The captain's voice crackles through the radio, broken and erratic:
"We can't control the ship right now… the storm may—"
The signal cuts out abruptly.
The ship rocks violently, ice lashes against the hull, and alarms wail.
Lloyd glances at Reorno… no words, the decision is clear.
They run down the emergency passage as the ship's hull lists precariously.
But…
it's too late.
A massive blow splits the ship open, and the blizzard swallows it whole.
Everything vanishes into a deadly white.
[Fall]
Silence…
Then an impact.
The camera opens onto a strange world, its sky gray, its winds howling like a hungry beast.
It's another world…
A world called: Predatory Snow.
Here, the cold kills, the weak are devoured,
And here… the alliance will be tested,
And a point of no return begins.
Riorno opens his eyes with difficulty…
Darkness surrounds him, and the sound of the wind pierces his ears like an endless roar.
He discovers he is trapped beneath the ship's wreckage, frozen metal fragments clinging to his body.
He screams in fury, his fist ablaze with the power of flame.
He strikes… again… and again…
But it's no use.
The ice is too hard, and the world remains unresponsive.
Suddenly—
A violent wind, stronger than the flames themselves, surges through the wreckage, forcing a path before him as if testing his will.
He rises, unsteady, his eyes searching the chaos.
"Lloyd!!"
He shouts again and again…
But no one answers.
His voice is lost in the storm.
The wind suddenly intensifies,
wringing around his body like an invisible fist,
and hurling him into the air.
Crash!
Riorno's body crashes against giant rocks.
He gasps for breath, and the fire in his eyes dies.
Silence falls…
Riorno loses consciousness.
Elsewhere in this cruel world… Lloyd's fate remains unknown.
Riorno slowly opens his eyes… A strange warmth surrounds him, unlike the cold of the world he has known.
He sees himself inside a small house, its walls wooden, with a small fire burning gently in the corner.
Above him, a girl with white hair and blue eyes is carefully tending to his wounds.
Her eyes widen in surprise, and she turns quickly, calling out in a soft voice filled with joy:
"Mother… the stranger… he's awake!"
Riorno tries to rise with all his strength,
but his body doesn't respond… as if his power has been completely erased.
He looks at his hands in astonishment.
The tattoos that were once deep black, symbols of his flame and strength,
are now pale gray… silent.
A heavy moment of silence passes.
Then the woman approaches quietly and helps him lie down again,
and in her eyes there is no fear… only compassion.
That small family didn't ask him who he was, or where he came from. They simply opened their door to him and helped him recover in a world that shows no mercy to strangers.
But deep down, in Riorno, one question burned silently: Where is Lloyd?
The girl looked at Riorno with a faint smile, trying to reassure him, then asked him calmly,
"What's your name?"
He hesitated for a few seconds…
Then he said in a low voice,
"Rio…"
He stopped abruptly, as if the name hadn't fully formed in his memory.
He frowned, trying to remember… but the emptiness was too much.
The girl said gently,
"My grandfather and yours are lying in the snow. We didn't know if you were alive…"
Rio's eyes widened in surprise,
and he murmured, trying to gather his thoughts,
"I was…"
Then he fell silent.
As if an image had shattered in his mind.
Suddenly, his voice changed, and anxiety rose in his tone:
"Wait… just a moment…"
He tried to get up again despite his weakness,
and looked around with troubled eyes.
"Where's my friend?"
Then he called out his name, as if clinging to it so it wouldn't get lost:
"Where's Lloyd?" Silence fell over the room.
The fire in the fireplace flickered slightly… as if she sensed that this name,
was not just a friend… but the beginning of another storm.