The research station built from cloudstone had collapsed into ruins. Jagged gaps split its broken walls, and rubble lay scattered across the pristine white island clouds.
An old scholar with white hair and a white beard slumped in a corner, clutching the wrist of the man before him. Veins bulged across the back of his hand like withered vines.
Behind him, the bodies of the researchers lay strewn across the ground.
"You can't take it away... this is my life's work!"
The man in his grip stood straight, sporting a flamboyant blond afro, his earlobes dangling down to his chest. He held a rolled-up blueprint in one hand and a solid gold staff in the other, his brow furrowed and his face full of impatience.
"Let go. I need it to reach Endless Vearth!"
The old man kept struggling. His body had no strength left, but his hand seemed rooted to the man's clothes, impossible to pry loose.
Enel finally lost all patience. He raised the Golden Staff and casually brought it down.
Squelch.
The end of the staff sank into the old man's skull with a dull, wet thud. A mixture of red and white fluid splashed out onto the pristine island clouds, spreading into a glaring stain.
The old man's body twitched a few times before his fingers finally loosened, one by one. He toppled sideways onto the clouds, his cloudy eyes wide open, reflecting the spotless sky above.
"Now I can finally fulfill my dream."
Enel shook the blood off the Golden Staff and unfurled the bloodstained blueprint before him.
His fingertips traced the dense lines and annotations on the drawing, a glint of fervor flashing in his eyes.
Legends of Endless Vearth had been passed down in Birka since ancient times.
Born here and raised on