Volume3 Chapter 2 Journey to the East

Chapter 2 Journey to the East

I

Floria, Yanni and Starsha set out from the Camp of Wildshadow Tribe towards the east after finishing the lunch.

They decided to dropped by Starshine Village which was located to the east of the camp and spent the night there. They were likely to arrive at the village right before the dusk. They had missed Mister Berg a little and it would be pleasant to share the dinner with him.

At around 16:00, they left the Dream Forest and the infinite plain taken over by sapless grown weeds came into their sights. Those weeds had drained nearly all the nutrition inside the soil and made this land as infertile as a desert.

It was said that the growth of those weeds were stimulated by those necrological materials emitted by the Grey Factory, which had polluted the soil deeply. Those weeds were growing everywhere like some sort of plague.

After another one hour of horse ride, Starshine Village came into their sight.

Starshine village was just like it used to be. Everything was unchanged. The villages there were wandering like lifeless zombies with trashy books mass-produced by factories held in hand.

Filled with choking nicotine and obscene cursing words, the atmosphere of this village was far from comfortable. Most of the fields had withered and the poverty that haunted this village was still unchanged.

Seemingly, they had changed something. They had beaten the Grey Factory and stopped it from bringing more contamination to this world. A few stars had appeared in the night sky once again.

In Desertia, they had also beaten Macchina Gloriosa and stopped their plan of mechanization. No more submatrices were produced after that and the musicians as well as other artists had regained the confidence to create music and artwork that only belonged to humans.

However, something that had happened to this world was irreversible: the starry skies that had been written in the books of ancient poets and bards couldn’t be seen from the below anymore. The world was still withering but there was nothing that they could do.

Maybe Master Mortis and Achnosiris were right. With or without them, humans would finally sail to a higher civilization, and the arrival of the new era of pure rationality and discipline was inevitable.

Starsha and the siblings arrived at Starshine Village. They tied their horses in the stable and walked to the front of the house of Mister Berg.

Yanni knocked the door. Their hearts were thumping because they were a little nervous. After all, they hadn’t seen Mister Berg for a year.

The door opened. It was Mister Berg.

“It’s you four! Wow, it’s such a surprise! Come in, come in!” greeted Mister Berg excitedly.

Mister Berg looked much older than one year before. His beard and hair had became much whiter.

His house was still cozy and comfortable with the warm health in the living room.

“You must have not eaten the dinner, right?” queried Mister Berg.

“No, we haven’t,” answered Floria.

“Great, I’ll cook the dinner for you,” Mister Berg smiled.

“Bravo! You’re the best cook in this world. Sorry that we’re eating free in your house once again,” commented Starsha.

“You don’t need to feel sorry! Eating and talking with you is the most pleasant thing in this world. By the way, where is Aislina now?” queried Mister Berg.

“She is caught by bad guys. We’re going to save her,” answered Yanni, lowering his head.

“I’m sure you will succeed. You have beaten the Grey Factory. You’re powerful!” Mister Berg encouraged them.

II

Soon the dinner was ready.

Starsha was right, Mister Berg was really the best cook that they had ever met. His cuisines had never disappointed them.

Today there were bracken, pan-fried fish, braised chicken and meatball along with mashed potatoes.

When the last ray of twilight dissipated, the night came. The moon emerged from the western horizon and its light started to sneak through the window quietly.

Mister Berg lit all the oil lamps in the house.

Fire was always the seed of civilization. It was the commence of every glorious thing created by humans. However, Aislina was just taken by a man who abused the power of fire.

“I know that you’re worrying about Aislina and thus you lack the appetite to eat. However, if you don’t feed yourselves well, you’ll have no vigour to save her, right?” asked Mister Berg.

“Yeah,” consented Floria.

“Friendship is always a beautiful thing to me,” Mister Berg smiled.

“By the way, do you always live here alone, Mister Berg? You once told us that you had a son, right?” inquired Yanni.

“He had gone to Scuropolis to seek fortune many years ago, and since that, he would go home every year and live with me for one or two weeks. However, two years ago, Scuropolis was destroyed by swarms of locusts. Since that, I’ve never heard for him,” answered Mister Berg.

“We’re there at that time too,” muttered Starsha, lowering her head.

“What? I heard that the destruction of Scuropolis only had something to do with a cult, the leader of which stole the serum of Professor Fames,” stuttered Mister Berg.

“That cult was defeated by us,” murmured Yanni.

They could recall what happened at that time. The whole city was swept by locusts controlled by Luke Fames. Buildings were eaten and ruined. Many of the citizens were killed by Luke’s cultic party.

There were corpses lying in every corner of the city. The three could remember those bloody corpses and the locusts eating their faces, skins, meat as well as bones. The son of Mister Berg must be among one of those horrible corpses too. He came to that city to search for a fortune, however, there was only death waiting for him there.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” whispered Floria.

“The past the past, Floria. I am not afraid of solitude anymore. I am too old and I am about to die. Maybe when you come to Starshine Village the next time, you will see my tomb. However, my life worths. I’ve married a women I love and had a son whom I was proud of. It has been enough for me,” sighed Mister Berg.

No one said anything after that. It was a long dead silence.

The food was delicious but they had no appetite.

Mister Berg himself broke the silence finally.

“I know that I’m being too negative, but you will understand me when you become as old as me. Anyway, what I really want to say is that, I believe in you three as well as Aislina. I know that you have the potential to change this corrupted world the first time I see you,” drawled Mister Berg.

“Thanks, Mister Berg, that inspirative,” expressed Floria thankfully.

Darkness had fallen upon the village. Chained in dirty doghouses, the watchdogs were barking at the darkness because of fear. When they barked, their owners would slash them with whips. They were just watchdogs to them, instead of pets or family members.

No matter what happened to this earth, the moon was always here, lighting up the world of night, from the commence of the history, and till the end.

Since everything would turn to meaningless ashes and dust at the end of the time, does changing the world really mean anything?

III

Floria and Starsha were bathing in the lake beside the village while Yanni was staying in Mister Berg’s house, waiting for them.

Tenderly, the moonlight shone on the crystal-like lake. In the water was the wrinkled reflection of the moon. The village was quiet at the night and there were only the sounds of leaves blown by the breeze.

It was a cloudy night and up on the sky was a sea of grey clouds. A few stars began to appear in the sky. They were small and their lights were weak, but they were still there, glowing … Some ravens were flying high on the sky. Some said that ravens were messengers for the ancient spirits and they were sacred animal.

Starshine Village had a satirical name, since stars weren’t shining in this cursed age, and they might not shine anymore in the future too. Some scars the Grey Factory had done to the earth were irreversible.

The two took off their clothes and walked into the water. The water was cold but comfortable wrapping their skin.

There were few fishes in the water. Perhaps soon, those fishes would go extinct in the water.

Being about thirty metres in diameter, the lake wasn’t bit and its water was shallow. Even the deepest part of this lake wouldn’t submerge their head.

On the lake bed were some unknown water plants. They were soft and sticky. The feeling of stepping on them was strange. Besides those water plants, there were also some slippery cobblestones.

Gentle winds blew by and some ripples appeared on the surface of the water. All those ripples spread but dissipated soon, as if they had never existed in this world. For the absolute eternity, everything, including the whole earth, was just like a shortest negligible millisecond.

In the distance lay the lifeless village. Villagers must be gambling and arguing with dirty obscene cursing words, with their fields withering into barren wastelands.

Starsha stared at Floria’s body. Floria flushed. They didn’t say anything but looked at each other.

“You’re sexy,” Starsha praised.

“So are you,” returned Floria.

“You haven’t found a boyfriend,” continued Starsha.

“Neither have you,” sighed Floria.

“Is that a coincidence or something fated?” asked Starsha with an elusive smile.

“Maybe it’s something fated,” answered Floria.

Floria’s heart began to thump. Starsha sometimes would talk flirtingly with her … But Floria knew that Starsha didn’t have feelings for her … She was just a normal friend to her …

She lowered her head down.

“Anyway, do you think Yanni will find a girlfriend in the future? I think he and Aislina will not have a good ending,” queried Starsha. She noticed that Floria seemed unhappy, but she thought that it was because she was worrying about Yanni.

“Are there any historical records of humans and elves becoming a couple. You have read a lot of epics and legends. Are there similar stories?” inquired Floria.

“No. Humans and elves were too different. We’re like living in two distinct worlds. Elves belong to the nature and the ancients, while humans belong to civilization and development. Elves live for centuries, while humans only live for a short moment to them ...” replied Starsha.

“That’s sad,” murmured Floria.

“We’re three single persons now. That’s satirical,” commented Starsha.

“Maybe you and Yanni could be a couple,” giggled Floria.

“I don’t think Yanni would like to date with an older girl. He has already gotten a perfect elder sister” Starsha smiled.

“Perfect? Wow, when did you become such flattering?” tittered Floria.

“No, I’m not flattering. I am always a sincere person, and to be honest, I think Aislina is more attractive than you to some extent. You know, she has a kind of temperament far from those dirty things that belong to the secularity,” argued Starsha.

“Yep. I really hope that we can save her,” Floria looked to the distance.

“For sure we can. The future is always uncertain but my guts tell me that we’ll save Aislina successfully. However, what will happen after that is uncontrollable,” speculated Starsha.

Floria looked at Starsha sneakily. Bathed in the snowy moonlight, her skin was as beautiful as the frost of the winter.

She was totally attracted by Starsha, both mentally and physically. This feeling was irresistible. She knew that it wasn’t normal in the ethnics of this world, but she just couldn’t help … In the past, she was always a solitary kid, and he was the only girl in the camp who didn’t have a mother … Starsha was the one that opened her heart …

“Hey, Floria, why are you looking so affectionately at me?” joked Starsha.

“No, I’m not …” argued Floria, her face reddening.

“Well, you seem distracted,” Starsha pointed out.

Starsha swam up to Floria, and took her arm.

“Don’t be so stressed, Floria. Everything will be better,” Starsha encouraged her.

Floria’s face went even redder. She dipped her head down to hide the redness in the shadow.

Gathering her courage up, Floria gave Starsha a sudden hug. Starsha was pretty surprised by this unexpected hug. Floria could feel the skin of them two merging into one.

“Well, yeah, hugging is a great way to release ... your negative emotions …” whispered Starsha.

IV

The next morning, the three set out from Starshine Village towards the east.

While they were leaving the village, they saw the place where Sir Bellum died. His dark red blood full of necrovirus and other dirty viruses as well as bacteria had dyed the whole land scarlet. The soil there was corrupted by his blood. Nothing grew there anymore. His skeleton was still there, giving off abominable stinky smell.

Unlike yesterday, it was a cloudless day today. Above them was the grey sky and the pale yellow sun.

They saw few trees on the road towards the east. There was only the infinite sea of weeds. No forests, no woods, no flowers … Surrounding them was only the yellowing weeds.

Sometime they would walk by a small lake, where they could refill their waterskins.

When the night came, they would stop, set up a campfire and sleep.

Sometimes there would be mosquitos. Without Aislina, mosquitos could be a annoying problem. Luckily, they had brought some mosquito repellent along with them.

While they were chatting around the campfire, their horses would eat those dry brown weeds. They could chew those tasteless weeds inside their mouths for hours.

When the night wind blew, the weeds would shake slightly, and so would the fire.

In the east there was only another sea of weeds. No one knew when they would reach their destination, let alone what would happen to them in that alien eastern kingdom.

Warmly, the light from the cozy campfire illuminated their faces so that they could see each other clearly.

Seeing the face of each other was really a consolation during such a long uncertain trip. When the weather was clear, the could see some sparse stars on the sky, which carried the message from an unimaginable distance in the universe.

One night, it was totally dark because there was an eclipse. The whole land was wrapped inside total blackness.

Thanks to the campfire, they could still see each other to some extent.

In fear, they cuddled together.

“It’s insanely dark,” complaint Starsha.

“After all, it’s an eclipse … Alas, I really worry about Aislina. You know, although we feel afraid right now because of the darkness brought by the eclipse around us, we still have each other. But Aislina is alone,” muttered Yanni.

“Aislina is a tough girl and she is far more powerful than us. She will hold on. On the bright side, she may have already made some high elf friends who will help her and stay with her,” Floria reassured him.

“You’re right, there are other elves in the Sanctum of Life,” consented Yanni.

“I’m really curious what will Riounia be like. You know, it’s so far from Normania, and everything will be different there,” Floria looked to the east.

“I’m curious too. What I know is that the relationship between Normania and Riounia is awfully bad. People from these two countries hate each other. It’s far more cruel and extreme than those dwarves’ hatred towards us humans,” added Starsha.

“That’s bad,” sighed Yanni.

“Hatred is the essential substance of human nature. If we Normanians don’t hate Riounians, we will hate each other. We need something to hate. That’s our nature. Maybe my mother is right. The corruption on this earth isn’t brought by necrology, mechanics or elementalics. It is brought by something inside us, and those sciences are only some kind of amplifiers. They amplify something that has already existed deep in the sinister souls of us humans,” guessed Starsha.

“But who cares? Earth is just a smallest speck of dust to the whole universe. Whether humans are kind in nature or evil is not important. Saving Aislina is only important thing to us right now,” blurted Yanni.