When Xia Yan slowly opened his eyes again.
He was still looking at the wreckage of Sinnoh Temple.
No.
Spear Pillar was the more appropriate name for it now.
Snow lay everywhere, wrapping the world in white.
A cool breeze swept over him, and the bone-chilling cold sharpened his mind.
He looked up.
Arceus stood before him, bathed in sunlight and towering amid the ruins.
For a brief moment, Xia Yan was dazed.
He almost felt as though he were still in Hisui.
Those emerald eyes were deep and carried a hint of approval.
Xia Yan, you had returned to Sinnoh.
[Well done.]
Arceus's gentle voice sounded in Xia Yan's mind.
Though its voice was gentle, and though only a few hours earlier Xia Yan had led a band of rebels in giving it a thorough beating.
Xia Yan did not dare underestimate it.
Before it left Hisui, Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina had all been utterly—
Regigigas soon returned to Snowpoint Temple and publicly claimed that dragging the continent had left it gravely wounded, forcing it to turn into a Shiny Stone to recover.
Back then, Xia Yan, who knew nothing of the truth, had actually believed it.
"Can you tell me what exactly happened?" Xia Yan asked after some thought.
He was extremely curious.
Where had that Dark Energy come from?
It was one thing for it to affect Mew and control Lugia; those were things he could reference from the original story.
But how had even Arceus fallen victim to it?
At that, Arceus raised its head and looked toward the distant sky along the descending beam of light.
Its dazzling eyes seemed to pierce through layer upon layer of sky, landing somewhere in the far reaches of the universe.
After quite a while, it finally spoke slowly.