Page 214 of A Soul to Guide

The moment glass shattered, he shoved his head through and sucked in fresh air, uncaring that it was thin. More screams exploded, but he ignored them as he broke his way further through the window.

Glass shards cut at his belly and sides as he crawled his way through. He needed to get away from them.

From what he could tell, the entire section of hallway he’d been in was part of a massive tree, bigger than anything he’d ever thought possible. He turned so he could claw his way upwards on a gigantic white branch, already noticing he was miles high.

No wonder the air was so thin. He’d never been this far above sea level before in his life.

Using his toe claws, he kicked and climbed his way higher.

At the top of the branch, he went to stand, but a sharp gust of wind nearly pushed him off it. He had to steady himself with his hands or he’d slide over. Assaulted by wind pushing his body to the side, his quills acting like a sail fin, he crawled to the trunk of the tree.

It gave him something better to hold on to, as well as shielded him from the worst of the wind.

He stood, and with the wind pushing his quills and tail to the left, he finally took in the world.

Holy... spirit of the void, whoa.

He took in the uncanny workmanship of nature, made by an extraterrestrial world.

From as far as the eye could see, the land was covered in trees that reached at least half the magnificent height he was standing at, which meant they were taller than any other on Earth. Some had white bark with pink and purple leaves, which were the prominent colours, but others had splashes of blue and green with black trunks.

In the distance, where the fading sunlight wasn’t touching them anymore, their leaves wereglowing.

There was an open field between the middle of two sets of forest, a large river running down the middle that headed straight below him. The grass was an azure blue, waving like the sea from the wind pushing through its long stalks.

Still, it was what was below that was truly awe-inspiring.

It was a white city, hundreds of miles wide, with cream limestone walls circling it all the way to the ocean behind him. Houses around the base of the tree he was standing upon were mainly made from its white roots, but it looked as though they wereconnected, like the tree itself had made their homes.

Further out were more houses made of cream limestone, many with glass as ceilings. Those made of the tree were circular, but the stone ones came in varying shapes, swirling colours painted into them.

Hills played all throughout the city, with coloured flags and fluttering cloth giving life to it.

A small cliff separated the people from the beach behind him, but there were three stone staircases freely leading to it.

He was so high, he could barely make out thousands of people, all dressed in different colours, moving through the city. The pathways were azure blue grass like he could see around the river – as though they preferred having something living to soften their footsteps.

The sky was difficult to make out through a multicoloured dome barrier that protected the entire city. It was only when he stopped looking through the rainbow of the bubble that he noted the sky was green to match the only sun he could see.

Everything was painted in the dimming light of dusk falling over the water. At least the ocean looked familiar, although a little greener than he was used to.

The sight before him was beautiful – lush, vivid, and overwhelmingly breath-taking. How could a world glow like this?

Another gust of wind tried to push him forward, and it woke him from his maw-gaping stare.

His orbs turned blue.How am I meant to find her here?

He was sure she’d find him first, but what he really wondered... How the hell were they supposed to find each other without him killing someone?

Merikh needed to find her before those soldiers he faced on Earth found him, or before fear forced him into a hunger-filled rage. He had no quill guards, no scent-cloaking cloth.

Hell, he was even naked.

He couldn’t stay this high for much longer. He could become accustomed to the thin oxygen, but it would take time. Going back inside the tree to where the people stood in a tight hallway seemed idiotic.

He’d look like a monster barrelling his way through. If he accidentally hurt someone, the already overbearing fear mixing with blood was a sure-fire way to set him off.

I need to go down.From the outside.

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