“We're close to Half Moon.” Claud felt his throat shiver. A week had passed since yet another Bearer of Destiny had died. The approaching new day was an important day for the world…and for Claud, on a personal level. It was the first time he had ever spent the first day of Half Moon outside of Licencia. There was no possible way he could get to her grave, unless he wanted to enrage the Moons.

“Half Moon…” Lily looked at him. “What do you usually prepare?”

“Just some small morsels and snacks, but my mother’s grave isn’t here.” Claud hugged his knees. “I’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

“Okay.” Lily patted his shoulder. “Right, do you sometimes think something big is happening, and we’re not part of it? I had an odd feeling last night. Like something big is happening, but we aren’t involved in it at all.”

“Maybe because I don’t think we did anything of note in the past moon phase,” Claud replied. “I like it, though. I’ve been in the centre of attention, one way or another, for the previous few moon phases. Even the Moons probably don’t know how much I’ve suffered.”

“True. All hail a peaceful life!” Lily beamed. “I hope we can stay low-key forever and ever.”

“I’ll drink to that.” Claud closed his eyes and looked up at the sky. The moons that hung in the sky — today, the Red Moon of Strife and the Yellow Moon of Wealth were peeping at the world — were already half-full. The season would pass in a few hours, marking the next day and the days beyond.

“The Dark will soon fully descend.” Lily, who was sitting on the opposite side of the small table, poured out a cup of iced tea for herself. “What do you think will happen?”

“Maybe they’ll bring down the barrier, and I won’t need to lift a hand,” Claud replied.

“You said you were the one who brought down the barrier to begin with.” Lily took a sip, and then offered the small cup to Claud. “I don’t think that’s going to change without input from your side.”

Claud took the cup with both hands, and then took a small gulp. “I’m not sure myself what the point of this Second Tutorial was. I know that the Frozen Emperor didn’t succeed in his personal quest, since that skill didn’t change. However, I succeeded where he failed. I believe this is a turning point…and more important, my mana control is still inching forward on and on. I have not forgotten the Frozen Emperor’s impeccable mana control.”

“Lots of ‘I’ statements there,” Lily noted. “You’re nervous and uncertain.”

“Stop trying to psychoanalyse me.” Claud rolled his eyes, and then lowered his voice. “But you’re right. I’ve been shown a future. I don’t know why, how or who, but it is hard to walk the path ahead knowing what I’ve already known. It’s like reliving your life, with all the ups and downs. Would you, having felt the pain of loss, feel it again? I don’t know.”

He let the cup down and looked into the rippling surface. His own worried visage stared back up at him. This was a question Claud didn’t dare to answer. While many people would jump at the chance to relive their lives and attempt to right their wrongs, that was only possible because they didn’t give the prospect of doing so more thought.

“Claud…” Lily reached out, only for Claud to place his hand on hers.

“Don’t worry.” Claud looked at his reflection. “I’ll never give up. No matter what.”

The two looked up at the moons in silence for a few minutes.

“Some snacks?” Lily asked.

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“Sure. It’s rare for us to just sit around here and appreciate the Moons, after all. We should do this more often…and beside each other next time,” Claud replied. “The moonlight makes for a good accompaniment, after all. One day, when all this is over, we’ll find a high spot and sit there to look at the Moons.”

“High spot…right, are we going back to the Celestia Ruins?” Lily asked. “We haven’t been out and about for some time, and it’s a good place to revisit.”

“I know I said high, but that’s a bit too high.” Claud laughed and thought about the place. The Celestia Ruins was actually a fragment of another universe, which contained a dead city so high up that it was already divorced from the world below. It had its own place in the sea of darkness, floating magically above the small orb of green and brown.

“But it’s pretty.”

“And dangerous.” Claud sighed. “But it’s a good shelter. We could eat some snacks there, our feet dangling from the edges of the place, and look down upon the world itself.”

“Lovely.”

The two moons in the sky continued to rise as Claud and Lily talked about their plans for the future. To his amusement, the two of them really didn’t have many goals either, but again, Lily had completed her revenge a few months ago.

“Well, my current goal is to make sure that you don’t get killed or anything, though.” Lily grinned. “I’m sure you’ll be able to help me attain that goal, right?”

“I thought that was fundamental enough to be not called a goal.” Claud looked at the emptied cup, and then at the skies above. Under the light of the two Moons, he could see the clear skies beyond, and if he squinted even higher…

“Huh.”

“Something wrong?” Lily asked, looking out of the window and following his gaze. “What, did you see Princess Dia on one of the Moons?”

“Don’t be silly. I’ll spot Risti, Farah and her bodyguard first if she’s actually there,” Claud replied. “Still, she’s doing a damn good job of hiding. Where exactly is she? Did she also flee the sovereignty? I mean, the others won’t be able to find us because we’re in another sovereignty. The same concept can apply to her, right?”

“Probably. I bet the others would become really jealous if we can find her…anyway, what’s wrong? What did you see?”

“Oh, right. The original topic.” Claud rubbed his nose and looked at the sky. “Is it me, or does the sky seem a little lower?”

“Touch your heart and tell me how exactly can a sky be lower,” Lily replied. “If you can, I’ll seal your lips for ten minutes.”

“I’ll suffocate.”

His prompt reply made Lily laugh for a few seconds. “Okay, how about a minute, then?”

Claud rolled his eyes. “But it’s true. If you look up, I swear there’s like a second sky above it or something. I’m not sure how to describe it to you, since the only metaphor I’ll be using is transparent sliced bread stacked on each other.”

“What kind of metaphor is that?” Lily replied, before craning her neck anyway. She peered up into the heavens in silence, before turning to look at Claud. The amusement in her face, however, had given way to a mask of caution, and he nodded back.

“I’m not dreaming.” Claud folded his arms. “You’re not dreaming either. The sky is lower…and there’s a sky beyond a sky. Given the timing of such a change, I’m certain that this phenomenon has something to do with the great Dark descending. Change is coming.”

Lily refilled the cup with more iced tea and pushed it to Claud in silence. “I wonder what tomorrow brings.”

“If it’s not to our liking, we’ll just flee to Celestia and stay put there,” Claud replied. “But I don’t know what will happen. I have a part to play in this unfolding story; this much I know. However, if I were to flee into the ruins and abstain from doing anything…”

“Your role?”

Claud didn’t know how to explain it to her. There were supposed to be fourteen Bearers of Destiny, including him, but unless the acronym conventions didn’t apply to him, he did not fall into any number. The First and the Fifth had perished, and he couldn’t think of any other number from one to fourteen that would make up the acronym used in his skill’s name.

“Yeah. Your authority’s not high enough for this…although I can definitely tell you in Celestia.” Claud paused. “That’s another reason to go there, to be honest.”

“Let’s schedule a trip there, then. It’s nice that we have a secrecy-circumventing location open to us,” Lily replied. “Maybe we can explore more too. I hear that the place changes every so often too; if we are lucky, we might end up in another area.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. It’s on a cyclical basis of eighty-three days.” Lily paused. “Didn’t you read the reports Lostfon sent?”

“I did, but I only looked at the key points,” Claud replied.

“Oh, right. You were quite busy trying to train and everything.” Lily stuck a tongue out, an embarrassed look on her face. “Well, how about it?”

Claud pondered for a moment. “We’ll go for the next cycle. Hopefully nothing stupid happens while we’re there, though. Wouldn’t want the Trial of Aeons to begin prematurely or something.”

They looked up in silence, watching as the moons continued to rise.

Change was upon them.