The land was scarred after the battle. Except under special circumstances, battles rarely ended in a guaranteed victory for one side. Most of the time, neither side could taste only the sweetness of victory; it inevitably came with the pain of loss.
Like now.
The weakened Freya leaned on her Thornwood Staff, looking bedraggled from head to toe as she stood alone in the middle of the devastated Conservatory of Life. She gazed mournfully at the withered life around her, her eyes, their sea-blue glow restored, filled with pain and self-reproach.
"I spent nearly two thousand years creating all this..."
Freya's voice was full of regret. "By then, I had already realized something was wrong. With Mimiron's accident, Odyn's angry departure, and Ra's whereabouts unknown, an uncomfortable presence filled all of Ulduar. At the time, I didn't consider the worst possibility, but listened to Loken's nonsense instead. Although I eventually sensed something strange about Loken, it was already too late. After Hodir completely sealed the Temple of Winter, I realized we had already been defeated... defeated by the darkness between us."
"So your response was to build an Ark of Life?"
Dick sat on the branches of a mostly withered tree, moving his body as he received Ysera's healing. He hadn't completely evaded the final wave of explosions just now. Without the resilient Celestial power protecting his back, that massive blast might have injured him.
At Dick's question, Freya froze for a moment, then shook her head mockingly at herself.
"An ark? That's an interesting way to put it... but I have to admit, the High Guardian has a point. After realizing that Hodir's actions were merely to protect himself, I had an idea too. I secretly separated a thread of my consciousness and placed it in my Test Grounds,