rogue_3

The warrior heads beneath the tree and prays for protection.

He puts down a bowl of hot tea, before following suit with his offering. He then stretches his palm towards the tree and waits calmly. If misfortune is imminent, the tree will shed its prophecy to its people. But for the Sami warriors who are willing to accept any fate, it is not worth caring whether or not they leave empty-handed.

However, it is not a tree that is reflected in his eyes. It is a massive cluster of crystalline ice with countless branches extending from it. It instinctively takes on the shape of a sandalwood tree.

At one point, the ice clusters did indeed possess a form of Arts that could protect the people, maintaining the stability of this place by providing a vanguard of wind and snow for the soldiers. But now, it is akin to a dead tree sapped of all its vitality, slowly waiting to melt away.

Many years ago, a snowpriest used her own lifeblood to complete these Arts. Flesh and blood became thorns, life was woven into ice, and thus she took root here, hoping that 'granting life through death' would be the key to survival.

But in the warrior's mind, there is only one tree here worth praying to.

The warrior stands motionless for some time, maintaining his posture with upturned palms extended until his weapons rust and his leather armor rots from the moisture. Then, after confirming that the tree had granted him nothing, he places his hands on the offerings he brought and begins to eat the rotten flesh and blood that has become one with the soil – a necessary preparation for the battle to come, and a part of this solemn ceremony.

However, he does not know who his enemy is, or what he is fighting.

Within the core of the ice cluster, a shard of crystal-clear Originium witnesses all. This is the foreign substance left behind after the rest of the original snowpriest had completely disintegrated, her crystallized 'eyes.'

It sees that the warriors defending Sami's homeland are not actually the children of Sami. In the beginning, the seeds of chaos were sown in the minds of the Sami warriors who did in fact stride into battle against the demons. Later, however, all living beings touched by the calamity had their minds rewritten.

It sees that time itself had elongated due to a change in the measurer, that day and night had been blurred by a pitch-dark crevasse that could not be sealed.

Originium spans this land, so it can see the entire earth covered by the same shadow.

People are doomed to forget the snowpriest's pursuit as well as her tragic wish, because they can no longer understand the concept of 'existence.' Existence is bestowed a brand new form, fated to wander in nigh-eternal silence.

The all-seeing Originium eye thinks nothing, and communicates nothing.

Just as the land itself is now, it is neither possible nor meaningful to clear away this jumbled cognition.

Only life itself can continue to seek out possibilities, reminisce about the past, pursue the future, and fight against an eternity of deathly silence and desolation.

Originium recorded the snowpriest's questions to herself in her final moments: 'Have I prayed for all the power I can muster? Have I exhausted every option? Will my people have a place to go?'

Upon the empty black earth, the ice cluster sheds a single lonely tear.