336. After Frost Thaws Comes A New Spring

336. After Frost Thaws Comes A New Spring

Paradise.

Nothing else came close to describing the Floor of Amalgamation.

There were no wars.

No conflict.

No one to scream.

No one to cry.

No troubled slaves.

No signs of desolate lands.

No tears from a crying father.

No rejected masses who didn’t know what the sky looked like.

No deaths of the innocent.

And no woes from those precious to her.

The warm rays felt so real that she nearly believed they were somewhere near the plains of Wharftow.

The grass was so green that Frost thought they were along the flat expanse of Brandar.

Mountains so wide she thought back to Grandis.

Forests so magical her mind returned to the Village of Virt.

Rivers so clean that they must have been in H4.

A lake so vast that she could have sworn this was exactly where she stood next to Cer when she first opened up.

And a sea so endless that no one knew where it would lead.

It took a while before Frost was able to accept this place as the Floor of Amalgamation. Her defensive mechanisms begged her to look deeper into this world, and she obeyed, compelled to break this illusion.

She began feeling the flow of the water, tasting the rawness of the salmon that swam through, breathing the flowery scent of flower gardens, and basking in the warmth of the moving sun. Animals roamed this paradise, with all manners of beautiful flora that painted over the landscape.

Frost was in a world of her own. The illusion dispelled the longer she immersed herself. She realized that this was all real. And if it wasn’t, then she now refused to allow this illusion to break.

She asked the others to leave her alone just for a little bit.

She tried to wipe it away, but that trickle soon became a monsoon.

It arrived unexpectedly.

She herself didn’t know what happened.

But before she knew it, and as Jury stopped to see what was wrong –

– Frost broke down into a storm of tears.

I don’t care.

I want to stop caring.

Because at the end of the day, I just want to be with them.

When Sinder broke down all that was left was ashes.

But when Frost broke down what came after her winter was a new spring.

Frost had never cried so hard. She was completely helpless against her gushing storm of emotions. Her screams were barely muffled by Jury’s chest. When everything came crashing back down, and when she could no longer stand on her two legs...

... Then she could count on the support of her precious friends.

If she couldn’t bear the weight of it all, then they were here to help her.

Frost cried for all the wrongs she committed.

Cried for the people she couldn’t save.

And cried for the friends she hurt.

But mixed within was a cry of relief.

A cry to cherish this moment.

A cry to relinquish the despair.

And a cry to finally celebrate because it was finally over.

Many things still awaited.

Many more hardships would be faced.

But never in her life did she feel like she had people she could confidentially call her...

... family.