A cold wind passed by, letting out a deep whistling sound. The place is filled with grey snow and black rock, peeling the planet upward to meet the sky. But the dark clouds sealed them, preventing them from meeting.

The trees seemed used to the coldness. Their branches weren’t visible because everything was covered with black foliage, which made them look dense.

Echa fluttered her green eyes and gasped for air. Her coat was gray, with a black T-shirt underneath and an emblem below; she wore black pants and a pair of boots. Her dark blue hair, with three strands dyed gray, flowed with the wind current.

On the left side of her shoulder, the orynite crystal peeled from her skin and shimmered in the color of dusty green.

Echa’s skin had become pale. Her cheerful attitude was nowhere to be seen. She was quiet. Too quiet for someone who thought everything would work out her way.

“What? Where am I?” she murmured, her eyes looking at the boots sunk deep in the snow. “How did I end up here?”

“So cold. It certainly isn’t ZALAPS. It doesn’t seem like any planet we’ve been through.” She stood alone and looked up at the sky; her figure was a freckle on the long, stretched snow, like a puzzle that lost its board.

But there was a faint light that could be seen in the distance, behind the mountains.

“What is that light?” she murmured, her attention turned toward it. “At least it would be great if it were warmer in there.”

She slowly started walking past the mountains; her mind wasn’t quiet along the way, and she remembered her past vaguely. “Fheshas. I wasn’t able to save you,” she murmured, sounding broken and nervous. Her tears fell; the path got blurry, and she started to sob even more, gritting her teeth. “This couldn’t be…the end.”

The falling snow witnessed the visitor from afar as she ventured through tiny gaps, her pants slightly torn from the sharp edges she went through. Finally, she made her way to the brink after walking a mile.

Echa looked up at the horizon, only to have her eyes widen in disbelief. There were mountains everywhere with no structures, as if it were uninhabited forever, and the snow had gotten harsher than before, as there was no mountain to protect her from the heavy wind.

“No sun, no people, no structure.” Echa let out a sigh. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew; she quickly turned away and hid her face in her sleeves as the wind hit her hard before slowly relaxing.

A few snowflakes fell, settling near the mountain’s edge.

When she opened her eyes, one of the mountains in the middle, at a distance, glowed white and stood much more visible than before.

“We are getting closer now,” Echa murmured as she walked toward it with hesitant steps along the mountain.

When she was there, the view showed a huge circular marking on the ground; it was an old emblem amidst the mountains all around. Numerous white crystals shimmered and stabbed something that looked huge, grey, and dull. Its wings had huge holes, and it seemed like a motionless creature.

“I’ve never seen anything like that before; where might it have come from?” She murmured in a low voice. Her gloved hand touched the rock beside it to look for a path to reach it.

Echa lifted her gaze and thought for a minute. “All I want now is to get there and warm my body a bit.” As she expected, the snow near the creature was low, and the surface was visible from it.

“Right, it’s gonna be warm next to it,” Echa repeated the same line again and again to herself while moving down, and it took a bit of time to reach the ground after all the slipping and near-death experiences.

She shook the snow off her clothes and slowly looked up at the ancient circular emblem; the creature looked even more huge. Its face was small compared to its body, and one side of its face had four eyes that were closed, beneath black tears that were frozen and visible on its fur.

Echa pressed her lips thin. “It should be dead, or I am dead,” she murmured in her sassy tone.

When she took a step, her boots suddenly sank deep and sucked her into the snow. “Oh,” she said before getting swallowed by the pit. It happened fast, and everything faded to black instantaneously.

A few minutes passed in there.

Within the pit, it was all dark, which made a spike in her bone; her body felt unresponsive. “I can’t see anything nor feel my body,” she whispered.

Echa couldn’t help but stay still while time passed by; in that state, the quietness was deafening. “What is happening? I should be on the ground by now,” she murmured.

A ray of light passed from above, hitting the body that floated in the air. Her eyes recognized where she was, slowly looking up at the gap; beyond that, the clouds parted slightly for the sun to shine through the gap she fell through.

Her eyes glistened as she felt like she was falling further below into the abyss. She felt the strange wind from all around get her attention, making her look around.

“Huh, where is this wind coming from?” she murmured while batting her eyes, and saw a faint light in the distance. It wasn’t from the skies.

She parted her lips in agape; a chill went through her spine as it slowly moved towards her. “Wait, what is that? It’s moving towards me~” she murmured; her face grew pale with shivers while the light got bigger and bigger until it came into view.

Shocked, she saw the same creature; it was the same one she saw above, but this one looked ethereal, glowing faintly green.

In the quietness, snow particles fell between them.

“Wow~ Hey there. Since you don’t have a mouth to eat me, mind you telling me if there is a ship so I can get off this planet?” she said in a casual tone.

The creature remained in stasis; its four eyes looked down at her. She could feel the surroundings slowly becoming brighter, like daylight from all sides.

The creature faded into it, making Echa gasp a little. “Huh, it’s getting so bright. Oh, wait~ Help me, please. I can’t float here forever,” she murmured, trying to break free from the motionless state; the orynite, which was shining, dimmed even more.

“There you are~.” She heard a voice that belonged to a woman who came with the surrounding light.

For a moment, Echa thought it was from that creature. It wasn’t.

The lady’s voice was soft-spoken; in a way, she could understand despite the fact that she was on an unknown planet.

“Wait, who are you?” Echa said, and looked up desperately at the blinding light to see the figure and who it was. But it just felt like a burn to her eyes. So, she had to shut it out in pain.

“Hmmm! Fear not! It took some time to patch you up,” the woman’s voice lingered in the air. “But I must say, what an odd being you are to stumble in here?”

The light slowly began to dim and revealed a woman who stood in front of her, a few meters away.

The surroundings were a sterile white laboratory. It certainly wasn’t snowy in here. This place looked different. Behind the lady, the windows were blazing with nothing but pure white static imagery.

Echa opened her eyes; the burning sensation slowly faded, and she saw the woman in front of her, her sharp white hair and her glowing yellow eyes bored into Echa. She wore a tight white cloth with a few symbols on it; her pants were black, and a sharp yellow plate stood behind her in the air. Her hands were clasped in front of her.

“Hold on, are you a human?” Each of Echa’s voices was a little louder than necessary; she suddenly leaned out to reach out but got bumped by a glass in front. “Ouch,” she said, rubbing her forehead.

The woman let out an amused laugh. “A human?” She hummed, crossed her arms, puffed her chest up, and said, “No,” in a blunt tone.

“Tell me it’s a joke, anyway~ Who are you then? Where even am I?” Echa said, leaning in against the glass and waiting for her answer.

“Call me Oshna, and you are in Agara. So, welcome, variable.” The lady spoke before giving a small, amused grin.