When Shade closed his eyes, the Edge of Life and Death returned to calm once more. Dense fog quickly filled every corner, and the ghosts emerged from all around.
The little boat drifting downstream was shrouded in the Great Fog, and Shade did not realize that even without steering it, his current status had briefly granted the boat the ability to "pierce through spacetime."
The boat in the fog seemed to grow increasingly indistinct, and as faint rustling came from within it, the surface of the river water soaking Shade began to freeze.
(Little Mia was running.)
This time, he had fallen asleep far too quickly, so that when Shade began to feel cold, it took him several seconds to remember what had happened before he closed his eyes.
"Is it time to wake up?"
He felt wonderful, and all his injuries had completely healed. Then "she" answered with a smile:
Why not first take a look at where you are now?
Only then did Shade realize that he was not surrounded by liquid. It was somewhat cold, but it felt as though someone was holding him.
So he opened his eyes and saw large golden eyes gazing at him with a smile. Behind scattered silver hair lay an endless mountain range and snow filling the sky.
He was still in his little boat. All around him was a vast, mirror-still lake, and vague figures seemed to be moving along the shore. Snowflakes drifted down in abundance. A layer of snow had already accumulated elsewhere on the boat, yet neither he nor Chloe had a single flake on them.
"Did I sleep all the way into winter?"
After that foolish thought surfaced, Shade spoke in surprise:
"Chloe?"
The Demigod Witch who had lived in the early Fifth Epoch smiled and