Scepter of Thorns

The sound of rain was dense and boring, and the cold air leaked from the cracks in the room.

Edward opened his eyes, he looked out the window, it was dawn, there was no sun, it was just hazy.

6:[-] in the morning.

At the same time he sat up, Amiens also woke up.He rubbed his eyes and said casually: "You seemed to be dreaming yesterday, and you were panting very badly. I kept hearing whether you were about to cry or not."

Edward froze, he pretended not to hear anything, and hurried into the bathroom in his nightgown.

Amiens smiled meaningfully. Just as he was about to get up, he suddenly saw something white mixed in the quilt of the opposite bed. He stepped down and pulled the quilt away to take a look.

White and soft feathers.

Amiens felt awe-inspiring, he pulled up the quilt and shook, and there was no more.He suddenly remembered the fairy tales he heard when he was a child, in whose dream the angel would leave a feather, and the lucky one who got the feather would have a wish fulfilled.

He put the feather into the space ring that Edward had shed, and restored the quilt to its original state.Then he touched something hard, Amiens hesitated for a moment, and lifted the pillow.

A picture album called "Walk with Me" [Note 1].

He remembered that this picture album was his favorite when he was a child, and it once occupied the most conspicuous corner of his bookcase.

Amiens put down the pillow and didn't move anything.

After simple tidying up, Edward checked out at the front desk.The woman and her child were eating black bread. She nervously asked if they had slept well. After getting an affirmative answer, she sent them away respectfully, and then went to clean the room where the guests had been.

During the cleaning process, she accidentally found a picture book on the desk.She remembered that her children once dreamed of this picture album, but because of family circumstances, they could not afford such exquisite and expensive things. In the end, when faced with the child's cautious request, she refused with guilt.

She felt guilty for not being able to give a child the childhood fun she deserved, and her child was very sensible and never mentioned it again.

The woman guessed that it was something lost by the two guests, so she quickly picked up the book and rushed to the gate without hesitation.The guests had gone far away, and she couldn't find any trace of them. After thinking for a while, she opened the title page of the book, because there might be the owner's signature on it.

There was no signature on it, but a line of wet ink was written, "Gift to those who live tenaciously in difficult situations."

Surprised, she turned the pages of the book full of curiosity and caution, and a check fell out—that was enough for them to live well for a while.

The woman couldn't bear it anymore, she hugged the book tightly to her chest, tears streaming down her face.

※※※

Edward and Amiens found Ann in the central square. At this time, he was counting the pharmacist's equipment. When he saw them coming, he immediately smiled, "We can go."

He led the two of them into the forest of monsters smoothly, and a powerful beast roar came from afar.Edward held the scepter of lies in his hand, and couldn't help being a little more cautious in his heart.

Ann explained: "This is a bit behind the middle of the World of Warcraft Forest, and many birds will appear here."

The straight trees covered most of the sky, and there was a group of crows looking at them from the trees, their scarlet eyes bringing an ominous atmosphere.Soon they were chirping, hoarse and hysterical.

Ann glanced at the tree, waved her hand impatiently, and manipulated a burst of air to hit the tree.The crows stopped screaming suddenly, and flew up into the air when the air current was about to hit them, their black wings covering the only small piece of sky left.

"It's strange." Ann said, "All the crows should be in their nests in rainy days. Why is it like a meeting today? It's really bad."

Amidst the dense fluttering of wings, Edward heard subtle birdsong, and Ann obviously heard it too. He pointed forward, "This cry is an owl, let's go deep and have a look."

Edward looked up at the crows in the sky, they were scrambling to fly out of the forest, it was a bit like... fleeing?

There was something silver shining on the fingertips of Amiens, and his face became more and more solemn, "There is something wrong here, I have been to the World of Warcraft Forest, the rainy day here cannot be so quiet, and it is definitely weird that only birds appear, we'd better leave. "

Ann has already entered the deep forest, Edward frowned and said, "Then bring the guide out of the forest first."

"it is good."

An stopped, he restrained his smile, put on a shawl with runes painted on it, and a faint blue flashed in his eyes.

He just disappeared from the spot.

Amiens and Edward entered the depths of the monster forest little by little. Suddenly, a gray light flashed and came straight towards them. Edward hit with his wand gently, and a chubby spotted owl fell down. On the ground, he seemed a little dazed.

After a short period of dizziness, it quickly recovered, Zi Yingying's eyes stared at Edward, and then lit up like stars.It fluttered its little wings and began to circle around him, its cat-ear-shaped feathers moving.

"The spotted owl, inherited from the beast, is strong in speed and attack, and uses the eggshell as a medium to inherit power. It is a unique species in the forest of monsters." Edward grabbed the bird that was flying around expressionlessly, "I remember that An To collect the head of the owl, it should be the head of this creature."

Amiens couldn't help but find it interesting to see the spotted shadowed owl's listless look, "It seems to want to confess to you, why don't you try it, so that you can learn about the things inside the forest."

Edward didn't want to have too much contact with things of unknown origin, but in order to ease the situation, he tentatively touched the spotted shadow owl's beak.

The spotted owl didn't seem to want to recognize the owner. Seeing that Edward's attitude softened, it flipped on top of his head with a backflip, then pecked off the hair tie, and began to make a nest out of long hair.

Edward: "..."

Amiens suddenly wanted to laugh, but he held back, "Forget it, I don't think it's malicious, just let it do it, the most urgent thing is to find the guide."

Lying quietly in the deep forest, he saw Edward's figure not far away, with a spotted shadow owl on top of his hair.He was inexplicably cute, his heart softened, and he suddenly changed his mind.

He showed his figure and called to Edward: "Hey! I'm here, have you found the spotted shadow owl?"

"Well." Edward pulled up his right arm, "Let's go out first, it's not safe here."

Amiens beckoned to them, and Edward looked in the direction of his finger. At some point, under the tree where the crows gathered, there was a shiny white magic circle. He narrowed his eyes and scanned the magic circle carefully. texture.A few seconds later, he pulled Ann, spread his bone wings, and flew forward.

"Swallowing the magic circle!!" Edward's tone was nervous for the first time, and he shouted to Amiens, "Leave quickly, it will drag us to a different dimension!!!"

Ann, who was being pulled, took the opportunity to catch his waist, and he put all his weight on Edward's left side. The opponent's bone wings began to become unbalanced, and he quickly stumbled.

The filament in Amiens' hand was entangled with a few trees in the distance, and he moved a few times before quickly moving away from the magic circle.

The magic circle expanded at an incredible speed, and soon spread to a position near Edward. He grasped the scepter tightly, and placed it on a branch of any tree, "You go first."

He chanted the enchantment spell, and forcibly split a small open space in the whiteness all over the place.An also spread out his bone wings, and flew away from here unhurriedly, but his movements were a bit laborious, as if he was enduring something.

Ann looked back at Edward, who was shrouded in the darkness of the enchantment, and the black crystal scepter was shining brightly in his hand.An chuckled softly, stroked the big vertebrae, and the originally weak Yingbai suddenly swelled up and invaded the barrier bit by bit.

Edward struggled to cope, he adjusted his flying posture, and the barrier created by the scepter firmly resisted the attack.An's sea of ​​consciousness was aching, and his body began to be overloaded.But An knew that if he was discovered by Amiens in the distance, he would have no chance of winning at all.He was ruthless and sent most of the magic energy to the magic circle.

At this moment, he suddenly felt a kind of energy fluctuation that did not belong to him rushing here from far to near.Edward also noticed that this energy was like tiny waves, and then gradually strengthened and rolled into one piece.

It grew very fast, and by the time Edward realized it, it had become a monstrous wave.He decisively withdrew the barrier and was forced to fly deeper into the forest.The lines of the bright white magic circle broke into thin white lines, and An's sea of ​​consciousness was injured. He could no longer go against the current of energy, so he could only fly into the forest with Edward.Amiens stood outside the impact range of the energy, and he was affected a little, but the energy seemed to grow from the outside to the inside, so he escaped.

There seemed to be a turbulent sea of ​​elements behind him, and Edward tried his best to endure the restlessness of the sea of ​​consciousness and maintain a clear mind.An seemed to have been stunned or dragged into a certain alien space, and he couldn't even perceive the existence of the other party.

That is, in just a short moment, the surging waves instantly turned into a pool of still water, and he stopped flying. This stop was not out of his will, but was similar to being recited a calming spell in his mind.He was tired of this endless pursuit, but the short stay made him feel precious.

In the next second, something in the shape of a leaf lit up on his nails, and the surging energy overwhelmed him, and Edward disappeared into the sky out of thin air, together with Amiens outside.

After they were completely devoured, the energy receded like a tide.

The wind blows the rustling branches and leaves from a distant place, and those huge and dangerous beasts seem to have fallen asleep. In the forest, there are only the sound of rain and the faint singing of birds.Everything is peaceful, like the calm after a storm, the sea hides the crisis-ridden interior with the most beautiful appearance, and the blue and peaceful illusion has wrapped the dilapidated ship that is sinking.

It's like something is destined to sink deep into the sea, but one day, the hard shell will be eroded by sea water and decay, and those unbearable pasts will be exposed, just like the dirty algal silt.

----Chapter37. Devouring & Finishing----

The author has something to say:

[Note 1] "Walking with Me" is a teenage adventure movie, adapted from Stephen King's novel "Corpse", and the picture book is fabricated by me.