- # # # 1 # # # -

Ayo spent the rest of her free time loitering outside her hut. She paced around. She sat on the edge and kicked her feet. She lied on a nearby bridge and counted the upside-down trees on the Mother Root above her.

She continued to wait in such a manner until her mother, Ranoiko, suddenly announced to no one at all from within the hut, “Finally! I’m done!”

Ayo took that as permission to enter the hut. As she did, Ranoiko gently placed a shiny, transparent orb atop a cushion-like container.

“Whoa...” Ayo unintentionally said.

“Oh, Ayo!” Ranoiko said as she gently draped a silky cloth over the orb. She turned and asked, “You’re already here?”

“I’ve been waiting outside for a while,” Ayo chuckled.

“Oh, well, good job for being patient. I finally finished what I was working on!”

“Yeah, I heard. Is that for Rock?”

“Yep. He seemed really enthusiastic about this one, so I had a lot of fun making it. It’s probably the most interesting idea he’s had yet.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t really get it myself, but even so, he told me not to tell you.”

“What?!”

Ranoiko shrugged. “Gotta keep my word. Sorry, Ayo.”

Ayo slouched.

“H-hey! Don’t do that! Straighten your posture!”

So Ayo did, but not without an, “Ugh...”

“Don’t be like that. You know it’s for your own good.”

“Yeah, yeah. So, uh, why’dya put it away if you’re gonna give it to him?”

“Because the Convergence is about to start. It’ll have to wait until after.”

“Oh! That’s right!”

Ranoiko nodded. “That said,” she smirked, “let’s hurry on down so we can be there before the others!”

“Last one there’s hopper poo!” Ayo ran off.

Ranoiko chased after her with a smile.

- # # # 2 # # # -

By the time Ranoiko beat Ayo in the race to the central platform of the Residential Level, the western sun’s light had begun bathing the village. However, this time, there were no plans to bask in it. They had already basked in the eastern sun’s light that morning.

Over the following minutes, the rest of the village gathered in the Residential Level. They organized themselves into small groups and lined up.

At the front was the Chieftain, Ryuto, who would lead the rest.

One by one, following Ryuto’s lead, they climbed up the vine of the Dropoff Platform, and passed the Administrative Level.

Ramento didn’t join them. He stayed behind in his hut, and watched them all pass by.

They continued climbing straight up, until they reached the end of the vine in the barren upside-down forest.

The vine hung from and was tied to the branch of a leafless, brown, upside-down tree. The branch was wide enough for each fully grown villager to stand on two feet, and long enough for them to run across.

The nearest branches had enough space to fit over five people between each of them, and each were just as large as the branch they climbed on.

Once they climbed onto the branch, they ran up its length. As the trees were upside-down, the branches were pulled by gravity down towards the village, and as such were quite steep. They had to run on all-fours in order to securely climb, using their pads for extra security.

There were many different trees in the upside-down forest, all of them leafless and barren, but the ones they chose to navigate with were the largest of them all. They had branches all along the lengths of their trunks, and the closer to the root they got, the less steep they were.

Furthermore, the distance between each tree was too great for them to reach without being near the end of a tree’s branch.

So, the villagers climbed up the trunk of the tree until they reached an elevation where the branch leveled out enough to stably walk on. At that point, they turned the direction of the sun, ran down the branch’s length, and jumped.

As they jumped, they outstretched their tongues and wrapped them around the nearest branch of the next tree, like a grappling hook, and pulled themselves up to that branch.

They continued this method of parkour as they headed the direction of the sun. By traveling towards the sun, they were able to maximize the sunlight they received during their journey.

As they continued, the trunks of the trees gradually angled off, the branches themselves also grew more difficult to climb.

After a certain point, the trees had gone sideways rather than upside down. They had to climb straight up to continue, and many of the branches they climbed were facing either straight up or down, so it became difficult to hold on. Fortunately, the sunlight shone directly onto them, which made the difficult climbing experience feel worthwhile.

Gradually, the trees became easier to climb. Soon enough, the first leaf even made its debut.

They continued advancing through the crooked, mostly unvegetated trees. The more upright the trees stood, the more vegetation there was. There were occasional ribbits and chirps, which increased in frequency with the vegetation. Bright green leaves became more common the further they went. Furthermore, long blue leaves, flowery pink leaves, and thick red leaves became a common sight.

Eventually, the foliage became so dense that there was significantly more green, red, blue, and pink in sight than there were branches.

The trees were level: standing upright as one would expect them to. The leaves could be heard rustling in the light breeze that broke through the forest.

There were large, thick vines wrapped around and spread between entire trees, with a tendency to hang between the branches of different trees.

The ground itself was like bark, but it hosted a variety of plants, fungi, and unique features such as mist geysers and glowing balloon orbs, among other things, all of which were numerous enough that it was almost impossible to see the bare ground without going down oneself.

Above them were dense, misty streams, where fish swam in abundance. The sunlight that passed through the streams was split into concentrated rainbows, forming a cascade of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet sunbeams, shining across the tree branches and forest floor.

The streams flowed between the trees and branches above them, never coming into direct contact with them, and frequently changed their flow and direction, steadily traveling between different parts of the forest without apparent rhyme or reason.

They were in the forest proper.

But that was just the first step of their expedition.

- # # # 3 # # # -

In the living forest, the branches of the trees they traveled across were level, sturdy, and generally close together, so they didn’t need to exhaust themselves with parkour as much as in the upside-down forest in order to get around. They could pace themselves with leisure.

So Rocko walked along a branch with pursed lips and narrowed eyes.

Ordinarily, someone like Rocko, who was heir to the Chieftain, would be walking with the Chieftain at the front, so he could learn how to guide the group. However, he was placed evenly in the middle of the conglomeration, surrounded by others, and following others.

At a glance, this was no different treatment from any other kid, and would be exactly the kind of treatment he’d love to normally receive. However, not only was he in the middle of the line, he was also guarded by four villagers, each armed with bows and spears.

As much as it bothered him, he couldn’t raise his voice in complaint. It was treatment he was all-too used to.

Ayo, however, didn’t get the memo.

“Why can’t I talk to him?” she asked.

“We go over this every time, kid,” one of the guards said, “how many times do you need it explained to you?!”

“I learn best through repetition,” she said with a smug.

The guard sighed. “Ruter, help me,” they uttered under their breath. “Okay, look. I don’t want to be doing this as much as you don’t want me to be, and I sure as miora know he doesn’t want me to be, either, but the way things stand, he can’t be left unchecked. If he’s allowed to wander again, who knows what kind of disaster will befall us?”

“You say all that, but when has he ever had a chance? Haven’t you been doing this forever?”

“Eight years ain’t forever, kid.”

“And what happened eight years ago?”

The guard responded with silence.

Ayo stuck her tongue out. “You’re no fun.”

She looked over at Rocko, who undoubtedly heard the entire exchange, yet he kept silent the whole time. That was pretty unlike him, wasn’t it? Even in the past, when Ayo would annoy the guards, he’d join her somehow. Maybe he gave up trying. That didn’t seem fitting of him. Weak. She decided she’d give him strength.

“Rocko!” she shouted without any idea where to take it, for the sole purpose of ignoring all the guards and Rocko’s own despondence.

Rocko despondently waved back, and sighed.

“Grrrr,” she mumbled. “Hey, you!” she yelled at the guard.

“Ow!” the guard covered their ear. “For the last time, kid, I—”

“I don’t care!” she said with wide eyes and mouth agape. “Let me talk to him!”

“No!”

“Why? Because y’need to stop him running off? Why’s it gotta be you, though?”

“Wh— Did you change the way you’re speaking?”

“I do that quite often!”

“Ugh... Yes, kid, it’s because we can’t let him run off.”

“Okies. I got it!”

“Wha— No! Go back to your parents, kid.”

“But I refuse!”

“I said leave us alone.”

“Nah. Also, just think about it, okay? Why would he run off if he was distracted with someone to play with? You’re no smart at all, are you?”

“I swear to Ruter, if you don’t...” The guard trailed off as their eyes became focused. “Uh... seriously? Okay, then.” The guard looked at Ayo, “I... guess it’s fine, then? Chieftain said we might as well try. I don’t get it, but, Chieftain’s orders, so... screw it, I guess.”

“Hooray!” Ayo bounced.

The guards dispersed and Ayo approached Rocko.

The two of them hung out for the rest of the trip, and played a game similar to I Spy.

- # # # 4 # # # -

They continued moving from tree to tree, until they reached the highest tree in the forest. In fact, not only was it the tallest tree in the forest, it was the largest overall, its base being almost as wide as the Mother Root itself, and dividing the forests atop the root between northern and southern halves. However, it got rapidly skinnier as it got taller, being around dozen or so times wider than the average tree in the forest.

They climbed the tree through the old-school means of using their pads, as there were no branches for them to grapple. They continued until they reached the tree’s crown, at which point they scrambled to various specific positions, and got themselves comfortable.

There, they stood, and stared into the far distance.

What they observed was another tree. Like any of the trees around them, it had a typical brown color — but that was the only typical thing about it. It was an overwhelmingly colossal tree that could be seen despite lying beyond the horizon which otherwise marked the end of the visible world. Because it sat behind the horizon, its base and roots were nowhere to be seen. Even at that distance, its width took up more than a tenth of the visible horizon, yet it appeared disproportionately skinny. That was because it literally pierced the sky, reaching well beyond the highest clouds.

Though it was recognizable as a tree, even its most treelike features were distinctly unique compared to the average tree. For one thing, its trunk, though as perfectly vertical as any tree, appeared to twist around itself, twisting less with each branching point. For another, when most trees branched out, that was called their crown, and signaled the end of their trunks, but this tree’s trunk continued up until the fourth branching point, which could barely be seen from the ground. On top of that, each branching point was unique, and each one branched out further than the last.

The first branching point, from that distance, seemed to start below the ground itself. It had dozens of branches that, when looking straight at the tree, were long enough to reach nearly halfway to the edge of the visible horizon. Furthermore, the branches rose upwards with the tree, but their labyrinthine structure was flirtatiously obscured by curtains of violet wisteria-like flowers which seemed to touch the ground as they gently danced in the wind. The flowers themselves, when absent from the sun’s shine, illuminated with a gentle glow. The uppermost branches were high enough that they could never hope to be fed with the water of even the fiercest storm cloud. Despite that, they appeared livelier than the branches of the tree the villagers were standing on.

From within the many gaps and cracks between the branches behind the wisteria flowers, beams of gentle blue light broke through. Given the scale of the tree, it likely cast a shadow over long distances, depriving a significant portion of the world of much needed sunlight, so perhaps the tree was compensating by providing light of its own.

In addition to the light, water poured profusely from many of those same spots on the lower portions, while mist emitted from the higher ones. Typically, plants needed to consume water to survive, but this tree was instead producing it in vast quantities. The emission of moisture was further accentuated by the welcoming blue light as it reflected off and refracted through the waters and fog. Sunlight also refracted through much of the water as it broke through the wisteria, surrounding the branches behind the flowers with rainbows.

Finally, the branches were lined with pinkish-white buds which seemed to break off in large conglomerates as they were carried by the iridescent wind, and peacefully scattered across the world.

Had one not known better, the sight of the scattering and falling buds in the distance could have been mistaken for snowfall. But these were not the undesirable harbingers of death known as ‘snow,’ but the desirable harbingers of life known as ‘seeds.’ It was well known that, throughout the early spring season, the tree would scatter its seeds around the world, giving birth to new life.

With all of these traits taken into consideration, it was intrusively clear why they called this tree “The Mother Tree.” Producing water, light, seeds of life, and who knows what else, it may very well have been the mother of all life in the world. At the very least, it was easily understandable why the villagers would believe so.

Given that it was the first and main region of the tree one would see when they looked at it, the first branching point was naturally the most eye-catching one. The extraordinary distance between the first set of branches and the second required one to uncomfortably angle their head to see them, and in that space was an unnatural looking section of trunk that extended from the center of the top of the first set of branches.

In a way, it almost ruined the established beauty and tranquility of the tree up to that point, replacing it with an ominous aura. Not just because of its height, which could have intimidated anybody regardless of beauty, but because of how much it contrasted what one would expect from a tree’s structure. Once again, tree trunks normally end at their crowns, so the fact this one continued well beyond that point gave it a very unnatural feeling. That unnatural feeling, combined with its intimidating height, was enough to make one experience fear by merely looking at it.

The only saving grace was the way the branches it extended from were angled to follow it upwards in labyrinthine twists and turns, as well as how the branches gradually shortened after a certain height, making the extension of the trunk appear slightly more natural.

And at the top of that space was the second branching point. High enough that, even from such a viewing distance, there was no hope of catching the slightest glimpse of its ‘roof’ so-to-speak. The branches were much fewer in number compared to the first set of branches below, but were also much thicker, with the branches being a little more than half as wide as the trunk itself. These branches extended much further than the first set, and twisted and turned in fascinating ways. Not like a labyrinth, but rather as if they were dancing. They were covered in what could only be assumed to be dense black foliage, and were entirely surrounded by a light blue mist. As with the first set, they rose upwards along with the trunk.

The trunk above that point got increasingly difficult to see. But the remaining two sets of branches were clearly visible, as they were each almost twice as long as the previous. Despite that, discernible details were hard to make out. The only thing clear about the third set was that they were massive branches surrounded by vivid, pulsating lights.

But beyond the view of the Mother Tree lied a far more intimidating one.

The entire overhead sky was occupied by a green planet. The only clear parts of the sky were near the horizon, so if one were to never lift their head, they might have been able to miss the presence of the other world. But that didn’t mean the planet was far. It was close enough that one could discern rivers, lakes, forests, and large, bizarre structures, and it was big enough to occupy roughly three-fourths of the sky, but just far enough that any individual trees, animals, and general activity of life on its surface was indiscernible... except for one tree.

To the right of the colossal tree that pointed at the planet above, another equally colossal one approached from the very same. While the top of the first tree was impossible to see from the ground, it was only the top of the second one that could be seen, as it was at an angle that its topmost details obstructed the view of anything below them.

The top appeared as a giant, yellow, rough, hard, rose-like flower. It was in the shockingly quick process of blooming, as its petals unfolded with great speed. The interior of the petals appeared much softer than the exterior, and the inside lacked the layers one would expect from a rose, but instead contained a large, green, glowing mound with green lightning buzzing about it.

It was as if the trees might crash into each other as the beginning of some kind of cataclysmic event. However, no such risk existed. After all, this was a perfectly normal event that occurred twice a year.

A blue glow appeared from the horizon, at the bottom of the Mother Tree.

As the two titanic trees passed over the other, the blue glow transformed into a pure, almost-blinding light, and surged straight up along the Mother Tree’s entire length, clothing the its entire trunk in a blinding cyan light that drowned out the sunlight and turned the landscape blue. The beam struck the other world’s Mother Tree with ease, but was entirely absorbed by the green, glowing mound within the flowery top.

The villagers watched the event unfold in awe. The world subtly quaked. A hum could even be heard, and vibrations could be felt if one paid close attention. Despite this, nothing actually shook. The leaves were calmer than ever. Even the village, vulnerably hanging from vines, was unharmed, though it likely swayed. The villagers themselves had no risk of losing balance or falling from where they stood.

After a minute, the trees finished passing over each other, and the surge ended.

For a moment, the air was a little colder.

And thus began the new year.

- # # # CHAPTER END # # # -