Thief of Time

"This power…" Dia shivered as the city of Rimestar appeared before her. The divine, despairing visage of the Frozen Coffin hung above, its imposing presence reminding Dia that she was no different from a bug if compared against the Frozen Emperor.

However, there was no choice for her. She had to barge into the Frozen Coffin and challenge the sleeping god in this particular scenario; only then would she at least have a frame of reference for her final opponent's strength. Of course, she wanted to gather information about the Frozen Emperor first. Who was he? Who was the Omen? And what happened that year?

Dia looked down. Moonlit and Shadowed troops had set up their own camps some distance from the city, and looked like they were trying to force out some cooperation. The city walls, in turn, with ablaze with lights, carried by patrols and sentries that were looking at the enemies arrayed beyond them.

What were they guarding against?

Dia shivered once, and then looked at the crystalline palace floating in the sky. The power surrounding it was incredible, and the thought of breaking through it sent some terror coursing through her veins.

"Damn it." Dia shivered once. Her mana circuits were still very much restricted; she could only exert the strength of four mana circuits right now. Perhaps, after the ten years of decision-making, she would return to her full strength, but for now…

"I'm going to enter Rimestar and gather information first," Dia spoke out loud. "After that, I will confront the Frozen Emperor and challenge him."

[Decision locked in.]

[Clarification: For the sake of the Salvation Star's mind, all decisions will be executed autonomously to prevent cognitive overload. Only when your life is in danger or when there is a crucial turning point will you regain true awareness. Information gained during the decision execution phase will be transferred automatically.]

She glanced at the customary warning again, and then nodded. She had gained all she needed to know about the dystopia under the Moons. Now, she would learn about life under the Frozen Emperor…and then fight him.

She would die.

"…What a crappy way to go, eh?" Dia muttered, before closing her eyes. The sounds around her turned into a stream of garbled noise, and the freezing chill turned into warmth.

After what seemed like a short, warm nap, Dia opened her eyes, and then shivered madly. Five memory crystals appeared in front of her as the howling gale in front of her solidified, turning into a massive guardian of ice. The behemoth, positioned in front of the Frozen Coffin, roared once, whirling a halberd around itself at the same time as it looked at Dia.

"What the—"

The red crystal in her vision shattered a moment later, and the world shifted, morphing into a snow-covered street that led up to a plaza. There, in the middle of the plaza, was a crystal stairway that led up to the Frozen Coffin.

Bells jingled merrily at the same time as people crowded around the stairway.

"Three people went up today!" someone shouted. "Lay your bets, ladies and gentlemen! The top prize is a vat of somi soup!"

The crowd gathered around the plaza rippled, and then surged to the stage at the very front, where a bunch of random things had been set-up. Dia glanced at it once, and then returned her attention to the staircase.

"Miss!" A young man ran over. "You intend to head up the Stairway to the Skies

"The Stairway to the Skies?" the Dia in this memory asked. "Oh, the way to reach the Frozen Emperor."

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"It's a trial, but those who can bear the deepest chill with their bodies alone will qualify to see him!" the young man replied.

Memory-Dia grunted once. "I know. Still…I suppose I don't have much time left. What are the rules of this place again?"

"To not use mana while climbing. To walk honestly and endure the pain with your own will alone," the young man replied. "That is all."

"Artefacts are fine?" Memory-Dia asked, curious. "Like, really?"

"Yes!" The young man paused. "If you break the rules, you'll be sent flying back down, but I don't think anyone died from that yet, so it's fine, really. I know some people actually do that on purpose."

Dia couldn't exactly feel her memory-self's facial expressions, but she had a feeling that the Dia of this memory was making a very odd face right now. After all, her face really wanted to twitch right now — why would anyone want to undergo such a thing?

At any rate, the her in this memory laughed it off and decided to head up the stairs, step by step. It was great that she couldn't actually feel the cold the her in this memory was experiencing, but from how that Dia was hugging herself and shivering, Dia had a feeling that this was no ordinary Rimestar chill.

The climb towards the Frozen Coffin turned into a long, long slog, and Dia soon found herself bored. Without the simulation of these freezing temperatures, the only thing that Dia could see was the faint, ever-uniform lights of the city underneath the Frozen Coffin.

If that thing fell, would the entire city be squashed flat?

That thought soon vanished as the other Dia looked up, just enough to see the entire Frozen Coffin. It was actually a huge distance away, and the mere sight of the actual distance, unclouded by the misty clouds that she had passed through earlier, was enough to make her legs shake.

As her vision trembled once, a figure fell off the stairs, falling into the city below.

Dia stared at the sight, and then tried to rub her ears when the happy sounds of someone whooping entered her cognition. She had assumed that the young man earlier was just playing the fool, but from the looks of it…

He was serious, right?

Memory-Dia shook her head, rubbed her eyes, and then lowered her head. Funnily enough, though her steps seemed to be filled with some sort of strange vigour, with each foot landing solidly on the seemingly fragile staircase of ice. The skies continued to lighten as she placed one foot in front of the next, the fog formed from her breath thicker with every passing moment.

Despite the clearing skies, every step was making the world colder and colder.

After an unknown period of time and a few more shouts and screams, the Dia in this memory jumped. The reason was the fact that the next step was the last one; the road ahead was a flat and clear path.

She had climbed up the Stairway to the Skies.

Memory-Dia rubbed her hands once, and then put a cautious foot forward. Nothing seemed to happen, and with a renewed vigour, she made her way towards the glimmering castle.

Dia felt herself tense up as the vision ended at her current position. A burst of cold shook her awake once more, and Dia gazed at the howling behemoth that had taken form.

Why? Why did this happen? The fact that she had awakened meant that this thing was obviously a pretty good threat to her, and she now needed to fight this thing.

A flurry of thoughts rushed through her mind as she unsheathed her blade. There was no time to think; if she allowed this giant to run the entire away towards her, she would definitely be hit in one way or another without any way to bleed off the force. This giant of ice and snow was so big that it occupied the entire path ahead, so the only way to deal with its charge was to clash against it directly. If she gave this thing the entire path…

Dia could foresee a free trip down, and worse.

Letting out a roar — somehow, her throat hadn't died from the cold or something — Dia shrouded her blade with mana and hurtled towards the giant of ice, who was probably roaring right now to intimidate her.

Sure, she hadn't heard about this particular measure, but that didn't mean that her ability to fight had gone down.

Thankfully, though, the restriction against using mana had vanished, so she wasn't sent flying or anything. However, simply thinking about flying was sending her lots of danger signals; the Frozen Emperor almost certainly did something to guard against people who took to the skies.

She looked at the chilly sheen that surrounded the path forward, and then shivered. The sheens of light that hovered in mid-air seemed almost corporeal; if she flew…

Shaking her head, Dia snapped her mind back to reality — she had drawn close to the roaring target, and with another burst of strength, she closed the remaining distance immediately.

The roaring monster took a step back, but it was too late.

With a lunge, Dia pierced through the monster's body, her momentum carrying the entire ice giant towards the icy castle. The Frozen Coffin shimmered once as the blade stabbed into the door behind the monster's corpse, and the chill around her began to weaken.

Words appeared in front of her as the door began to open, but before she could do anything else, a tremendous force froze her body entirely.

Something was coming.