The world of dreams was collapsing layer by layer but Brando knew there was still one last stretch of road to walk. He put away his things and turned off the experience notifications. He looked up and saw a long corridor appear in front of him.
This deep walkway seemed to extend forward in a ring-shaped space, and the surrounding fog was filled with flickering fragments of the past.
He knew that this was no longer Viscount Cauldell's dream, but a dream that truly belonged to him.
Self-redemption was often the opportunity hidden in the deepest part of a person's heart.
Brando walked forward slowly. He passed through the darkness and then light came from all directions, spilling over him. Finally, he saw a door. That door was immersed in darkness and silence. The pattern on the door was a bronze key and a silver crescent moon. This memory was as fresh as yesterday. Brando didn't stop. Instead, he walked forward and pushed the door open.
The heavy wooden door opened with a creak.
Behind the door was the center of the palace.
Kinten Palace, Hall of the Wise —
A dim light shone down from the dome. The hall was silent. The throne was in the center of the palace. A silver crown rested on the scarlet throne. The crown had a slender elven style. It was painted with the mountains of the south and the clouds of the north. Brando remembered that many people had worn this crown because it had once been the symbol of Erouine.
An unknown craftsman had made this laurel crown. King Erik had worn it to be crowned king at Grey Wind Stronghold. In the long years that followed, dozens of kings had sat on this honor but they had all turned to dust.
After the pages of history had been turned, it welcomed its last owner. It was a beautiful half-elven girl.
Brando saw the faint silver light refracting from the crown. It was almost the same color as Princess Gryphine's silver hair. But after the light faded, it seemed so dull.
Did it know where its former owner was now?
Had it watched the beautiful princess sleep forever in this palace?
Perhaps it didn't care about the blood on it because it was a dead object to begin with. It had only been entrusted with the greed of mortals.
Brando walked to the center of the hall. There was no one in the palace. He knew that there had been a time when many kings had sat here, and even her royal highness the eldest princess had walked gracefully along the red carpet that led to the main hall, where the Knights bowed before her.
In another time period, he and his senior sister were standing together in the same dilapidated hall. The dim light and the sound of wind and fire mixed together outside, and the sounds of fighting could be heard from far and near.
That was the dying Erouine's final cry, as if it symbolized the groan before the palace collapsed.
But now, he was the only one left.
Everything was the same as before.
Brando saw the flames burning in from outside the palace. In the blink of an eye, the palace had turned into a blazing hell. The pillars collapsed, and the beautiful artwork turned to dust. He stood alone in the middle of the flames.
"Why aren't you afraid of failure?" A weak voice asked.
It was Viscount Cauldell's voice.
"I'm afraid of failure." Brando saw the pale figure emerge from the flames. He picked up the crown, put it aside, and then sat on the throne. He answered, "But I'm more afraid of not being able to see my heart clearly."
"Death isn't scary. What's scary is losing yourself."
Viscount Cauldell didn't say a word. He stood silently across from Brando.
After a long time, he finally sighed.
Brando saw him turn and walk towards the sea of flames. His back disappeared into the flames. He heard that faint sigh. "I'm sorry, Bessidine. I'm sorry, Lord Saint-ausol. "
Brando closed his eyes.
It was as if he had another long dream in the dream. In the dream, Viscount Cauldell wasn't called Viscount Cauldell. He had another identity. People called him the King of the Sun, Cauldell Fred. He once had a fiancée, a woman named Bessidine Ramona Moonleaf. Only such a noble name could bear the surname of the Wind Elf royal family.
But the Viscount Cauldell in his memory had already died in that forest with his fiancée.
Brando opened his eyes. The fire had reached the bottom of the throne but he still hadn't woken from the dream. He sat on the throne. He didn't know if it was right or wrong — but this was indeed his choice. A loud crash came from the flames. Brando thought that a pillar on the side of the hall had collapsed. But a figure suddenly rushed out of the flames and grabbed his hand.
"Come with me —"
Brando paused. He looked up and saw the familiar figure moving forward in the flames. Her fluttering black hair was especially dazzling in the hot air.
"Senior?"
The figure didn't answer. She just pulled him through the sea of flames. The palace collapsed beside them. It was almost impossible to tell which direction was which in the thick smoke. The temperature seemed to be getting hotter and hotter. The rolling fog gradually covered all sight.
After a moment, Brando felt that he was walking completely in the black fog. He couldn't tell if he was still in the Kinten Palace under his feet. But the fog suddenly parted to the left and right. The cold moonlight seemed to fall from above and sprinkle on him.
Brendel paused for a moment and raised his head.
There was no longer any palace or sea of flames around him. There was only the flickering shadows of the cedar forest. Only then did he notice that the cold light from before wasn't moonlight at all. It was a light blue arc on the horizon.
It was the tide of magic.
The moving shadows of the clouds reflected this light on Brando's face. The female Knight in front of him pulled him forward a few more steps. Then she let go and turned back.
Both of them were sweating profusely.
Brando looked at the female Knight's pale face and paused. Then he blurted out, "Maynild?"
The female Knight didn't answer. She turned and walked into the forest. Brando saw Haruz curled up under a tree. He was sleeping soundly with a shiny line at the corner of his mouth — this guy was actually drooling in his dreams.
Brando thought of the little prince in his dreams. It was hard to imagine.
Maynild didn't wake him up. Instead, she walked to His Royal Highness, took the cloak off her body, and then put it on him. Brando saw the way she took care of someone and thought of his senior sister Allium Japonicum more than once.
"Are you hiding something from me, Lady Maynild?" He suddenly asked.
"Don't ask, thank you." Maynild turned back and replied softly, "Just this once, give me a little time —"
Brando was slightly startled —
He just looked at Maynild, and the two were speechless for a moment. But soon, a soft sound came from the woods. Brando turned back and saw Laurenna and Filas walking out of the bushes hand in hand.
The female Knight from the Cruz Empire also gave Brando and Maynild a strange look when she saw them together.
"Ha, Count, I didn't expect you to be faster than us." Filas was much more direct. He shouted, "I just had a weird dream. It really pissed me off."
"What happened?" It wasn't beyond Brando's expectations that the lucky couple would be the first to come out of the dream, but he was curious about what could make this guy so angry.
Before Laurenna could stop him, Filas had already blurted out, "I dreamed that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince wanted to marry Laurenna. Hmph, it was wishful thinking."
"So how did you solve it?" Brando saw the female Knight blushing at Filas' words and knew that the dream must have been very exciting. He calmed himself down and continued to ask curiously.
"Nonsense, of course I killed him," Filas replied bitterly.
Brando was sweating profusely as he listened, thinking that this guy was a little too tough. The Crown Prince of the Cruz Empire, wouldn't he be the first in line to the throne? He actually killed him just like that. After all, the dream was so real that maybe Filas didn't even consider whether he was in a dream or reality when he did it.
But he glanced at this guy and suddenly realized that only such a person would never be confused by the fog in his heart.
"You're very lucky, Miss Laurenna," Brando said.
The female Knight blushed slightly and punched Filas hard, "This guy doesn't think before he does things. He scared me to death."
Filas chuckled, and Brando smiled as well. He felt lucky for Filas and Laurenna. Not everything in this world could go according to one's wishes, but few people had the essence of perseverance in adversity.
He looked up. There was no moonlight in the sky. The surging clouds had just spread over the forest, and the Demonic Wave had reached its most intense moment.
…
A few hours seemed to have passed in a flash, and Freya and Scarlet walked out of the dream one after the other. Metisha, The Shire, and Hipamira themselves were no longer dreaming. They were just lost because Brando was lost, and came back not long after Brando left the dream.
Then there were the scattered Knight and the rest of the entourage in the team. Afterward, Maynild did a headcount and found that more than half of the team had scattered. All the missing people had been lost in the forest forever and could never be found.
Thinking of this, everyone couldn't help but shudder, and had a new understanding of the horror of this forest.
Brando asked Freya in private about her experience with Scarlet, and as he expected, Freya relived the nightmare of escaping from Bucce. However, she said that Brando didn't exist in her dream, which made Brando break out in a cold sweat.
Freya also told him that she experienced a completely different night in Bucce. The future Valkyrie didn't go into too much detail, and just softly thanked him at the end.
Brando could roughly guess what happened to her, just like how he could guess that she would return to Bucce that night. Perhaps for the Valkyrie, that was the most important memory in her life.
A memory that changed her life.
As for Scarlet, the Highlander girl didn't say much. She just looked at him quietly for a moment, then followed him and never left. Brando couldn't figure out what she dreamed of.
But just like everyone else, everyone seemed to be especially quiet after leaving their dreams.
Most of them leaned on each other and sat in the forest, as if they were recalling their dreams.
The morning that could never be seen in the Evernight Forest brought a new day to everyone in the sense of time.
… …
(PS: The next day at 3 pm, your champion baboon has been resurrected! Please vote! Please vote! Please vote!) (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to qidian.com to vote for me. Your support is my biggest motivation.)
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
