They sailed up the colorful rainbow bridge, and soon the sights of the Upper World slowly unfolded before them.
The first thing that came into view was a shore with a beach. Clear spring water gushed from a hollow in the tree, cascading down in layers like a waterfall into the bay below.
As for why there was a beach on a tree—
"It was formed by countless years of weathering."
Dorry explained it to them.
On the way, the group had already learned some things about Elbaf from the giants.
Compared with the island itself, where snowy mountains stretched across the lower levels, the Adam Tree could almost be considered the true heart of this country. The middle level was called the Upper World because it was the largest and received the most sunlight.
The Underworld below, hidden beneath the dense branches of the middle level, was also called the "Land Where the Sun Disappeared," the First World.
Hearing that name, Lina couldn't help wondering if the giants had lived on the island below in some distant age.
Perhaps the Adam Tree had grown later, blocking out the sunlight. With the Underworld deprived of the sun, it had been abandoned, forcing the giants to move up into the tree.
Or perhaps someone had learned the truth about the rising sea long ago, and the Adam Tree had been planted from the start to shelter the giants—or the other peoples of the world—when the waters swallowed everything, countless years in the future.
Once Lina began thinking about these things, her mind couldn't help spinning off into countless other possibilities.
If the sea rose at its naturally slow pace each year, honestly, she wouldn't even bother worrying about it. By the time the world sank, she'd have been dust for ages.