The ascent hit him like a wall. One instant they were flying forward through the canopy, and the next the world rotated ninety degrees and they were going straight up - not climbing, not ascending gradually, but launching vertically with an acceleration that pressed Raizen's body against Elin's with a force that made his arms scream, his vision tunnel and his consciousness flicker at the edges like a candle in a hurricane.
The trunks fell away below them. The platforms shrank. The lanterns became dots, then specks, then gone. Ukai's canopy - the dense green ceiling that had been his world for days - disappeared beneath them as the dragon punched through the sky and kept climbing, the four wings beating in a rhythm that was no longer flight but powerful propulsion, each stroke driving them higher with a power that compressed the air beneath them into visible shockwaves.
