Chapter 3Winter's Reckoning

I stared.

This world never had a "Goddess."

Frost and I, we used the System to predict disasters, to stop famines, to change the weather. We created the "Goddess" myth.

If Lyra was the Goddess, it was a lie they had built.

"Proof. Now."

The boy, Ash, spat at me. "That bitch stole it! I saw Mommy Lyra bleed for the rain spell! And that bad woman took the credit!"

"He's a child," Kaelen said. "He wouldn't lie."

The two people who should have been her world were speaking of her like she was poison.

A snowflake landed on my cheek. It was snowing. Hard.

I remembered Frost, alone in her coffin.

I left the tower. I had to bury her.

The cold had preserved her, but... not perfectly. Her face, at least. Her face was still beautiful.

I brushed her mangled hair back. My hand was shaking.

"I'm sorry, Frost. I shouldn't have let you stay. If it wasn't for me, you never would have met this bastard..."

The first scoop of dirt hit the wood. The sound was so final.

My throat closed. I tried to scream, but only a choked sob came out.

I was about to jump into the grave with her when a golden light threw me back.

A familiar, mechanical voice. [Player Luna, do not self-terminate. Seraphina left a file for you.]

"What? What is it?"

A letter appeared in my hand.

[Moon, I have no one left here. Take me home. Just me. Don't let anyone else come. They'll just dirty the path. -Frost]

She must have been so broken.

"I'll get you justice, Frost. I promise. And then we'll go home."

I asked the System to show me her final moments.

[ACCESS DENIED. INSUFFICIENT PERMISSIONS.]