The air in Cloud Haven was thin, saturated with the fragrance of the Cloud Tree's pale blue blossoms.
But this fragrance no longer masked the scent of death creeping up from below, from the toxic clouds that blanketed the earth like a vast white shroud.
Adam sat on the edge of the village, his legs dangling over the abyss, staring at the clouds that moved slowly like ghosts lost in the void.
He thought about his grandmother's tales of the world below, the green Earth that flourished with life before the toxic clouds consumed it.
"Is there still hope?" Adam wondered silently.
He wasn't sure. The Cloud Tree, the source of their life, was suffering. Its blue leaves were turning pale yellow, its blossoms dwindling day by day.
And with the withering of the Cloud Tree, the village's hope for survival was fading.
"I must do something," Adam whispered to himself.
He knew he was different from the others. He felt a mysterious call pulling him downwards, towards the unknown Earth below.
He could hear the whispers of the toxic wind as if it were calling his name.
"Perhaps I'll find the answer there," Adam said, his voice trembling.
He looked back at the quiet village, at its small houses suspended among the clouds, at the worried and tired faces of its inhabitants.
"For you, I will do this."
Then he took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a moment, as if bidding farewell to his familiar world.
And when he opened his eyes again, he had made his decision.
He would leave Cloud Haven.
He would descend to the Earth below.
He would face the unknown.