Is it really an illusion?
The voice of doubt whispered in Hert’s mind. He felt like he had forgotten sothing, and quickly, like a dream, Hert forgot how he arrived here and all that had happened before.
The slaughter on the Paradise, the deal with the Devil, all of this dissipated from Hert’s mind like a movie being cut, shifting him from one scene to another.
At first, Hert was a bit confused, his consciousness filled with an unreal feeling, but when the girl weakly let out a wail, the wail shattered all of Hert’s wandering thoughts.
Hert seed to beco soone else... no, he beca the self he once was.
"Emily, how are you?"
Hert was worried about the girl, anxiety and panic spreading and expanding in his heart. He forgot all disputes, only wanting to find a way for the two of them to escape this predicant.
In that fierce sea battle, Hert destroyed the majority of the pirates, sinking their ships one by one, but his own large ship also irretrievably sank. He sent a distress signal to the People of the Tide and boarded a lifeboat. Now they have been drifting at sea for the third day, both resources and ntal state becoming precarious.
Emily didn’t speak. She just looked at Hert tiredly, the young girl struggling hard through such punishnt, even with her mother’s protection.
The woman held the girl in her arms. She could no longer cry; even the sadness on her face had beco numb. The woman didn’t look at Hert, just hung her head low, longingly watching the girl’s face, not willing to miss any mont.
Hert was silent in the face of the boundless sea, the Extraordinary Power becoming aningless. He couldn’t save anyone, not even himself. All he could do was hope for the rescue team from the People of the Tide.
Night fell, and after the tornt of heat ca the invasion of the cold wind. The girl’s forehead began to burn, like a fiery furnace.
The woman could only keep caressing the girl’s forehead for comfort; there was nothing else she could do. In the silence of the long night, she spoke with a venomous voice.
"I hate you, Hert."
Hert stared numbly at the starry sky, as if escaping from it all, acting like he couldn’t hear anything.
"That damned tradition, that damned duty... you know she doesn’t belong at sea."
"I thought I could protect her."
"Did you do that!"
The woman’s rebuke left Hert silent, and after a long mont, her sobbing voice erged from the darkness.
She said, "I’m sorry, Hert, I’m just a little..."
"It’s nothing," Hert shook his head expressionlessly, "It’s nothing."
In the distance, a bright light rose from the sea, like a Giant Sword cutting through the darkness. It swept across the dark sea surface, soon locking onto the lifeboat with the sound of resonant whistles, as if the ship was celebrating. They had found Hert.
Suddenly, the world froze, and the ship stalled in the distance, unable to advance.
The sea solidified, and a graceful silhouette stepped forward, standing in the darkness behind Hert. Hert felt sothing stroking his cheek, like the gentle fold of a skirt.
"I know what’s going to happen next..."
At that mont, the lost mories returned to Hert’s mind. He recalled the causes and effects, calmly recounting them.
"We were rescued, but after this incident, Emily beca ill. She was always coughing and unable to walk. She took Emily away from , returned to live inland, and swore she would never co near the sea again, along with Emily."
"Is that really so?" the woman asked with a smile, "Haven’t you realized? That woman nad Lula affected your mory."
"Wha... what are you saying?"
"I’m saying, is your mory real? Or is it embellished, a false beauty?"
The woman’s voice sounded close to his ear, so close that Hert could feel the warm breath caressing the fluff on his cheek.
The light from the distant ship vanished, and all around returned to pitch black. The woman raised her hand, as if touching the sky, then waved her arm and spun the heavens.
The cycle of day and night accelerated, the light and dark quickly intertwined under Hert’s gaze. Each overlap marked the disappearance of a day and night, and at the sa ti, the woman and the girl before him grew increasingly withered under the alternation of day and night.
Their bodies lost moisture, their skin sunburned, becoming as dry as bark, their bodies curled together like maggots in a fiery blaze.
"No... no, no, no!"
Hert wanted to stop it all, but when he reached out his hand, he realized that his own hands were also bloodied in this endless tornt.
He cautiously embraced the two bodies covered in dust and skin fragnts, fearing that any slight movent would break them. Hert continuously called out their nas, praying for a response, but they had long closed their eyes and made no sound.
They were gone now, lying in Hert’s arms only their forr shells, corpses covered in dust.
"Speak up, Hert," the woman hugged Hert’s head from behind, gently stroking his cheek, "Reveal the truth of the story that Lula hid."
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