The Secret Code of Monsters.

Chapter 33: Falling asleep

The forest was as damp as ever.

Roland got out of bed barefoot.

Cream-colored mist filled the room, making it so humid that people couldn't sleep well.

Outside the house was not a silent dead forest, but rather the roars of animals or the sound of galloping hooves. Birds often came to make trouble, carrying multi-legged insects and throwing them on his pillow.

I…

How long has it been since you last went to the woods?
Roland scratched the floor with his toes and pressed against the window sill, eager to try.

He sneaked out of the house.

Fall outside.

The tender grass tickled the soles of his feet.

The air was filled with the smell of caramel mixed with chocolate, which tempted him to keep moving forward.

There is a hazy fog in front of me, and white trees covered with silver frost are vaguely visible.

There was no moon or sun overhead, and the soft mist rolling around blocked the invasion of light: here, everything was shining except the light.

Trees, branches, grass and leaves.

He seemed to be standing in a mold of molten silver, and the winding, shining grass path was like a flowing white river, pushing him forward.

The tree said:

'Go forward, Roland.'

Grass said:

'Shake as we do, Roland.'

The mists were moved by the wind, and the whistling sound was their passionate and unrestrained kiss.

'Come into my arms, Roland.'

There are stars planted in the dense forest, shining brightly under your feet.

The light flickered slowly, penetrating Roland's feet and turning them into crystal. One could see the blood vessels and the tendons pulled by each step.

The rustling sound is the deer dancing.

'Where are you going, Roland?'

'You burn like a torch!'

Amber eyes became the only different color in this white place.

"Ugh—ha—!"

"Look at me! I found the torch!"

Someone was indeed talking beside him.

To his side, above his head, he was swinging on a branch coated with silver frost.

Small stature, small face, small hands and feet.

She was small from head to toe, yet had a well-proportioned figure. She wore a leaf robe sewn with spider silk, and looked like a small pearl lost in the dense forest.

She had long green hair, fluffy and soft, tied into a sloppy knot at her waist with some kind of plant root.

Its eyes were rolling around, its body was twisting and turning, and it had four thin, transparent wings on its back.

"I found the torch!"

She looked around, curled one hand into a bucket, put it to her mouth and shouted.

Roland seemed to be in a daze, as if some invisible spikes were pressing against his brain as a warning.

He subconsciously pinched the silver ring on his little finger and turned it——

wrong.

Something's wrong...

I…

I am in a dream.

He reached for his waist, but the dagger Enid had given him was gone.

Lower your head again:
She was wearing a white silk nightgown and was barefoot.

"You're on fire! Rolando!"

The small creature above his head hung from the branches to the leaves, swaying unsteadily, and suddenly let go of his hand, and slid over his head by flapping its wings.

Lying in his black hair.

"My name is Roland, young lady."

"Really, Roland."

Her voice was as tender and clear as her body, like a child. "I've been waiting for you for so long that I'm almost asleep - let me count..."

She sat cross-legged on top of Roland and counted on her fingers and toes.

"I slept... I slept for seventy, eighty or ninety days."

"Can you come to my hands? This is very inconvenient." Roland simply found a tree to sit down and stretched out his hand.

Soon, the little man jumped off his head.

It's a girl.

A new and wonderful dream, a strange little fellow.

Everything is interesting.

"Lan Luoluo! You burn like a torch!"

The white sound waves outlined her shape in Roland's mind, and the most prominent one was her big eyes. "What should I call you...the Messenger of Eden?"

"Eden?"

"messenger?"

The little thing tilted her head. Inexplicably, Roland seemed to see his own shadow in her.

"Or, angel?" Roland stretched his hand farther away to make it easier for him to bow.

"I am Roland Collins, sir. This is my first time entering the sleep world. It is my honor to come to the Eden of the Father of All Things..."

A bird with a green-blue tail landed on a branch above his head, picked up a stone from its mouth, and threw it directly at Roland's feet.

When the boy looked up, the other person had already flapped his wings and flew away.

The girl in Roland's palm held her belly and laughed into his palm.

"Hahahaha...Lan Roland is so weird! What a stupid Torch! Idiot Torch!" She rolled around, her hair swinging back and forth, like a tender green plant growing and blooming in Roland's hands.

"Luo Luo is stupid, Lan Lan is an egg?"

The girl, who was only slightly thicker than a thumb, kicked her legs, propped up her arms, and looked at Roland with a smile.

this is not…

Eden of the All-Father.

Roland would be a fool if he couldn't hear it again.

He quickly recalled what Fernandez had said in the carriage - the description of Eden.

But to his horror, he couldn't remember a single word.

Oops…

It seemed like he was in the wrong place.

'Stay where you are and urge yourself to wake up as soon as possible.'

Roland silently pondered Enid's warning.

Wake up... wake up...

Wake up soon.

However, the little thing in his palm was not willing to let him leave like that.

"Father of all, Father of all, wow, do you think He is your father?"

The girl in his palm looked him over and over, and said, "You came here by your own choice! Don't shirk your responsibilities! A deer that shirks responsibilities will not grow horns! A bear that shirks responsibilities will not grow teeth!"

"Aurora waited a long time, as long as a white tree!"

She exaggeratedly spread out her short arms, and her expression was as exaggerated as if she had swallowed a candy ball.

"But why are you alone?"

She looked left and right, her hands forming a small canopy in front of her forehead, and looked around: "There is another torch, it seems to be extinguished..."

"Aurora is so sad!"

She pretended to fall into Roland's hands as if she had been hit, but a few seconds later, she jumped up again with renewed energy: "Hee... It's okay! I still have one burning hot!"

torch…

One went out?
This sentence made Roland stop silently. He frowned and said, "I don't understand, Aurora. Torch, are you referring to me?"

The flames in his eyes were exceptionally silent.

That damn thing...

It only works when you are gossiping.

A little discouraging.

"of course!"

"come on!"

"Let me tell you the secret of the fog..."

Roland coughed and interrupted, "Miss Aurora, I don't think this is where I want to go."

He still remembered Enid's instructions to him, so...

As long as I don't wander around, there will be no danger, right?
A bit risky.

Roland began to get excited.

"Oh?"

Aurora grinned, revealing her fangs. "I know where you're going, Eden? Rolandran won't do that!"

"Not enough fuel!" She counted on her fingers: "Mercy? There is too little darkness in your heart; wisdom? Luo Lanluo is so cute, it's a pity that he went crazy, no no; judgment..."

She stared at Roland for a while, then suddenly became quiet and asked a question that seemed to be the truth but was not.

"Will you really choose trial?"

She spoke strange words, her voice rising and falling like singing:
"How do you want to destroy the stories in your memory? How do you want to kill the dreams in the stories? How do you want to pour dirty water on the beautiful wonders? How do you want to make the beautiful ugly? How do you want to make the kind and elegant become hateful?—"

"Lan Luoluo, can you..."

"Eat me?"

"Put me in your mouth and chew me up!"

She stood up, spun around in Roland's palm, and smiled innocently.

"Kill a goblin."

"can you do it?"

(End of this chapter)