Volume 2 Chapter 24 Finale

Chapter 24 Finale

I

One year later.

Floria and Starsha didn’t go along with them because Floria caught a cold and Starsha was looking after her. Yanni knew that his sister had a secret crush on Starsha, so he decided to leave them alone together and went to take a walk in the Dream Forest with Aislina. Floria must be spending a sweet time with Starsha right now.

Two years ago, the forest was destroyed by canons on the necroplane of Sir Bellum and Master Mortis but now the forest had nearly complete recovered. However, there were no tall trees now because all trees had been burnt into ashes two years ago.

Yanni and Aislina were walking in the beautiful Dream Forest.

All the trees now in the forest were baby tree and thus this forest was like some sort of newborn forest. Everything was new.

It was a cloudy day today and the clouds had blocked most of the sunlight, so the weather today was moderate and comfortable.

They had played in the forest a dozen of times last year and every time Aislina would hum happily along the way, but today she was very quiet.

She was lowering her head all the time and she seemed deep in thought.

“Aislina?” called Yanni softly.

A gust of soft wind passed by, in which Aislina’s azure hair was dancing gently. She turned to Yanni and looked at him, her eyes hollow.

“You look absent-minded today,” Yanni pointed out.

“No, it’s just … I’m a little tired. Come on, I’ll take you to Moonkiss Waterfall,” urged Aislina.

“Moonkiss Waterfall? What is that place? You’ve never taken me there before,” asked Yanni.

“Haven’t I? That’s a pity. I’ll definitely show you there today. It’s one of the most marvellous waterfalls in the whole world,” Aislina forced a smile.

Together, the two walked towards Moonkiss Waterfall. Aislina was leading the way and Yanni was following her.

Some birds were singing carefreely among the newborn trees. While walking, they would see a ray of light leaking through the leaves of the trees and casting a beautiful halo on the ground.

Aislina walked into that ray of light. Bathed in the sunlight along with shadows of the dancing leaves, she looked like an angel.

“How do I look?” she asked Yanni, her eyes blinking.

“Beautiful,” commented Yanni, his face reddening.

Giggling slightly, Aislina took Yanni’s hand and continued heading towards Moonkiss Waterfall.

“Are you happy this year?” asked Aislina suddenly.

“For sure I am happy. There are no adventures, no dangers and no nemeses doing fanatical stuff this year,” replied Yanni.

“Yeah, that’s true,” Aislina nodded.

After about half an hour, the two arrived at Moonkiss waterfall.

Aislina said that it was one of the most marvellous waterfalls in this world and thus Yanni had thought that it were an epically enormous waterfall of dozens of metres tall.

However, this water fall was pretty small in fact. It was only about three metres tall. To be honest, it looked rather normal.

“I know what you’re thinking about, Yanni. You must think that this waterfall is small and normal. Wait until night, and I’m one hundred percent sure that you will be amazed,” promised Aislina with a mysterious smile.

The two sat down on a giant rock together. They were staring at the water, inside which several fishes were swimming.

Soon the dusk was coming and they began to watch the sunset.

Slowly, the sun was sinking and diving under the western horizon, like an egg yolk sinking into its egg white. Sky started to darken and the bluish-grey sky was being rendered violet by the night gradually.

The colour in the sky was disappearing and the earth was drowned in blackness. Within half an hour, night fell over the whole world completely.

There were a few stars appearing in the distant sky. Cloaked by darkness, wind was blowing against the forest and trees were shaking and trembling.

Something fantastic was happening to the waterfall. Slowly, there were some dots of fluorescent light appearing under the water of the river. Gradually, those dots gathered and soon it was like the whole river were glowing.

Shining luminously, the water was streaming stirred by the waterfall, under which there were silver foams gleaming like stars.

Up on the sky, the moon was pale while the stars were sparse. Reflected in the water of the river, the moon was as bright as a plate of silver. Water streamed by and the reflection of the moon wrinkled slightly as if it were some sort of used tissue.

Though emanating a lifeless aura and wrapped in a melancholic atmosphere, everything in the nature was struggling to survive, as well as to shine.

Soon the whole waterfall and the streaming river below it were illuminated by that unknown kind of fluorescent aquatic fish swimming under the water. The scenery was normal during the daytime but it was astonishingly marvellous during the night.

Yanni seemed pretty surprised. He stared at the river for nearly half an hour without saying anything.

Aislina broke the silence first.

“Do you like it?” queried Aislina.

“For sure. It was beautiful,” commented Yanni. He was stunned by the scene and he had completely lost his verbal ability to describe it .

“There are lots of beautiful places in Dream Forest. It used to be an even more wonderful place before the Grey Factory was built and trees were cut down by humans,” sighed Aislina.

Some ripples were made on the surface of the water. They spread slowly and disappeared gradually as if they had never existed in this world.

Those fluorescent fishes were jumping and swimming carefreely. They didn’t need to worry about anything because they always forgot things. Their memories were short and that was why they were always happy.

It was really like a dream.

Aislina walked up to the river and dipped her hand into the streaming water. It was cool and comfortable. Slowly, the fluorescent fishes gathered around her hand, assembling into a huge cloud of light. Together, that shoal of fish was like a glowing diamond.

Being an elven wizard, Aislina’s soul was connected to the grand greenness, including the water, which was a part of the world of nature and wilderness. That was why the fish like her.

“Yanni, I think I have known how to enter the Sanctum of Life?” whispered Aislina.

“What? How?” asked Yanni in surprise. In the last year, Aislina had been trying to enter the Sanctum of Life through Cuore Celeste for countless times. But now, she became able to unseal it suddenly …

“I think that I couldn’t enter the sanctum before because I wasn’t ready at that time. I wanted to spend more time with you, Floria and Starsha … Now it’s the time. My connection with Cuore Celeste is becoming sensible day by day. I think I will go to the Sanctum of Life tomorrow,” guessed Aislina.

“Tomorrow? It’s so fast …” stuttered Yanni.

“Yes, it’s the time. Although I’m happy when staying with you three, I sometimes feel lonely too because you’re different with me after all. This year with you is the happiest year ever in my life. Now I am ready to go to the Sanctum of Life, which I belong to,” breathed Aislina.

Yanni lowered his head. It was too suddenly. Aislina was leaving him …

“In the far future, like hundreds of years later when we’re buried in the tombs, will you still remember us?” asked Yanni.

“I will never forget about you. After my mother died, I lived alone, slept alone, got up alone and I was afraid that one day I might die alone too, until I met you and Floria nine years ago,” murmured Aislina.

“What will the Sanctum of Life be like?” questioned Aislina.

“No one knows,” answered Aislina, forcing a smile.

“Will you come back to earth and visit us in the future?” queried Yanni.

“For sure I will. I think I will visit the earth at least once a month. Travelling through dimensions was not convenient. I need to travel through the Astral Path, an inter-dimensional bridge between dimensions, for approximately 25 hours before arriving at Dimension Celeste, where the Sanctum of lies,” replied Aislina.

They didn’t say anything but looked at the peaceful river, where fishes were swimming carefreely and playing in the water.

Aislina leaned her head on Yanni’s shoulder. Barely detectable tears were streaming out of her eyes.

Yanni could feel her tears.

“Don’t be sad. You can come back to visit us at any time, right?” Yanni consoled her.

“Yes, but … I want to share my full journey of life with the one I really love …” sobbed Aislina, looking at Yanni’s eyes.

“You will find new friends in Sanctum of Life. I’m sure you will love them,” Yanni stroked her long azure hair affectionately.

II

Yanni was boiling up the herbs for her sick sister.

Floria was sitting in a chair beside him, waiting quietly for him.

The whole room was illuminated by the cozy hearth fire and the shadow of the siblings were cast on the wall.

There were some bubbles floating from the bottom of the cauldron all the way up to the surface of the solution in it. Crispy buzzling sounds kept coming out of the cauldron along with the sounds of burning fire.

“Aislina tells me that she’s going to live in the Sanctum of Life tomorrow,” revealed Yanni.

“She has told me that too,” muttered Yanni.

“I will miss her, though she can come back at any time she wants …” said Floria.

“Yeah, she is,” consented Yanni.

Slowly, Yanni brought the herb medicine up to Floria and she drank it slowly.

“She will live happily in the Sanctum of Life and she said that she would visit us at least once a month in the future,” whispered Yanni.

“That’s great,” Floria nodded.

“Why do I always fancy impossible things …” sighed Yanni.

“You still have feelings for her, right?” asked Floria.

“Yes. She is an elf … I really wish that I could live as long as her, for centuries, and if so, I could be with her,” murmured Yanni.

“You will feel better after like …two or three months. Time can heal everything,” Floria consoled him.

“I want to say something to her but it’s too late,” muttered Yanni.

Floria held Yanni’s hand and caressed it.

“Everything is going to be better,” promised Floria.

Yanni lowered his head without saying a word.

Aislina had gone to bed in her room on the second floor. She had been living in the tent of him and Floria since they defeated Master Mortis in Infernal Mountain. Maybe she was still awake, thinking about things.

Quietly, Yanni walked upstairs and up to the bedroom of Aislina.

He wanted to opened the door but he didn’t.

It was not a farewell forever, after all.

III

The next morning.

Floria had gotten over her cold.

She, Aislina, Starsha and Yanni were eating the breakfast together.

When they finished, Aislina stood up, her right hand holding Cuore Celeste tightly.

The morning air was warm and comfortable. Though the world was withering polluted by the unstoppable civilization of human being, the morning was still thriving. Dews were lingering in the grasses and birds were twitting. Everything was growing.

In the western sky, the moon was still there while the sun had already risen up in the east.

Aislina looked at the sun and the moon. Elves always worshipped celestial bodies. To them, they were spirits of the nature. Now, Aislina was making the biggest decision in her life.

She was an elf and she belonged to the Sanctum of Life, the last home of elves.

“I am nervous. I have no idea what is waiting for me in the Sanctum of Life,” whispered Aislina.

“If you don’t want to go there alone, we can accompany you,” proposed Yanni.

“I’ve said that only magical beings can travel through dimensions and thus I shall go on this journey alone,” Aislina.

“That’s bad,” commented Starsha.

“Anyway, we’ll always wait for you and we will miss you,” Yanni patted on her shoulder.

Aislina nodded.

“I’m writing a song,” purred Starsha. She had regained her confidence towards music after she cured the dementia of Yanni and Floria’s father, which machines failed to do. Though he passed away after that, he had retrieved his most precious memory before he left this world …

“What kind of song?” asked Aislina, smiling.

“It’s about an elf. She has been defending what she believes for the whole life. She fights for nature and she also fights for friendship. However, one day she will leave her friends and go to the place where she really belongs to, because that’s her destiny,” answered Starsha.

“Don’t be sad. I can still visit you though I live in the Sanctum of Life with other elves. It’s not a farewell forever,” whispered Aislina.

“But it’s a sign that everything we treasure will leave us one day. There may not be a good end in every story. Sometime in the future, we will find that we can never go back to those beautiful old days when we’re living together, adventuring together and fighting bad guys together,” muttered Starsha.

“That’s right,” breathed Aislina, looking to the distance, deep in thought.

Slowly and silently, the four arrived at a small hill beside the Camp of Wildshadow Tribe.

They walked to the top of the hill which towered over the whole camp.

Devoutly, Aislina touched Cuore Celeste gently and the gemstone began to glow in lights of miscellaneous colours. Like a prism, the lights were broken into a rainbow composed of several belts of colours.

This rainbow of lights cut up into the clouds. Blurry images started to show up in the sky like a mirage in the desert. This rainbow was tearing the space apart. The boundary of earth and another dimension had been broken.

Life, death, light, shadow … Everything that composed the cosmos and the space were blending into a unity. Gaps between dimensions were created by the power of Cuore Celeste and that rainbow was the bridge connecting those dimensions.

“This rainbow is a portal to the Sanctum of Life,” explained Aislina.

She and her friends looked at each other. None of them knew what they could say at the moment. They wanted to say everything but nothing came out of their mouths in the end.

It was not a farewell forever but they still felt heartbroken. Things would never be like in the past and Aislina would begin a new life.

Slowly, she walked into the rainbow. Along the rainbow, she turned into particles and floated all the way into another space, in which the Sanctum of Life lay …

(End of Volume 2)