Amid the crisp and gentle sound of birdsong, Ian opened his eyes in a daze and sat up. He found himself asleep on the grass.

It was surrounded by a quiet grove, but it only took him a few seconds to recognize it. He was all too familiar with it - the grove outside the Imperial capital, Black Hawk, had always been a "secret base" for slum kids like Ian and Zach.

The grove is tucked away in a rolling valley surrounded by ancient trees. The ancient trees are covered with all kinds of shade-loving shrubs, and the canopy of the trees on their heads shades the sky and the sun, but this small woodland is suitable for human rest. But if you don't know the secret passage, let alone these children, even a seasoned hunter won't be able to set foot here.

Ian and the others also stumbled into a playful chase, and Andrew burrowed into a bush next to the mountain, only to find a low hole in it. The rocks around the cave are dry and hard, and the huge roots under the ancient trees on the mountainside are intertwined and form a passage.

They crawled along the passage with their hands and feet, and finally came to this small woodland. Since then, it has become a place for several of them to play and gather.

"Come on, Ian, see what I've found!" came Frynn's shout of delight not far away.

"It's coming!" Ian subconsciously responded, but he couldn't find Flynn's figure around. He ran a few steps to the east, but it didn't seem right, and he turned back and looked around, but didn't see any of his companions.

"Flynn, where are you?" he asked.

"Flynn—" Ian anxiously called out Flynn's name, but there was no response.

Suddenly, he felt something behind him and turned around.

Just five or six paces away, there was a girl sitting on her back with her back to her. Judging by the outfit, it should be Frynn.

"Ian ......" another familiar boy's voice sounded to Ian's right, calling out to him.

Ian turned his head to look, but it was a large, terrifying beast.

The beast resembled a demon wolf, but it was three or four times the size of an ordinary demon wolf, no, maybe five times the size? Ian looked in horror at the beast's huge body and thick limbs, and the gray-white wolf mane grew abruptly on the outside of the wolf's ears and leg joints, curled up, adding a furious look. Sword-sharp claws dug deep into the dirt.

Ian's gaze moved upwards to see that instead of a wolf's head, it was an upside-down, blood-stained human face attached to its neck—

"Andrew!" Ian exclaimed, recognizing the face.

"Ian, let's go!" was Andrew's weak voice.

"Andrew" was surrounded by a charred black, barely discernible in the form of a human figure. In his charred hand he held a tattered short sword, the blade of which was cracked and chipped in several places, and a pale green, lustless stone embedded in the end of the hilt.

It was Zack's dagger.

"Zach, Zack!" Ian couldn't be afraid of the human-faced beast, and pounced on the charcoal, his heart pounding.

The pale green stone was slanted with the initials of Zack's name, and the carbonized human body shattered at the touch of a touch.

"Ian, play with me! Look at this man, it's funny," Frien's cheerful voice came from the other side, "he has no head." ”

As Frynn's words fell, she turned slightly, holding the headless corpse of a child in her arms.

"Ahh

Ian jerked up from his rocking chair, gasping for air. The rocking chair was swaying from his violent movements.

It's this nightmare again. Ian felt a deep chill, and he didn't know if it was because of the sense of presence and fear brought about by the too realistic dream, or the sweat on his back and forehead.

The moment Ian woke up, several pale blue humanoid spirits dissipated around him.

This strange sight has been a nightmare since that incident. He was no stranger to the scene, although he could only catch a glimpse of the spirit at the moment he opened his eyes.

At first, he was scared half to death, thinking that it was the killer who was chasing and killing him, and he gathered around him while he was asleep, and when he saw more, he knew that it was not a human being, and he thought it was a soul wandering in the wilderness. But after half a month, he had gradually recognized the spirits that resembled the appearance of his dead companions.

Ian, believing it was the hallucinations of longing, fatigue, and hunger, or the souls of his companions, who came to follow him and accompany him.

The orphans in the slums don't believe in the gods.

For in their view, if there were gods, their situation should not be so miserable, their lives should not be so difficult, and if there were gods, they would also have schools to go to, books to read, soft bread and fragrant broth for three meals a day, warm and comfortable houses and beds, and loving parents, even brothers and sisters, relatives and friends.

There is obviously a goddess of love and a goddess of harvest among the twelve main gods, and there is no reason for their people to starve and freeze and lose their loved ones. And why are they, these slum people, the nobles, who live a carefree life?

All this needs to be explained by a reasonable reason, so they believe in fate more. It was fate that made them born in a poor environment, it was fate that made them homeless, and these circumstances that were not under their control were caused by fate. But fate also made them meet.

So, none of Ian's children believed in the Twelve Gods. But they have long been tormented by fate to learn the most basic disguises in this country. Otherwise, they would be branded pagans and sent to convents for "reform."

"Hmm...... Well, I've figured out both of them. Suddenly, the witch's voice came from aside—as if far away.

Ian turned his head around and looked around, only to realize that he was still in the witch's hut.

The stocky witch was still sitting on the high chair that was disproportionate to her height, dangling her little feet. It's just that on the table in front of her, I don't know when there was an ice-cube-like device.

"Only, there's only one thing I'm sure of, and the other I can only guess about — oh, about the deaths of your friends. The witch paused, and observed Ian's expression as if to make sure he could listen to her clearly.

Seeing that Ian was not abnormal, he continued: "The scenes in your nightmare should have happened before they died. ”

She snorted at the ice cube device, "I made this out of glass resin...... Uh, the lens - that's the name, seeing something deep in your dreams. ”

"Some of the things you see in your nightmares are real and some are not, and you should know best what is and what isn't. So young people, if you are crushed by fear, the nightmare will become more and more detached from reality. You don't want this last memory to be replaced by false fear, do you?" said Humpty Dumpty, squinting at Ian's face.

Ian knew that the witch's last memories were the last moments she had with her friends. Although the ending is tragic and terrifying, this memory is also irreplaceable and precious.

"No," he couldn't allow it to be ruined by his own weakness, "of course not." ”

The witch continued, "I have noticed that the woods you are in—nay, the entire valley, or even larger, are being struck by an abnormally powerful magical energy, something similar to psionic power but different, very ...... Huge amount of magic energy. Didn't you notice anything unusual before it happened?"

"Anomalous ......" Ian calmed down, gathered his thoughts, and began to carefully reflect on what had happened to them that day.