The crisscrossing ice crevices were deep and winding, like the blood vessels of a giant beast intricately distributed under the glacier, but there was no blood pulsing inside, only darkness and silence. Water droplets dripped down from the several-foot-long icicles, occasionally making a tinkling sound, breaking the silence and solitude.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps broke into the dream-like silence. The footsteps seemed to be being chased, but also seemed to be chasing something. It passed through one ice cave after another, and then a young man came into view. The young man's skin was dark, and his clothes were tattered from head to toe. There were even bloodstains on them, but under his long messy hair was a pair of eyes that emitted a dazzling brilliance.
Yaruta panted heavily. Since entering the Stained Frost Forest, the sword wounds on his body had not healed, the high fever continued, and the surrounding scenery was sometimes clear and sometimes blurry to him. When his condition worsened, the ice-blue pillar even produced double images in his eyes, but in the dark, he could always see the figure that was sometimes far and sometimes close.
It seemed to be a person, but there was always only a back view. For two weeks, it had been floating and always walking in front of him. It was as if there was a kind of magic urging him to cross the forest and the glacier, always following behind it, all the way here.
But Yaruta already had a splitting headache, and his mind was groggy. He could not remember much, but he at least remembered his father, his sister, and the hunter who died outside the Stained Frost Forest that day: when he was curled up under the carriage, feeling the wound on his chest and abdomen bleeding, his body getting weaker and weaker, light as a feather, as if he was about to lose all consciousness.
A voice entered his mind, and he only remembered that it was a neutral, emotionless voice:
"Do you want to live, mortal? Stand up if you want to live. "
"Save me … save me …" Yaruta remembered groaning in a daze, but he did not get an answer. He coughed hard, "You want to save me?"
"I can't save you, but someone can."
"…" Yaruta opened his mouth wide, feeling that he could barely breathe, let alone speak. But soon after, a cold aura spread out from his chest, allowing him to regain some of his consciousness.
"You must come to me, come to me, you can only save yourself if you obey my orders."
"During this period, I will temporarily protect you, but you don't have much time."
Yaruta's body was injected with a trace of power. He barely opened his eyes and saw a huge, pale blue phantom standing in front of him. It was like a ghost, but he did not have the strength to look up at the other party's face. He could only see the loose robe.
"Why did you save me? Where are the others?"
"You and your sister might be related to the twelfth legacy. But that's not the point. You need my help, and I need yours. "
"Sister?" Yaruta heard this word and became excited. "Sister is still alive …?"
"She won't die. Someone will save her."
"What about me? Can I still see her?"
"Don't worry, you will eventually reunite with your sister, as long as you listen to my orders …"
"But who are you?"
"I'm Crystal. You mortals like to call me that, but I prefer my original name, 'Lucis'. However, what you saw was not me, but a message. It's hard for me to explain it to you, but you just need to understand that you need my help, and I need yours."
"You need my help?"
"Yes, I need you to come to my side."
"Side, aren't you right in front of me?"
The blue figure did not answer, but looked down at him, and then slowly turned around. Yaruta felt that his body seemed to be recovering faster, and there was always a voice in his heart calling to him. Somehow, he followed in a daze.
They walked into the forest one after the other, as if no one noticed them. He passed by the Black Knight under Arreck, who was unaware. Then they passed through the forest, through the valley, through the snowfield and the glacier, without encountering a single monster. Every night after that, the blue figure would reappear, walking unhurriedly in front of him, the distance erratic.
Day after day, Yaruta forgot his surroundings, even forgot hunger and cold, and forgot time. But gradually, the other party walked faster and faster, leaving him less and less time.
"Yaruta, you have to accelerate faster."
"You don't have much time left."
The teenager also gradually realized.
His body was getting heavier and heavier, and the sword wound that had not healed was like a painful brand that constantly tugged at his nerves. His steps were no longer as brisk as when he first stepped into the forest. His mind was sometimes clear and sometimes muddy. Most of the time, Yaruta could only maintain a limited amount of calmness. His vision was getting narrower and narrower in front of him, and the surrounding scenery was getting darker and darker. Finally, there was a moment.
He saw the blue figure in front of him disappear.
His feet went soft, and he suddenly slid down the side of the ice.
There was a series of sounds of broken ice rolling down in the darkness, and then it quickly returned to silence.
… …
"Wake up, wake up, there's not much time left for you."
"Wake up-"
"I need your help."
Brando suddenly opened his eyes, and his pale forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat. 'What time-' He looked up in confusion. The ice above his head was always a magnificent blue, and the whistling sound known as' Jupiter's Whispers' echoed in the distance. It was the sound of a cold current passing through an isthmus in the north. At one end of the isthmus, there was a huge glacier connected to the ground.
The sound had been going on for years, but it was still far away. It often made people mistakenly think that there was a howling monster locked in the underground abyss.
Brendel stared suspiciously into the depths of the cave for a while. His eyes were as deep as a puzzle that could not be solved. He gathered the blanket that did not seem to be too tight, and only then did he realize that he had a dream.
He had a strange dream. In the dream, many people passed through a shining snowfield. They wore strange clothes, black and white robes, and rode wingless dragons. Gradually, black, huge, obelisk-like buildings appeared around them. The buildings emitted a strange metallic luster and were covered with a spiderweb-like crystal grid. Brando recognized that those were the remains of Milos. It was said that the closer to the center of the glacier, the more such remains there were.
Brando saw such a scene in the dream. He saw those people pass through these ancient ruins and come to the edge of a huge rift. There, they held a grand sacrificial ceremony, pushed the slaves down the valley, and then threw a huge shining box into the abyss.
Time passed slowly in the glacier. He saw those people then settle down and become neighbors with the cavemen on the ice. But suddenly there was a dispute among them, and then there was a split, a war, and they were divided into two factions from the inside.
The losing side continued north, while the rest stayed. The good times were gone. Many old people froze to death on the glacier. The young people tried to leave the glacier for the forest, but they fell one by one on the migration path.
Only a few people were left.
The person he dreamed of watched on the glacier day after day, watching his people fall one by one. Death was like a plague, and finally fell on him.
Brando vaguely remembered the last sunrise he saw in the dream. The sun rose from the west, red and huge, and the world became blood-red, as if it was a sign of something.
Brando looked away.
The cave was quiet, and everyone was asleep. There was a bright light in the far end of Brando's vision. It was a bonfire. It should be the latter half of the night, so the ones keeping watch at the bonfire were Metisha and The Shire. He could even occasionally hear the low voices of conversation coming from there.
But Brando did not intend to get up. He leaned quietly in the darkness alone. He did not understand the meaning of his strange dream. When he completely calmed down, he had realized that the scene he saw in the dream might be what the Miirna people saw with their own eyes. And those people he saw were probably the Miirna people who crossed the glacier.
The Miirna people were driven away by Gretel at the end of the War of the Holy Saints. The time was about Chaos. 1024, which was before the Year of the Golden Hoof, and earlier than the Age of Runes and Swords. Not long after that, the last Great Demonic Wave happened. According to the records in the scriptures, the population of the whole continent was reduced by almost one-third in that disaster.
That was the worst disaster Wohnde had experienced after the War of the Holy Saints.
He suddenly remembered the red and huge sun he saw in his dream, and remembered a passage in the Black Prophecy: Blood fell from the sky, and the disaster stopped from the west to the east.
Wasn't that the description of the last Great Demonic Wave?
But why would he suddenly dream of a scene that happened a thousand years ago? Brando himself did not understand. He only felt that it was indescribably strange. He also remembered the box that looked like a golden ark that the Miirna people threw into the abyss in his dream. He faintly felt that his dream might have something to do with the box. But as for what was in the box, he knew nothing. There were no records of it in history.
Brando sighed softly. The feeling of being spied on rose in his heart again. He subconsciously turned his head. The surroundings were silent. The ice cave was like the body of a sleeping beast. It was sometimes so quiet that it made one's heart palpitate. But Brando looked around vigilantly. He clearly felt that there was always a pair of eyes hidden in the darkness.
"Brando, that can't be the Protector-"
He could not help but turn his head and look in the direction where Aloz was sleeping. He remembered the conversation between the two in the afternoon.
… (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.)
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