It was when I was out trying to collect a few more seeds before the inevitable white season came for us.

“Oh… snow.”

A single snowflake fell down right in front of my face, making me stand up and look around. One by one, tiny pieces of the white menace began falling down from the sky and instantly melting upon touching the ground.

“Well…” I turned to Chad who had been overlooking my gathering session. “That’s that then. Let’s go back. With my luck, I’ll get eaten by an avalanche on my way back if I muck around for too long.”

Chad answered with his signature silence of agreement.

After letting him board my bubble again, I made my way back to our cozy ancient ruins and knocked on the giant door. Unlike the very first time, the door actually opened, revealing my goblin companion behind them.

Her eyes widened as soon as her eyes adjusted to the light outside.

“Yup, it’s starting.” I pointed back with my thumb at the snow.

She nodded and gestured for me to come inside before closing the door behind us again.

“I still find it unfair that you are the only one who can open these doors,” I idly said as we made our way back to the camp. “I mean, sure, it makes sense that the demon sealed inside wouldn’t be able to open them, but why can you do it while I can’t?!”

Willow shrugged nonchalantly. “Don’t ask me. I’m still trying to make sense of all these ancient texts and prophecies.”

“Didn’t Kelly help you understand a few of those?”

“Well, yeah. But some of them contradict each other. One says a single person from another world will end it. Another says it will be a group. And another another one says that an otherworlder will be the one to save the world.”

“Ha! I knew it! They are just shitposts by some ancient trolls! Not real prophecies or whatever! Just spam by people who had too much free time on their hands!”

She rolled her eyes at my usage of internet-age vocabulary. “Maybe. I’m still gonna be careful about this though.”

We made our way to the camp where Kelly was in the middle of pruning the mana tree. Her being apparently amazing at magic, she’d even managed to remove the illusion curse maze thing around the tree and we were free to leave without being stuck.

I was definitely not jealous. Nope. I had never dreamed of playing around with advanced magic or anything.

“Hey, Kelly… It’s starting,” Willow informed our resident demon.

I folded my arms and frowned. “The enemy army is here. If we don’t do anything, we’ll be overrun,” I said in a serious tone.

The two of them gave me a dry look before glancing back at each other.

“We should have enough food for now. Just need to wait it out,” Willow said, ignoring me.

“Yeah… I never liked winters,” Kelly said with a sigh. “I wish we could speed up time while we wait for it to pass.”

I agreed with her. Winter was the worst season of the year. Cold, dark, and dull. If only there was a way to…

Wait.

“Sooo… Funny that you mention that.”

The two of them looked at me.

“Remember Mr. green bubble?”

“Well, yeah.” Willow frowned. “It does exactly the opposite of what we need.”

“Right! But!” I raised my finger. “It’s not the only bubble in the bubble space! I’m on my way to one of the red bubbles, and I’m willing to bet my naked butt that those are exactly the opposite! Time passes slower in them! Which means that if we chill inside for a bit, the winter will be gone in no time!” I raised my arms in excitement.

“Bet your naked butt…?” Willow whispered to herself whilst shaking her head.

“Ooh… Right. The bubbles… Your ability.” Kelly joined in on my excitement. “Actually, you have never shown me what it looks like inside that bubble dimension. Can I take a look?”

“Sure! Let’s go on an adventure!”

I grabbed both girls’ hands before they could say anything and spirited us away into the bubble world.

“Welcome to my humble--” I started.

“Ooooh myyy goooood!” Kelly interrupted me with a shriek as her entire body stiffened and her shot wide open.

My first dumb instinct was to question whether a demon should be calling for a god.

“Uhhh, are you okay?” Willow asked, sneaking suspicious glances toward me for some reason.

“There is so much ambient mana in here! What the heck is this place?!”

Willow and I exchanged a look.

Oh boy.

“No idea, actually. It’s probably part of my power?”

“That’s crazy! If you could control all of this mana and make it your own, you could level a city!”

“Oh…?” Seriously?

“Wait, no! Don’t give her any ideas! All the prophecies are enough!”

“Ehhh, not like I can use it in any way, can I?” I shrugged.

“Well… I can,” Kelly said, before I felt something flowing past me toward her.

A second later, she was holding a ball of energy in her hand. It was getting bigger by the second.

“Wait, what?! Didn’t you say people can only manipulate their own mana?!” Willow shouted in surprise.

Kelly shrugged. “My ability.”

Willow’s mouth went agape.

Oh, right. She was also from Earth, so she had to have an ability of her own.

“Wait, so you are saying that… if we were to combine our abilities, we could level cities at our convenience?”

Willow groaned. “Is this what the prophecy was about? Otherworlders coming together… but at the same time, it will be just one person to destroy the world?” She pointed her eyes at Kelly.

“W-what? No! I would never…!” Kelly released the amassed mana and flailed her arms in panic.

“Yeah I know you wouldn’t… But for some reason I can’t stop imagining Fei making you do something like that as a dare.” Willow snuck a suspicious glance at me.

My response was a very dignified tongue sticking out in her direction.

“Still, I wonder how this place came to be?” Kelly walked around, scanning the surroundings.

“So, that’s the accelerated bubble.” She pointed at the green one. “And you are moving over to that one now?” She pointed to the red bubble.

“Yeah, exactly. Can’t wait to take thousand year naps inside there like some kind of ancient dragon!”

“Of course, you would,” Willow said with a sigh. “So Kelly--” She looked at our resident demon and stopped. “Something wrong?”

Kelly was leaning on the bubble and staring out into the bubble space. She was shaking for some reason.

I walked up next to her and tried figuring out where she was looking. My eyes landed on the single black bubble in this space.

“Oh, the black bubble. I have no idea what it could be for. But it kinda feels ominous so I was going to avoid it.”

I heard Kelly swallow before her shaky voice said, “It’s Reina.”

Wait, what?