When Oveira came to her senses, she found herself standing in an empty hall.
The ancient masonry has worn away traces of the past, and the darkness once overflowed like a filthy quagmire, soaking here for a long time, giving it a rotten odor that lingers faintly; the mottled rock crevices are covered with cold moss,
These tiny creatures that do not need light to survive survive by eating away at the sand, gravel and dust in the cracks in the walls. Their root systems extend into corners that are not visible to the naked eye, and are as lush and lush as forests in primitive times; a few transparent spider silks hang from the ceiling.
, but did not see the crawling figure of the owner. It was as if those ugly reptiles were also persuaded by the loneliness deposited in the castle. After spitting out the last thread, they hurriedly left. The path they walked can still be seen to this day.
, leading to the corner of death in a winding way.
In the rotten and smelly soil, under the mottled and cracked stone bricks, in the winding rock crevices, and even in the corners of the walls where the moisture from ancient times lingers... it is a lifeless scene.
The princess stood there blankly, holding a thick book in her left hand and holding a black lantern in her right hand. Her long platinum hair flowing down like a waterfall brought some precious bright colors to this cold and dead hall.
Two open doors were reflected in her hazy eyes. At the end of the door was light. It was a world that she had dreamed of and longed for in endless years. For some reason, it was now so bright that it made people panic. "Ah!" A relieved voice came from behind: "It's finally over. It's such a long customs clearance process - it's only five hours, but why do I feel like I've been playing for fifty hours?"
"Maybe it's because you are still not sensitive enough to the scale of time."
"Hey, I'm not as good as you say."
"I'm not complimenting you."
……
What followed was the sound of footsteps, walking towards me one after another, and the sound of the soles of their shoes stepping on stone bricks resounded in the hall.
Olvera seemed to be awakened by these sounds and returned to this world. She slowly turned around, raised her head, blinked, and saw their appearance from the depths of the stars that gathered and separated. They were very familiar, but also very strange.
.
I say "familiar" because I have seen them many times in the game, and even said a lot of sincere words to them, so they can be regarded as friends; "I say unfamiliar because when I see them in the game, they are all weird."
"pixel villain", so much so that when I see the real person now, I feel a sense of trance and lose my mind in an instant.
"Hey, Olvera!" Alice, who was walking at the front, said hello carelessly, as if she were greeting guests at her own home: "What's the matter, you keep looking at us in a daze? Do you have anything to say?
Tell us?"
Olvera opened and closed her lips a few times, but she didn't say a word. Was it because she didn't know what to say, or because she didn't know how to say it? Naturally, Alice, who had always had rough lines, failed to notice the princess's mood.
Nothing unusual, she stretched and said casually: "But if you have anything to say, let's talk outside. The atmosphere here is weird and gloomy, and I don't want to stay any longer."
When Olvera heard this, her slender eyelashes trembled slightly, and she murmured: "Can I...leave here?"
"Of course, we have cleared the game and eliminated the curse that trapped you in the castle, and you destroyed it yourself. Look, the castle is not as dark as before, and all the shadow beasts guarding you have disappeared.
, no one can stop you from leaving here, unless you don’t want to leave - haha, I’m kidding.”
Alice told a joke that was not funny at the end. After all, if Olvera didn't want to leave, why did she work so hard to clear the game before? What's more, now she still bears the expectations of her deceased teacher...<
/p>
It turns out that it was not a dream.
Oveira opened her hazy eyes and re-examined the appearance of this old castle between her heavy and sleepy brows. Those ferocious and cruel shadow beasts, symbolizing the guardians of her past memories, helped her defeat powerful enemies.
The heroic weapon, the powerful and unpredictable ruler, the teacher who reappeared in front of him after many years, the gentle words, the consciousness of sacrifice, the deepest despair, the hottest hope... everything.
Everything is not a dream.
I originally thought that this is what dreams feel like.
But if it wasn't a dream, why does this old castle still exist? In memory, it should have been destroyed by the ancient sacred tree that the teacher transformed into after his death, and became fragmented; it also destroyed the bottom corridor on its own
The guardians fell apart like flowers withered in the frost. The masonry, floors, walls, ceilings, towers...the roaring sound they made when they collapsed and sank is still echoing in my ears.
Which ones are real and which ones are false?
The princess, who has been away from the world for too long, gradually becomes unclear.
"Let's go, let's go." Alice walked at the front, waving to her companions to follow: "Don't stay here for too long. If you continue to stay, I feel like moss will grow on my bones."
The little goblin Semy sitting on Metien's head replied casually: "Are you sure it's not growing in your head?"
"Hey!" Xiaoyang agreed.
Alice couldn't bear such unfounded slander, and immediately glared at the two guys fiercely: "If you can speak, continue talking. If you say a few more words, my anger will be full. I promise not to give you a shot of the Heavenly Sword."
."
"What guarantee? You have no credibility!" "Bah!"
"Okay, okay, be quiet and stop making noise." Medien has become accustomed to such noisy daily life, and very skillfully stood up to mediate: "Xie Mi, don't always say bad things about Sister Alice, she is just
She has a straightforward personality, not a bad person; sister Alice, don’t always argue with Xie Mi, she is still young and ignorant, she is just joking."
Saint Xalia also tugged on the lamb's rope and said softly: "Don't be naughty, little lamb, please give way to Alice."
Alice, who felt that she was being treated differently, protested angrily as she walked: "What do you mean she is still young and ignorant? Are there two-hundred-year-old children in this world? She is obviously a two-hundred-year-old grandmother!"
Also, Xiaoxia, you just said something wrong. It wasn’t the sheep that came to let me go. It was clearly me who was tolerating it, okay? Otherwise, I would have made it into a flavored mutton pie. I see.
The sauce at the pie stand on Sherrill Street is pretty good. I’ll take you to try it next time..."
"In the traveler fairy clan, a two-hundred-year-old is certainly a child. If you insist on being an old woman, you have the ability to say this to the elder sister, just a little bit!"
"Baa baa baa!"
"The pie stand that Sister Alice mentioned is really delicious."
"Well, I'm looking forward to it."
……
They chatted like this and walked past Oveira noisily. When everyone passed by the princess, they would smile and say to her: "Let's go." But the princess always stood where she was and did not chase her.
Walking in their footsteps, quietly listening to their chatter and laughter gradually drifting away, I suddenly felt envious from the bottom of my heart.
That's great.
In that unimaginably vast world, you can live with such a calm and calm attitude. Standing on the extended land, you will chase the end of the horizon. When you are under the vast sky, you will long for the distant skyline and see the boundless ocean.
Then you will fantasize about the sea level on the other side... without any confusion, without any hesitation, free and unrestrained, what an enviable thing it is.
And if a person is trapped in a dark cage for a long time, always only accompanied by books, lanterns and candles, knowing nothing about the changes in the outside world, when parents, teachers and the former country are buried in the dust.
After entering the depths, there were no characters or scenery she knew in that world. Suddenly one day she knew that she could leave the cage and no longer be restrained by any restrictions. So when she stepped out of the darkness, what did she see?
A familiar world or a strange world?
It must be so strange that it makes it difficult to breathe, right?
The princess of Beimang thought that she had long been ready to regain her freedom, but she didn't know that the so-called freedom does not mean that you can leave one place and go to another place, but that you have abandoned some familiar things.
things, and the courage to face other unfamiliar things. If you cannot do this, you will have an indescribable sense of panic like she does now, staying in place and not daring to move forward.
"What's wrong?" Someone suddenly asked, it was the person who never said anything or left.
"It's nothing." Olvera shook her head slowly, and a smile appeared on her face. It was an extremely forced, pale smile, and she softly replied in a voice filled with seawater and darkness: "I just...
…”
"If you feel scared," he said again, interrupting Olvera's words, and said in a calm tone: "Just look at me."
Olvera was startled for a moment. After she came to her senses, the hazy stars in her eyes gradually dispersed and became brighter. She nodded obediently: "Yes."
So, Ringer walked in front, while Oveira walked behind. Looking at his back, it was like looking at a world that was familiar to her in the past, and there was no strange feeling at all. Just walking through the empty hall, walking
Passing the cold wall, walking along the stone path in front of the door... Finally walking through the two huge open iron doors, leaving the castle and entering a wider world.
Huh——
The moment she walked out of the castle, the cold wind howled, blowing her platinum hair to flutter wildly. Each hair tickled Olvera's cheek, bringing a distant call. Linge said calmly: "
Now, look up."
Olvera listened to his words and subconsciously raised her head, and saw the sky, the earth and the forests all over the mountains and plains. The bright light flowed through the spacious courtyard and poured into the narrow eyes. In fact, it was not that dazzling because the top of her head was still there.
The dark clouds gathered and swallowed up too much light, making the sky look gloomy and miserable. But the princess's eyes shrank subconsciously, and she clearly saw that the depths of the dark clouds were torn apart by a sudden cold wind, and a huge
The gap seems to have been there since the creation of the world, presenting a more distant and lonely scene.
Something fell from the clouds and hit the princess on the face, the ground in the courtyard, and the ancient stone bricks that were mottled with the wear and tear of time... ticking, ticking, echoing softly.
When they slowly dripped down her cheeks, as if outlining two traces of tears under the princess's eyes, Olvera suddenly realized: the outside world——
It's so cold.
……
In a house on Scherer Street in Rosting City, a man who was immersed in writing at his desk suddenly heard some strange noises. He temporarily broke away from the immersive state of creation. He looked up and was shocked to see
Raindrops of all sizes are falling from the gray sky, hitting the branches and leaves of the street trees, making a splashing sound; the fallen dead leaves are swaying through the dense rain, like colorful butterflies all over the sky
Flying; circles and circles of ripples swayed in the ditches on the street, and insects like mantises and orchids lay on the floating water lilies, using the grass blades above their heads to avoid the sudden rain; while at the windows along the street, after a while,
The accumulated rainwater is dripping from the edge of the window, like a small stream outlining the traces of twists and turns, gradually moistening the transparent glass...
He was so absorbed in watching that he even forgot what he was going to write. In other words, no matter what he planned to write on the paper, it would not be more worthy of the citizens of this city than the rain in front of him.
We care.
Because this is the first rain since the beginning of winter.
That’s right, it doesn’t snow in the winter in Rustin.