novelraw Chapter 825: The Beginning
Chapter 825: The Beginning
The anomalous fog crept in silently from the sea.
The sound of the waves reaching Sea Gaze Cliff never ceased, day or night, and a withered tree stood stubbornly rooted at its peak.
It was like a girl, both fragile and strong.
The shadow of a girl, denser than darkness itself, was cast upon the tree trunk, as if clinging to its desiccated, dead wood.
"Forgive me..."
...
The fog concealed the ruins of Belfast.
The city districts were fraught with danger; they couldn't land directly in the port or the bay.
Taking advantage of the morning mist, the great ship Andrea sailed around Sugard Mountain and approached its northern slope before the creatures occupying Belfast could spot the uninvited guests at sea.
This area bordered the Elm Forest, and from here, Lu Li could return to his former home by way of a steep mountainside, one far more gradual than the cliff face.Splash!
Waves capped with white foam lapped at the brown sand, while the massive, rust-hulled vessel lay anchored at the edge of the fog in the distance.
A wooden boat, launched from the larger ship, shuddered slightly as it ran aground.
Lu Li stepped out of the wooden boat, and Prusius followed him.
Katerina helped the Fallen step onto the damp, soft sand. He was not in good condition. His face, its features barely distinguishable, looked old and frail, drooping as if it might fall off at any moment.
The Fallen had said he had a week to live, and today was the seventh day.
"We should have left you on the ship."
Prusius was already mourning the imminent loss of his companion.
"Lord Fallen, you'll die on the road."
"It would stain the great ship," came the faint reply, nearly drowned out by the sound of the waves.
"Don't worry about me... I'll tell you when I'm dying. If it seems like too much trouble, just leave me behind..."
"Just a weightless body," Katerina muttered, pursing her lips.
The Fallen was very light. Perhaps his body had already begun to change.
Lu Li lifted his head, gazing at the Elm Forest beyond the beach. He had never been to this specific spot, and nothing around him looked familiar.
But as they stepped onto a path left behind decades ago and entered the Elm Forest, a vague sense of pessimism enveloped them.
"I don't feel so good..." Prusius, usually the most optimistic of them, picked up on the forest's mood.
"Something's wrong with this forest."
"It's the consciousness of the forest, saturated with the sorrow of the dead and a hatred for life," Lu Li said quietly.
They are still alive.
They have long been dead.
Looking through the woods, one could see distorted, lifeless trees; emotions of despair and sorrow churned within the forest, lingering for a long, long time.
Since he had never been to this particular spot, the elms didn't recognize him—or perhaps too much time had passed, and they had forgotten.
"You've been here before?" Katerina noticed how familiar Lu Li seemed with the place.
"Sea Gaze Cliff is here."
"What's that?"
"My former home."
Prusius raised his human-like face in surprise.
"Lord Lu Li, didn't you live in Belfast?"
"Before the catastrophe, I built a shelter on Sea Gaze Cliff."
Although this place had once been Lu Li's home and posed no threat, the tide of negative emotions left Katerina and the others feeling dejected. The sorrow brought on by the Fallen's condition intensified, and the emotional Prusius even let out a sob.
After walking a considerable distance along the forest path, the trail veered right, leading deeper into the woods.
Lu Li stopped, stepped off the path, and onto the soft earth.
That path led to Quiet Hill. Before the Age of Anomalies, some creature had lived there; it was unknown if it remained after twenty-four years.
This was Lu Li's territory. Katerina and the others followed him in silence, offering no opinion on the change of route.
They ventured deeper and deeper into the forest, seeming to walk along its edge near the coast—otherwise, where would the faint sound of waves be coming from?
Over time, the oppressive despair and sorrow that had enveloped their hearts seemed to change.
"It seems... they don't hate us so much anymore..."
Prusius whispered, as if afraid to disturb the forest's consciousness.
"The trees here know me," Lu Li said.
This was good news. It meant the Elm Forest hadn't forgotten him.
The closer they got to Sea Gaze Cliff, the weaker the negative emotions from the forest's consciousness became, gradually mingling with positive ones.
The oppressive atmosphere vanished. Katerina and the others even felt a sense of jubilation from the forest as it closed in around them.
Or rather, closing in around the figure walking ahead.
"Lord Lu Li, are we heading to Sea Gaze Cliff now?" Prusius asked, having recovered his spirits and become more talkative.
"Yes."
This was one of the places where Lu Li had spent the most time in this world, and he had to return.
Remi and Jimmy might still be there, Amper and the children might still be there... And maybe Anna, who had once returned.
The forest's consciousness had shifted from resistance to welcome, and the path was no longer fraught with danger. After a while, the faint silhouette of a hut appeared at the edge of the woods.
Two adjacent huts stood at the edge of the path leading to the top of the cliff.
"Is that your home?" Prusius asked.
"No."
It was the hut of Remi and Jimmy, and the children.
The two huts, long neglected, were swollen and deformed, like bloated, decaying corpses.
The dilapidated hut hadn't been maintained for a long time, perhaps decades, or even longer...
The door lay next to the doorframe like a coffin lid. Inside the children's hut, there was only a single collapsed wooden bed.
Remi and Jimmy's house was sturdier. The wooden door was still set in its frame, but moisture and swelling made it difficult to open.
Thump!
With a dull thud, the wooden door fell backward. The door, slippery as moss, splattered mud onto his trousers.
Lu Li stepped onto the fallen door and entered the hut, leaving a trail of dry footprints with damp edges.
Inside Remi and Jimmy's hut, faint traces of the past remained: torn bedding covered the wooden bed like a coat of paint, a rusted kerosene lamp, and a pulp of paper that littered the table and floor.
A book, a letter, or a sheet of paper had once lain here, destroyed by the damp and the rain.
Perhaps an envelope left for him by Remi and Jimmy had also been torn apart.
In the woodshed, firewood and tools lay covered in mud and rust.
Lu Li looked toward the top of the cliff. They had made enough noise, but it hadn't attracted any attention.
Sea Gaze Cliff was quiet in the early morning.
Katerina and the others were silent. No one disturbed Lu Li.
This was an important memory for this man from the Old Era.
Lu Li stood watching for a long time, still as a statue. They thought they saw hesitation in him, but then the figure suddenly moved, interrupting their thoughts.
They followed Lu Li to Sea Gaze Cliff.
The sound of the waves never ceased, day or night.
The receding fog revealed the vast sea, and in the distance, the ruins of what was once called Belfast.
On Sea Gaze Cliff, where a cold sea wind whistled, stood a lone, withered, desiccated elm tree.
It was like a fragile girl.
Reflected in Lu Li's calm, dark eyes was a girl in an elegant, exquisite white lace dress. She stood beneath the tree, raising a ghostly white hand to the top of her own head.
"You won't grow any taller," said Lu Li, who was calmly reading a book.
"But Enni will," Anna turned, her eyes smiling.
She was waiting for the day her younger sister would grow up.