Whispering Verse

At seven o'clock in the evening, Shade set out from home, arrived at Fort Midhill, and then went down the mountain all the way to find Sister Devlin who was waiting. She was accompanied by two nuns from the [Spiritual Order], but in the end it was only the leader of the order who followed Shade into the mountains.

The two returned along the road Shade took down the mountain. During this period, Shade also explained that there were other people in Tobesk's home, but they could definitely be trusted, so the nun didn't care.

I don't know if it was unlucky, but I encountered an evil spirit while going into the mountain. This time the evil spirit is the image of a headless man holding a hatchet, and his body is engraved with horrific cipher text. As the inexplicable mist appeared, it rushed towards the two people walking through the dense forest with a hatchet in hand.

Because he entered the mountain at night, the [Night Watcher] held in Shade's hand was the first to discover the evil spirit. Strengthened by two earthquakes, the power of the evil spirits in the mountains has increased to a terrifying level. He was prepared to deal with it, but before he could take action, Sister Devlin threw a ball of flame in the direction of the evil spirit.

The evil spirit didn't even have a chance to leave any last words, and was burned directly.

"The original fire has an extraordinary effect on the soul."

The nun from the eleventh ring said calmly, and then motioned for Shade to continue leading the way.

At 7:40, the two came to the ruined tower in the mountains and jumped into the basement under the leadership of Shade.

The moonlight shines into the tower from the door without a door panel, and illuminates the [Traveler's Travel Door] located in the basement through the trap door.

"Sister, this is it."

Shade introduced.

The weight of this door was so exaggerated that when it was transported to St. Teresa Square, Dr. Schneider helped get it to the second floor. When Shade moved it out of the hidden wall just now, he almost lost his breath and was ridiculed by the voice in his heart as "excessive exercise in the afternoon."

Sister Devlin stretched out her hand and rubbed it on the wooden door panel:

"No problem, I'll be here waiting for you to open the door."

"OK."

Shade nodded, pulled out the key on the door, hesitated for a moment and then walked towards the wall at the end of the basement. Next, the process of opening the door by shining the spiritual light on the wall will be "seen" by the nun. Although this exposed his secret, he had to do this for the safety of his family.

The life ring appeared, and under the brass aura of [Time and Space], the hidden wall disappeared.

The nun here "watched" and said:

"It turns out that it is the space maze left by the ancient god."

"Sister, you know this?"

Shade turned his head in surprise.

"The history of the Order is very long. We have recorded some stories from the ancient era. Before the departure of the Thirteen Ancient Gods, they each left a space. Among them, the legacy of the Ancient Space God [Original Crack] is the [Space Maze]. There is no space maze. To think that I could actually see it."

Since the nun already knew this, Shade nodded:

"Yes, I do travel between the two places through here. Sister, please keep it a secret."

"no problem."

He also remembered that Luvia mentioned that the [Spiritual Cult] was actually a branch of the ancient Death Church, so he asked curiously:

"Sister Devlin, do you know what space is left behind by the ancient god [Ancient Death]?"

The nun clasped her hands together in front of her body and lowered her head slightly. Under the silver eye mask, her fair face highlighted the color of her lips. The corners of her mouth curved up, as if she wanted to make a smile:

"[Soul Cemetery]."

He returned to Saint Teresa Square by touching the statue of the ancient god, then returned to the second floor from the basement, picked up Mia, and then went to the third floor corridor with Luvia.

Shade rarely uses the third floor, but Luvia has been doing horoscopes here for the past month or so, and Mia also likes to take a walk on the third floor, so it's not too deserted here.

Because the [Traveler's Travel Door] would cause big trouble when used in abnormal space areas, Shade moved in Room 1 on the third floor, which Luvia had determined would be absolutely fine, which was also the astrology room temporarily occupied by Luvia. key.

With a clicking sound, Shade took two steps back, and together with Luvia and the cat held by Luvia, they saw the shape of the door extending around the key suspended in the air.

After the engraved metal base was completely formed, Sister Devlin opened the door and walked out.

Traveling thousands of miles to the city of Tobesk did not make this nun show any expression. Instead, she first noticed Luvia, who was also curiously observing the nun who also had divination abilities.

For a moment, both of them froze at the same time. To be more precise, Luvia froze, and Sister Devlin just stood there motionless. Shade didn't know what she was thinking. She had always been like this.

The usage time of the [Traveller's Travel Door] has begun to count down, but under the moonlight outside the window, the two ladies remained motionless.

Shade hesitated to speak, but felt that this was not a good time to speak. He frowned slightly, guessing that this might be the diviners' unique method of communication.

【Probably not. 】

"Why?"

[Watch her shadow. 】

The shadow of Sister Devlin, who was wearing a black and gray silk nun's robe, was no different, but the shadow at Luvia's feet turned into two, and they were exactly the same. This is not the result of an optical phenomenon, but a supernatural phenomenon.

"What's going on?"

Just when Shade noticed the shadow, the shadow closed again. At the same time, under the moonlight outside the window, a shadowy figure appeared behind Luvia. It was so blurry that Shade even thought that he didn't see it with his eyes, but captured it with his inspiration.

Shade had seen this figure before, and it was the shadow of a slightly more mature Luvia. She was really blurry. Even if Shade and Luvia were standing so close, he could hardly see the expression on the slightly mutilated figure.

"What's going on?"

After the figure appeared, it gradually disappeared behind Luvia. Luvia seemed to have just recovered and greeted Sister Devlin in a low voice:

"Good evening, Sister, I am Shade's friend Luvia Anat. I was rude just now, but I have never seen a diviner with such a unique temperament as you. I work in the Oracle Association and I also know some divination."

"Evening, Miss Anat."

As if nothing had happened, Sister Devlin walked out of the room under the leadership of Shade and came to the corridor on the third floor.

The gas lamp in the corridor was on. The style of the gas lamp was a cat's carrying lamp, which Tifa specially selected for Shad.

The nun asked Shade to wait a moment, then took off her silver blindfold and looked at the empty corridor in front of her. Luvia, who was holding Mia, leaned against the door frame and looked at them. After learning that the familiar home had an entrance to a different space, Shade felt that this corridor had become weird.

After waiting for a full minute, the nun put her hair back together and put on the eye mask:

"There is indeed an entrance to the boundary here. But the range is very small, only covering half of the corridor. I have seen the boundary between life and death in many places, but this one is the smallest."

The problems at No. 6 Saint Teresa Square are minor issues compared to the narrow space that encompasses the entire Sikalberg and surrounding area.

"Is there a way to seal it? Recently, two evil spirits have ran into the house through this entrance, which scared my cat."

Shade asked, and the nun nodded after thinking about it:

"The scope is small and it is easy to seal it. However, sealing is not the fundamental solution. Every two or three years, you have to strengthen the seal."

"Of course that's no problem."

Shade nodded immediately. Maybe in two or three years, he would go to St. Byrons in the far north. But before leaving here, maybe you can tell the church about the problem with the house.

The nun could not stay here for long. While there was still time, Shade asked Sister Devlin to observe the situation on the third floor as much as possible within the scope allowed by the door.

[Spiritual Cult] has a different divination method from ordinary diviners. They believe that all things are animistic and can perceive the world from a different perspective. So, before Sister Devlin left, she gave Shad a piece of advice:

"If this was the house I lived in, I would sell it in a heartbeat."

"Why?"

This is the only thing that Shade will never do.

"There is too much tragedy and misfortune here, and the problem with this house is definitely not just on the third floor. I have been commissioned to visit the famous haunted house in Carsonlik, but the level of danger there is definitely not as high as before. Come here. No. 6, Saint Teresa Square, right? I had only heard of its name before, but I didn’t expect the problem to be so serious.”

But no matter how serious the problem is, Shade will not move away. He thinks he knows all the secrets of this house. Now that the problems in the basement and third floor have been resolved, and all safety hazards have been investigated, Shade believes that living here will be quite safe.

Three minutes and 12 seconds came in the blink of an eye. Sister Devlin returned to the basement of the ruined tower in Sikal Mountain through the [Traveler's Travel Door]. After Shade and Luvia said hello, they also returned to the ruined tower from the basement. Tower, intending to send the nun down the mountain before returning home.

Sister Devlin is of course much better than Shade, but since it was Shade who invited her to the foot of the mountain, why should he send her back again? This is considered a gentlemanly manner.

The Xikar Mountains are quiet and quiet at night. In late autumn, even the nights in the mountains and forests seem to be completely asleep.

On the way down the mountain, the nun dictated to Shade the ritual used to seal the entrance to the small boundary between life and death. The ritual is not complicated, but some materials are difficult to obtain. But for Schade, who can commute between Coldwater Port and Tobesk, this is not a problem.

"There's something wrong with your fortune teller friend."

After talking about the content of the ceremony, we were only halfway down the mountain. It didn't seem good to be embarrassed and silent. When Shade tried to bring up a new topic, Sister Devlin said abruptly.

"Oh, I know."

Shade looked up at the starry sky above his head and said softly:

"I've known it since a long time ago."

The nun was silent for a moment:

"Her 'other self' is not normal, and 'she' is haunted by a very terrible curse. This curse is not man-made, but more like a natural phenomenon, as if the world hates her."

Only the [Spiritual Cult] that advocates animism can easily see this.

"Yeah, that's the curse of time."

Shade said softly again, feeling a little melancholy for some reason.

"Then she must have done something that seriously violated the normal rules of time. I can't figure out what she had to do to trigger such a terrible curse. The world has never had such strong malice towards a single individual."

After the nun finished speaking, she fell silent, and Shade, who was thinking about Luvia's problem, did not think of a new topic. It took him a long time to break the monotonous sound of women's boots and men's leather shoes trampling on fallen leaves. The howls of wolves were heard in the distance, and the city below the mountain was lit up by gas lamps:

"Sister, regarding Luvia's problem, can you have a deeper perception?"

"She needs to remain still in front of me and let me take off the blindfold and look directly at her. Moreover, that kind of terrible curse cannot be solved by mortals. You at least need to know what she has done before you can know how to break the curse. .”

"I see."

Shade nodded and sent the nun all the way down the mountain, then turned around and walked into the forest again facing the moonlight.

Walking out of the basement, he found Luvia on the second floor holding a reluctant Mia and looking a little sad.

"Luvia, what's wrong with you? Why do you look in a bad mood?"

The purple-eyed girl stood by the window and looked outside the square. The room was so bright that the glass in front of her reflected her and Mia's expressions like a mirror.

The smart cat also noticed Shade from the reflection in the window glass, and immediately struggled to escape from Luvia's arms.

"It's nothing, it's just that when I saw the nun just now, something strange appeared in front of my eyes."

She turned around, her red lips twitched, and her purple eyes stared at Shade:

"I saw Sister Devlin dying in the flames. Her whole body was covered with fiery cracks, and in the end even her body was burned to ashes. She handed me a handful of weak fire and asked me to inherit her responsibilities , guard the original flame."

"Primal Flame?"

Shade frowned slightly and stopped.

He did tell Luvia that the "reverse life" man Joey Barton predicted the death of him and the nun, that is, they died in the collapsed tower at the beginning of this year and turned into ashes more than ten years later. But out of his promise to keep secrets, he never told Luvia that the fire in Sister Devlin's hand was an angel-level (level 1) relic [Primal Fire].

"Is this a true prophecy made in a flash of inspiration?"

Shade asked, it is indeed possible for a fortune teller to suddenly see a fragment of the future at a certain moment. But he himself didn't believe the guesses made by Shade. After tonight's communication with the nun, he already had a vague guess about Luvia's situation, but he was not sure yet:

"It's okay. Everything in the future may not necessarily develop according to your prediction."

He walked over and hugged Luvia, and then little Mia found the opportunity to "escape" from the embrace:

"It's like, didn't you always think that our group would always be just four people? But I showed up this summer anyway. Oh, I still remember that look on your face when you first saw me at Lakeview Manor."

"Yes."

The purple-eyed girl nodded slightly.

"What you see is just a possibility. Besides, you don't know Sister Devlin at all. Even if the nun really wants to entrust that angelic relic to someone, it can't be you."

"But the future"

"Sixth Era Universal Calendar Year 1853, Late Autumn"

Shade imitated "her" tone and said, then glanced out the window:

".The day when the red moon shines darkly. Luvia Fiocci Anat, you have witnessed the unknown future again, but standing beside you at this moment is not only yourself, but also the person who hides the secret in your heart. A stranger outside destiny.”

He held Luvia in his arms and looked at her beautiful purple eyes up close:

"Time puts a curse on you, but fate is blessing you. The magnificent epic has begun. After the curtain rises, why are you still confused? You are not walking alone. People who have awakened from blindness and ignorance are by your side. . When two hands hold together on a midsummer night, you should understand - this is the beginning of an epic, a story between you and him."

Luvia finally smiled:

"What is this? The poem of destiny you wrote for me?"

"No, no, that's just stating the facts."

Shade said.

"Well, Shade, maybe you're better at pleasing girls than I thought - may fate bless you and me."

As she said that, she put her arms around Shade's neck and kissed him passionately. But when the tender feeling flooded into her mind, Shade didn't know why, but she felt like she was kissing two people.

“What’s this weird feeling and all that.”

He was very puzzled and temporarily pushed Luvia away:

"You haven't told me yet whether Sister Devlin is the first candidate for the Chosen One of Death?"

"She's not, but she has other problems. The first candidate for death should be between Joey Barton, the reborn man, and our friend Priest Rat Augustus. Shade, at this time, ask Is this really a good question?”

She asked angrily, and then hugged Shade again.

"Meow!"

The cat standing on the back of the sofa barked dissatisfiedly, thinking that he was ignored by Shade again.

Then, the cat actually saw a double image of the human woman's body under the light of the gas lamp. A blurry shadow almost completely overlapped with her body. Four arms hugged Shade at the same time, and What kissed Shade were two identical faces.

"Meow?"

Its big amber eyes were full of curiosity, and the cat couldn't understand this strange phenomenon.

"Shadow."

The purple eyes seemed to contain the secrets of the entire world. Although Shade thinks that even though the witches are unparalleled in beauty, Luvia's eyes are still the most beautiful.

"What's wrong?"

Under the gas lamp in the living room, she showed a gentle smile, and the shadows of the two were entangled together, just like the fate that had already been intertwined:

"Can you grant me a small wish?"

"Of course, what wish?"

"I probably have to hold the [Eternal Youth Leaf] in my mouth. Tonight, I want to be a knight."