CHAPTER 66: CHAPTER 66: THE FLOATING GARDENS

The next destination on their map was unlike anything any of them had seen before. The Floating Gardens hung suspended in the sky above what used to be the Pacific Ocean, a collection of massive islands that drifted through clouds of their own making. Each island was covered in vegetation so lush and vibrant it could be seen from dozens of kilometers away.

"How are they staying up there?" Evon asked, looking up from the deck of the sea vessel they’d commandeered. The islands floated at various altitudes, some barely a hundred meters above the water, others so high they were lost in the cloud layer.

"Air magic, probably," Yulia said, consulting a crystal compass that pointed not north but toward areas of high magical concentration. "The world these came from—Verdania—was known for its mastery of aerial cultivation."

Quendor circled overhead, his massive form casting shadows on the water below. "I can see movement up there," he called down. "Lots of it. The islands are definitely inhabited."

Titania fluttered her wings nervously. "I’m sensing plant magic up there that’s... well, it’s aggressive. Not hostile exactly, but very territorial."

Their transport had changed again for this leg of the journey. The Nexus had provided them with what looked like a small sailing ship, but one that could apparently sail through air as easily as water. When Evon had asked how it worked, the Arbiter had simply said, "Don’t think about it too hard. Some things just are."

Now, as they approached the lowest of the floating islands, the ship began to rise from the water’s surface, carried by winds that seemed to blow in directions that had nothing to do with weather patterns.

"Everyone hold on," called their pilot, a cheerful dwarf named Borin who had volunteered for the mission because, in his words, "flying ships are almost as good as flying hammers." "We’re about to dock!"

The island they were approaching was roughly the size of a small city, covered in what appeared to be a single massive garden. Flowers the size of houses bloomed in impossible colors, their petals shifting through the spectrum as they watched. Trees grew in spirals that defied gravity, their roots extending into empty air where they seemed to absorb nutrients directly from the clouds.

As their ship settled onto a landing platform made of woven vines, they were met by the island’s inhabitants. The plant-folk of Verdania were humanoid in shape but clearly botanical in nature. Their skin had the texture of bark or leaves, their hair was made of living vines or flower petals, and their eyes were the deep green of chlorophyll.

"Welcome, travelers," said the apparent leader, whose form seemed to be crafted from a massive sunflower. Her voice had the rustling quality of wind through leaves. "I am Morning Petal, Tender of this Sky Garden. What brings you to our aerial realm?"

"We’re looking for something," Evon said, stepping forward. "A fragment of holy light that might have landed here during the world merger."

Petal’s large sunflower head tilted slightly. "Ah, yes. The Burning Seed."

"Burning Seed?" Yulia asked.

"That is what we have called it," Petal explained, gesturing for them to follow her along a path made of woven grass. "It appeared in our Deepmost Garden three days past, where our most sacred plants grow. But it is... problematic."

As they walked deeper into the island, Evon marveled at the sheer diversity of plant life around them. There were trees that bore fruit made of crystallized music, flowers that sang in harmony as the wind touched them, and vines that seemed to paint pictures in the air with their movements.

"Problematic how?" Borin asked, his dwarven practical nature showing through.

"It burns without consuming," Petal said sadly. "Our most delicate flowers, the ones that took centuries to cultivate, they wither in its presence. Not from heat, but from... purity, perhaps? The light is too clean, too absolute for our complexity."

They passed through several different garden sections, each one more elaborate than the last. The plant-folk they encountered were friendly but clearly distressed about something. Many of them were tending to plants that looked wilted or stressed, despite the abundance of magical energy in the air.

"It’s the same problem as with the glass elementals," Titania observed quietly. "The seal fragments are too pure for their new environments."

Finally, they reached what Petal called the Deepmost Garden. It was at the very center of the island, surrounded by the oldest and most magnificent plants on the floating landmass. Ancient trees whose trunks were the size of buildings formed a natural cathedral, their branches interweaving overhead to create a living ceiling.

And in the exact center, floating above a pool of crystal-clear water, was Yena’s second fragment.

This one had adapted differently to its environment. Instead of maintaining its pure golden glow, it had taken on characteristics of plant growth. Streams of holy light extended from the central core like roots or branches, reaching out to touch the surrounding vegetation. But everywhere they touched, the plants became too perfect—their colors too bright, their forms too geometrically precise.

"Oh, Yena," Naia whispered in Evon’s mind. "What have you become here?"

"She’s trying to help," Lyria observed. "She’s attempting to nurture the plants, but her energy is too refined for their natural complexity."

Evon approached the floating fragment carefully. Unlike in the Prism Sands, this piece of Yena’s essence seemed more active, more aware of its surroundings. As he drew closer, the light-roots turned toward him like flowers following the sun.

"Hello, sister," he said softly, reaching out with both his physical and spiritual senses.

The fragment pulsed once, and suddenly Evon could feel Yena’s consciousness more clearly than ever before. She was confused, he realized, trying to understand her new environment and how to exist within it. Her nature was to heal and purify, but in a world of such natural complexity, those impulses were causing harm instead of help.

"It’s okay," he whispered, letting his hand touch the fragment’s surface. "You don’t have to fix everything. Just come home."

The moment of contact sent warmth through his entire being, and he felt the second piece of Yena’s essence settle into harmony with the first. The plant-roots of holy light began to withdraw, and the stressed vegetation around the pool immediately began to relax back into its natural state.

"Thank the Verdant Mother," Petal said, her sunflower face showing clear relief. "The balance is restored."

But as Evon prepared to store the second fragment, his Eyes of Fate activated again. Just like in the Prism Sands, he found himself staring at something the others couldn’t see—this time, it was embedded in the trunk of one of the ancient trees surrounding the pool.

The compulsion to claim it was just as strong as before, that urgent desire that seemed to come from the very core of his being.

"There’s another one," he said, pointing to a section of bark that looked perfectly ordinary to everyone else.

"Another what?" Borin asked, following Evon’s gaze but obviously seeing nothing unusual.

"Another piece of that relic, I think." Evon approached the tree, his enhanced sight showing him the outline of another fragment embedded deep within the living wood. "It’s inside the tree."

Petal moved closer, her plant-nature apparently allowing her to sense something the others couldn’t. "Yes," she said slowly. "There is something foreign within Grandfather Oak’s heartwood. We felt it but could not identify it."

"Can you get it out without harming the tree?" Evon asked.

"Perhaps," Petal replied. She placed her hands against the ancient bark and began to hum—a sound like wind through leaves and the creaking of healthy branches. Slowly, the tree began to respond, its bark softening and parting to reveal the hidden fragment.

This piece was identical to the one from the Prism Sands, and its surface showed signs of having been affected by its long residence within the living tree. Organic patterns covered what had once been smooth surfaces, and it pulsed with a rhythm that matched the heartbeat of the ancient oak.

Evon touched it.

"What do you see?" Yulia asked, studying his expression with concern.

"Pieces of a puzzle," Evon replied, though that didn’t really capture the complexity of what he was sensing. "Something that was broken apart and hidden, but meant to be found again."

"By you specifically?" Titania asked.

"I think so." He looked at the two relic fragments, one in each hand, and felt a strange certainty. "I think whoever hid these knew I would come looking for them."

Petal swayed gently in the breeze that always seemed to blow through the Floating Gardens. "The plants whisper of ancient purposes and forgotten guardians. Perhaps what you seek seeks you as well."

As they prepared to leave the Floating Gardens, Evon couldn’t shake the feeling that the relic fragments were somehow connected to his quest for Yena’s seals. Two destinations, two seal fragments, two relic pieces. The pattern was too consistent to be coincidence.

"Eleven more fragments to go," he said to the goddesses in his mind. "Think we’ll find more relic pieces?"

"I have a feeling," Sythara said thoughtfully, "that we’re going to find exactly what we need, when we need it."

"Even if we don’t know what it is yet," Veyra added with her characteristic analytical precision.

As their flying ship lifted off from the Floating Gardens, Evon looked back at the drifting islands with their impossible vegetation and their kind plant-folk inhabitants.

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