Below them, the guild roared with laughter—a sound warmer than any sun, brighter than any magic.

It started subtly. The cherry blossoms of spring didn't bloom. Summer sun refused to warm the cobblestones. Autumn leaves fell brown and brittle within a day. Winter brought only a hollow, colorless frost. The world outside Fairy Tail was stuck in a perpetual gray twilight. The Seasons themselves had been fractured, and the magic that once flowed through the land was fading.

Without them, the world had no seasons.