By the time they escaped the prison district, Kai had reached a simple conclusion.
Yggdrasil was insane.
The city wasn't built like any place he had ever seen.
Roads climbed vertically along the mountainside.
Bridges connected districts suspended over empty air.
Entire neighborhoods were carved directly into the rock.
Some buildings seemed to defy logic entirely.
And somehow thousands of people lived here.
At this point Kai wasn't even surprised anymore.
If someone told him a dragon operated a bakery nearby, he'd probably believe it.
---
The prison alarms eventually faded into the distance.
Either the guards had lost them.
Or they had bigger problems.
Andre didn't seem concerned either way.
He casually strolled through crowded streets as if he hadn't escaped prison less than an hour ago.
Kai walked beside him.
Trying very hard not to look suspicious.
The problem was that Andre looked suspicious even when doing absolutely nothing.
Several civilians crossed the street simply because they saw him approaching.
Andre seemed proud of that.
---
"Where exactly are we going?"
Andre pointed ahead.
"A library."
Kai blinked.
"A library?"
"Yep."
"You know how strange it is hearing that from you?"
Andre looked offended.
"I can read."
"I didn't say you couldn't."
"You implied it."
Kai wisely decided not to continue that conversation.
---
The city gradually changed as they descended.
The upper districts contained soldiers and officials.
The middle districts contained merchants and craftsmen.
The lower they went, the stranger things became.
Street vendors sold items Kai couldn't identify.
Musicians performed on crowded corners.
Smugglers openly conducted business in alleyways.
A man attempted to sell Andre a suspiciously large lizard.
Andre almost bought it.
Kai physically dragged him away.
---
Eventually they arrived.
The library stood quietly between several larger buildings.
Compared to the rest of Yggdrasil, it looked ordinary.
Stone walls.