The three stared out at the vast sky in front of them. Taking a few moments to stare at the day slowly turning to night before finally setting out.
Kai grinned, hands planted on his hips. "So, shall we?" Mei leaned lazily against his shoulder before pushing off with a sigh.
"Now or never, I suppose." She grumbled.
"Ugh. Let's just get this over with." Luna dropped down into a squat, burying her head in her hands. "Why do I always let crazy stuff happen?"
Kai nodded. "Alright, let's get started." He took a deep breath and placed his hand on the ground below him. Moments of silence passed before vines shot out from the wall of the ledge in front of them. The three vines began to intertwine with each other as the tightly woven braid began to grow and expand forward.
"Why is it going so slow? We're going to be here forever." Luna, who was now lying on her stomach, mumbled.
"This is going to be holding a lot of weight, so I have to make sure to get the weave right before growing them faster. It'll slightly lessen our chances of this breaking, especially after we leave the support of the anchor points." Kai continued to look down as he spoke, not wanting to lose concentration.
Kai furrowed his brow, sweat beginning to pool at his temples. The vines continued to grow forward slowly. Luna groaned behind him. Then, with a deep exhale, Kai forced a surge of energy into them. The vines exploded forward, twisting and expanding rapidly.
Kai took a deep breath out and rolled his shoulders. "There we go. It'll take a few minutes, though." He turned to smirk at Mei playfully. "Better start stretching, Mei."
"Already one step ahead of you. Just rest, Kai, you look like death." Mei grunted, already halfway down into a side lunge.
Kai flopped down to the ground with a loud thud, his arms spread out to his sides. "Yeah, it's hitting me now. I used some of the vines I already had in the ground, so it isn't as bad as I thought, but still… I'll probably just be able to make it."
Luna stared at the long rope forming before her eyes in awe, the scale of what was happening just hitting her for the first time. "Isn't what he's doing kind of insane?" She whispered to herself and looked at the two nonchalantly talking to each other as if it was no big deal.
Luna propped herself up on one elbow, watching them with newfound intensity and curiosity. "Do you two know who your gods are?"
Kai craned his neck up from the ground. "Me." He quipped before his head slammed back down into the dirt.
Mei chuckled and shook her head, then went back to stretching. "Why do you ask?"
Luna sat up, becoming increasingly intrigued. "There's no record of the marks you two hold in any archive I've seen over the years. This is the first time that's happened. They've never spoken to you before? Sometimes people are able to hear their gods in their head if they care enough to make an effort to reach you."
"Nope. But then again, it's possible they didn't know. We've basically been trapped here for our whole lives; maybe they've never seen us." Mei shook her body out as she spoke, finishing her routine.
"Wait, what do you mean trapped-" Luna started to question as a loud clapping noise filled the air around them.
Kai groaned, wearily rolled onto his side, and then slowly pushed himself off the ground. "It's done…"
"Are you sure it's connected to that island?" Mei stared out at the relatively thin rope of vine stretching out from their island in the direction of the one in the distance.
"If it isn't, then we're pretty screwed. So let's just assume it is." Kai wobbled over to the vine and tugged it gently. "Seems like it's as taught as can be. I can't do better than this."
Luna stood up and yawned, now fully resigning herself to her fate. "Fine, but we'll continue this conversation later. Let's get this over with."
"Yeah, yeah. I'm doing it." Mei waved them both away, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Red light appeared on the ground in a circle surrounding her, it began to slowly creep upwards in small strands of light swirling around up to her head.
Kai stood aside, a proud smile on his face. While Luna jumped back in surprise as Mei's body began to change shape in front of her. Through the light, she could see red and gold hair sprouting all over Mei's body, a tail growing from her back, and her bent over to stand on her hands and feet.
Moments later, the light began to dissipate. Revealing her full form. Taking the shape of a sleek lioness, her red and gold fur glistened in the setting sun, and her yellow, piercing eyes fiercely glared forward at their destination.
"Wow…" Luna whispered. "She really can change all the way."
Kai nodded. "It's cool, right? She's the best. Transforming isn't the only thing she can do. She'll also kick your ass. She has to be the strongest in the world by far."
Mei stared down awkwardly. If she was in her human form, her face would definitely be beet red, covered in blush. "Okay, enough gawking and praising. Let's get a move on. Full transformations are really taxing."
"Woah, you can still talk? That's awesome!." Luna gasped, not able to hold in the sense of childlike wonder she had long repressed inside her. She quickly placed her hand over her mouth, covering it in embarrassment.
Kai smiled and nodded. "Right, right." He grabbed onto Mei's neck. "Come Luna, we need to go."
Luna quickly jogged over and grasped onto Mei's neck, her arms wrapping around right above Kai's. "If we die, I'm going to kill you." She grumbled as Kai wrapped vines around their hands and wrists, securing them to her neck.
Vines quickly sprouted from the ground a wrapped themselves around Mei's legs and tail, attaching each one separately to the rope. "Okay, this is really the best we can do. Go for it, Mei."
Mei nodded and took a step forward onto the start of the rope. The entire line in sight wobbled as she put weight on it. "Alright, not the worst." "We're going to go slow, right? You know, to be safe?" Luna looked down at the emptiness below them as she began to break out in a cold sweat.
Kai scoffed weakly, his strength beginning to fade. "Hell no, we need to go as fast as possible. Just start swinging and have some faith in me."
"Wait, I'm not ready- woah!" Luna screamed as Mei took off on the rope at a breakneck speed. "Gotta calm down. This is just like riding a Fleudel. Nothing to it." She chanted at herself for motivation.
Mei began to lean toward the left where Kai was hanging. "Luna!" She screamed through labored breaths and panting.
"Right, I need to swing… Kai, is it in sync with you or-" Luna sighed, looking at Kai, who had already passed out. "Well, when you run it's opposite so I'm guessing it's like that..." Luna clenched her stomach and began swinging back and forth, trying to match Kai's speed, helping Mei pull back to center.
"Thanks." Mei gasped as she continued to run forward on the extremely wobbly rope. "We're almost in the middle, so concentrate."
Luna looked at Mei, staring forward and running without any hesitation as a cold feeling grew in her chest. "Aren't you scared? This is an absolutely insanely dangerous plan, and if we mess up even a little bit, we'll die."
Mei kept running forward; she couldn't afford to take her eyes off the road in front of her. She kept her answer short, not wanting to waste more energy or throw off her rhythm. "Kai said it's the best way. I believe in him."
"That's it?" Luna grunted softly through her own breathing, which was becoming increasingly labored. She looked at the two of them, then down below, and attempted to take a deep breath to calm herself as a big smile began to creep across her face.
Luna quickly began to burst out into laughter. "I'd never imagined doing anything like this. I know it's crazy, but it's kind of fun! I like you guys; maybe I'll stick around with you."
She directed her gaze upwards. "We're coming up on the last stretch, Mei! If you continue forward, there's an entryway to the capital with guard patrols that are not too far off. Can you try to jump a little to the left so we aren't as easy to spot?"
Mei nodded. "I'll try my best."
Luna extended her claws out from her hands and frantically sliced at the vines around Mei's tail and feet. "You should be good to go!" She shouted.
Mei quickly looked at the foreign land in front of them and spotted a small ring of shrubbery to the side. "I see a spot; brace yourself," Mei grunted as she bent her four legs and leaped off the side of the vine rope.
As they crashed down through the air, Mei transformed back into her regular human form in an instant. Without her large lioness frame to hold them, all three crashed into the carefully crafted topiary in a chaotic freefall.
Luna quickly picked herself up and brushed the dirt from her hair while laughing. "Hahaha! I can't believe we actually made it! You two are amazing. Welcome to Eden's Edge."
She caught her breath and looked down at Mei and Kai who were both landed face first into the dirt next to her, unconscious. "Well, I guess we'll save that for when you guys wake up."