"What is this place …?"
The flames crackled as sparks danced in the air. The distorted heatwave blurred the scene in front of them. It was like a street. The street was not spacious, but it was paved with stone slabs. There were two trenches for carriages. On both sides of the street were two or three story tall brick buildings, but most of them were only left with their frames.
From time to time, the sound of buildings collapsing could be heard. There were also sounds of fighting, screams of despair, begging, and cursing. The flames that reached the sky reflected a fiery red color on the horizon. Smoke and dust rose into the sky, forming thick black clouds.
"Is this Westminster? Braggs …? "
"Why is this happening?"
His mind was muddled as if there were countless voices lingering in his head. They seemed to be talking loudly, arguing with each other, whispering and chattering. Sometimes it was a man, sometimes it was a woman, sometimes it was an old man, sometimes it was a child.
"Shut up! Shut up! "
Tirste shook his head and shouted loudly.
Sure enough, all the sounds stopped.
He saw another scene. It was a dark and empty world, and there seemed to be solid ground beneath his feet. A group of people wearing white robes and emitting fluorescent light were walking forward. Those people had no faces or hair, and he seemed to be involuntarily following them.
"Tirste, Tirste!"
A ghostly voice called his name through the void of space.
The voice reminded him of his own childhood in the countryside of Winomarre, when he had hidden in the stables, separated by a thin wooden wall, and the wet nurse had called his name.
Then the door was violently flung open, and he saw the face that haunted his dreams, and that he least wished to recall, his nominal father, the Duke of Grinoires, who glared at him as coldly and angrily as he remembered it.
That face quickly changed into his elder brother's look of contempt.
"I will kill you, Tirste."
"No!"
Tirste screamed in horror, but the voice quickly changed in his mind. It was the voice of his first woman, his maid. That poor woman had died in an epidemic, and he didn't have much memory of it.
"Tirste, Tirste!"
"No, shut up, you damned ghosts, stay away from me."
He moaned with a pale face.
He retreated, and the scene in front of him blurred. The pale figures disappeared, and he saw a boundless plain. The ground was black, the sky was blood red, and the sound of killing filled his mind like a tide.
"Ahhh!"
Tirste screamed as he covered his ears. His eyes were wide open in agony as he stared at the scene in front of him. It was a tragic battle.
Countless creatures and monsters that he couldn't name were fighting each other on the battlefield.
The side of the battle seemed to be humans, but he had never seen such powerful humans. They could summon all kinds of weapons, and in an instant, they poured out doomsday-like power on the battlefield. They rained fire on the battlefield, and the monsters died in their hands.
They then created a few bright suns between heaven and earth. The suns seemed to absorb all the light around them, turning the world into darkness. When they were born, all the monsters around them vaporized in an instant, turning into smoke and dust.
They also dropped meteorites from above the clouds. The meteorites passed through the thick black clouds, leaving behind a few golden-red lines that were perpendicular to the ground. Then, they caused a series of explosions and roars on the battlefield.
But there were still too many monsters.
As if there was no end to them.
Burning crystal shards pierced through the sky and fell into the human camp, creating huge craters. Then, giant crystal monsters crawled out of the craters, easily killing the powerful humans.
Then came the insects. Insects that blotted out the sky and covered the earth. Countless insects died before they could even get close to the humans, turning into dust. But they were also pervasive. More and more insects landed on the human camp, and the powerful humans began to retreat after a short period of resistance.
Tirste saw a giant wolf as large as a hill slaughtering its way into the human camp. The humans' retreat quickly turned into collapse.
A sense of despair enveloped his soul.
It was as if he had some sort of blood connection with these powerful humans. When he saw them fall, he suddenly understood that this was the final battle of this world.
They had lost.
"No, no …."
Tirste muttered as he knelt on the ground, covering his face with his hands.
He saw a group of silver-white monsters appearing on the horizon. There weren't many of them, but the humans couldn't do anything to them. They were like silver lines that pierced through the battlefield, causing the humans to fall one by one.
A silver-white monster landed not far from him, then turned around and looked at him.
Tirste's eyes widened, his entire body trembling as he trembled.
"Don't …. Don't kill me …."
A bright and snow-white blade was reflected in his eyes, plunging straight into his throat.
"No!" Tirste screamed in despair as he felt his throat turn cold. Everything in front of him quickly distorted and melted into the darkness.
… …
'Plop.'
'Plop.'
The sound of snow being squeezed together could be heard. A pair of moccasins that were tightly tied with leather ropes was trudging through the snow near Xena Forest.
The owner of the boots suddenly stopped.
The owner of the boots was dressed in a hunter's attire commonly seen in the Eagle Castle area. He had a thick jacket, tight leather pants, and deerskin gloves missing two fingers. He carried a bow and a quiver of arrows on his back and a bunch of other things on his belt. There were even two animal traps hanging from his belt. He was about sixty-seven years old, in the prime of his life at Wohnde's age. His skin was dark, and it was obvious that he was an experienced hunter who had spent a lot of time in the wilderness.
The man had two hunting dogs on his leash. The dogs were sniffing around the ground, but the first snow of late autumn in the North interfered with their judgment, causing them to hesitate.
After a while, one of the dogs raised its head and barked towards a direction in the forest.
A lot of snowflakes fell from the trees.
A group of riders came out from the forest behind the hunters. The leader of the group, an elderly Knight, pulled on the reins and asked, "Did you find anything, Pierce?"
"There's something in the forest, my lord."
"Could it be a herd of deer?"
"No, my lord, there's no trace of a herd of deer nearby."
"Maybe it's a rabbit or some other small animal," a young Knight said.
"No, the dogs are very uneasy. Only bears in the forest can make them so uneasy. But the bears are hibernating now, so you can't see them," Pierce said with certainty.
"Maybe there's one or two that aren't so afraid of the cold. The snow isn't thick yet, so they have to hurry out and store food."
Duke Hoffman waved his hand. "Believe in Pierce. He's the best hunter around here. Draw your swords. Boys, let's go in and take a look."
"No, my lord, let me go in and take a look. I'm familiar with the forest. If there's anything strange, I can at least send a message."
Pierce replied in a deep voice.
Duke Hoffman looked at the old hunter and nodded.
The forest quickly became quiet. The young Knight seemed a little nervous. There were many ancient legends about the forest. There was a forest with many old human faces carved in it. It was said that the person who carved them was once the owner of the forest. But these people had long been lost in the depths of the forest, leaving behind all kinds of mysterious sayings.
Not only the humans, but the horses also seemed a little uneasy. The warhorses of the Ten Cities area all came from Ice Bay, which was further north. They were cold-resistant, tall, and covered with hair. Wild horses fought with wolves all year round, so they were fierce, brave, and wild.
But these Ice Bay horses were now snorting, and white mist with warmth came out of their nostrils, condensing around the cage. They used their hooves to scratch the ground, as if something in the forest made them very nervous.
The Knight comforted their companions, but Duke Hoffman's face was full of seriousness.
According to the tradition of the Eagle Castle, the forest would be frozen after winter. It was said that the ancient spirits would appear in the depths of the forest to patrol and hunt. So no matter if it was farmers or hunters, they would not enter Xena Forest in winter, because it would offend the ancient spirits and bring about a curse.
If not for the fact that he had no other choice, as the owner of this land, he would also not be willing to enter the forest in this season.
He had been in charge of the Eagle Castle for sixty-three years. Including his long youth, he had lived here for almost a century. As an old man, he was very clear that these traditions and taboos could not be violated.
But there was a reason for this. Two days ago, a strange thing had happened in the forest, so he had no choice but to come here and investigate everything clearly.
Speaking of which, this matter had to be told before the short summer in the Ten Cities area ended. That was something that happened three months ago. The Wild Elves came across the sea, disembarked in the Ten Cities area, and then went east, passing through more than half of the Northern Territory. One of them just happened to arrive at the Eagle Castle.
Duke Hoffman had already received an order from the Holy Church, and understood that these Elves would not stay in his territory for too long. As such, he allowed them to stay outside the Far Eagle Castle for a while. As expected, around a week later, the Elves left towards the east. After entering Xena Forest, they disappeared without a trace.
East of Xena Forest, after passing through the heather hills, the only place to go was the endless Great Glacier. Before the Year of the Return of Light, the pioneer Knight from Fanzin expanded east along this road, and there they bumped into the border of the World of Order.
… …
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