Dawn was just commencing, giving the town a little colour instead of the blacks and greys that greeted the citizens awoke during the hour. The last days of summer had finally passed, and soon the rains of autumn would come. A few weeks later the first snows of winter would follow. Frigid, harsh gales blew through the undulating lands of Hargeon and into a particular apartment where the windows were ajar. Beige curtains billowed in and out through the window like pale flags, casting a shadow like wind does on the sea. On the bed laid a young girl, no older than twenty years old huddled closely against her blanket that was wrapped around her petite figure, preventing heat from escaping out of her body while strands of silver hair sprawled messily on the pillow.

The blazing yellow orb peeked through the creamy, puffy clouds that drifted over the vast skies before spreading its golden rays down upon the lovely town of Hargeon. Sunlight glared through the window as a soft groan echoed through the silent room of the female’s apartment and dark eyelashes fluttered open, revealing a pair of gorgeous cerulean optics, almost as bright as the sky. The woman took a brief moment registering her thoughts and finally came to a conclusion that it was already morning, yet, she refused to get out of bed. Her slender legs were tangled among the sheets of her blanket as she gazed upwards at the white ceiling, staring into nothingness.

Slowly, her thoughts came to be consumed with what occurred to her during the week and memories flashed before her eyes; the battle between Chelvaric, herself against the Grimoire Heart members. The reason why they had decided to attack them – that she was not aware of, albeit, Snowflake was content with returning alive and the same goes for her guildmates. The youth lifted her hand and extended out forward, as if she was reaching for something. Her hand trembled, upon recalling her fragments of her battle with the Grimoire Heart members. For some who does not feel any emotions, Snowflake was alarmed, for it was the first conflict that she had ever faced in her life. This is what war is like, the woman thought, staring through the spaces between her fingers as if the answers she sought were written in the gaps.

And, to make everything worse, her companion was nowhere near to be found. The last time Snowflake saw her was at the battle scene and before she could do anything else, Vysella fled without saying another word to her. Perhaps, the snow fox was already sick of her owner. That can’t be. From her lips is an exasperated breath, her frustration manifesting as she fingered the bridge of her nose. The snow-haired female was still cladded in her bed robes as she tried to slide of out of her bed, her pale feet resting on the cold, hard floor before pushing herself off the bed, considering that doing something else other than remaining in bed would get her mind off things.

The sound of water droplets reverberated against the walls of the bathroom, breaking the silence that reigned supreme a mere second ago. The water that filled the bath tub was crystal clear as Snowflake stared down at her own pale hands that were submerged underneath. The ends of the female’s silver hair were drenched wet, her hair turning into a deeper shade of grey as drops of water cascaded down her face. Fluttering her eyes closed, the girl spread her arms on the rim of the tub and tilted her crown, leaning it against the wall of her bathroom. The warmth from the weather soothed her body and plumes of vapour seeped out of the bath, blurring the windows and glasses, yet, unable to escape out of the room. For a brief moment, the young girl remained motionless, savouring the exquisite pleasure of warmth.

It had been a while since she was able to enjoy a relaxing shower and the thought of visiting a hot spring suddenly popped up in her mind. Soon afterwards, she surfaced her naked body out of the water whilst grabbing a towel from a metal rack nearby and encased herself inside the thick piece of cloth. Her cheeks were flushed from the heat that was locked inside the bathroom but cooled down immediately once she was greeted with cold wind that whisked into her room. A knock resounded against her door, a voice requesting her permission to enter the room.

”Come in.” She beckoned, her tone as icy as the wind that blew from the north. A young man aged around his early twenties, entered the room, dressed as a messenger and his large eyes widened in shock upon facing such a sight in front of him, a tinge of scarlet growing onto his cheeks turning deep red in embarrassment as he’d avert his gaze towards the ground.

”Ma-Ma’am, there’s a letter for you.” He stuttered, while clutching onto the piece of envelope and handed it out to her. His eyes slightly grazed over her appearance until his ears turned a brighter shade of red and instantly, looked away.

”Thank you.” The female murmured, taking the letter from his hands as she watched him shuffle out of her room. Unfolding the piece of paper, the Fiore-bound wizard read over the lines written on the brittle yellow page. After being aware of the whole situation, the youth placed the paper on the table in front of her and began dressing up herself into her usual attire; a black flowing dress with intricate patterns with a large split by the sides of the skirt up until her waist, revealing her pale, slender thighs clothed in some tights. Snowflake looked up at her own reflection in the mirror. The time has come, she thought to herself and circled her wrists before placing a dark cloth around her eyes and tied at the back of her head with a tight knot.

It was time to meet the scientist.

The streets were busy with a lively tempo as people flocked to places they were supposed to be finding things they were supposed to do, and one young woman would be there, muddled through the crowd, unknowing of what to pursue first and how to deal with the day when she was still so hung up with how far he’s been thrown off her primary objective. Ever since Snowflake became a machia, she was required to meet the scientist; the creator of her body every now and then to do examinations on her body to confirm that her body was still in its perfect condition. So far, there hasn’t been anything wrong with her body, just yet.

The day almost seemed to perfect for her, the weather just how she wanted it to be; not too cold, not to warm. There weren’t a lot of people in the streets either with a comfortable amount of tranquillity in the air and it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing either. In fact, it was the sort of silence that her body came to crave somehow, after the strain of odd jobs pushing her being to and from between places, and especially the battle that recently occurred to Blue Pegasus, she figured that she needed some time for herself, sorting things through.

The coordinates of her destination were quite far from where she was located, possibly near the outskirts of the town since the scientist preferred to live in seclusion, by himself. Leisurely, she edged through the streets of Hargeon filtered with its civilians and guests from higher seas, other towns and countries. The fragrance of wild flowers nearby lingered in the air and wafted into her nose as a cool breeze blew across the land of Hargeon, billowing out her skirt. The wind gently caressed her cheek, almost as soft as a kiss. Her hair flew behind her like a kite, the sunlight catching its ends and turning it translucent silver.

”…It should be around here.”

The female whispered to none other than herself as she glanced around for any other buildings after re-reading the address written on the sheet of paper in her hands. The particular house that she had been searching for was located near the forest, away from the rest of the town. Snowflake folded the note in a small square before sliding it into one of her pockets and rapped against the door lightly with her knuckles. 1 second. 2. 3. No response. The woman attempted to peep through the window right by the side but all she could see was the curtains draped over the glass windows. The android knocked on the door once again and circled her wrists; an old habit of hers that she had yet to remove. The snow haired girl knocked onto the girl once again, this time, much louder, hoping that the person who had called for her would answer the door.

”Dr. Nagi?”

Snowflake called out and before she could continue, the door creaked open, revealing a man with a piece of cloth hooded over his face.

The hooded figure stood in the shadows of his dim building, before his golden hues crossed over the gaze of blue. No matter how many times Snowflake has seen him, she was never used to the scientist’s eccentric appearance and would get startled every time. The man stepped forward, exposing himself into the bright rays of sunlight, his white snakes slithering around his figure before settling near his neck. ”You delivered a letter to me?” The woman asked, raising an eyebrow at the scientist, hoping that he would remember that he was the one who invited her over to his place, more like a laboratory. She was aware that Nagi was not a person who would settle in a single place and if she was not wrong, the building located in front of her was one of his many abodes.

Without saying another word, the serpent-man gestured her to follow him into the room which was entirely engulfed with darkness until he lit up the place with several candles, as the female wondered how on earth he could see anything in such a place. The snow-haired wizard glanced around the place, studying things around her and taking everything in her sight. Books and sheets of papers were sprawled everywhere, indicating that the man had been working on some sort of experiment, perhaps. Silence dominated the area, apart from the quiet shuffling of footsteps on the wooden floorboards as the hooded figure walked further into the room, towards the door located in the far end. The young woman followed behind his footsteps, curious what he’d have behind the doors of the room.

Click.

The door opened and blinding light entered the room as Snowflake brought her hand up to her face and shielded her eyes. Through the gaps of her fingers, she could see a brightly lit room, entirely in white and the complete contrast of the room before. The laboratory was much emptier than she had expected it to be and beakers of chemicals were lined up neatly on numerous rows of metal shelves as the pungent smell of substances filled her nostrils. In the middle of the room was an operation table with a machine hovering above. Doctor Nagi gave a glance over his shoulder whilst his snakes glided around his figure, which seemed very uncomfortable and pointed at the operation bed. Snowflake figured it was to request her to lay on the structure and so she did.

The procedure begins. The machine above them whizzed to life with a press of a button and it would scan her body from the top of her head to her toes, finding any sort of faulty. Her back was pressed against the cold, hard bed whilst she gazed up at the light attached to the machine. It scanned her body back and forth multiple times and the screen by the side the bed would show the details of scanning process. The scientist noted down everything on a piece of paper until his facial expressions suddenly changed upon reading the details. Shock and surprise was written on his face and the pen stopped moving as he stared at the screen.

”I have bad news.”

The first word that left her lips was, ”What?”, after Nagi suddenly declared that something was wrong. Astonished, the female seated herself upright and azure orbs glided over to the screen despite how she did not understand a single word printed on the device. ”What do you mean?” She repeated the question, exchanging glances between the screen and the man, wanting answers to her questions. Until this moment, there was nothing wrong with her body and unless there was some kind of explanation to how this was getting screwed up, she would not believe whatever Nagi was going to say.

”Your body isn’t going to last much longer. There’s some kind of….error, and I’m not sure how to fix it.” The man spoke without looking at her in the eye as he continued to jot down whatever was written on the screen.

Unbelievable. It has been months since Snowflake was placed into an entirely different body, replacing all of her human parts into machines so that she could be better, stronger and excel in everything she could do. She has yet to make further instalments on her body and now, everything was collapsing. As if her dreams were crushed, she could see her walls came crashing down upon her, leaving her in the middle of nowhere, as she struggled to find herself a way out. ”I didn’t sacrifice my entire body for this! What’re you going to do now?” The woman raised her voice as she grabbed Nagi by the arm, forcing him to look at her. She was desperate now, and seeing her plans fail right before her eyes has brought her to distraught.

Does that mean I’m going to die?

The man stopped moving and his gaze pierced through hers before saying, ”I have a plan. Are you going to listen?” The tone in his voice displayed that he was serious about the discussion and considering how there was a fine sheen of sweat lining his forehead, Nagi appeared quite disappointed that one of his creations has failed, despite how he seem to look like one who doesn’t bother about anything else. The android loosened her grip onto his arm while his snakes hissed and threatened to strike at her. With a whisk of his coat, Nagi quietly shuffled away pushed his hand against one of the white tiles on the wall. As if it was a door, the structure opened and a rush of frigid, cold air entered the hall.

From the opening, Nagi pulled out another operation bed, where a young woman laid naked and still before he dragged it right beside her bed. Up close, she could see the appearance of the girl; pretty and young with long, flowing silver hair. Based on her bodily characteristics, she assumed that the girl was probably from some kind of wealthy family, unlike her. Her attention shifted towards Nagi and she’d ask, ”Is this a corpse?” Without any hesitation, the man nodded and began to attach wires around her body.

”This is your host body. I’ll be transferring you into her.”

”Wait, I need to think—“ She said, her words cut mid-way as Nagi pushed her down onto the bed, strapping her body with belts.

”Do you want to live?”

One question – it was enough to stray her thoughts elsewhere and without questioning any further, Snowflake made a resolution.

Everything seems so confusing to her, albeit, as long as the procedure worked, the fellow android was fine with it. I just need to live, the woman thought to herself and reclined back onto her bed and thoughts of the worst scenarios of the entire process recurred in her head. The memories of the pain that she had to go through when she replaced her body parts into machines were horrible enough to give her nightmares for a long while and if this was going to be worse, she might as well prepare herself and hope to still remain alive. Belts that were wrapped tightly around her body forced her to remain still as Nagi injected something into her body. Slowly, her eyelids grew heavy and she would find herself drifting into an endless abyss of darkness.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The sound of the machine echoed against the walls of the laboratory as dark eyelashes fluttered open, revealing a pair of icy blue orbs. Her vision was blurry and her body ached as if someone has beaten all over her body. For a moment, the female wondered where she was until a pang of nostalgia hit her – of herself making the decision to be transferred into an entirely new body. Pain shot through her temple and for someone who hasn’t felt it for months after she was transformed into machia, it was a very unfamiliar sensation. Seeing herself alive and in pain was a confirmation that the surgery was indeed, successful. Her throat was hoarse and she felt the sudden urge to gulp down the entire tank of water.

”How long has it been since I passed out?” Her voice cracked, as she looked over to Nagi who was seated by the side of her bed.

”A week, now. You shouldn’t move just yet. You need to learn to adjust in your host body.” The man informed, looking down at his notes. ”So far, you’re doing well. Would you like to look at yourself?”

The young girl nodded before staring down at her hands. Her body felt lighter than before and instead of a metallic layer coating over her entire body, it was just skin. She pinched herself on the arm and winced lightly when she felt the pain. A large grin tugged upon her lips and she couldn’t help but stroke all over her arms until the sight of her naked body finally registered into her mind she would quickly cover her delicate area with both of her hands. The serpent-man approached holding a piece of fabric in his arm and a mirror in the other hand before tossing it over to her. ”No one’s going to be interested in your frail body.” The man mocked and returned back to doing whatever business he was taking care of previously.

Snowflake raised the mirror in front of her face and when she first saw herself, she couldn’t even imagine that it was her. It wasn’t technically her body from the beginning, but her heart and her brain was relocated into the corpse’s body, which in turn came back alive. To see herself back in a human body, she couldn’t feel any more elated than she was at that moment.

Today, a new life begins.