Angel on earth

On the endless desolate wilderness, the cold wind poured and raged like an angry ocean, surging, rolling, and collapsing in all directions, stirring up snow powder and icy air that almost turned into substance, flooding the originally rugged and narrow road.

There are only two colors left between the sky and the earth, black and white. The black ones are bare rocks, soil and mountains, and the white ones are flying snowflakes, dead grass and cold wind.The sky is a wonderful gray color, and if you just look up at the sky, you will think it is black.

A figure in the shape of a cross moved forward in the wind and snow.If one looked down from the sky, his route was on a slender and winding black path, which was the path taken by the cavalry of the Abaddon Empire when they marched south in spring and summer. In winter, due to the different thickness of snow , is still faintly visible.

Two hammer-like cold winds collided suddenly, turned a corner, and flipped Mikhail Kupala's thick hood, revealing the young and handsome face underneath, and the short hair fluttering in the wind .

He is as black and white as the land.The black ones are his coat and the coffin in his arms, and the white ones are his hair and skin.

The young man scratched his hair, and on the gray ground, two patches of hazy yellow light lit up, and the snowflakes melted and froze on his thick eyelashes.Mikhail walked forward steadily against the wind and snow, holding the coffin in one hand, and holding the tip of the "Prayer of Chastity" in the other, with the hilt facing forward, used to explore the way.There was no movement in the coffin, and even if there was, it had been swallowed by the roar of the demon plateau.

After a while, he stopped at a crossroads, the sound of the sword hilt hitting the ice clinking - jingling - drowned in the wind.

The young man lowered his head, stuck the hilt of his sword on the ground, and slowly stroked the stele with his hand.The ice and snow on the stone gradually melted, and Mikhail took a few steps forward, stroking the rough surface with his palm.

After walking to the end of the stele, he could tell from the facial outlines and bone shapes that they were seven Canaanites.It should be a soldier guarding the border between the Mithra Dynasty and the Abaddon Empire, who was captured here after the defeat.The seven had rough iron chains round their hands, feet, and necks, and they were connected to each other like a bridge; the Abaddons drove them here when winter came, and poured hot water on them, and froze them to death.This is neither some kind of ritual to pray for blessings and avoid disasters, nor is it to make a mark at the intersection, just do it if you want to do it.

The hot water gurgled under Mikhail's hands, and soon froze on the ground.He set fire to the seven bodies, said a prayer, and looked up as if to watch their ashes drift southward in a violent snowstorm.

After staring at it for a while, Mikhail lowered his head, gropingly picked up the tip of the "Prayer of Chastity", and continued to walk towards the top of the mountain.

On the top of the mountain stands a black church with a wooden and stone structure, which has been abandoned for a long time, but it can barely shelter from the wind and snow.Mikhail closed the door, found a relatively warm place based on his feeling, placed the coffin, dismantled a bench, lit a bonfire, cleaned the ground, and opened the coffin when the temperature in the corner rose. , untied his clothes, hugged Aaron out, and told him to lean against him.

The church is very small. After all, it is located in Abaddon, which is extremely unfriendly to the church. Compared with a symbol of faith, it is more like some kind of reluctant diplomatic rhetoric.There were only five rows of tables and chairs in the room, a pulpit, a few small cabinets, and a large piece of rotting curtain falling from the ceiling, otherwise it was empty.The door facing east is the only opening in the whole house. The inside of the house is dark and full of old smell, but the thick walls also provide good insulation.

Mikhail took a deep breath slowly and exhaled again, lowered his head with a smile, took out a few purple and white flowers from his bosom, put them into Aaron's bosom, and stroked his soft short brown hair ,explain:

"Good evening, Aaron."

The boy's clear voice echoed in the small church, and the wind and snow outside fiercely clenched the wood and stone house.

He lowered his head and seemed to be staring at the face in front of him. After a while, he said:

"Forgive my faux pas. I..."

He didn't finish the last sentence, or in fact he didn't know how to say it.Pursing his lips, Mikhail held Aaron's shoulders with one hand, groped to straighten his cheek with the other, and slowly moved over to touch his lips.

The young saint's movements were gentle and slow, carefully sweeping across the vampire's cold gums, palate, and the base of his tongue. After he warmed up, it took a long time before he sucked his lips clean little by little.

In fact, Aaron didn't touch anything dirty, and he couldn't salivate.But it took Mikhail a long time to finish the kiss with the same meticulousness and earnestness with which he cleans the church on the eve of the festival.On this mountain slope of wind and snow, black and white, they are the last two creatures in the world.

Mikhail took a deep breath and exhaled again, tugged at his collar, pressed Aaron's cold forehead against his shoulder, lowered his eyes and smiled:

"We have come to the Devil's Plateau. This place is called Akamala, located in the southwest of the Abaddon Empire, across the San Sigiah Canal from the Noren Empire and the Mithra Dynasty. Every spring, the snow on the Devil's Plateau melts At that time, the Abaddon people would ride the 'Giant' horse, cross the Sihija Canal, and go to the south to plunder. In autumn and winter, the temperature as low as minus [-] degrees and the erratic blizzard became the main force of the Abaddon Empire. An unbreakable barrier. The church has conquered this place, but each time it has to withdraw in winter, leaving Akamala behind. We call the Demon Plateau the 'Witch of Winter', but the Abaddons affectionately call her 'Mother's Arms' '.

"Emile is a Giant horse from Abaddon. The average height of this breed of horses can reach three meters when they grow up, and their lifespan is not as short as other horses. In the chaotic era where the gods were everywhere, the Giant horse They often sign soul contracts with humans, sharing a long lifespan and unpredictable fate, so they are also called "devil horses". But Emile is different. She is the only white Giant horse in the world, born in " Inside the Sun Halo'. The 'Sun Halo' is where the Mithra Altar used to be at the North Pole. According to the teachings of the church, the soul of every righteous person will wander for seven days after death and arrive at the 'Sun Halo' on the seventh day , from there up the Stairway to Heaven, back to Father's Kingdom. If you want to see it, I can take you there. There are only two of us, maybe we can sneak in and see.

"However, in fact, most of the areas north of the Devil's Plateau are not so cold. Instead, there are large areas of fertile black soil. The Abaddon people can plant anything to fill their stomachs, and they can grow apple orchards by cutting a branch. Even on the outskirts of the ice field, there are countless plump fish that can be caught, and every country imports a lot of caviar from Abaddon every year. I also know that the best ones will definitely not be given to us, but they gave to Lieyang City' 'Arctic pearls' do taste good. When you're back to health...

"No, it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter if you don't recover. These days, I have understood part of the world you perceive. This morning, I found some flowers. Fortunately, they should have been frozen in a cold snap Yes, so fresh so far. The purple one is Prophet sage, very similar to amber lavender from southern Iris, but unlike the latter, I think you can taste the custard pudding; the white one is alpine gentian Cross, only four petals, it has a taste of white bread, and the black stripes on the inside of the petals have the taste of northern Abaddon caviar, you can taste it. Well, if I'm wrong, you have to tell me ..."

The young man spoke briskly for a long time, his voice gradually became quieter, and finally he leaned against the wall, breathing evenly.

Not long after he fell asleep, the vampire opened his eyes.

He already looked better than he had been a few months ago, only slightly thinner than Chalek's "Arnold," and his hair and complexion seemed a little healthier.However, it can't really be called "wake up".The vampire stared at the boy's peaceful sleeping face with the eyes of some kind of wild animal, and the teeth that hadn't yet grown in were gently grinding, making a barking sound, which was covered by the sound of wind and snow.

He is very hungry.But he didn't want to—no, he wanted to bite Mikhail, but he couldn't, he shouldn't.He stared at Mikhail's bare white neck for a long time, then slowly lowered his head to eat the flowers, ground his teeth, narrowed his eyes contentedly, and patted the big hand clasped around his waist.

Mikhail rarely woke up.Aaron didn't mind, he helped Mikhail pull up his collar, and continued to lie stiffly on his side in his arms, with a pair of dimly lit green eyes open, he didn't know what he was looking at, and fell asleep after a while up.If Mikhail concentrated, he might be able to make out a rather slow, beating sound every quarter of an hour from the whistling wind, and that vibration was coming from his arms, through the vampire's fragile ribs and shriveled chest , disappearing into thin air.

Mikhail was awakened by the sound of the door opening.

The cold and manic whirlwind rushed into the house with goose feathers and heavy snow. If he hadn't reacted quickly, the fire would have been extinguished.He wrapped the cloak and layers of cloth for Aaron, put him back in the coffin, stood up vigilantly, and the "Prayer of Chastity" wrapped in white cloth was still leaning alone in the corner.

"Ah, good luck, it looks like it hasn't been discarded yet." A refreshing male voice said, "Excuse me, brother!"

A hoarse male voice said: "Idiot, how can people live in this kind of place, they must have come first. It doesn't look long."

A young male voice said: "Hey, the one who ran to the Devil's Plateau in the middle of winter, who the hell isn't an idiot?"

A group of people rushed in with difficulty, and then hurriedly closed the door.The boy who spoke just now was short in stature and couldn't help, so he was bouncing behind him to encourage him.Listening to the footsteps, there are six people in total, including a woman and a boy of fourteen or fifteen years old.

"Good evening, brothers and sisters," said Mikhail politely. "Do you need my help to light the fire? I think you need to warm up, dry your clothes, and eat something. Children are prone to colds at this time of year, and it is very dangerous. "

The door snapped into the frame with a bang.At the same time, in the gloomy darkness in the room, two strange and bright lights like molten gold suddenly lit up.