In another time and space.
High in the sky.
Thick storm clouds churned rapidly, as if stirred by an invisible hand.
The lead-gray clouds looked like ink being stirred by an invisible giant hand—color-changing ink, the water-soluble kind. The original dark clouds seemed to vanish without a trace in an instant.
Sunlight poured down like a waterfall, absurdly fast. One second, the sky had been overcast; the next, it was cloudless for miles, as though the world's backdrop had been forcibly switched.
Golden light filtered through the gaps between the trees. The sudden change left Ian astonished, as if time had fast-forwarded at that very moment.
"Was ancient weather like this?"
Ian looked up.
Thoughtfully. The air was filled with dampness, mingled with the fresh scent of earth and green grass. The distant mountains appeared especially clear under the sunlight.
Like a vivid painting.
"Right, the gods controlled the laws and stole the Titans' power?" Ian stood on the wasteland, glancing up at the unnatural clear sky as the corner of his mouth twitched.
"What... half-hearted weather."
He looked ahead.
The sky after the rain was an eye-piercing blue, and sunlight poured down like molten gold, yet it could not illuminate the scars on the land before him. It looked utterly out of place beside the peaceful forests of other eras.
Like the end of the world.
The area where Castle in the Sky had fallen had become a sea of fire. Flames gnawed at the wreckage like gigantic beasts, while black smoke billowed upward, gradually staining a stretch of the skyline a filthy gray.
However.
Under the influence of some mysterious force, the murk did not spread elsewhere—Ian guessed that the Black Robe Wizards were intervening. That also made it easier for him to pinpoint their exact location.
But