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1066. An Ideal Beginning
🕑 Added 2025-09-09 08:13:05 +0000 UTC“There should be, what, six hours till daylight?”
“Six hours, fifty minutes, thirty-two seconds.” Orth corrected.
“So seven hours.” Frost began a mental timer.
“Haaaah.” Raoul sighed as she dropped to their level, spreading her legs out as a sign of fatigue. “… I forget how weak this body is. I’m used to the endurance of a Star.”
“But you don’t complain.” Frost smiled.
“It could be worse. They gave me an especially vulnerable body but didn’t put me in compromising positions. I’m not sure whether I should thank Act X or not.” Raoul didn’t say anything more, at the risk of alerting the twins. “Did I say something wrong, Res?”
She noticed the way Res was glaring disapprovingly at her.
“No, you’re correct.” Neither did she elaborate.
Sensing that the atmosphere was turning sour, Frost suddenly raised her voice as she addressed Joy.
“You can close your eyes now, Joy~ You don’t always have to be ready to fight.”
“Malgam?” Joy put on her best puppy eyes expression unintentionally.
“Don’t sound so sad. Go on. Sleep. Your mother’s got you.” Frost almost stopped herself from uttering ‘mother’ out loud, only because she wanted to replace it with ‘mama’ or ‘momma’ to make it sound less formal.
Joy gave Frost one last look before her eyelids fluttered. Before long, Joy had fallen asleep, and the twins were sleeping with their heads resting against Frost’s shoulders.
“Truly, a mother bird.”
Not when I’m this small. I feel like I’m the one being looked after if anything.
“A daughter of the blessed Amalgam dares to rest?” Acedia scoffed. “I shall take watch.”
“Go for it.” Frost hummed.
They had a lot of time on their hands now. Frost didn’t want to sleep since she didn’t trust Jury enough to leave her alone. For now, Frost questioned Nav about the status of the Nexus, as well as Grandis and their foreign partners.
*
Currently, the Nexus was stable. Ber and a squad of handpicked Seci Response Moons were already boarding the canisters to be fired straight at the heart of Act X. Anna and her Bookkeeper had reportedly left the Nexus, though they did not mention why.
Their foreign allies were in the process of delivering treasures derived from their Gift, as well as have allowed Minu Auditors to take a personal look at their kingdom’s Gifts. Currently, there was no official document of said Gifts, so Frost was eager to hear about them soon.
As for Grandis–
< The site where the Blue Dahlia left the tree has seen some peculiarities. Its leaves are returning. One flower has blossomed along the branch of the Remembrance of Passing >
Remembrance of Passing was the official name given to the gargantuan tree she left behind in Primus Ramus. Though she was deceased and erased forever, this tree still functioned as though she was still alive.
There were many theories as to what the tree was. But one stood out from the rest, and it was proposed by none other than Lailah.
It was the crystallization of the Blue Dahlia’s Ego.
Indeed. It was a crystallization of a location, rather than a weapon or a transformation.
Thinking about it now, there were three types of Ego crystallization.
The first was a transformation crystallization, where one was transformed to reflect their Ego. Ber for instance embraced the Black Swan in body and spirit. The Red Baron’s ‘Worthy’ was another example, albeit a malevolent version.
Incomplete versions also existed, such as Galia with her ‘Paradise Restored’.
The second was a weapon type crystallization. This saw one’s Ego manifest as a weapon. Deiman came to mind with their staff of light and darkness.
The third and final type was a location crystallization. It was essentially a Corrupted Zone, only that they were set in reality rather than requiring the influence of the Corrupted in question to exist.
The only known location-type crystallization was the Blue Dahlia’s tree, the Remembrance of Passing.
Location types were similar to the influence of a Star, as they too altered reality even in their absence. Corrupted did as well to an extent. The Black Forest remained, only it was devoid of its Denizens and the Skewered Beast. Then, there was the quad-colored City in Sector C3 that was left behind by the Crowned.
It was something to think about to pass time. But it has also caused Frost to become drowsy.
A loud snoring came from behind as she felt something wet pool into her back. Acedia had fallen into a deep slumber, her face buried in Frost’s back and her butt raised to the sky. Raoul and Res had yet to sleep, as did Jury. Seeing that the two were still awake meant that Frost could comfortably succumb to her drowsiness.
She couldn’t remember the last time she felt so tired.
The bliss of fatigue enraptured her as her eyes began to seal. Her body felt light.
She had missed this feeling of normality for so long.
“Night Frost.” Res whispered.
“Hmhm~ Sweet dreams, my Frost.” Jury pecked her forehead.
A stray thought came to Frost’s mind as she sank into the darkness.
Wouldn’t it be nice to be surrounded by this bliss forever?
*
“Hu…”
A faint echoed from within the voice.
“Hu… an…”
It spoke again, slightly louder this time.
Ugh… I wanna sleep…
Frost tried to resist the call. But it only continued to get louder.
“Hu… man…”
Someone is shaking me… I can feel a hand on my shoulders. Am I asleep?
Frost winced, assuming it was Joy or even Jury who was trying to awaken.
… Just a bit more…
Suddenly, she remembered the predicament they were in, and she instantly shot awake, throwing her head up only to slam against the spine of a book.
“O-Ouch…!” She groaned, her hands flying to her forehead where a red mark instantly formed. “Y-You gotta move out of the way… Ugh… Jury, was that you?”
Frost was seated on a pale floor. The sound of countless murmurs and foot traffic surrounded her, but she filtered it out due to the immense pain she was experiencing.
“Jury?” The voice above her asked.
It was a voice she vaguely recognized. Slowly, she tilted her head upwards and saw the face of a Moon dressed in a Receptionist suit. It was not one of the triplets.
Rather, it was the face of a Moon who had died during the War in Grandis. A bunny-eared man who held a ledger carrying the symbol of Inflow Direct. He flicked through its pages and then asked for Frost’s name after a swift apology.
“I apologize Healer, for I did not realize you would react so suddenly to my stirring. It’s rare for a Healer to come up alone to the Nexus.”
Healer? I’ve never heard a Moon call me a Healer directly before.
Frost groaned and brought a hand to push away pale strands away from her face.
Wait… Pale strands?
Slowly, she pulled a handful of strands and brought them close.
“It must have been a treacherous journey. But you’re here now, Healer. May I know your name? The Ateliers and this Moon in his namesake’s role welcomes you to the Nexus. Whatever harm and hardships that have befell you will never occur here, O’ Blessed Healer.”
“Wait, wait… Healer? White hair…? Me?” Frost’s denial caused the Moon’s eyes to light up pleasantly.
“Ah! Did you become a Healer during your ascent? Quite rare! Or perhaps it was the Warped Stone that had altered your memories?”
Not this again…
Frost was aware of what was happening. She was instantly lucid of the fact that she was in some kind of dream-like, ‘what if’ state. She had gone through enough flashbacks that she had grown a sixth sense for detecting it.
Yet despite this – despite knowing that this was not real – a tear slipped down her cheek.
“So I’m just a Healer… Right now? Here…? Human…?”
She did not know if she was crying because she had lost what made her ‘Frost’.
Or because she was relieved of her duty as the ‘Amalgam’.
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