Chapter 1297: Chapter 1297: Night
Fortunately, before Fiona entered here, Miss Feliana had considered the issue of traveling through the night. The Red Dragon Girl asked Shard to turn around, and then Shard heard a rustling sound behind him.
When he turned back again, he saw Fiona holding a piece of black veil in her hand. She explained, her face slightly red:
“This is an alchemical item made by Miss Feliana herself, an imitation of the ‘Veil of the Eternal Night Monarch.’ With this veil, we can move around the city, but each move can only reach a location nearby the target, so it’s not completely safe.”
Most of her other luggage was lost, and this piece of fabric was one of the few items left, clearly hidden well. Of course, Shard didn’t ask where this cloth had been hidden before.
“But rest assured, passing through the veil won’t directly plunge us into darkness. If the location is not where we want to go, we can return the same way through the veil.”
The two cleaned up the meal on the table, and the porcelain tableware disappeared into the white mist. Then Fiona found her small package behind the counter, containing the remaining few magic potions and spellcasting materials. After finishing her preparations, she didn’t set off immediately. With rich survival experience, Fiona once again went through the menu and planned to purchase one of the items in it:
“Let’s bring this along when we set off; we need it in this long darkness.”
[Ever-Burning Candle: Once lit, it can maintain light for 3 years and also provide 10 seconds of light in the night of the City of Eternal Night.]
[In the long night, it’s the most important resource for mortals.]
[Requires payment with freshly separated blood.]
“I’ll purchase this!”
This time she said it with an irrefutable tone:
“Stores with signboards can sell at most three candles. I’ve bought many times before. Shard, I’m a Red Dragon hybrid; my self-healing ability is stronger than yours. You don’t have to worry about me.”
A metal syringe with a needle automatically appeared on the counter. She quickly approached it, rolled up her sleeve to reveal a smooth arm wearing a bracelet. Her skin was so fair that the pores were almost invisible:
“Shard, please help.”
Shard hesitated as he picked up the syringe:
“As you said to me, if you can’t bear it, let me take over.”
Fiona nodded softly, and then Shard pierced the syringe into her skin. This gave Shard a feeling as though he was damaging a work of art.
The syringe didn’t need his operation, it automatically drew blood. Shard didn’t know how fast it was extracting, but from Fiona’s face, it seemed the syringe showed no mercy. Her large tail instinctively curled up, wrapping around Shard’s right ankle, squeezing like a python intending to strangle its prey.
Shard knew she was trying to express her pain, so despite the discomfort in his ankle, he said nothing. He clasped Fiona’s other hand and was surprised when the red-haired girl buried her head in his chest, trembling slightly.
The sound of rain pattered, and the flames in the fireplace molded their shadows together. Shard hesitated slightly before embracing her. Neither spoke, only the grandfather clock on the wall ticked anticlimactically counterclockwise.
Four minutes and thirty-two seconds later, the syringe detached from Fiona’s arm with a clang, landing on the table. Instead of letting go of Shard, the Red Dragon Girl wrapped her arms around him.
Since he couldn’t see her face, Shard judged from the sound and trembling that she was probably sobbing.
He gently patted the young girl’s back and felt the large tail coiled around his ankle finally relax:
“It’s alright, I’ll accompany you until the end, escort you safely out of here.”
The task from the Tree Father was only for Shard to help Fiona find the God of Night, but Shard gave an additional promise.
“I swear, I will definitely accompany you as much as possible to ensure your safe departure. Miss Fiona Drago, I rarely make promises, please believe me.”
He sensed the Red Dragon Girl using his clothes to wipe her tears:
“I’m not afraid of this place, it’s just… just…”
She lifted her head to look at Shard, and he understood:
“I get it, being alone in this environment is unbearable for anyone. I can still leave, but you can’t. I understand your thoughts and your feelings. Did you know? When I met your teacher Miss Orland in the Forest of Thousand Trees for the first time, she also showed her vulnerability. We’re just mortals… back then, she had Miss Feliana with her, but now it’s only you.”
He comforted softly:
“The pressure on you is too great, and the night of this city absorbs those positive and active thoughts. Look at me, Miss Fiona Drago.”
They locked eyes closely. Shard spoke earnestly:
“I will walk with you to the depths of this city and then get you out safely. Can you trust me?”
“Yes.”
She nodded slightly, then heard Shard say nervously:
“What I said about Miss Orland earlier, please don’t say it was me who said it.”
The young lady showed a hint of a smile. Although the night was deep, she was inexplicably less worried.
Three golden Ever-Burning Candles were taken in hand. Shard opened the café door, and Fiona quickly hung the black veil over the doorframe.
The two held hands, then side-stepped toward the black veil as if they were going to smash through glass.
But after crossing the veil, they didn’t enter the night-darkened street but found themselves in a dimly lit alley.
The night rain was still drizzling. The alley was extremely narrow, but thankfully, there was not much trash. The walls were densely inscribed with cryptic text from ages past, written in various scripts. Shard even spotted the secret ritual known as [Random Evil God Summoning Arts], frightening him enough to quickly avert his eyes.
The reason he could see the texts on the walls was that there was light here as well. Behind them, the veil, gradually being soaked by the rain, floated weightlessly in the air. To their right, beside the wall, lay a humanoid entity wrapped in beggar’s clothing. Though its appearance was human, every sense besides sight screamed to Shard that this was definitely not human.
At the beggar’s feet rested a bowl filled with oil, the wick drooping over the edge, with a small flame the size of a pea illuminating this little area.
The beggar was about to speak, but Fiona’s expression changed. She grabbed Shard and pulled him back toward the café:
“No! This thing is an ‘Invert Soul’!”
“What is an Invert Soul?”
Shard and Fiona retreated together, and once back in the café, the Red Dragon Girl immediately retrieved the veil, as if worried the beggar would follow:
“The soul of a Circle Sorcerer who committed suicide inverts. My teacher and Miss Feliana call such souls ‘Invert Souls.’ This type of soul turns the inner side of the soul outwards and the outer side inwards. This painful instant and the drastic change in personality following the inversion are enough to drive any normal soul completely mad. My teacher has researched this and warned me never to engage with such people.”
The veil was then hung up once more, and the two held hands and dashed through it a second time. This time they emerged onto the rain-soaked street, with the lights from the “Twilight Pawnshop” providing a small, safe area outside its window.
“Look over there!”
Shard pointed diagonally across the street, where the old sign for the “Midnight Clock Shop” was clearly visible in the shop’s lights.
“That’s the one!”
Fiona nodded cautiously, not caring that she was getting soaked, and warned Shard:
“Even with candlelight, once we charge into the darkness, the night will still try to draw us into the dark. I was injured during this process, which is why I was trapped inside the café.”
“What kind of attack will it be? Monsters in the night? Whispers luring us off the right path? Or something else?”
“I can’t describe it in words, but please hold onto my hand tightly.”
The Red Dragon Girl retrieved the black veil, symbolizing their inability to return to that warm and cozy café.
“Are you ready?”
Fiona asked softly. Though slightly blushing, she removed her small black leather shoes in front of Shard. Having shed her identity as a café maid, her clothing hadn’t changed, and so carrying her shoes, she stood directly on the uneven, rectangular cobblestone ground in her white semi-transparent fabric, feeling quite uncomfortable.
Shard had already tried just now. Like the Lost Lake once did, the City of Eternal Night forbade Spatial Movement, and Fiona’s shoes, part of her maid’s attire, were not suitable for running.
Shard was about to remind her that he had spare shoes on him, when the Red Dragon Girl had already rubbed her right-hand index finger and middle finger together, using the golden spark that emerged to light the first candle:
“Let’s go!”
The two held hands and ran towards the illuminated building. As they left the light of the pawnshop window behind, the thick darkness seemed to immediately want to “engulf” them. But fortunately, the bright golden gleam of the candle carved out a small safe zone for them.
A single candle could last ten seconds, three candles thirty seconds total. However, the simultaneous protection of two people seemed to make the candle burn faster than expected. The candle-holding Red Dragon Girl noticed this, glanced at Shard holding her hand, and was already prepared.
For Shard, a bone-chilling cold surged from his feet to his entire body. At the same time, he felt an unusual drowsiness. His bodily fatigue hit a peak in an instant, and with each step, it was as though the ground was glue binding his shoes.
The darkness called to him, summoning him to become part of the night.