— Life and death are but a journey. When butterfly alights on the branch, what withers will bloom anew.

⏤⏤⏤⏤⏤ʚɞ⏤⏤⏤⏤⏤

Character Story (Part I)

From the day she gained memory, Aidonia's snow had always been there. It was as if time had been frozen in this forlorn white ground. When she was a child, she once asked Amunet what is snow.

Amunet said snow is the joy of reunion and sorrow of parting.

She was always in a trance as she stared at the people in the city.

The short knight came for training in front of the temple doors every day. The middle-aged priest occasionally dozed off under her high tower. The ascetic scholars distributed Antila flower biscuits to the children.

The children pushed and shoved as they engaged in a snowball fight in the distance, their laughter falling to her heart like ripe fruits.

From the tower, she tried but failed to differentiate their faces.

Holy Maiden — They only called her that when she appeared before the people, and nobody dared to look her in the eye.

She mustered the courage to move closer, but they stepped back, lowering their eyes even more. She still couldn't see any of their faces.

Until they were standing at death's door — the short knight suffered grievous wounds in battle, the middle-aged priest suffered from years of illness, and the ascetic scholar was infected by the patients they treated. At that moment, she was the closest to them.

Life was no longer an agonizing struggle, but turning at her fingertips into flower petals in the wind.

When she finally had the chance to look at their faces, she turned away instead, for she could not bear to look.