Freya woke up lying on the sand.

"Air..! I need to breathe!" was the first thought her battered mind could articulate. Fire burned inside her lungs, so she started coughing up salty water.

She was alone.

"Where am I..?" she muttered, realizing that she had washed up on an unknown shore, with no means to determine her location. Drenched from head to toe, she crawled out of the sea and rolled onto her back.

"Huh..?!"

Had she been standing, she would have lost her footing once she glimpsed what was above; there was neither sun nor moons to be seen, only a bloated, Memoria-like thing floating ominously in the infinite void.

"That's the Field of Warriors, Fólkvangr..." Gizamaluke said out of the blue, giving Freya a mini heart attack. He was sitting beside her, contemplating his father's kingdom with a melancholic expression. "It doesn't look so glorious from here, huh?"

"Gods... don't scare me like that!" the Burmecian squawked, rubbing her face with a sandy hand. A terrible realization dawned on her, and she shot a desperate look at the phantom. "Wait... where's everyone?!"

He laughed.

"Do you know what this place is?"

The knight realized that her metaphysical knowledge had just hit a hard limit, so she remained silent.

"... You're the first mortal to ever visit Ginnungagap thrice," Gizamaluke stated with a smirk. "I have no idea if that makes you extremely lucky or not."

"Ginnungagap..? The primordial abyss?" Freya asked.

"Bingo," he answered. "Somewhere, deep within this void, beats the heart of the universe."

"The Crystal..."

"Clever girl."

"So, how does that answer my original question?" the knight irritably retorted. "I won't cooperate until I'm sure they're safe!"

Gizamaluke retreated into his thoughts for a second, trying to cobble together an explanation that a flesh being could understand.

"Time in Ginnungagap behaves more like a surface than a stream; if you know how to exploit this, you can make a year spent inside this realm seem like a mere blink to an outside viewer… or ten times longer," he said, only to get a bewildered stare as an answer. Realizing that he needed to adopt a more didactic approach, he opened a portal to Gaia in the sky with a wave of his hand, revealing Mikoto and Eiko's airships still trapped within the storm. Both of them were fixed in place by an unknown force, as if they had been put under a Stop spell.

"What kind of sorcery is this..?" Freya uttered, disturbed by the unnatural sight.

"Let's put it this way..." the god tried again. "As long as you and the Genome king stay here, time in Gaia will stand still. Nobody will even notice you've left."

"Genome king..? You mean Zidane? Is he okay?!" the Burmecian blurted out. "Where is he?"

"I've already brought him to my village to begin his treatment," Gizamaluke answered, averting his gaze. "... By the way, I'm sorry about what happened on that ship... I couldn't reach you in time."

The tide seemed to bring Freya's memories back to her, and as the foam licked her calloused toes, she drew her knees close to her chest and stared absently at the horizon.

"... Yet again, I've failed to protect someone..." she muttered.

"... Were you close with her?"

"Not really..." the knight sighed. "She was precious to an old friend of mine. Now I'll never be able to look him in the eye again..."

Gizamaluke folded his arms and quietly pondered the situation.

"Well, this tragedy can still be averted..." the deity spoke after a brief pause, and much to Freya's surprise, there was a hint of hesitance in his voice. "… provided you do what's necessary."

"What..?" she muttered, shooting an incredulous look at him. "That's impossible! Not even Berlioz can stop human souls from reaching the Crystal! That's the whole point of the Dragon's Cre-!"

"Forget about his lies for a second," the god interrupted her. "… What if I told you that I've found a way to bring her back without one?"

The Burmecian forgot how to breathe for a moment.

"No way..." she whispered, staring at Gizamaluke with her eyes wide open. "... It was you! You sent my father to contact me!"

"... Took you long enough to figure it out," the phantom answered with a smirk.

"Does Berlioz know..?"

"We wouldn't be alive if he was actually omniscient, now would we?"

"But how..?"

The god rose to his feet with a stern expression on his visage, and Freya followed suit; she had always been tall, even among her kind, but Gizamaluke's Burmecian form literally towered above her and pretty much everyone she knew.

"Knowledge has a price, and believe me, you're not ready to pay for it yet."

"I see... so there's something huge going on behind the scenes..." the dragoon thought. "I don't get it, though... why give me all this information if you fear that I might betray you?"

"Please, don't get me wrong," Gizamaluke politely replied. "I chose you for many reasons, but I'll keep the details to myself until I'm absolutely sure I can trust you."

"Hah... do I look like I would rat you out?" she snarked, mentally facepalming at her own joke.

The god indulged in a hearty chuckle.

"No, no, no, my dear! Actually, I want you to spread the word to all of Burmecia!" he answered, earning himself a bewildered stare. Amused by her confused look, he patted her on the shoulder and started making his way back to his village. "Don't worry, I'll explain everything in due time. Now, let's get started with your treatment, shall we?"

After an unclear amount of walking (time and distance in Ginnungagap felt utterly weird to a mortal), the forest path gave way to a picturesque village next to a creek. Strangely familiar little huts built atop low wooden platforms dominated the scenery, and Freya's sharp sense of smell immediately picked up the aroma of freshly baked bread, steaming lentil stew and wild flowers.

"Hold on a second... I know this place..!" she thought out loud.

Gizamaluke smiled.

"During the eternity I spent adrift as a ghost, I came across a swarm of lost souls who had been rejected by the Crystal because of their unnatural origin," the god said as he led Freya to a rustic footbridge. "Luckily, these beings possessed vast magical powers, so we joined forces to find our way back to my realm."

The revelation stopped the dragon knight dead in her tracks.

"... This is a replica of the Black Mage Village, isn't it?" she said, on the verge of tears. "Is... is he here..?"

"Who..? Zidane?"

"No... well, yes... but I'm talking about Vivi right now," the dragoon said. "... Is he here?"

The god folded his arms and thought for a moment.

"No, I don't seem to recall anyone by that name..." he answered. "I take it he was a black mage too, right?"

"Oh... yeah..." Freya sighed, utterly disheartened. "The kindest one..."

"Hmm... cover your ears, I have an idea," Gizamaluke told her and then he let out such a piercing whistle that it echoed across the whole dimension.

"Ggh... darnit..." the Burmecian squawked, rubbing her aching ears. "What was that for?!"

The rumble of a thousand feet stomping the ground yanked Freya's attention back to the village, and her question was promptly answered when hundreds of black mages poured out of their homes and rushed to the bridge to greet them.

"I can't believe it, it's really you!" No. 293 yelled, ecstatically shaking the knight's hand.

"Oh, c'mon! Lemme see!" No. 33 boomed, trying to peek over No.234's shoulder.

"I want a handshake too!"

"Whoa!" the Burmecian exclaimed, overwhelmed by all the attention.

"Oh, oh, Lady Freya! Remember me?"

"Gosh, she's even prettier than a chocobo!"

"Alright, alright, calm down everybody!" Gizamaluke intervened, politely driving the mages back. "Listen up! Lady Freya and Lord Zidane are feeling a little sick, so they'll stay with us for a while and we'll help them recover. Is that okay with you?"

"Yes, Mr. Giz!" the multitude answered in unison like children in a classroom.

"Gods... Mikoto would kill to see this..!" the dragoon thought.

"Great! Oh, before I forget, does anyone know a black mage called Vivi?" Gizamaluke asked the golems. "He's Lady Freya's friend, and she's looking for him."

Every single one of them raised a hand.

"Well... that was easy..." the god commented, arching a surprised eyebrow. "Would you please tell us where he is?"

The villagers exchanged uneasy glances for a moment until one of them stepped forward. Despite a lack of facial traits beyond his perpetually glowing eyes, he looked decidedly older and wiser than the rest of his kin.

"Lord Gizamaluke, Lady Freya..." No. 288 greeted them with a polite, tremulous voice, tipping his hat like an elderly gentleman. He sounded positively ancient despite being two decades the dragoon's junior. "... I'm afraid that he's not here, nor has he ever been..."

"... What..?" Freya mumbled.

"The spirit plane is an incomprehensibly vast place... it's a miracle that we could gather this many souls," Gizamaluke regretfully stated. "I'm sorry..."

She didn't believe it at first. "This must be a trap... a vile lie..!" she thought, futilely trying to convince herself that the universe somehow had the ability to care, but deep down she knew it was certainly not the case. Her face slowly contorted into a look of utter rage, and she clenched her fists so hard that she could have turned coal into diamonds.

"... Are you insinuating..." she hissed through gritted teeth. "... that despite all he did for this ungrateful world, he was damned to forever wander the void alone..?"

"Now you're beginning to understand the way I feel..." the deity replied.

"He was a just a child..." the Burmecian growled as her lip curled into a ferocious snarl. "He was just a child, dammit!"

Gizamaluke placed a hand on her shoulder, yanking her back to reality. Her body tensed up, surprised by the unexpected contact, and she craned a bewildered glare at him.

"What if I told you that I can give you the power to do something about it?" he said almost in a whisper. "… The power to uproot this rotten system once and for all..."

Freya's jaw quivered.

"Bastard... how dare you use Vivi to force my hand..?" she croaked as a lonely tear ran down her cheek. "... You're just like your father!"

The phantom god retreated his hand and averted his eyes, visibly upset by the accusation. "You misunderstand..."

"Then help me understand!" Freya dryly retorted.

Gizamaluke made a brief pause, considered his options, and then he returned her stare with unprecedented intensity.

"... This way," he said.

Author's note:

Hello, everyone! Jota Te here.

After its longest hiatus yet, TLCB is back! I've been ultra busy these days, but I'm determined to give this story the ending it deserves or die trying! (... okay, maybe I exaggerated a bit, haha!).

Joking aside, thank you so much for waiting and staying tuned after all this time, guys. You're awesome!