“So, you finally decided to come out of your shell.” Risti, who still sported that Princess Dia look and whose countenance looked no different from his memories, looked at him with eyes full of emotion. “We’ve been waiting for this day…although you might want to tell me what you’re doing with my grandniece.”

“…It’s been two hundred years, hasn’t it?” Claud took a deep breath.

“Yes, Lord Frozen Emperor. It sure has.” Risti trembled. “Have you gotten over Lily?”

Claud was about to reply when something deep in his soul seemed to tremble. A moment later, he lost control over his body, and emotions he couldn’t even begin to fathom the depth of flooded his mind as his mouth said, “I will never get over her. And death is not the end. If I succeed, we can set right what went wrong.”

Risti let out a low hiss as the mighty presence receded. “Claud…”

She sat down on her bed. “You’ve finally awoken, but we're all tired. Seeking life in darkness is an arduous process. No matter how many times we do it, no matter how many times we keep pushing, it’s an upwards swim. The current of time washes through us, tears us down, and the only thing that keeps us alive are our memories. Humanity is teetering on the brink of ruin, and your Frozen Coffin is the only light left in the darkness.”

“What are you trying to get at?” Claud asked.

She paused. “Odd. The way you spoke…it’s like you were back to your youth. Don’t you get it? Most of us have given up on dreams. The sanctuary you created saved us, but it also doomed us all. No matter how much we emphasise on the importance of strength, the Moonlit and Shadowed Ones prove to be very successful at containing our efforts to break out of this place.”

“…It’s my fault now?” Claud asked.

“So much energy. So much life.” Risti lay down on her bed. “Can’t you see? I’m exhausted. I can see the others waving at me, you know. In the dark beyond the stars. Fortunately, I’m the only one who had a family of sorts, which is why I’m still here.”

Claud felt his heart grow cold. “What happened to the others?”

“Don’t you know?” Risti asked. “Nero stayed back to buy us time, when Licencia was destroyed, stopping the enemy advance at the landbridge between Istrel and Nihila. We fought all the way to your Frozen Coffin, which had taken shape over Cava County, where Lily fell. Your residual thoughts slew the pursuers, but Farah held the rear until her own people stepped into your area of influence, at which point her mana circuits overloaded.”

“How about Dia and Schwarz?” Claud asked, his voice quiet.

“They were killed during that final battle between you and the Second Alliance of Divinities,” Risti replied. “How did you forget? You were there! You hugged them and buried them yourself!”

Claud fell silent. “My…memories are beginning to fade away.”

“Sorry.” Risti took a deep breath. “Look, I know the Trial of Aeons did a number on you and your sanity, but you just can’t come out here, into this family of mine, and try to get me to do something. We’ve all given up in our hearts somewhere. What I want now is for you to keep your Frozen Coffin ablaze and protect this piece of land.”

She got up from her bed with difficulty, and Claud frowned. “It’s been only two hundred years. What’s happening to you?”

“…Let me guess, you forgot that?”

“Let’s just say that my awakening was rather traumatic too,” Claud replied. “I can’t remember the last time I woke up from my dreams.”

“Dreams, huh?” Risti looked at him and fiddled with her hair. “Apt, really. You created a place for the last of humanity to dream in. I…I don’t know if you did the right thing or not, but you never asked for this power either. To be honest, none of us actually knew how you became the Frozen Emperor, but you were already broken by the time we arrived.”

She paused. “Don’t look at me like that. Trust me, you were completely broken. You had frozen Lily’s body in an incredible volume of frozen mana, hugging that coffin and muttering unintelligible words over and over again.”

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Claud decided not to contest that series of events, especially since he was definitely on the losing side.

“We were a bit too late, I suppose. Nero and Farah had stepped into the howling darkness, and the Frozen Coffin had been completely closed off when we and the survivors of the Istrel Sovereignty finally fled to your area of influence.” She paused. “We couldn’t get through to you, the you who had knelt there for months and months, hugging the coffin. Whirling ice and snow…”

Claud felt his head hurt, but he racked his brains anyway. He needed to piece together the events that had happened in this super-realistic trial, if he were to stand a chance at completing this quest.

“So,” said Claud, “the Trial of Aeons occurred. Something happened to me and Lily, and then she was k-killed. After that, I entered a catatonic state and created the Frozen Coffin somehow. Months later, you guys arrived at the border, into my sphere of influence, and then my residual will protected everyone. For some reason, a huge battle erupted with Rimestar at the centre, and I awakened long enough to kill off a few of the attackers.”

Risti nodded. “The Blue Moon of Wisdom, the Lesser Half of the great Dark, the Red God, the Blue God and the Violet Goddess were killed. The survivors were forced to retreat hastily, prompting you to massacre every single apostle of theirs and wipe out their armies, clearing out the way for us to properly build Rimestar. The Fourth Godsfall happened shortly afterwards, as the remaining divinities turned upon each other. It hasn’t ended yet.”

“…Put that way, I sound pretty awesome.”

“You were crying crazily when you tore Plota apart, and you were cackling madly when you smashed the Red God’s corpse with an icy mace over and over.” Risti eyed him. “Not what I would call awesome. And did your mental age regress or something? You speak like you used to in those peaceful times.”

Claud ignored that last bit, before steeling himself. “Finally…who killed Lily?”

“The Red God,” Risti replied, her voice quiet. “Having lost his only Bearer of Destiny, the Red God fell from the heavens when the Trial of Aeons began. This allowed him to execute his plan, which was ambushing the people who exited the Trial of Aeons, one of which was you. I’m not sure what happened next, though. But that day, the Red God fled, covered in wounds, while Cava was covered in ice and snow and the Frozen Emperor went mad.”

“…At least I got my revenge, then.” Claud made a mental note to check out if any of this was real when he left the trial. “But how did his Bearer of Destiny die?”

Risti froze up entirely, and Claud looked at her. “You know something.”

“…Yeah.” Risti took a deep breath. “Now that I think about it…well, we were at Daybreak County, and the Red God’s Holy Son attacked him.”

She paused for a moment. “I can’t remember everything, but we repelled him, while the Moons hunted him down. I think we killed him at Licencia? I’m not sure.”

A hint of fear flashed through her face as she completed her explanation, but the only thing Claud did was to take a deep breath. “We, huh? Who else was with you?”

“…I can’t remember,” Risti replied.

Claud nodded. “I see. Well, I’ll give them a good scolding if I manage to knock the other gods and divinities down. Risti. Can you help me? I’m sorry, but I need your help. As you can tell, I’ve lost most of my memories. Not much remains. We need to groom the surviving humans into the sharpest knife and the sturdiest shield, and then launch a counterattack.”

Risti looked at him. “You…you don’t show any mercy, do you?’

“There’s only two of us now, in the Moon Lords. If I show mercy to you…”

She twitched. “Moon Lords…yeah, we never did get around to telling you, now that I think about it. After you left for that honeymoon — and appeared in Nihila somehow, I might add — we called ourselves the Seekers of Life. It’s a bit ironic, given what happened to everyone else, but at that time, we just wanted to not call ourselves anything related to the Moons.”

“So you…you were the one who created this might makes right tradition in Rimestar, huh,” Claud replied, recalling the thing about the Seekers of Life.

“It was necessary,” Risti replied. “While the areas under your domain of ice and snow are protected, it’s impossible to grow crops on a meaningful scale. We needed to venture out, to send people out into the area around Rimestar. The Moons, the Dark and the Coloured Gods knew that, so they simply surrounded the area to starve us out.”

“They failed.”

“Yes and no. We have people dying on the frontlines every day, either in battle or in expending too much mana to help crops grow,” Risti replied. “We’re trying to work out something that would grow in this freezing climate, though.”

“…Maybe I could lift it?”

“Don’t.”

His mind whirled madly in that moment, and Claud came up with a plan. Shaking his head, he said, “I’m afraid that’s not for you or me to decide. My awakening has created irrevocable changes to this frozen dream. For you, me and everyone else, it is time to wake up.”

“…Is the ice and snow dispelling?”

“It seems that I was using the power of the Aeon Span to power this immense domain,” Claud replied. “It’s going to run out soon…perhaps, my awakening and return to sanity is an indication of that. Like it or not, we’ll need to start gearing up for massive changes.”

Risti glared at him. “I can’t even die now, can I?”

“On the plus side, nor can I.” Claud smiled. “I have no idea how long this bout of lucidity is, but while I’m awake and aware, we can set down an unerring foundation of the humans here to conquer the Aeon Span.”

“…Tch. Fine.” Risti approached the window and looked out of it. “Let’s start the planning.”