Raizen and Enya moved through the lowest parts of Ukai, where the city stopped feeling like streets and started feeling like roots.
Down here, the world felt narrow. Thick trunks rose beside the main tree like pillars, and the roots turned the ground into uneven ridges and hollows. Everything looked the same in the rain - dark wood, dark soil, wet stone, and mist that swallowed distance. The lights from above barely reached this level. What did reach it came in weak, blurred patches, like someone smeared lanterns across the fog.
Raizen heard a shout somewhere ahead.
But it wasn't a scream of terror. It sounded like a battle cry - short, fierce, alive. Then another. Then something that sounded like a deep, powerful roar.
Enya's helmet turned toward the sound like a compass needle snapping north.
"There!" she said, too happy for the situation.
