Everything... was white.
There was no sky, no ground, no sound, and no direction, but only an endless sea of light that had swallowed the entire world.
Lian felt no sense of falling, his body was neither light nor heavy, and he didn’t even feel like he was moving.
It was as if time had stopped flowing for a few moments.
This experience of entering an interdimensional rift reminded him a little of the portals, it had significantly the same feeling and experience.
This made him curious about the origin of both, portals were set up with the help of magic and arrays and connected two points in one world.
The exact mechanism behind it was not clear, but it was said that it bends the space between these two points, like black holes.
But what about interdimensional rifts?
They were cracks between different dimensions of the world, how was their mechanism?
Did they work like portals and only at a higher level?
However, before he could think more about it, the light slowly began to fade.
The first thing he felt... was the wind.
A cold and powerful wind that passed by his face and violently fluttered his clothes.
The next moment... the sound of rustling leaves reached his ears.
After that, the smell of old, damp wood, along with the scent of unknown plants, filled the space around him.
In the distance, the sounds of creatures could be heard that had no resemblance to the monsters of the Ruined Realm.
Some sounds were like singing, some others were more like roars, and some were so strange that it was impossible to tell what creature they belonged to.
Lian calmly opened his eyes and at that same moment... for a few seconds, his mind was unable to process what he was seeing.
"My god... what the hell is this place?"
He was standing on a branch.
No... on a tree, but only a few seconds were enough for him to realize he was wrong.
This... was not a tree at all... at least... not what humans called a tree.
The branch beneath his feet was so wide that if one of the capital’s main and large streets was built on it, there would still be empty space on both sides.
The surface of the branch was not completely smooth.
Its bark, like an ancient rock, was full of massive cracks and stone-like protrusions.
In these same cracks, mosses had grown, some of which were taller than multi-story buildings.
Other plants were also living on that same branch.
Shrubs with green leaves and flowers the size of a carriage, and roots of plants that moved like massive snakes on the tree’s bark and sank back into it.
If someone without knowing the truth saw this place... they would probably imagine they had entered an unknown forest.
But that entire forest... had grown on just one branch.
Lian took a deep breath, just one branch of this tree alone was larger and more massive than any structure he had ever seen in his life.
In front of such greatness, one could only feel emptiness and worthlessness.
His eyes calmly scanned the surroundings, he had not yet grasped the true size of this tree.
But his instinct was screaming... this place was different from everything he had seen until today.
He decided to follow the path of the branch.
Every step made a dry sound from under his shoes, the wind was constantly blowing among the giant leaves, even the wind’s power alone was so strong that it could move him with one gust.
After walking a few hundred meters... his steps suddenly stopped.
His eyes slowly widened, in front of him, there was something that at first glance looked more like the remains of an abandoned city.
Thousands of massive branches were stacked on top of each other, some as thick as several buildings, and some so large that dozens of houses could be built on them.
The branches were arranged in a complex and tangled way; as if an unknown architect had carefully placed them together.
Lian looked for a few moments, then slowly whispered.
"A nest?"
At first glance, everything was so massive that it was impossible to guess what this place exactly was.
But with a look at the structure, it reminded him of birds’ nests, only on an unimaginably larger scale... much larger...
He carefully moved forward, the closer he got... the more he realized its greatness, and when he passed through the first branches... he again felt how small he was.
Every branch inside this nest was thicker than the watchtowers of Base #9.
Feathers had fallen among the branches, but they could no longer be called feathers.
Each one was the size of a warship, golden veins on them were still shining under the light.
Despite the passage of time, no signs of decay could be seen.
A few steps away, bones could be seen, bones that did not belong to any familiar creature.
A skull taller than a three-story building, a tooth as long as the trunk of a normal tree.
A claw that, if placed on the ground, could crush several cars at the same time.
Lian stood next to one of those bones, if he compared himself to it, he was not even the size of an ant.
He understood the true meaning of the word "gigantic" here, every other creature and thing that had ever called itself giant looked like an ant compared to anything that was here.
In the center of the nest... four eggs were placed.
Lian involuntarily stepped forward a few steps, each egg was between thirty to fifty meters tall.
The shell of one was silver-white, another was golden-colored, the third was dark blue, and the fourth was a combination of white and gold.
Their surfaces were not completely smooth, veins, like shining rivers, were moving on the shells.
Every few seconds, a gentle light passed through the eggs, as if something was breathing in their depths.
Lian stared at them without moving for a few minutes.
His mind was full of questions, finally, he quietly whispered under his breath.
"...What kind of monster’s nest is this?"
If the eggs are this gigantic... then how big is their mother?
He felt a bad feeling, such a creature could probably crush him like an ant with just a random movement.
At that same moment, several blue windows appeared before his eyes.
[You have entered the Special Area.]
[Area Synchronization Complete.]
[Special Rules Applied.]
[Communication with the outside world has been blocked.]
[Survive.]
That was it.
There was no mission, no explanation, no map, no goal, and only...
"Survive."
This simplicity also had its own terror, now he practically had no goal in this small world, and to leave, he had to look for the key.
But if all the parts of this world were as gigantic as where he was now, he doubted finding the key would be easy.
Lian calmly closed the windows, an unpleasant feeling had formed in his heart, but unfortunately, there was nothing he could do.
This was his first experience in a Special Area, and he could only go with the flow and keep his guard up.
After a few minutes, he moved toward the edge of the branch, if he was going to go down, he had to find a way.
When he reached the edge, he calmly looked down.
...
...
...
There was nothing, only a sea of clouds, as far as the eye could see... clouds.
Lian frowned, he waited a few more seconds, at that same moment, a strong wind blew.
A layer of clouds slowly moved aside, and what was hidden behind it made him hold his breath for a moment.
The tree... had passed through the clouds, not just a little, but kilometers above, and the branch he was standing on was probably several kilometers from the ground.
But even now, the ground could not be seen.
Below... only fog and clouds could be seen, even the tree’s trunk could not be seen completely.
It was so massive that from Lian’s angle, only a part of its bark could be seen; a brown wall that, like an endless mountain range, continued into the depths of the darkness.
At that same moment... Lian understood a painful truth, he had no way to go down.
No rope, no rock, no other path, only a fall... that would probably last a long time, and he doubted he could survive it.
He didn’t even know what could be down there, anything could be down there!
"Maybe I can use the claws."
He thought for a moment, it was not like there was no way.
He could activate Glacial Reaper Claw and strike the claws into the tree trunk, with this, maybe he could go down safely.
But the question was whether it was possible?
Looking at the tree trunk, it seemed much too resistant for the claws to penetrate.
The wind suddenly became stronger, one of the giant feathers that was lying next to the nest moved slowly on the branch.
The sound of it rubbing against the wood was like a ship being dragged on the ground.
Then... a sound was heard.
Very far away, so far that it could be kilometers away.
But... that one sound... shook the entire air.
It was like the screech of a bird, but so massive... that even Lian’s bones vibrated with its tremor.
The small birds around all fled from among the branches and leaves at the same moment, it was clear that the owner of the nest was returning!
And this did not seem like a good thing at all...
The wind changed direction for a few seconds, Lian calmly turned his head and his gaze fixed on the four massive eggs.
He was silent for a few moments and then a bitter smile settled on his lips and he whispered under his breath.
"I just hope the owner of this nest is hospitable."
———
( The Nest’s Visualization )