Eto and the princess were led by Gongarza through the jungle and after two hours, they arrived at the base of the giant tree but it wasn’t the tree itself.
A huge pack of giant but smaller trees all grew together, having almost the same height as the trees in the jungle. On top of it should be the giant tree they saw while walking the jungle. As if the leaves of these trees were the base for the giant tree to grow on.
‘Our home,’ Princess Morinojo said to Eto while giving a smile.
‘You ready princess?’ Gongarza asked and she nodded. She quickly turned to Eto and grabbed him. Almost too tight.
‘Hold on,’ she whispered and Eto was wondering what they were talking about.
He looked at Gongarza and noticed that multiple roots and branches of the trees started to move and form around him.
Before Eto could tell what really was going on, Gorganza was lifted in the air and brought to the top of the trees by the moving branches and roots.
‘Wow,’ Eto said, amazed and he felt how he also was being lifted from the ground.
The roots and branches had formed around him and the princess and while they were launched, the princess laughed while she held Eto tight against her.
Eto noticed she was a bit smaller than Veronica, as she was also smaller than him.
After a while, they reached the top of the trees and maneuvered through the leaves and branches until they were at the top.
Gongarza walked on top of the leaves and Eto saw that the leaves on the top of the trees almost made a floor to walk on.
He and Morinojo were released and he could feel how the floor of leaves were springy.
"We're home," the princess said and she grabbed Eto’s hand to guide him.
He looked up and saw the giant tree from before.
It stood on the trees of the jungle, as if it was grown on it.
It was huge and almost seemed mythical.
When Eto tried to look at the top, he had to bow his head all the way back and still he couldn’t see it really.
He heard some rumbling in the distance and when his attention focussed on where it came from, he was surprised by what he saw.
On top of the trees, a little further, was the Tortoise. It was broken in many places and Eto saw more of the tree creatures walk and climb around it.
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‘Hey! Get off of there!’ he yelled at them.
Veronica and Hawk followed the group of the Ricu clan but kept their distance from Morning Python, even though she walked without paying attention to them.
‘Just a little walk through the canyon, then we will arrive at our village,’ Lowe said to calm them.
Hawk nodded and Veronica looked up above the trees. In the distance, she saw a giant tree, hanging over all the other trees in the jungle.
‘What is that giant tree?’ she asked and she could hear one of the Ricu warriors growl.
‘Best to stay away from it,’ Lowe said with a deep voice. He also looked up towards the tree and slowly his lips raised as if he wanted to show his teeth.
‘Why?’ Veronica asked but she realized it wasn’t smart to ask it.
‘We’ll tell you when we are back. Best to tell that when we are safe,’ he responded and with his tone, he ended the conversation.
After a while, they reached a canyon at the edge of the jungle.
Veronica saw giant cliffs and on the other side was the rest of the jungle.
‘A giant river flows through the jungle and there is no way of passing it. The river runs through the canyon from a waterfall. Behind it, we can pass to the other side,’ Lowe said to the newcomers as many of his warriors already started to climb in the canyon to make their way.
‘Be careful,’ a Ricu warrior with silver hair said. ‘Some parts are fragile and will break. You don’t want to fall that deep.’
Morning python walked after the group and Hawk and Veronica looked at the situation.
‘I don’t like it,’ Hawk said as he looked at the fragile rocks on the edges.
‘Me neither but we can’t stay here. Lowe said that they can help us find the rest.’
Hawk agreed with Veronica and slowly they followed the rest, soon to be walking right behind Morning Python.
‘Keep your distance,’ Morning python commanded behind her and Hawk even stopped for a moment.
‘What is wrong with you?’ he asked and she looked back at him with an angry face.
‘I don’t want you around. Who knows what you people might do to me after I have attacked you.’
Veronica became angry by hearing that.
‘What could we do? How about what you still can do? You say you don’t have us as a target anymore but why should we believe you?’
‘Because,’ Morning Python said but the rest of her words were interrupted by a scream. Her own scream.
The ground underneath her crumbled with speed and before she could understand it, Morning python fell down into the canyon with pieces of rock falling behind her.
TYO made his way back outside and he scanned the jungle around him.
‘With the camera images I have seen, I should be able to recognize some parts and find my way to the pods,’ he mumbled to himself.
He quickly jumped back and hid behind some crates as two soldiers walked by. TYO could hear them speak.
‘Have you seen the knight with councilman Kazerku? Word around is that he is one of Generation Zero.’
‘What? Like the council would work with that scum.’
‘Who knows. Do you even think the council knows what we are doing here?’
One of the soldiers started to laugh.
‘I firmly believe the reports to the council tell otherwise than what we actually do.’
The soldiers disappeared and TYO looked to where they walked to.
‘Interesting,’ and TYO looked at a gap between two trees in the jungle.
‘I can’t wait to tell the rest what I've discovered here,’ as he drove away into the jungle.