A full moon hung high in the night sky, and the gray clouds like smoke and mist gently caressed it, as if it had put a veil of mystery on it. Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info under the full moon, the towering spire seemed to pierce the black sky, a strange and desolate eagle chirp pierced the night sky, and a black eagle shadow appeared above the spire.

"The Bone Eagle has returned, and the kid has escaped again. An ethereal voice rang out in the hall, calm enough to make any waves, as if it were merely stating a well-known fact.

At the foot of the steps, a figure wrapped in a black cloak immediately knelt down, and from his trembling body, it could be seen how frightened he was now.

"Dear King, I beg you to give me one last chance. ”

"With the body of an ordinary human being, ruling the God-given Republic and ruling tens of millions of people, what other opportunity do you want?"

The body under the cloak trembled even more, and he threw his whole body prostrate on the ground.

"Everything under his subordinates comes from the king, and his subordinates are willing to die for the king!"

The hall fell silent as death, and it was a long time before the ethereal voice sounded again: "The imprisoned darkness will be released, and our revelry will soon come, do not let it become illusory." Go, find him, kill him!"

"Yes, your honorable king, your subordinates will not be dishonored. The creeping figure stood up as if it had collapsed, and he reverently looked at the darkness above the steps. In the darkness, two sharp and intimidating eyes suddenly appeared. But as if he had expected it, he slowly stretched out his arm, revealing his slightly thin skin.

Silently, a sleek, featherless, pitch-black strange bird glides out of the darkness, locking his arm with its spiky claws. The strange bird's eyes were full of greed and excitement, and it suddenly hissed twice with joy, revealing its jagged teeth, and the next moment it bit down the bulging veins of its wizened arm. In just a moment, its smooth, featherless skin swelled.

The figure in the black cloak snorted, as if holding back endless pain. Until the strange bird let out a comfortable hiss and disappeared into the darkness again. He slowly withdrew his arms, bent his humble body again against the darkness, and said reverently and firmly:

"It is for the king to take back the child's head. ”

No sound came from the black hall, and he bowed slowly and retreated. The heavy doors of the temple slowly closed.

The light veil was gone, and he looked up at the bright full moon, his pale face was bloodless: "That child, where is he?"

......

The southeastern region of the God-given Republic is the remnant of the Yin Mountains, close to the northern defense line of the Human Empire. The climate is warm and humid, and there are countless small southern tribes living in the mountains. These tribes are collectively referred to as the "Southern Tribes" by the Senate of the God-given Republic, and are important food producers of the God-given Republic.

At this time, on the edge of a small tribe with a population of less than a thousand, a little boy walked along a clear stream towards the tribe.

"The little beggar is here again, everyone, let's fight!"

Immediately, countless hard stones, tiles, and rotten fruits flew in unison, and all of them smashed on a little boy who looked like he was seven or eight years old.

"Hahaha, look at his stupid ......" A group of children of all sizes came up from all around laughing, and a little fat man in the lead was still dragging a wooden stick in his hand, swaying three times, and looking at the boy who was ruined and dirty.

The boy, who was called the little beggar, wiped the debris from his head with all his might, clenched his fists tightly, and stared at the little fat man as if he was going to rush up for a mortal fight in the next moment. However, he didn't do it after all, and slowly let go of his fist.

A fist slammed into the bridge of his nose and another kicked him in the stomach, and the little boy, who had given up his resistance, fell the edge of the stream.

"Hit!" the little fat man gave an order, and suddenly, as if he had a deep hatred, more than a dozen little boys punched and kicked together, they were so excited that they got carried away, and the pleasure brought by the beating quickly conquered their nerves. Soon, the little boy's white-washed clothes were covered with footprints, and he would twitch with each heavy blow.

The little fat man in the lead suddenly grabbed the little boy's shirt and said viciously: "Little beggar, you'd better stay away from our tribe, stay away from Xiao Jin, and your ghost-like father, it's best to get out of here." You are not welcome. ”

Listening to the little fat man insulting his stepfather, the little boy opened his eyes with difficulty, a hint of ridicule appeared at the corner of his mouth, and he spit a mouthful of phlegm on the little fat man's face.

The little fat man's face suddenly became hideous, his eyes were full of fanatical red, and he directly grabbed an angular and fist-sized stone and was about to smash it into the little boy's head. If this one is smashed, the little boy may even die because of it.

"Huzi, stop!" a crunchy voice shouted.

The little fat man raised his head, saw the appearance of the little girl rushing in the distance, his face couldn't help but turn white, and he quickly hid the stone behind him and secretly threw it into the stream.

No one noticed that just now, the little boy who was beaten had turned around and inserted a sharp ice thorn in his palm deep into the soil under him, and this ice thorn was already aimed at the little fat man's heart, as long as the stone really fell, this ice thorn would definitely be inserted into the other party's heart in advance. The little fat man didn't know that he had just escaped death, and slowly stood up.

"Xiao Jin, why are you here?" the little fat man said abruptly.

"Huzi, you are so bold, you dare to bully Ah Heng behind my back?" Xiao Jin said coldly.

"He's just a little beggar, a shameless little beggar, and if he hits, what can he do—" The little fat man said loudly with a tense face and a red neck.

This girl named Xiao Jin didn't hear it, and came directly to the little boy's side, looking at his blue nose and swollen face, she felt a pain in her heart for no reason, she glared at the little fat man: "Get out!" Abba is right, Huzi and his aunt are the same, they are both snobs.

The little fat man's face changed when he heard this, and his chest rose and fell with anger, but he didn't dare to step forward, so he only said loudly: "When my father comes back from the battle, I want you to look good!" After speaking, he ran away with a group of boys.

"These bastards, why did you hurt you like this!" Xiao Jin hugged Ah Heng's head, only to see that the big bright eyes were so swollen that only a thin slit remained, and the bridge of his nose was also red.

The little boy named Ah Heng spread his hands, pulled the corners of his mouth and smiled, but he got up from the ground without paying attention, walked to the stream by himself, picked up a handful of water and rubbed it vigorously on his face.

"Ah Heng, why don't you fight back? I can't protect you all the time!" the little girl felt pity and complained.

"If you are bitten by a bunch of ants, do you have to bite back? It's just a bunch of little kids, and I don't know anything like them. Ah Heng pursed his lips and said disdainfully, his breath was so loud that it was as if he was not being bullied at all just now.

"Just bragging!" Xiao Jin sneered.

Ah Heng smiled slightly, but did not explain. When he stood up from the stream again, the terrible scars on his face were all gone, his fair skin, his bright and slightly mischievous eyes, his high nose, and a handsome little boy appeared in the sun, if it weren't for the footprints and the hair like a chicken nest, no one could have connected him with the cowardly little boy just now.

Looking at Ah Heng, who suddenly changed his appearance, Xiao Jin's eyes lit up, but he didn't express more surprise, it seemed that he had long been accustomed to this kind of magic-like technique. She pointed to the tall pile of rice in the distance. The little boy nodded, took the little girl's hand and climbed up the golden grain pile together, and sat down quietly facing the sunset. They watched the gold-rimmed clouds hanging on the rolling hills in the distance, and their eyes were full of imagination of the distant world.

"I don't like autumn, there is nothing in the ice field, there are no beautiful flowers, no green grass, no colorful butterflies-" The little girl pouted, sat on the grain pile with her bare feet, and kicked the little boy next to her again and again.

Don't you like it? Ah Heng pursed his lips and smiled and opened his arms at the fiery sunset, what a beautiful view. The golden rice is piled up like a hill, this year is another bumper harvest year, the surplus grain can be used to make many cakes, when he thinks of the sweet rice cake, his beautiful eyes are about to turn into rice cakes.

"You close your eyes", Ah Heng suddenly pursed his lips and smiled, and said mysteriously.

"Why?" said the little girl curiously, but closed her eyes obediently. She wondered: What exactly is Ah Heng going to do?

"Alright, you can open your eyes now!" Ah Heng said.

The little girl slowly opened her eyes, and she saw the most beautiful scene in her life. A pair of crystal clear, lifelike, winged butterflies appear in front of you, the sun shines on the butterflies, refracting colorful light, like the most beautiful rainbow in the sky.

She looked at the little boy's flushed face and asked uncertainly, "Did you give it to me?"

"Hmm! for you!" Ah Heng nodded heavily.

"Thank you! The little girl took it carefully, and the cold feeling spread through her palm to her whole body, but her heart was warm. She suddenly leaned over to the little boy, pursed her lips and kissed him gently on the cheek.

"I'm going to name them, this butterfly, it's called Meimei Xiaojin! This one, it's called stupid Ah Heng, okay?" The little girl's eyes flashed with excitement and mischievousness.

Ah Heng nodded, suddenly laughed embarrassedly, and then looked forward to it: "Xiao Jin, can you make more rice cakes for your father this year?

"I know you're a big glutton, but I heard Abba say that there is a war going on in the west this year, and the grain collector may take away a lot of grain. But don't worry, I'll beg Abba, at most, I won't eat my rice cakes, I'll give it all to you!"

The little girl's father is the best rice cake chef in the tribe and is also the patriarch of this small ice tribe.

"Oh, the butterflies are starting to melt! Look, they're all turning into water. The little girl suddenly said with tears in her voice.

"It doesn't matter, I can conjure it up for you as long as you want. “

The little boy simulated the palm of his hand in the shape of a pair of butterflies, and then, countless water vapor was produced in the transparent air, which lingered around his fingertips, and gradually condensed into crystal clear ice, and a pair of ice butterflies with wings about to fly appeared in front of the little girl.

"Wow, really, Ah Heng, you-" The little girl was speechless in surprise, "Are you-Protoss?"

"Protoss?"

"You are a divine art, except for the Protoss, no one understands the divine arts?Ah Heng, you must be the Protoss!" The little girl became more and more affirmative, and she suddenly became very excited, "I actually saw the Protoss, Abba said, the Protoss all live in their own temples, and the world can't see them at all." However, our tribes south of Yinshan Mountain do not have temples, and the tribes to the north have their own temples. ”

"And what kind of god am I?" the little boy grinned, "and I only recently discovered that I have such abilities. As he spoke, another ice spike condensed from his palm.

"I don't know what the Protoss are, maybe Abba will know! But Aheng, now that you know that you are a Protoss, will you go back to your temple? Then I will never see you again. ”

"I don't want to be a god, so don't tell you Abba, okay? This is our secret, no one will tell us, so we don't have to separate!"

"Hmm!" the little girl nodded heavily.

"Okay, I'm going back, or my father-in-law will scold me. The little boy jumped off the pile and waved at the girl.

"I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow. The little girl shouted.

.......

The little boy named Ah Heng walked slowly back along the mountain stream. Two years ago, in the autumn, he followed his stepfather along this stream to this small tribe in the middle of nowhere.

Two years ago——·

He lay on his father-in-law's back, crossed thousands of mountains and rivers, and finally entered the mountain range southeast of Yin Mountain. On his father-in-law's thin and stiff back, he has seen beautiful scenery far beyond ordinary people, and he has also seen bloody facts far beyond the imagination of the world. But no one has ever been able to hurt his father-in-law by stepping over his shoulder, because his father's name is Moon Shadowless. From the time he was sensible, he knew that the name stood for invincibility, death and legend.

Until one day, they came out of a gloomy col and saw a picture that was beautiful before. At dusk, the fields are crisscrossed, stone houses are scattered in the middle of the fields, cooking smoke rises, there are faint bursts of barking dogs, and the occasional sound of children playing, this is a small tribe that is so calm that it is not contaminated with dust.

Looking at this beautiful scenery that suddenly appeared, Ah Heng's cold heart also warmed, and he wanted to get close to it and touch it very much. But for a moment, his bright eyes dimmed. Ah Heng said bitterly: "Father-in-law, let's leave!"

He feared that the calamities that followed him would destroy the beauty in front of him, and he was even more afraid that when the veil of beauty was lifted, all that would be revealed was cold hostility to himself. He had experienced this too many times.

However, Yue Wuying shook his head: "No, let's stay here. Yue Wuying looked at the gloomy col behind him and put Ah Heng off his back. He held Ah Heng's immature shoulder, stared at his eyes and said word by word: "People can't keep retreating, otherwise one day there will be no retreat." A shadowless transparent long sword suddenly appeared in the hand of the moon shadowless.

"Are those people chasing after you?" asked Ah Heng calmly.

Yue Wuying shook his head, just a slight stab in the air. Immediately, in the gloomy col, a strange bear with two heads that exuded black dead air suddenly jumped out, its eyes glowing red, like lava underground, and it silently opened its two huge mouths, and kept dripping black saliva and burning the stones on the ground. The bear had been pierced in the chest, and a heart could be seen burning in it, but it seemed to be unaware of it, and still rushed forward.

It turned out to be just a fish from the land of the dead, not the one who pursued them. Ah Heng breathed a sigh of relief, although he was only four years old, he had a strength far beyond that of children of the same age, he looked at the strange bear calmly, knowing that the fate of the other party was doomed. A flash of sword light flashed, and both of the bear's heads tumbled to the ground, and countless scorching plasma erupted, and the surrounding trees were all reduced to ashes. However, having lost its head, it was still struggling to crawl upwards.

"Take it, pierce its heart. Yue Wuying handed the transparent long sword in his hand to Ah Heng.

The sword was very light, Ah Heng was only slightly stunned, then he clenched the transparent long sword in his hand, and firmly walked towards the strange bear that crawled over, he was barefoot, stepping on the blood that could burn through the rocks, and he didn't realize anything. As if sensing Ah Heng's arrival, the monster bear that lost its head trembled all over its body, as if it had encountered an extremely terrifying natural enemy, it unconsciously waved its giant palm towards Ah Heng, Ah Heng was startled, took a few steps back, and turned his head to look at Yue Wuying.

"Kill it!" said Tsuki-Wuying, nonchalantly.

Ah Heng gritted his teeth and stared at the hollow neck of one of the missing heads, and he could vaguely see a huge heart beating. Ah Heng grabbed the long sword and stabbed it fiercely into the heart, and a flame rose. Immediately, the whole body of the strange bear shook violently, and all the flesh and blood instantly turned into flying ashes, leaving only a swarthy fur lying flat on the ground. Calm returned to the surroundings, as if nothing had happened.

"Father-in-law, is there no one to stop these monsters from the Land of the Dead?" Ah Heng asked with a frown as he looked at the bearskin.

"The ice has fallen, the world is in turmoil, and power has lost people's hearts. Who can remember to go to the Far North to guard the land of the dead?"

Ah Heng didn't understand what his father-in-law said, so he had to pray silently: "I hope this is the last one!"

......

The next morning, when the first rays of sunlight shone into the valley, the early risers of the tribe stood at the edge of the field, and were surprised to find that on the hillside not far away, a few wooden houses had been erected out of thin air, and a little boy with big eyes sat on the threshold, looking curiously this way. That night, they didn't even hear the slightest movement, not even the dogs.

In everyone's mind, this is nothing short of a miracle. The big guys were muttering at the edge of the field, not daring to go over. In the end, at the urging of the clansmen, the tribal patriarch Hulan Yong took a few descendants and decided to take a look.

The houses built on the sloping land were sturdy and did not interfere with the tribe's crops. When Hulan Yong passed, he saw a silent man with his head bowed pounding a strange animal skin, although this man's clothes were down, his hands were white and slender, and he did not look like a farmer doing rough work at all. But his hands were stronger than those of the tribe's croppers, and the sturdy skin was torn in half like a piece of paper. A little boy with big eyes next to him sat on the threshold and looked at Hu Lanyong curiously. The boy's eyes were black and spotless, and although his clothes were tattered, his hands were also very, very clean. Hu Lanyong could see that although the father and son looked down, they still tried to maintain their self-esteem and pride.

At this moment, the silent man handed the half-torn hide to the little boy. The little boy immediately stood up and respectfully sent the animal skin in his hand to Hulan Yong, his eyes full of anticipation.

Hu Lanyong looked at the little boy's simple and shabby clothes and his eyes that were as few as morning stars, and couldn't help but feel a sense of pity. He understood what the other party meant, so he only hesitated a little and agreed to the father and son's request to stay here. Hu Lanyong smiled and took the half of the animal skin, the animal skin was soft and gentle to the hand, and it was indeed a piece of high-quality fur.

"If you need help, go over there and find me," Hulan Yong said gently. With that, he left. Soon he turned around again, this time bringing with him a basket of snow-white rice cakes. He was accompanied by a little girl with pigtails and eyes as pure as the blue waters of a lake.

"My name is Hulan Jin", the little girl said as she took Ah Heng's hand.

"I ...... My name is Ah Heng!" Ah Heng was a little at a loss, and his face turned red instantly.

Hu Lanyong looked at the two children holding hands and smiled knowingly. This is indeed a very good little boy. Hulan Yong couldn't help but think of a sentence from the mouth of a protoss preacher many years ago, he said: "A chance encounter is destined to be the fate of a lifetime. The purpose of that Protoss preacher was to sow the power of faith, but Hu Lanyong felt that this sentence also applied to any pure and beautiful emotion.

In this way, Ah Heng and his stepfather stopped wandering on the edge of this small and remote tribe. It's been two years now.

......

Ah Heng thought about the past two years, and briskly returned to the wooden house along the stream, and he turned from each house, but he did not see the figure of his father-in-law. So, he came to the low rice tank, which was not much, and it was almost bottoming out. He laboriously lay on the rice bowl, took a bowl of rice, thought about it, and dialed back more than half with his small hand, leaving only a little bit. My father-in-law often goes out for ten days and a half months, and this time I don't know how long it will take, and the rice has to be saved.

Ah Heng lit a fire and boiled porridge on the stone stove. The light of the fire reflected his young face, bright and dark, looking at the tribe in the distance, but only the crackling sound of burning firewood in his ears. Every time at this moment, Ah Heng felt that he was the only one left in this world, lonely surrounded him, and his heart was empty. He tried to recall the happy past, but found that those happy things could not fill his heart, and he was still empty and uncomfortable. Perhaps, when you are alone, happy memories will only make you more lonely.

He looked at the horizon, the gold-rimmed clouds had dimmed, the sunset on the horizon had finally taken away the last trace of its warmth, and the little wooden house was submerged in this real and cold dark world, what tomorrow would be, who could know?

Perhaps life is like what my stepfather repeatedly told himself: live, endure, wait!