The Frozen Hour

Anna moved slowly and started to rub her eyes, trying to get rid of lingering sleep. She tried to sit up, however, she felt a weight on her torso. She opened her eyes wide in panic and she saw a rabbit of golden fur sleeping on her torso. She wanted to move the rabbit away, but seeing it happily snuggle with her in its sleep caused her heart to melt as she started to pat its body and rub her hand on its furry body.

Anna turned her head and saw many other animals and beasts were also there sleeping with her. Seeing that, a small smile blossomed on her face. Even though all of them looked quite deadly, she couldn't help but melt at their sleeping visage.

Soon, all of the sleeping animals and beasts woke up from their slumber and started to walk away from Anna. The golden rabbit was the last one to leave her, and when it was about to leave, it came back and rubbed its cheek on her cheek, making Anna chuckle.

When the rabbit was far away from her, Anna heard a voice coming from beside her.

"Are you ready?" The Guide asked as he too looked at the distant visage of the departing rabbit. After all, he didn't expect to see "Him" here.

"I believe so..." Anna replied with a soft and gentle voice. She had a small smile on her face when she said so.

"Believing is the first step you need to take… if you want to achieve something."

"I know…" Anna said as she looked towards the beings running, jumping or just laying within the -Meadow of Fulfillment-. When Anna first came here, she felt happy and fulfilled. Now, however, there was one more emotion as she looked at the beings before her.

Longing.

All of the living beasts here were happy, they were fulfilled. However, they still longed for the days when they struggled to achieve something. The struggle made their reward all that sweeter. Now, however, everything felt empty and bleak.

Anna couldn't understand these emotions before because she always had whatever she wanted: delicious food, expensive clothes, top-grade jewellery, good friends, a loving brother…

Now, however, she was alone. She didn't know how long it had been. Thus, questions such as:

What if I can never go back?

What if it's too late?

What if? What if? What if? What if? What if? What if? What if? What if? What if? What if? What if? What if?

started to build up in her mind. The more she thought about it, the more worried and unrested she became. For the first time in her life, Anieal Starborne felt lost and weak.

She didn't feel like this when she found out about her unconscious mother.

She didn't feel like this when she found out about her dead father.

Now, however, she felt lost because she knew she couldn't do anything even if she wanted to. After all, she was still too weak and pitifully so.

"Why the long face?" Sensing her inner turmoil, The Guide asked in a confused tone.

Anna looked at him, thinking if she should tell him about her thoughts. Soon, however, she shook her head.

"He is the only one I can talk to, after all," Anna thought and started to speak out the thoughts she had in her mind.

"W-what if I can't go back? What if it's too late when I return? What-"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Now The Guide felt even more confused.

"H-huh? W-what?" Anna was flustered when she saw The Guide's reaction to her words.

"I can always send you back whenever I want..."

"WHAT?!" Anna blurted out in shock as she looked at The Guide with a shocked expression on her face.

"As for the time... You don't have to worry. The time of the spirit realm is -Responsive Time-. Here, time bends to the will of the soul. What takes a year in your world might pass as a breath here."

The Guide explained about the mysterious time to Anna, which caused Anna to furrow her brows in confusion.

"-Responsive Time- … one year can become a moment... a moment can become a year..." Anna repeated The Guide's words, seemingly trying to understand what he meant by it.

"How?... How can I do it?" Anna asked The Guide. Her face no longer showed confusion or any bitterness.

"You can't... Not yet."

"Well... it makes sense, I suppose." Anna nodded her head at The Guide's words like he had said something obvious.

"Then isn't that bad for me?"

"No, it's not. As you have entered the spirit realm with your soul body, I am able to control your time to some extent."

Anna once again nodded her head at The Guide's words.

"Well, it makes sense. After all, you have some grasp over all of the primordial laws."

The Guide was stunned — utterly stunned, in fact — because what Anna said was indeed true, but it was something she should not be able to understand as a mere unawakened...

"Maybe... that's why Lord Veylor chose her?" The Guide thought. Soon, however, he looked at Anna and nodded his head.

"Yes, you are right. Good job." The Guide praised Anna as she was able to find out something she shouldn't be able to.

"Hehe!" Anna beamed and started to chuckle because she was able to obtain praise from The Guide.

"It's about time we visit the last place," The Guide said as he moved his hand towards Anna, which she soon grabbed and said:

"Yes!"

snap

The Guide snapped his fingers and the scene before them changed for one last time.

Anna, who was standing between a meadow of vibrant flowers filled with many beasts, animals, birds and other kinds of beings, now stood at a place filled with wilderness. It had large trees filled with various shapes, sizes and colours of leaves. Calling them large was an understatement — they were huge, as tall as a four-storey building.

Anna, who looked at them, was left stunned. The Guide, however, started to walk forward.

"Follow me."

The Guide asked Anna to follow him as he walked through the wilderness.

Thick vines the size of an adult human's arm, mushrooms which produced vibrant lights of multiple colours, birds of various appearances were perched up on the branches of the trees, multiple small animals, bugs and insects could be seen throughout the wilderness.

Seeing the scene before her, Anna could no longer hold her curiosity and asked The Guide:

"Where are we?"

The Guide turned his head back and looked at Anna as he replied:

"We are at the -Shore of Beginnings-. It represents the start and growth of every being who is living."

"-Shore of Beginnings-," Anna mumbled under her breath.

The duo continued to move through the wilderness and they soon reached a clearing. There, their eyes fell on a wide river filled with golden water. They continued to walk towards the river and stood about 20 meters away from it.

When Anna saw the strange peculiarity of the river, her eyes opened wide. The river was moving and not moving at the same time. There was flow but no ripples or any deformities within the river. Soon, however, her eyes nearly came out of their sockets as she found out that it wasn't water in the river. Instead, they were a bunch of golden threads moving in a strange harmony with each other. None of them were bonded to each other, while at the same time, they were bonded with every one of them.

It was strange, but at the same time it was beautiful — gorgeously so. The river produced a golden sheen whenever the soft warmth of sunlight tried to touch the golden threads. The river looked like it was filled with liquid gold.

It was so wide that the other side of the river was nearly invisible to Anna.

"Let's move to the other shore before I tell you about the river," The Guide said as he clapped his palms together, and both of them appeared on the other side of the shore.

"-Shore of Endings-," Anna called out.

Hearing her, The Guide raised one of his eyebrows.

"How do you know about this?"

"I don't... I just felt like it. After all, if there's a beginning, there has to be an end, right?"

"Indeed." The Guide nodded at Anna's words.

"The -Shore of Endings- represents the end of every being that is living... However, it doesn't represent a being's death," The Guide explained as he looked at the desert of black onyx-like sand. It had huge sand dunes. The moonlight reflected from it like small stars. There was no living being there — only silence. Here, it felt like everything had come to a stop, to an end.

"Isn't death also a being's end?"

"Within the annals of history, there are many beings who have transcended death itself."

"Now... do you dare say that death is a being's end?" The Guide asked with a smug look on his face.

"I see..." Anna could only look at the desert before her.

The Guide once again clapped his hands and this time, they were floating above the golden river…

"It looks divine…" Anna mumbled. However, The Guide still heard her — he always did.

"It is divine after all..." The Guide took a pause as he turned his head towards Anna and continued, "Everything you see here in the spirit realm is either divine or a part of it," The Guide concluded as he pointed at the golden river beneath them.

"This here... is the -Everflowing River of Fate-. It is a physical manifestation of every being's fate."

"Fate? You mean it represents one's life?" Anna asked curiously.

"Life… is unpredictable… Even the -Everflowing River of Fate- can't predict one's future. After all... the future is ever changing," The Guide said as he looked at the golden river flowing from the blazing sun to the cold moon.

"But won't that just mean that nothing is decided? After all, the future is ever changing?" Anna pointed out as she fell into deep thought.

"Fate decides one's effect, not their cause. Or in simpler terms, it decides one's result, not the progress," The Guide replied to Anna's question with a simple smile.

"But if we know the result, can't we trace back and guess how it came to be?" Anna pointed out once again.

The Guide deeply looked at Anna for a few moments and replied with a profound gaze:

"We can't. After all, there can be tens, hundreds, tens of hundreds of ways to obtain the same result," The Guide stopped to let the words sink in.

"However, we can predict events which might take place by knowing the result," The Guide concluded.

Anna stood in silence as she pondered over the words of The Guide.

"But... isn't fate supposed to be omniscient?" Anna thought but didn't voice out her thought to The Guide.

"Fate is not omniscient. It is, however, nothing more than a ladder to omniscience," The Guide replied, as he could predict Anna's thoughts.

"Fate is peculiar… because everyone wants to run away from their predetermined fate, yet they don't want to remain as they are… Progress births result and result births fate… Fate can't be changed, but its effects can be... After all, a predetermined result does not make it the only result." The Guide said with a bittersweet smile.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Anna, who was simply confused before, was now bewildered and perplexed.

"Let's assume an apple falls from a tree. Its predetermined result would be to fall down. But what if someone tries to catch it? They might succeed, or they might not. But in the end, the apple would still fall down — whether it's caught, eaten, or left untouched."

"I understand it now..." Anna said as she listened to The Guide's analogy on fate.

"It's time..."

"Huh?... What do you mean?"

"Make your choice."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Forget the unnecessary questions... Tell me your choice… Do you wish to stay in the spirit realm and become one of its inhabitants for eternity, OR do you wish to return to the physical world?"

"..." Anna went silent, not from the shock or anything similar. She always knew that there would be a question like that at the end… and she already had her answer…

"I wish to return… I wish to know more about my world... Only then would I feel worthy enough to come back here…" Anna replied, confidence and pride visible in her eyes.

The Guide smiled and looked at Anna and waved his hand… Anna's body started to become translucent.

"Very well, Anieal Starborne! I hope you are not this weak next time."

"W-wait! How do you know my na-" Anna questioned, however her words were cut off as she disappeared.

"No wonder, you went to meet her," The Guide said as he turned to look at the golden rabbit standing beside him…

"Mhm." The Rabbit just nodded at his words.