James watched as the rope went taught, signifying that it had extending its full length. The slight breeze sent it swaying about. James’s surge of ambition was dampened as he looked down at it. There was something ominous about seeing it disappear into the clouds. The sight of it sent a chill through his body. The thrill he had been feeling up to this point was still there, but it was now intertwined with the reality of the situation. He was going to descend below the clouds, alone without any support, and in search of something no one believed existed—life.

He took a deep breath, steeling himself, and climbed over the railing. He shot a brief glance over in the direction of the central ship. It was still dark, but the moon cast enough light to where he would’ve been able to see the outlines of figures and a swinging rope if it had been there. He saw nothing, but then again, he didn’t expect to. The Divers usually waited until dawn to descend.

James gripped the rope tightly in one hand and gripped the railing in the other. He tried to let go of the railing but found that he couldn’t. The fear had risen in him again. He closed his eyes and a brief vision of his father entered his mind. The still frame that he had never seen, yet still associated with him; the image of him swaying in the wind, desperately gripping the ladder as he descended after their mother. He tried to focus on his father’s face. It was always the hardest part to conjure in his mind. Perhaps because it was the most important part. If he misrepresented any other part of him, it didn’t seem to bother him, but the face… the face was what made his father his father. If he didn’t get that part right, then all he had done was create the image of a stranger in his father’s position. James narrowed his already closed eyes. What did his father look like? What expression had he been wearing on that day?

Suddenly, it clicked. And he relaxed. He could see it. His father’s face was not painted with worry or fear. No, it was instead painted with a look of confident determination. A fierce look that showed no regret.

James let go of the railing and started his long trek to the surface. He had placed the knotted rope at the top, and the long-unknotted piece at the bottom. He figured the climb back up would be more strenuous than the climb down. He would probably need the knots at the top to help him rest as he ascended to the ship. Knot by knot, James climbed down the rope. The same therapeutic feeling that he had felt when climbing in his room returned. The height disappeared, and with it, the fear of falling, replaced with the sensation of monotonous progress, which contained its own sense of thrill.

Before long, he had reached the end of the knots, and with it, the end of everything he knew. He looked out at the expanse of fluffy hills combining and intertwining like shadows dancing in dim light of the moon. He looked down but couldn’t see anything but the dull white of the clouds. With a resigned breath, he placed his body on the knotless rope and allowed his weight to carry him down. The field of white engulfed him, limiting his vision and dampening his clothes. He had learned long ago that the clouds contained water but seeing it first hand was much different than learning it. It had always been that way for him. Something was never concrete in his mind until he had seen or experienced it for himself. That mindset was partly at fault for him being where he was right now. Everyone said that nothing existed below the clouds. It wasn’t that he doubted them or thought they were lying. He just needed to see it for himself for it to become fact.

James peered downward. He expected the clouds to grow darker as he dropped further and further away from the moon, but instead, he was met with a faint glow. The lower he got, the clearer he could see. The glow wasn’t bright, and it wasn’t the bright yellow that the sun cast on Vinci every day. It was a colorful glow. From one side, the clouds were tinted purple. From another, they were tinted green. Directly below him was a faint glimmer of blue. Curiosity had taken over James’s mind. As the light grew more and more defined, lighting up the clouds around him with shades of purple, green, and blue, he became less and less aware of his position. The fact that he was dangling on a rope from a height that would prove fatal if he fell seemed to be a distant thought in his mind. He continued his descent, until he finally emerged through the layer of clouds and met the source of the glowing light. He froze, gripping the rope tightly. His eyes bulged and whipped around him, as if trying to find something to explain what he was seeing. Staring back at him from all directions was… life. The sight of it nearly overwhelmed him. His heart beat rapidly in his chest, threatening to jump out and fall to the ground below. He closed his eyes and tried to steady his gasping breaths. After several long moments, he opened them and focused on only one thing. Trying to take it all in would only threaten to throw him into shock, which, considering he was dangling from a rope, wouldn’t end well.

Directly to his left was a tree, at least that’s what he thought it was. He had obviously never seen one before, but stories about nature and wildlife had been passed down since Vinci’s founding. Funny how those stories stood the test of time when the reason for taking to the skies in the first place didn’t. There was one difference to their stories, though. None of them ever mentioned anything about the trees glowing.

The bark of the tree next to James gave off a faint blueish glow. Not bright by any means, though not dull either. Enough light to see the tree and the area that surrounded it, but not bright enough to make him deter his eyes.

Looking downward, he noticed that the end of his rope was tangled in the branches of the tree. He groaned internally but felt quite the opposite emotion. He had just been given an excuse to act stupidly. He had wanted to climb on the tree from the very moment he saw it, but even he knew how foolish an idea that was at the height that he was at. But now he had a reason to and a good one at that. If he didn’t untangle the rope, then he couldn’t reach the bottom. He shimmied down the rope a few feet further where one of its many branches extended within reaching distance of him. He reached out and gripped it with one hand. Leaves that gave off a faint outline of blue lined the branch. As James reached, the leaves seemed to fold and bend away from his hand, as if expecting his touch. In their bending, they revealed a piece of bare branch that James latched onto. He pulled himself towards it, placing his foot on top of it. He had been told that trees were sturdier at the bottom, but even at the height they were at, the wide branch beneath him showed no signs of stress as he tested his weight on it. James looked down. The tangled rope sat several branches beneath him. Luckily, the branches of the tree were clustered enough to where climbing between them shouldn’t prove too difficult. James placed his other foot on the branch, watching the leaves bend away from it. After he was sure it wouldn’t spontaneously snap under his weight, he released the rope. It swayed outward before becoming taught with the branch several feet below.

James spent a few moments inspecting the tree, planning his path downward. The branches became naturally thicker the closer they got to the trunk, making the decision of where to descend an obvious one. Letting the soothing blue glow guide his way, he inched himself towards the trunk of the tree. He looked behind him, noticing that the bark’s color had darkened in each spot that he had placed his feet. The footprint shaped patches of dark blue slowly brightened as he watched, like spilt water evaporating on a sunny day.

Even in the precarious situation that he was in, climbing a tree a couple hundred feet in the air, he couldn’t quell his excitement. He had been right! Life did exist beneath the clouds. James allowed himself a few moments of staring into the distance. He couldn’t keep the smile off his face. A forest of colors greeted his eyes. Shades of blue, purple, and green lit up the world around him, outlining trees and shrubbery of various shapes and sizes. Looking down, he saw sporadic patches of green that lit up the ground. His eyes scanned the surface until they were met with something that felt out of place. A section of ground that seemed to continue past the level of the ground, as if a doorway to something deeper. The vastness of it seemed to call him forward.

With a renewed sense of eagerness, James began his descent to the tangled rope. He eyed the branch beneath him. The drop wasn’t far, but the price for a misstep was large from this height, so he got in a sitting position and slid off the side, extending his foot out until it finally reached it. After testing its sturdiness, he shifted his full weight onto it. James repeated this motion two more times to reach the branch with the tangled rope. He watched with satisfaction as the imprints his body made disappeared behind him.

Using most of his willpower not to look down, James inched himself towards the end of the branch where the rope sat tangled in the shimmering leaves and glowing twigs. He went as far as he dared before hearing the creaking of the branch beneath him. He put one foot forward, pressing it down. The branch swayed slightly at the end, causing the rope to jostle about. James brought his foot down harder and watched as the rope started untangling itself from the branch. He shook the branch a third time and felt a surge of joy as he watched the rope twist free, the leaves bending and twisting to avoid it. The feeling shifted to dread as he watched the tangle of rope drop downward and then sway away from the branch, out of reach. James eyed the rope and then cast his gaze downward. He groaned to himself, but truth be told he wasn’t that upset. He enjoyed climbing on the tree’s branches, feeling the bark on his hands. It made him feel strangely calm.

James’s descent was slow-going at first, but just like when he was on the rope, his mind quickly fell into autopilot, guiding him down at a quicker pace. As he neared the bottom, however, he could no longer remain focused on that task alone. The doorway he had seen before was beneath him. He swore that he could look through it to the other side, where more colors and a blanket of grey sat to greet him. He even thought that he could see some type of movement directly beneath him. It was mesmerizing… enough so that it caused him to lose his footing. He felt his foot scrape off the side of the branch and then fall into the nothingness of the space below it. His body went with it, colliding with the branch beneath him and sending him into a spiral towards the ground. Colors blurred his vision until he hit the ground with a splash and a crack.

James felt a shock of pain shoot up his leg followed by the dull sensation of dampness. The pieces of the puzzle fell into his mind even as it swam with the pain of his leg. It was water that he had been looking down at. The doorway had simply been the reflection on the surface. Somewhere buried under the pain and panic, James felt a surge of amazement. In all his life, he had never seen so much water in one place. Vinci did have water, of course. It had a tank several times the size of James that contained water that was distributed to each vessel evenly, but even that was a fraction of what he had just fallen into. Luckily, he had dropped near the shore. Less lucky was that his left leg had taken the full brunt of the impact onto the silty sand beneath the half foot of water. The perfect amount to do nothing in breaking his fall yet more than enough to soak his clothes. Digging his hands into the dirt and rocks beneath him, James pulled himself to shore and flopped onto his back. He looked down at his left leg, half way submerged beneath the water, and noticed that it was twisted into a nauseating position. His heart rate spiked as his mind flooded with thoughts. Would he walk again? Would he be able to make it back onto the ship? Celeste is going to kill me, he thought through the blinding pain.

His focus was drawn away from his thoughts upon glimpsing the water. It was glowing. Its brightness was only a fraction of what the trees gave off, but James could tell that it was lighting up in short, soothing pulses. It was slight, but the pain was starting to fade away. And with alarm, James realized his mind was drifting away with it. His vision swayed, and his mind began to drift. His problems seemed so far away from him now, like distant memories that drifted in and out of dreams. Then he heard voices. James tried to spin to face the voice, but barely managed to roll onto his side in his delirium. A female voice spoke to him, motherly and warm.

“Don’t move, child,” she said. He could feel her moving about him and inspecting his leg. “Keep him in the water. Kodama will help him heal.”

James sensed the movement of another person kneeling at his head. He felt the touch of her hand on his head, prompting him to look up into her face. His breath caught. Staring back down at him was a girl not much older than him. For a single moment, the fog in his mind seemed to clear, allowing a single concrete thought to occupy it. He knew from the moment that he had exited the layer of thick dancing clouds that they had been wrong about the world beneath them, but it was her face that solidified that fact in his mind. Staring down at him was life, bluer than any sky and brighter than any sun. He was so distracted by her that he hardly heard what the other older woman was saying. Something about holding him because she needed to undo what had been done to his leg, whatever that meant—

James heard more than felt a large crunch that vibrated through his leg and up his body. He felt no pain, but the shock of it caused his body to tense and his mind to fade to blackness.