Jonah walked alone in the silent night wasteland, it was pitch black above his head without a single star.
He looked left and right and couldn't see the distance clearly. He forgot why he was walking, and of course he didn't know where this place was. A small orange-red light ball was suspended in the night not far away, pointing him in the direction of progress.
He walked mechanically, feeling the grass, dead branches, stones and thorns with the soles of his feet. The ball of light slowly led the way in front, illuminating a ten-yard space with a faint orange light.
The sharp stones stung the soles of Jonah's feet. He bent down and touched his left foot, and found that he was naked and not wearing any obscene clothes. The strange thing was that he didn't feel cold at all. The smell in the air felt familiar to him.
The warm smell of his hometown, the red clay plains of St. Bolen, the smell of home. There was no trace of fear in him.
He walked forward and kept walking. He didn't know how long he walked, but he didn't feel tired. The eternal dark night enveloped the plain. He should have walked through several sunrises and moonsets, but he never saw the light.
At some point, suddenly, the orange ball of light stopped, and Jonah stopped.
"Have you finished your homework, young man?" someone said from the left.
Jonah turned his head and saw Teacher Keshava, who was wearing an ill-fitting black astrologer's robe, shaking his disheveled head on the edge of light and darkness.
"Teacher!" Jonah shouted in surprise, wanting to run over and give the old man a hug.
"Son, how have you been lately?" The words coming from the right stopped him in his tracks.
A man and a woman came out of the night. The man had a rosy face, a thick black mustache on his upper lip, and was slightly bald; the woman was wearing a long cheesecloth skirt, and her eyes were still big and bright with crow's feet.
"...Mom, dad?" Jonah called hesitantly and stretched out his left foot.
"This is not the time to reminisce about old times. You still have very important things to do. More important things than anything else." A calm baritone voice came from the front.
Jonah saw a figure wearing a hooded black cloak, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't see clearly the other person's face hidden in the darkness.
"Who are you?"
"He is a liar. What you need to believe is yourself. Understand? It is not the self imposed on you by others, but your true self, the body within your body, your soul suspended in the electrolyte, your small universe, you
The original force, your alaya consciousness, and your neural electrical signal DNA. What you believe in constitutes you. Believing in yourself is enough. Speaking of which, people must have a little confidence in life, right?" It's light and nice.
A man's voice sounded from behind.
Jonah turned around, and the orange ball of light illuminated a bright mirror.
Jonah approached the mirror, and a pale man with naked body was reflected in the mirror, but that strong body, dark eyebrows and scornful eyes definitely belonged to him.
"Who are you? What do you mean by what you said?" Jonah staggered back a few steps and asked in horror.
"I am you, idiot." The man in the mirror raised his eyebrows and said.
"How could you be me? You..." Jonah suddenly stopped questioning and suddenly realized. "You are the demon that has taken over my body!"
"Please, the word devil has been out of date for a long time. I don't mind if you think of me as a bad guy, but don't worry, I will cherish our bodies." The person in the mirror grinned one corner of his mouth and showed an evil smile.
Jonah clenched his fists and trembled all over. He leaned down to pick up a piece of gravel and threw it at the mirror with all his strength. The stone hit the mirror and caused a wave of water-like ripples, making the smile of the person in the mirror look even more distorted.
fear.
"Calm down." Guangqiu said.
Jonah lowered his head, put his hands on his knees, and gasped for air.
"What is the first creed of an astrologer?" asked the ball of light.
"Be curious and always be in awe." Jonah squeezed out the first sentence of the first of the Seven Tenets of Astrology that every astrologer and astrologer's apprentice must remember through his teeth.
"Then?" Guang Qiu asked.
"The truth is eternal in the stars. If you are ignorant, sad, or confused, you only need to look up." Jonah did not need to remember, and he naturally recited the motto of Gilberto Gilberto, the first generation of astrology teacher.
"Very good. What should we do now?" the light ball induced.
"Look up at the night sky." Jonah's eyes became clear. He stood up straight, raised his head, and looked at the sky with all his sight and energy.
The darkness above the head shattered like glass, turning into dots of watery light all over the sky. What shrouded the wilderness was the boundless starry sky. The bright stars filled the zenith, reflecting the earth into silvery white, and the figures on the edge of the darkness disappeared silently into the starlight.
, Jonah gently exhaled a breath of turbid air, stretched out his arms, and let the wind of the red clay plains blow through his fingertips.
"Phantoms are not scary, what is scary is the truth, because the truth may not be beneficial to us, but it makes people spend their whole lives pursuing it." The orange light ball said to Jonah, then slowly rose up and gradually melted into the brilliant starlight.
"When you find Alicia, you might as well come and see me. I will always wait for you. - Having said that, if I don't wait for you, what can I do?" With these inexplicable words, the light ball disappeared completely.
Jonah stood alone in the middle of the wasteland with no direction. He looked far into the distance, trying to find the outline of the Astrology Tower or the Red Stone Castle, but found nothing: although this was the red clay plain he was familiar with, there were no roads or villages he was familiar with.
He stood for a long time and decided to walk in one direction until dawn. Just a few steps away, a gust of wind blew and flying sand blurred his eyes. Jonah closed his eyes and rubbed them with his fingers. His eyelids felt terribly heavy, as if
They were stuck together with glue, and half a pound of plumb was attached. He tried hard and tried again, using all his strength to try again and again, and finally managed to open his eyes.
The narrow and blurry vision was filled with Xibi's tearful green eyes.
"He's awake! He's awake! He's awake!" Xibi jumped up from the bed and shouted, running out, and then bumped into Toba who broke into the door after hearing the sound.
The head of the room lowered his head and bent down to get into the small stone house No. A51. He held the broken wooden door with his left hand and took off the tin with his right hand. His face was full of disbelief and ecstasy: "Sir, you woke up? Really? I see.
Look at me!"
Jonah half-opened his eyes and saw clearly the brown stone ceiling of the Cherry Crossing Stone House. It took him half a minute to understand his situation. He was lying on the bed with a straw pillow and a thin quilt.
He is in Room A51 of Cherry Crossing.
The big distorted face that was close to him belonged to the leader of the Pitchfork Team, a strongman from the Bazeral Mountains, and his friend Toba.
The green shadow that cheers and runs around to vent his emotions is the Elf Archer, his uninvited sister who is always against him, and his friend Sibi.
The graceful oriental woman who was walking in from the door with a calm expression, but the slight trembling of the silver bell in her hair betrayed her nervousness, was Long Ji, his friend Long Ji.
Standing outside the house, guarding him like an armored stone statue, the noble Unicorn Knight is an exiled member of the ancient knight family, the loyal Knight of the Rose, and his friend Elliot.
The extremely long sword standing in the corner of the room, wrapped in a blood-red leather sheath, exuding a faint murderous aura, is the famous sword "Buddha's Tooth" from the ancient southern country. The owner of the Buddha's tooth is the sword-wielding Jialan who destroyed the Buddhist kingdom. He suffers from
A mentally ill but trustworthy magic warrior, his friend Jekon.
He moved his lips, wanting to say something, but found that his throat was as dry as rough limestone, and his vocal cords made an unpleasant friction sound, unable to utter a complete word.
What's wrong with me? Jonah tried to raise his right hand. After several attempts, his right index finger was only slightly bent. The room leader, who wrapped Jonah's palm with a pair of big hands, felt the pulse keenly and shouted in surprise:
"The astrologer is really awake! His fingers are moving! Whoever has water, please bring it!"
"Kettle, water cup, water bag, where is it, where is it..." Xibi frantically ran around the room, lifting every sheet to look for water.
"I'll do it." Long Ji walked to the window, knelt down gently, took out her black animal skin water bag, unscrewed the cork, gently held up Yona's head, and brought the water bag close to his dry lips.
The clear water touched his chapped lower lip and was absorbed into it. Jonah felt that the vitality and the cold spring flowed into his body. He opened his mouth and began to sip greedily. Every time he swallowed the water in his throat, the strength in his body
Just one more point, and after drinking the entire bag of water in one breath, Jonah licked his lips with unfinished content, sat up, coughed twice, looked around the crowd, and said two words with difficulty: "Thank you."
"Wow!" Xibi threw herself into his arms and cried loudly. Yona was helpless and looked at the little grasshopper's swaying shoulders wrapped in a green hunting suit, and looked at Long Ji for help.
The Oriental woman sighed, put away the water bag and said, "You scared us to death. Do you know how long you were unconscious?"
Five hours? said Jonah, but only made a meaningless grunt.