In the hall of the dark temple, moonlight streamed in through a skylight in the ceiling, like a pillar of light descending from above.
That pillar of light shone upon a massive iceberg.
No, it was not an iceberg, but a small mountain of crystal formed from some unknown transparent substance. It looked dazzling and beautiful.
Yet inside that crystal mountain was a girl.
A petite girl with brilliant golden hair that shone like the sun.
Emerald stared at the girl, and sorrow finally appeared in her amethyst-like eyes.
Shien looked at the girl, then at Emerald, and fell silent.
That was because the girl looked exactly like Emerald.
"Again?"
Shien's feelings were easy enough to imagine.
Laisha and Lasha.
Nien and Omnis.
Lis and Jess.
In the mere two months since coming to this world, just how many pairs of identical-looking people had he encountered?
"Could she be Magic Life too?"
As Shien thought that, he could not help looking again at the girl inside the crystal mountain.
At that moment, the girl lay as though frozen, her eyes tightly shut and her entire body bare.
Yet Shien still could not help drawing in a sharp breath.
Because the girl's exposed, delicate skin was covered in vicious wounds.
Those wounds resembled centipedes, horrifyingly spread across the girl's entire body, making one's heart clench at the sight.
Shien had been startled precisely because he saw that scene.
"What exactly is going on here?"
Shien was completely at a loss.
There was no doubt that the strange phenomena in Cosmos had appeared because of this temple.
But what exactly was this temple?
Why was there a girl in the temple, frozen within crystal and covered in such vicious wounds?
Why did Emerald look exactly like her?
And who were they?
Also,