The Eternal Glass Forest.

It seemed Ken had cheated death at the tribunal, but as the hours passed, Natasha was determined to make him regret it.

The march was torture for Ken. They had to use every minute of daylight. In the wild zones outside the walls, night didn't mean rest; it meant death. The nocturnal Calamity creatures were faster, hungrier, and far more lethal than in the morning.

They crossed mountain passes and trails forgotten by Japanese civilization. Ken, still recovering from broken ribs and the tribunal beating, felt his lungs were about to collapse. More than once, he almost lost his life from a misstep on a cliff edge or tripping over roots. Natasha, on the other hand, moved like a ghost. She knew every stone, every crack, and every shortcut as if she walked there daily. She didn't sweat, didn't pant, and rarely looked back to see if Ken was following.

"Move your legs, brat!" she yelled at him from the top of a hill. "The sun is setting. If you fall behind, I won't go looking for your corpse."

The sky began to take on a dangerous violet hue. The tree shadows lengthened, taking on grotesque shapes. In the distance, the howl of something definitely not a normal wolf echoed through the valley.

"I'm coming!" Ken panted, forcing his aching muscles to respond.

Just as the last rays of sunlight vanished, Natasha stopped in front of a rock wall covered in vines. With a quick movement, she pushed the vegetation aside, revealing the black mouth of a narrow cave. "Inside. Quick."

They both entered. The cave led to a descending path, dark and damp. The air here was different; heavier, charged with a static that made the hair on Ken's arms stand up. They walked in silence for what felt like hours, guided only by a small chemical light stick Natasha had snapped.

"Where are we going, Instructor?" Ken asked, unable to contain his curiosity. His voice echoed strangely off the stone walls.

Natasha took her time to answer, not breaking stride. "This cave is a Geographic Singularity. It leads to a zone where time flows in an... unusual way. It's not on any of the Kijin Organization's maps, not even on pre-Cataclysm military maps."

Ken listened in awe, momentarily forgetting the pain in his legs. "A secret zone?"

"A forgotten zone," Natasha corrected. "But its most important peculiarity isn't time. It's its composition. It's a crystalline zone."

As she said this, a faint light began to appear at the end of the tunnel. It wasn't white light, but a warm, almost orange glow. "We're here," Natasha said.

They both hurried towards the exit and emerged outside. Ken stopped dead in his tracks, his jaw hanging open. His eyes couldn't process what they were seeing. This landscape was something no human could have imagined. It didn't seem like Earth. It looked like a paradise from another planet.

They were in a deep valley, protected by towering mountains. But there was no common wood or stone. The entire forest was made of crystal. The tree trunks were columns of smoky quartz rising towards the sky. The leaves were translucent sheets of amber and orange that tinkled softly in the wind, creating a constant melody. The ground beneath their feet wasn't earth, but soft glass sand that glowed with its own light. Even the air seemed to refract light, creating small perpetual rainbows around them.

"It's... beautiful," Ken whispered, lowering his guard completely. It was the first time since Naomi's death that he had seen something so pure, so far removed from blood and rot.

Ken took a few steps toward the edge of a glass cliff to get a better look at the lake below. The water was a dense electric blue, almost like liquid mercury, reflecting the orange sky with perfect clarity. "I never believed a place like this could exi..."

The sole of a military boot stamped into Ken's back. The moment of wonder was short-lived. Natasha had given him a sharp, precise kick, sending him over the edge.

"Waaaaahhhhh!" Ken fell a few meters, flailing his arms, until he hit the water's surface.

The water was incredibly dense and cold, knocking the air from his lungs. Ken surfaced, coughing and spitting out blue water, soaked from head to toe.

"What the hell was th...?!"

"Remember, we're not here on vacation, brat!" Natasha yelled at him from the shore, hands on her hips and a sadistic smile on her face. "Start training now!"

"Yes, but...!" Ken tried to protest.

"Ah!" Natasha interrupted him by throwing something heavy down from the height. It was his 30-kilo tactical backpack. The backpack hit Ken right in the face, dunking him underwater for another second.

Ken surfaced again, furious and in pain, pulling the backpack off his head. Natasha looked down at him with a cold stare. Paradise was over.