by Feng Yue
“Mr. Lancelot, I think you’ve misunderstood something.” Ye Qingxuan looked back as if he had heard something hilarious but his expression was somber. “I never hated the Lancelot family. Not a bit. I am just…deeply disappointed.”
Lancelot lowered his eyes and did not reply, letting Ye Qingxuan leave.
When Ye Qingxuan was far away, he heard a low murmur carried by the wind. “Ye Qingxuan, you’ve been insisting on those unavoidable things all these years. Can you really be happy?”
Ye Qingxuan froze and turned to look back. Lancelot’s expression was somber with expectant eyes. He opened his mouth to speak but the youth suddenly looked up and smiled.
He said, “Sorry, my surname is Ye.” So I don’t belong to the Lancelot family. So I’m not happy.
He turned and left.
-
Metals clashed in the heavy darkness. It sounded like cold surgical knives and forceps hitting each other.
“No need to stop the blood,” said a hoarse and strange accent. “Start changing all the blood now. Match it with the patient’s blood type. Give me blade number three.”
“The heartbeat’s almost gone. Do the cardiac injection. If there’s no effect, use a music score to control the heart. We only need half an hour.”
“Where are the spare organs? Change it if it gets rejected. I won’t believe it if none of the five work.”
“Is the brain under anesthesia? Idiot! Why didn’t you say so earlier? Give him another shot!”
Darkness and dizziness fell again. He closed his eyes.
After who knows how long, he opened his eyes again. Everywhere hurt and his body seemed to be shattered. There was a respirator over his face and layers of tubes connecting his body to the alchemy machine maintaining his life. It was strange…
In disarray, he suddenly thought that he was just like the man he had once called ‘father’ right now.
“Open your eyes and look here.” A man that smelled of antiseptics looked at him. The old man’s head was wrapped with an Indian turban that was so old one could not tell its original look.
“What number?” The Indian pulled his eyes open and held up some fingers.
“Five,” he said scratchily.
The old Indian man nodded in satisfaction and let go. He vaguely heard voices beside the bed.
“As you wished, the surgery is over. He’s still alive and will live for a long time. If he’s careful, he can live for at least sixty years.”
“Very good, Ghandagar,” a young man said. “You’ve fulfilled your promise to me.”
“Just as we had agreed on, I used all my knowledge to complete this surgery. No one will know. I’ll cooperate and have my memory wiped as well. This will have never happened but I hope you’ll remember your promise to me.”
The youth smiled. “Ghandagar Rahul, I promise, under the name of the Vengeful Spirit, that you can live peacefully in downtown for the rest of your life. I’ll protect your son as well. The mistakes that the imperial physicians of the chief made will no longer have anything to do with you.”
“Ganesa will bless you, kind sir.”
“I hope,” the young man said lightly. “You can go now. I have something to say to him.”
Footsteps sounded. The old Indian left politely and closed the door.
The man on the patient’s bed opened his eyes. His breathing was turbid and his voice was weak and unclear. “I’m still alive?”
“Yes.” The white-haired youth dragged a chair over and sat beside the bed. “Thankfully, it was easy to find a corpse to replace you that night in Avalon. You should thank Lola. If not for her illusions, you wouldn’t’ve been able to live so long and pull through the surgery.”
“Surgery…” The patient breathed with wet sounds. It seemed to be a sigh. “What did the surgery do?”
“Some good things,” the young man answered. No matter if it’s the family’s restrictions, the flesh mutated by dark musicians, demonized organs. I helped you get rid of all everything. Everything that isn’t human was purified by the moonlight and you got a new face too.
“I also put something into your heart. If you try to have anything to do with natural catastrophes again, no one’ll be able to help you.”
“My sound of heart is so messy now. Did I fall from the Resonance level?”
“Yeah but you can probably get back up with your abilities. But…” Here, the young man sighed heavily. “One vertebra was too tainted so we could only cut it out. You might never be able to stand up again.”
“…Being alive is better than anything.”
“Yeah, being alive is great.” The young man pulled something from his pocket and placed it beside the bed. It was a stack of identification cards and a notebook filled with cramped font. “This is your new identity. I made it for someone else but she’s busy studying now and probably doesn’t have time to play, so you can use it.”
The cards were laid out before him. They seemed old but were flawless. The picture was his current appearance; there were no flaws in the mark and signature either.
“You graduated from the Imperial Anglo Medical College and became a medic. Later, you were sent to the Northumberland Fifth Corps in India. The Bahata War erupted. Your group was sent to Bahata to fight the followers of the natural catastrophe. You were sent back after getting injured in the second year. All your comrades were killed so don’t worry, no one will recognize you.”
The man stared at the profile picture on the card. After a while, he asked quietly, “So this is me from now on?”
“From now on, you no longer have anything to do with the past. Embrace your new life.” The young man glanced at him and uttered quietly, “Mr. John Z. Watson.”
308 Nightmare
Charles heard the sound of blood flowing. It flowed on the floor, snaked across the walls backwards, and writhed toward the ceiling. It moved without regard to gravity, humming a love song of death.
He gazed at the elegant décor stained with blood—the dark red pillars with dark red baroque carvings, the dark red walls with dark red oil paintings, and the dark red ceiling with dark red chandeliers.
The large hall was bloody as well. Corpses were scattered about the world covered in blood. The dead faces were torn into pieces and each one was unfamiliar.
Charles stared at them in fear. Finally, he looked down and saw Abraham’s face. Abraham looked at him as well. Charles’s pale face was reflected in the blank eyes. A pleased smile seemed to still remain on the dead face.
“Charles, you’re a hero.” He grasped Charles’s hand and said gently, “So impressive. I’m proud to be your professor.”
“Professor…” Charles gaped at him.
“Charles, be good and don’t run around anymore,” Abraham advised quietly. “You must stay safe. You always speak nonsense and insult too many people but can never win in fights. You worry me.”
“Professor, you…”
A gaping hole opened in Abraham’s chest. It was empty. Blood flowed out, hurting Charles’ eyes.
“Run, Charles.” The dead man looked at him with a gentle yet strange smile. “Don’t look back and run. I’ll look after you even in the underworld.”
Charles shook but could not move his feet. He wanted to say something but the dead died once again. All was silent in the large hall.
He could hear the panicked footsteps outside the hall. Screams sounded over and over. Everyone was running in panic. Someone pounded on the door, wanting to hide in here, but the door remained closed. The blood behind the door trembled and transformed into light rain. It fell through the air; it was so beautiful.
Blood finally flowed in from the world outside the door. The entire world was still.
Someone walked toward the hall through the pool of blood. Under the heavy creaks of rusted bronze, the large door opened slowly. The sound was deafening and Charles froze in place.
A bloody youth with black clothing and white hair stood amidst the corpses outside th
e door. He looked at Charles coldly. There were no reflections in his eyes, only cold cruelty and darkness.
“Yezi…all those people, you…”
Ye Qingxuan did not reply. He unsheathed his sword and walked through the puddle of blood. His murderous intent was heavy. Charles trembled and looked about in terror. All he saw were the dead faces looking at him. Those gazes came from the underworld. They seemed mocking and gleeful.
“Run, Charles,” they said. “Don’t look back and run!” But those faces were ripped apart by the sword; they became ugly and bloody. Like an executioner, the white-haired tore the corpses into thousands of pieces. His eyes were vicious and cold. Blood splattered onto his face, covering his features and making him seem menacing and monstrous.
He looked back at Charles, who was retreating. His mouth opened as if he wanted to say something.
Charles stumbled back and Ye Qingxuan stepped forward.
The blade pierced through his chest. The flesh lost its color; a bright yet cold blade poked out of his back.
“Yezi…” Charles gaped at Ye Qingxuan’s face; it was so unfamiliar. “You came to kill me.” Chuckling, he embraced the youth beside him. “Whatever, why should I run? It’s all…whatever.” Fatigued, he closed his eyes and darkness surged.
“Senior! Senior!”
Light flashed through dazed eyes. There seemed to be someone moving before him. He was shocked awake from his sleep; spirit returned to his eyes.
“Yezi?” he asked, stunned.
“You’re finally awake.” Ye Qingxuan smiled.
“Move, I want to see.” Beside him, Bai Xi squeezed in and pinched Charles’s cheeks. “Charles, you’ve been sleeping for days without moving. Let me see, did you get fatter? Wow! So oily…”
“Stop messing around.” Ye Qingxuan knocked the side of her head. “Get Old Phil out of here. Don’t you know the doctors are about to go crazy?”
“I don’t care. Old Phil can go wherever he wants, right?”
“Woof, woof!” Beside the bed, Old Phil barked. Then he reached a paw out to pat Charles’s face. This meant: follower number three, rest well and don’t worry about anything else.
Abraham sat in the back. Seeing them fool around, he chuckled lightly.
After a long time, the doctor finally heard the news and hurried over. He checked and nodded. “I don’t see any problems but you should still stay for observation. You should only be discharged after we’re sure there are no sequelae. Don’t worry, others will pay for the medical bills anyway.”
“Thank you all.” Abraham nodded and saw the doctor out.
However, the doctor sent a meaningful gaze at the entrance. Abraham flinched but he quickly followed him out and closed the door. “Sir, is there a problem?” he asked quietly.
“It’s not really a problem but a hidden trouble,” the Choir musician said after a short pause. “He still has strong psychological trauma. We must observe for a bit more before we can conclude if this event will trigger the old wounds.”
“Old wounds?” Abraham was shocked.
“…You don’t know anything?” The Choir musician was shocked as well. He requested a projection of the checkup from a nurse. One could see a vague shadow on the skull.
“What is this?” Abraham furrowed his brows.
“I don’t know.” The doctor shook his head. “This shadowy patch has been repressing his nerves since childhood. His frontal lobe, amygdala, and hippocampus have probably been affected. Now that he has suffered trauma, it might become a problem.”
“Will it cause perceptual disorders?”
“It won’t be that serious. This shadow’s disturbance is quite small and may even be benign. At most, it’ll just cause nightmares.”
Abraham fell silent. The doctor patted his shoulder and left. Abraham slumped on the bench in the quiet hall. He gazed at the ward.
“Is it…nightmares?”
-
As the day grew late, Ye Qingxuan brought Bai Xi back to the school while yawning.
Abraham made some tea for Charles. “Drink some. You’ve fooled around for the whole day after waking up.”
“Professor, don’t you know me? I’ll die if no one talks to me.” On the bed, Charles laughed and accepted the mug. He blew at the hot steam.
“As long as you’re okay.” Sitting on the chair, Abraham stared at Charles for a long while. Charles looked back and laughed dumbly. Abraham suddenly asked, “Charles, do you still get those nightmares?”
“No, sir.” Charles scratched his head and looked down. “I probably won’t in the future either.”
After a short pause, Abraham chuckled. “That’s great.”
He chatted with Charles for a while until bidding farewell when the bell rang in the night. He shut the door gently. In silence, Charles watched as Abraham left. Then he looked down at the mug that was now cold. He instantly fell into a trance.
The reflection in the mug was red, along with his pale face. Amidst the blurry red world, Charles gazed at the wailing souls that had emerged from the wall and looked outside the window.
People would pass by occasionally. When the bloody and mangled doctors and nurses passed, they would sense his gaze and look up. Their withered and ugly faces would distort.
Was that their smile?
He imagined they must be very gentle. The decorations in this room must be heartwarming as well, right? There were pure white walls and a soft bed. There was soothing incense as well, even though it smelled like bodies burning.
Late at night, the church bells rang faintly. The sound of hymns traveled over too. The holy voices sounded like the wails of the dead. It was indescribably tragic.
The fleeting imaginations passed again and everything reverted back to normal. Everything was normal. It was good.
“So…I’m the only one with problems?” Charles looked down at the bloody water in his mug. He drank it all expressionlessly and closed his eyes.
There were no more nightmares in the darkness.
All was peaceful.
309 How Are You?
The inside of the Sacred City’s basilica was dark but the starry sky shone. The flickering lights formed the brilliant aether sea.
“Is the observation record of Anglo still not ready?” Father Albert gazed at the westernmost corner. There, the starry sea was dim, almost swallowed by darkness. Only faint light flickered but he could not distinguish anything. “Bayer, it’s too slow,” he said.
“Archbishop, the Musician Division is short of hands as well.” Bayer shrugged helplessly. His image was projected from Anglo. Floating beside Albert, his image flickered with instability. “With the current situation, it’s difficult just to maintain this call.”
Nibelungenlied’s gentle and warm voice came from the starry sky, “After all, a god’s incarnate had descended. Clutter and noise still remains in the aether sea. Mr. Mephistopheles has already sent the records of the Westminster Church. I am comparing it to Mr. Bayer’s resources. Soon, the noise will be filtered out soon.”
“Please hurry.” Albert shook his head. “I hope that I am just overthinking, but I become unsettled whenever something happens in relation to Anglo.”
“Archbishop Albert, no need to worry. It is already over,” Nibelungenlied said. “Mankind is victorious in this war.”
“I hope so.” Albert lowered his eyes, thinking of something.
Soon, the cleaning of the clutter and noise began. Changes appeared abruptly in the vast starry sea. The darkness above Anglo magnified and the images changed quickly as if it was replaying at a hundred times the original speed.
The interfering signals in the murky darkness were filtered out layer by layer until the original nature was revealed. Avalon’s contours slowly emerged. The ripples that represented aether waves were born from it. However, they covered the details and one could only see the general image.
Within it, the atmosphere of the battle between the blazing sun and abyss was unmistakable. Their
ripples and waves had torn apart all other waves and suppressed them. A strand of pure light floated above, locking the entire battlefield until there was a victor. This was the boundary marked by Genesis. The influence shook violently until the abyss’s aura finally dissipated.
“After all these years of inactivity, the Sword in the Stone is still so sharp and terrifying.” Albert replayed the image and looked carefully. He deduced the music theory in his mind. “I don’t know how far it is from its prime but seeing this, I don’t think it’s too far.”
Bayer asked, “I think every other nation is concerned about whether it has the strength to continue Kingdom Comes.”
“Anglo is very tricky,” Albert said lightly. “They placed the battlefield in Avalon’s Shadow. Not only is there the geographic advantage, it also hid Sword in the Stone’s specific situation. This question will have no answer.
“This is unimportant to the Sacred City. As long as Anglo is willing to use this power against natural catastrophes, we have nothing to say.”
“That’s the attitude of the Sacred City?”
“This has been the Sacred City’s attitude for centuries.”
“That’s so straightforward.” Bayer sighed. “No wonder the Sacred City is not likeable.”
“Bayer, this city contains thirty percent of mankind’s power. If we learn how to be tactful and talk in circles, many would feel fear and be unable to sleep. It’s okay to be unlikable. At least, it’s better than being seen as a beast.
“Compared to the diplomats that are insignificant to natural catastrophes and demons, we wish to focus more on developing more musicians who can expand our land. There’s no point in fighting over power within the walls.”
Hearing this, Bayer laughed. “Is this arrogance?”
“This is awe, Bayer. Awe of the dark world.” Albert stared deeply at him before looking away. He gazed up at the image in the starry sky. If the mundane world was under this sky, then the Church’s duty was looking past the brilliance to the darkness.
-
Under the illusory starry sky, the record of the battle was replayed at hundred times its original speed. As it played over and over, the unclear image gradually sharpened. Suddenly, Albert raised his hand and paused the video. “What is this?”