Flying Cities

**Flying Cities** (飛行都市, *Hikō Toshi*?), or **Flying Cities of the Heavens** (天空の飛行都市, *Tenkū no Hikō Toshi*?), are general names used by people on the surface world to refer to cities which could sometimes be seen in the sky.

## Background

Flying Cities first appeared ten years ago. They were initially sighted often and were popular among people of the surface world with many books about them written, but sightings lessened over time and interest in them gradually died out. Inhabitants of Flying Cities are drawn in to the cities' own gravity. The cities can be made to show and conceal themselves.

Professor Datto had doubts about whether Flying Cities were really cities floating in the sky. He noted that though cities of great mass were supposedly floating in the sky, the effect they were having on the surface was minimal. 10 years ago, Datto had seen a Flying City appear and disappear before him, with the only effect induced on his surroundings being the rustling of grass. He hypothesized that the cities were really existences from a separate space-time from the surface world.

From the fact that Flying Cities were first mentioned ten years ago and the discrepancy in age of 10 years between Pipi and Leana, who were supposedly the same person, Popol deduced that Flying Cities were illusions of the world as it appears 10 years in the future. Usually the two periods of time have no effect on each other, and Flying Cities are only revealed to the surface world when they close by.

The Flying Cities were originally the Dominions of Light, the only pieces of land to survive the collapse of the world. The Flying Cities' sizes are proportionate with the amount of energy the Dominions of Light have. The cities themselves become smaller when their inhabitants use the city's energy for their livelihood. Korek had been the Dominion of Light with the most intense consumption of its energy taking place, and had less energy than the other Flying Cities after the collapse of the world. The Flying Cities maintain the Big Orbs from when they were Dominions of Light, and can use their power to move. Generally, there is great distances between each Flying City.

For inhabitants of the cities, the cities appear to be floating in a jet-black sea-like world which took the lives of people who touched it. The inhabitants of Korek, in despair at their dissipating land, realized that at the bottom of the sea was another world; the lush land that was the world before it collapsed. Through trial and error, the Korek people discovered that the sea would only be fatal up to 150 meters below Korek's ground level, and by diving from minus 200 meters, they were able to reach the lush land, which was actually the world from 10 years ago. The black sea is a rift in space-time which caused the Flying Cities to roam between the two time periods.

It is as of yet impossible for people from the surface world to travel to the Flying Cities. When they approach the Rift in Space-time, their bodies begin feeling heavy, and after a certain line is crossed, they would be crushed to death.

## Flying Cities

There are seven Flying Cities, with Ariadne being relatively small among them. They have limited organic matter and are filled with inorganic matter like iron, machines, and buildings. There had been eight originally, but Korek was extinguished five years ago, thought to have occurred due to its Big Orb exploding.

There are four big and relatively stable Flying Cities, the biggest and most powerful of them being the rebuilt Barbaros Empire. The others being the Granaga Kingdom, the Temple Republic, and the Karma Liberal Alliance. It is thought that if Granaga, Temple and Karma combined forces, they could resist and defeat the Barbaros Empire. However, the three cities do not get along due to their different political climates, with Granaga being an absolute monarchy, Temple being a republic, and Karma being a idealistic nation-state touting liberty.

Except for Uruaga and Korek, all other Flying Cities formed states within 1 year of the collapse of the world. Korek likely perished before it was able to due to its lack of energy, whereas nothing has been heard from Uruaga in 10 years, leaving its political situation unknown to the other Flying Cities.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Chapter 118
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Chapter 2
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chapter 61
4. ↑ Chapter 211
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Chapter 123
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Chapter 129
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 Chapter 124
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Chapter 28
9. ↑ Chapter 126
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Chapter 189
11. ↑ Chapter 125