The flames of the bonfire burned increasingly bright under the deserted night sky.
Because what was being kindled within it was love.
Liu Zhenhan and the little fox nestled together next to the heap of fire, gazing at the vast horizon where stars were flickering.
"All of this feels like a dream..." Liu Zhenhan said.
"Yes..." the little fox said, "It is a beautiful dream from which I do not wish to wake."
"What is your name?" Liu Zhenhan removed the feather dress from himself, draping it over the little fox's tender shoulder, her small body slightly shivering from the cold night wind.
"I can't keep calling you little fox forever, can I?" Liu Zhenhan felt that the name didn't sound right.
"My name is Helen Lina." The little fox stated a beautiful, dazzling name with a smile.
"My name is..." Liu Da Guanren's words were cut off mid-sentence by a pair of slender and attractive hands covering his mouth.
"I want to call you Richard." Said Helen, the little fox.
"Why?" Liu Zhenhan wondered how his surname had changed so suddenly.
"Because I am a Priestess of the Altar, serving the War God Kampas. Each female priestess belongs to the War God and we are required to dedicate our lives to him. The War God guides the priestess to her spouse, and prophesizes his name ahead of time." Helen's large, deep blue eyes—resembling an azure ocean—were fixated on Liu Zhenhan as she explained, "From the day I became a priestess of the altar, the wisdom of the War God informed me that the name of my future husband should be Richard."
Liu Zhenhan shuddered all over, almost losing himself in the revelation.
"Richard..." Liu Zhenhan tried to maintain a calm demeanor but couldn't suppress his excited emotions.
"The name sounds a bit awkward, but it's quite nice." Liu Zhenhan scratched his head, "I'm still a bit confused about what a priestess is? What do you mean by a War God Kampas... and also, why could I understand your language after hearing you sing a song? And..."
"That is the mysterious power of the War Song of the gods. The wisdom of the War God can create countless miracles. Each Priestess possesses the ability of 'wisdom enlightenment,' which can allow those who have never listened to the War God's song to comprehend our language and knowledge after listening to the hymn." The fox reached out, touching Liu Zhenhan's face as she spoke in a low voice, "I speak many languages, but I could never understand yours, so I used my single use of the Bimon War Song on you. Initially, 'wisdom enlightenment' could only be used by a Priestess when instructing her disciples. I was not yet qualified to be a teacher, but I used it anyway. All praise to the War God, I didn't expect it to be effective."
"That miraculous?" Liu Zhenhan rolled his eyes in disbelief.
"Tell me, Richard…" Helen looked directly at Liu Zhenhan's face, "Where are you from?"
"I..." Liu Zhenhan was stunned—he couldn't figure out where he came from, and didn't even know where to begin.
"When I saw you for the first time, I thought you were one of my kind." Helen whispered.
"Oh?" Liu Zhenhan touched himself, thinking, "But I don't have a fox tail like yours."
"Listen as I tell you our story, it's a long one." Helen snuggled closer to Liu Zhenhan and tightened the feather dress around her.
"My hometown is in the Donau Wasteland of the beautiful Aegean Continent. From this small island where we are now, it's a month's journey by boat to the south. Go through a narrow strait and then head west for another half a month, and you will reach my homeland."
"Does your family do maritime business?" Liu Zhenhan asked, perplexed, "That day on the ship that was wrecked by the storm, I found not only you in the wooden boxes, but also several other girls who looked like you. However, they all…"
With tear-filled eyes and her shoulders shaking, Helen listened.
"What's wrong?" Liu Zhenhan asked, stroking her shoulder with concern.
"My family is not involved in business. I and my sisters were captured by the shameless human robbers and taken aboard their ship. They planned on selling us into the human world!" Helen's face filled with unbearable grief and indignation, even her vivid red hair appeared to be trembling with anger.
"Humans? Shameless human robbers?" The more Liu Zhenhan listened, the more confused he became.
"On the Aegean Continent, not only the Orcs exist as a tribe, there are also humans, dwarves, elves, and several other different races. The humans are the most intelligent and their growth and expansion is the most rapid. The Orcs were once the most prosperous tribe on the Aegean Continent, but after the Battle of Mount Hyjal a thousand years ago, they were defeated by the human coalition and retreated to the deserted Donau Wasteland."
"Orcs?" Liu Zhenhan paused a while, "Helen, are you implying that your hometown, all your fellow tribesmen and relatives, are evolved from different wild animals... evolution... yes, evolution of people?"
"Yes." Helen replied with a hint of pride, "I am proud of my bloodline."
Liu Zhenhan swallowed hard. He suddenly didn't know what to say. His tongue was numb and his mind felt like a bowl of mush.
"Does it sound strange?" Helen looked up at Liu Zhenhan's stunned face, "Actually, humans were once part of our Orc tribe. They evolved from the Mank Tribe, a monkey tribe of the Beamon Beastmen, but now they follow a heretical cult and pride themselves as the descendants of gods, no longer acknowledging this aspect of their history. In addition, since the Battle of Mount Hyjal a thousand years ago, our Beamon Beastman Kingdom has declined. Many of the unknown historical events have been buried, and even many of the Beamon Beastmen are unaware of this history."