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In the deep valley of twilight, apple trees are budding, and the branches hiding in the shadows occasionally see an early-blooming apple blossom, red and white, like a faint star

. The new grass, which had been soaked by the rain, spread along the path between the fruit trees, and the little girl ran happily on the grass. When she heard the call, she did not immediately return home, but made a great circle. The mother waited by the door of the hut, with the light of the fire behind her, and she gazed at her daughter, who was bouncing home, like a thistle corolla swaying in the wind in the darkening grass under the tree.

In the corner of the hut, the father was cleaning a sticky hoe and said, "Why do you care about that child?" They will come next month to take her away and not come back. When she died, she went to the grave and was never seen again. Why are you clinging to something that isn't meant to be you? She didn't use us at all. If they could pay for it, then she would have some value, but not at all. Since it was taken away for nothing, I don't have to worry about it anymore.

The mother did not say a word, but still looked at the child; The child stopped halfway and looked up at the sky looming between the cracks in the fruit trees. Above the high mountain trees, Venus, commonly known as the evening star, is shining brightly.

She is not our child. Ever since they came here and said that Tianna was the priestess they were looking for, she was no longer ours. Why can't you figure it out? The man's voice was harsh and unforgiving, full of resentment and bitterness. You have four more children, and they will stay, but this girl will not. Sensei worries about her, let her go!

When the time comes, the woman says, "I will naturally let go." At this time, the little girl ran through the muddy ground with her bare white little feet and arrived home. The mother bent down to pick up her daughter, and when she turned to enter the house, she lowered her head and kissed the ends of her hair. The daughter's hair was black, while her own hair looked pale in the light of the swaying fire.

The man stood barefoot on the muddy ground outside the house, and the soles of his feet felt cold. Overhead, the clear spring sky was getting darker. In the twilight, his face was full of sadness: it was the sadness of decadence and indignation, but he could never find words enough to vent his sadness. Finally, he shrugged his shoulders and followed his wife into the small hut in the light of the fire and echoing with childish words.

Chapter 1: The Eaten

The sound of the trumpet sounded and was still. The silence was broken only by the sound of the drums, which were as gentle as a heartbeat, and the cathle of footsteps that marched in response to the sound of the drums. A large area of the stone slabs and bricks on the roof of the throne hall has collapsed in rows, and the slanting sun that appears from time to time enters through the cracks and gaps in the roof. It was an hour after sunrise, and the air was calm and cool. The weeds and dead leaves that had gathered among the marble tiles were frosty, and the black robes of the priestesses swept by, making a gentle beeping sound.

They lined up in four rows and passed through the wide hall between the double rows of columns. A single drum is knocking, no one is speech, no one is looking up. The girl dressed in black holds a torch, and the torch turns orange and red when it shines in the daylight, and brightens when it enters the dark. On the steps outside the throne hall stood men who served as guards, trumpeters, and drummers. Only women were allowed to enter the gate, all dressed in black robes and hoods on their heads, and they walked slowly to the empty throne in four or four.

Two tall women came in, also dressed in black robes, one thin and stern, the other fat and swaying. Walking between the two was a girl, about six years old, dressed in a loose, straight white robe, with her head, arms and legs exposed, without shoes, and looking unusually small. The three of them walked to the foot of the steps in front of the throne, where the black-robed priestess who had come in earlier was already waiting in a line. The two tall women stopped and nudged the girl forward.

The vast darkness that extended from the darkness of the roof seemed to turn into several large black patches, enclosing the sides of the throne. Whether they are really curtains or just dense shadows is impossible to tell with the naked eye. The throne itself is black, with the arms and backrest of the chair inlaid with precious stones or gold, emitting a faint glow. This throne is extremely large, and a big man will become a dwarf when he sits on it, which shows that this is not an extraordinary human size. There was no one in the seat, only darkness.

There are seven steps of red-veined marble steps in front of the throne. The little girl climbed the steps alone, which were wide and high, and she had to step on one step with both feet before she could climb another. She stopped when she reached the fourth, which was just the middle of the seven, and on top of it stood a large chunk of wood opposite the throne, the top of which was hollowed out. The little girl knelt down on her knees, bowed her head slightly, put her head behind the top hole, and knelt still.

A figure suddenly stepped out of the darkness on the right side of the throne, striding towards the steps where the little girl knelt quietly

。 He wears a white mask, a tunic white woollen robe, and wields a shining steel sword five feet long. He didn't speak, he didn't hesitate, and immediately put his sword together and swung it above the little girl's neck. The drums paused.

As the blade reached its highest point, a black-clad figure leapt out from the left side of the throne and leaped down the stairs, blocking the priest's sword-wielding arms with its thinner arms. The blade of the longsword glittered in midair. The little girl's white nape is bare, and her black hair is parted from the nape of her neck in two strands. Two black and white figures, who are faceless and dancers, face each other for a moment above the little girl who is still on her knees.

There was silence all around. Then, the two figures leapt to the sides, climb back up the stairs, and disappear into the darkness behind the Great Throne. A priestess with a bowl stepped forward and poured the liquid from the bowl on the steps where the little girl knelt. In the dim light of the main hall, the stains appeared black.

The little girl stood up and struggled down four steps. When she had stood at the bottom of the steps, the two tall priestesses dressed her in black robes, pulled up her black hood, and put on her black cloak, and pushed her to turn to face the steps, the black stains, and the throne.

Ah, I dedicate this girl to the nameless of the ages. Indeed, this girl was born of an unknown person. Please accept the life and years of this girl's life, as they belong to the unknown person. Please inspect for approval. Please let her be eaten!

The same high-pitched and shrill voice as the trumpet responded: She is devoured! She's eaten up!

The little girl stared at the throne from her black hood. The jewels set in the arms of the huge claw-carved chairs are dusty; The back of the carved chair has spider knots and owl dung. The three higher steps directly in front of the throne, above where she had just knelt, had never been trodden on by mortal feet, and the dust and sand of the past few years were as thick as a layer of ash, which had not been stirred and untouched for years, even centuries, completely obscured the red-veined marble surface.

She's eaten up! She's eaten up!

At this moment, the drum beat suddenly beat again, and the rhythm accelerated.

The procession at the throne steps slowly turned away, silently walking east towards the bright portico in the distance. On both sides, the thick double hundred pillars that resemble the calves of giant beasts stretch up to the dark part of the ceiling. The little girl was sandwiched between the group of priestesses, who were also dressed in black robes, and her little feet solemnly stepped over the frosty weeds and cold stone slabs. The sunlight slanted through the broken roof, illuminating the walkway in front of her, but she didn't look up.

The guards opened the door of the temple, and the black-pressed procession rushed out, stepping into the thin morning light and cool breeze. The dazzling first sun hovered over the vast expanse of wilderness to the east, casting a golden glow on the rolling peaks and the façade of the throne hall on the west. The buildings on the same hillside as the throne hall are still shrouded in purple-blue shadows due to their low position, except for the twin brothers' twin shrines on the small round hill opposite the mountain road, which is shining brightly because the roof of the temple is newly painted with gold and is reflecting the sunlight. The black procession of four priestesses descended the ramp of the mausoleum's hills, chanting softly as they went. Their chanting has only three notes, and it is repeated repeatedly, and the recitation has long since lost its meaning because of its age; It's like the road is gone, but the road signs are still there. They chanted empty words over and over again, and the whole day of the First Priestess Re-Ceremony was filled with the low singing of female voices and the dry hum of chanting.

The little girl was led from room to room, temple to temple. In one place, someone put salt on her tongue; In another place she knelt facing west, and her long hair was cut short, washed with ointment, and sprinkled with vinegar; In another place, she lay face down on a large black marble slab behind an altar, listening to the high voices singing an elegy. She and all the priestesses had not eaten or eaten for the whole day, and there was not a drop of water. When the evening star lit up, the little girl was settled**, her whole body**, wrapped in only a few sheepskin blankets. She had never slept in this room. The room was in a house that had been locked for many years and was unlocked on the day of the ceremony; The houses are high, longitudinally narrow, without half a window, and there is a stagnate and stale smell of death. The priestesses did not say a word, and left her alone in the dark room.

After the little girl was placed, she lay still as she was, never changing her position. Her eyes widened, and she lay like this for a long time

She saw the light and shadow of the high wall flickering, and someone crept down the hallway, holding a candle of rush, the light of which was at most like the fluorescence of a firefly. Then she heard a hoarse whisper: Oh, where are you, Tianna?

The little girl did not answer.

A head poked in through the doorway. a strange head, hairless, and looked like a peeled potato, and the color was pale yellow like that of a peeled potato; The eyes are like the sprouts of a potato, small, earthy brown; The nose is sandwiched between two large, flat cheeks and appears very small; The mouth is like a slit without lips. The little girl stared at the face motionlessly, her big dark eyes still motionless.

Oh, Tianna, my little darling, I finally found you! The voice is hoarse, and although the pitch is like that of a woman's voice, it is not a woman's voice. I shouldn't have come here, I'd have to walk to the doorway at most, but I'll have to see how my little Tiena is doing after this long day. Oh, is my poor little darling okay?

His burly figure quietly moved towards the little girl, reaching out his hand as he went, as if to comb the girl's hair.

I'm not Tina anymore. The little girl said, still glaring at him. His hand stopped halfway through, not touching the girl.

I know, I know! He said. After a while, he whispered, "I know." Now you are the little eaten. But I ......

She didn't say anything.

It's been a hard day for a child. As he spoke, the man paced around the room, and the candle flame in his large pale yellow hand flickered.

Manan, you shouldn't have come into this house.

Yes, yes, I know. I shouldn't have come into this house. Hmm, good night, little ...... Good night.

The little girl didn't say anything. Manan slowly turned to leave, and the candlelight on the high wall faded. The little girl, who no longer had a name, but was called Aerha the Eater, lay alone on her back and stared into the darkness.

Chapter 2 The Wall

As the little girl grows older, she gradually loses the memory of her mother and does not know it. She deserves to be here, in this mausoleum; She's always been here. It was only in the long evening of July, when she looked at the dried lion yellow of the mountain peaks on the west side in the sunset, that she occasionally remembered that a long time ago the same yellow glow of a fireplace had taken on the same yellow light. When she thought of it, she would always recall the moment when she was embraced, it was a strange feeling, she was rarely touched here. She also remembered a pleasant scent, the scent of her washed hair that had been lubricated with water from the leaves of the seaweed, and that the hair in her memory was very long, and the color of the hair was the same as that of the sunset and the flame of the furnace. That's all she remembers.

Of course, she knew more than she remembered, because the whole story was told to her. When she was seven or eight years old, she began to wonder who this man named Aerha was, and she ran to her caretaker, Manan, and said, "Manan, tell me how I was chosen."

Oh, little man, you already knew what was going on.

She does know. The tall, hard-voiced priestess Sar had told her many times that she had memorized it so much that she had now recited the following: Yes, I know. The first priestess of the Etuan Mausoleum passed away, and the funeral and purification ceremonies were held within one month of the lunar calendar time. After that, several specific priestesses and stewards at the site of the mausoleum traveled across the desert to visit the villages and towns of Etuan Island. They were looking for the baby girl who was born on the night of the death of the first priestess. Once found, they take the time to observe that the baby girl must be physically and mentally sound and must not grow up to suffer from clumsiness, smallpox, or any other disease that can be crippled or blind. Until the age of five, if it remains flawless, it means that the child's body is indeed the new body of the deceased priestess. They would report the results to the god-king who was resident in Avabas, and then they would bring the child back to her temple where they would be taught for a year. At the end of the year, the child is taken to the throne house, when her name is returned to her mothers, the nameless ones, for the little girl is the living nameless and the reincarnated priestess

That's what Sara told her, word for word, but she never dared to ask. The thin priestess was not cruel and ruthless, but very cold, and strictly obeyed the rules in her every move, and Ahar was afraid of her. But Alha was not afraid of Manan, not at all, she would even command him: Now tell me how I was chosen! He'll tell her again.

We left here on the third day after the moon's return to visit the north and west, for the late Alha had died on the third day of the previous moon's return. Our first stop was Tenakbal, a big city, and although some say that Tenakhba is like a flea to a bull than Avabas, it is big enough for me that there must be a thousand houses in that city! Then we went to Garr. But neither city had a baby girl born on the third day of the previous moon's return. Boys do, but boys can't...... So we turned to the mountain towns north of Garr, which is my own hometown. I was born in the mountains over there, where the rivers and rivers flowed and the land was green, unlike the desert here. When Manan said this, there would always be more strange tones in his hoarse voice, and a pair of small eyes would all be hidden in his eyelids; After a pause, he continued: "That's it, let's find the home of the newborn baby the previous month and talk to the baby's parents. Some people will lie and say: yes, our girl was indeed born on the third day of the moon's return last month! You know that poor countrymen are usually happy to give away baby girls. But some of them live in a humble house in the mountains and valleys, never counting the days and not paying much attention to the time of the moon's recess, so they can't be sure how old their baby girl is. In this case, as long as we ask long enough, we can always ask for the truth, but it just takes time. Finally, we found a baby girl in the Valley of Orchards, a small village of 10 families, west of Entat. She was eight months old at the time, and we happened to be out for about that long as well. The baby girl was born at the same time that the priestess of the tomb had died. She was a healthy baby girl, and she sat on her mother's lap with bright eyes on us all as we crowded into the one-room hut like a colony of bats into a nest. The baby's father was a poor man who lived by tending to the apple trees in the rich man's orchard, and had nothing but five children and a sheep, not even a house. We were all huddled in the hut, and from the way the priestesses looked at the baby girls and the way they whispered to each other, it was clear that they thought they had found a reincarnated priestess. The mother of the baby girl could also see that she held the baby tightly and never said a word. Well, that's it, we'll go back to the house the next day. But, oh my God! The little baby with bright eyes was lying in the little ** made of rush grass and crying, and his whole body was covered with scars and rashes caused by fever. The mother cried more fiercely than the baby: Ah! Oh! My babe committed witch fingers! That's what she said, meaning she was infected with smallpox. In our hometown, smallpox is also called witch's finger. However, Ke Xiu, who is currently the High Priestess of the God King, walked to Xiao ** and picked up the baby. The rest took a few steps back, and so did I. I don't think much of my life, but who would walk into a house where someone has smallpox? But Ke Xiu was not afraid at all, at least not that time. She picked up the baby girl and said, "She has no fever." Then, she spat on her fingers and began to rub the red spots on the baby's body, and the red spots fell off when they were just berry juice. That poor stupid mother actually tried to deceive us and save the child! At this, Manan burst out laughing. His yellow face barely changed, but his belly heaved. Her husband, fearing that the priestess would be angry, beat her severely. It wasn't long before we were back in the desert, but every year from the mausoleum we sent a man back to the little village that surrounded the apple orchards to see how the children were growing. Five years later, Shar and Kexiu went in person, accompanied by temple guards and red-armored soldiers sent by the god king. The group brought the child here, because she was indeed the reincarnation of the priestess of the tomb guard, and she belonged here. Villain, you say, who is that kid, eh?

It's me. As she spoke, her eyes looked into the distance, as if trying to see something she couldn't see and wasn't in her field of vision.

At one point she asked: When they went to take the child, what ...... How did the mother react?

But Manan didn't know, because he didn't go with him that last time.

Even she doesn't remember it herself. Even if you remember, what's the benefit? It's in the past, it's all in the past. She has come to this place where she must be. In the vastness of the world, she only knew one place: the location of the Etuan Mausoleum.