older, and it made his skin prickle. It was a scent that woke up a deep, forgotten memory inside him.
The ground trembled again. The giant trees groaned like waking giants. Their leaves shook loose and drifted down in a mesmerizing dance. The air grew thick with falling leaves.
A sudden blast of bright light from above drew his gaze skyward. Squinting against the brightness, he could just make out its source: a castle-like building at the very top of the living tower.
From its highest point, a beam of pure light shot upward, parting the clouds like a spear thrown by the gods. The shockwave parted the entire forest outward, pulsing like water in the middle of a tornado.
The show of power was both beautiful and scary, that every fur covering his body raised like thorns. It reminded him that some forces in this world were more powerful than he could understand.