It didn't take long for the sand dunes to become flat. Soon Lito approached the entrance of the village.
A village isolated in the desert, like a ruin swallowed by sand. Its houses, walls, and towers were all made of sandstone, without any trace of wood. Under the sunlight, they showed a dark yellow luster, blending with the surrounding sand dunes. At the entrance of the village, there was only a leather sign with a few words carved on it with a knife - Adras.
Lito's eyes were attracted by the sight of the village. She looked at those houses built of sandstone and felt the vicissitudes and sadness they emitted. She seemed to hear the stones telling endless suffering and helplessness. She didn't know what had happened here, why the people here chose to live in such a desolate place. She didn't know how they endured the erosion of sand and faced the threat of death.
Just then, she heard the noise in the village. Those were some angry and fearful voices. They were saying something. Lito didn't understand what was going on, but she felt a sense of uneasiness. She saw a group of people rushing to the center of the village. Their expressions were very excited.
Someone passed by Lito and glanced at her clothes and showed a hint of surprise. He seemed curious about Lito's appearance, but he didn't say much because he cared more about what was happening in front of him. He quickened his pace and followed the crowd.
Lito seemed to suddenly understand something and no longer hesitated and followed the crowd forward. Her eyes scanned through the crowd looking for something. Her pace quickened and her heartbeat also sped up. She felt a force behind her pushing her and she couldn't stop. She looked around and found that the people around her became more and more dense as if the whole village had come out. Everyone's face had more or less a trace of depression.
Suddenly, a gust of hot wind blew and they seemed to have come to an open place. They dared not relax at all and dispersed nervously keeping a safe distance from each other because for these villagers if there was no big deal they would basically not gather in this square. Just then an old and majestic male voice echoed through the whole square making everyone hold their breath.
"Are you all here?" The old man's voice was like thunder shaking the whole square. As soon as his words fell some people in the crowd immediately responded to him but their voices sounded weak and respectful.
"Good! Do you see how dark the sky is?" The old man continued.
Lito looked up at the sky and it was indeed much darker than before but when she stood on the sand dune before she saw that there was a sandstorm that seemed to be coming this way
Lito slowly raised her head and the sky had become gloomy. She saw a hint of uneasiness in her eyes. She remembered that when she was on the sand dune before, there was a huge sandstorm coming this way at an amazing speed, so she knew what was going on.
The old man continued, "We need to unite again this time! The sandstorm is about to pass through our village!"
At this time, some people echoed incessantly, some looked around, some nodded in agreement, some sighed and complained. The scene looked like it was going to get out of control.
The old man coughed and the villagers immediately quieted down and listened breathlessly. The old man said to them in a calm tone: "The sandstorm is coming soon and we have to be prepared. Those who are powerless please go home immediately and close the doors and windows and don't come out to take risks. Those who are capable please follow the usual practice and go to the craftsman's shop to get or make large leather walls to resist the invasion of the sandstorm."
Most of the villagers seemed to respect the old man very much. As soon as he gave the order, the villagers dispersed leaving only Lito standing alone in the empty square. She felt her breathing became much easier as if she had absorbed all the oxygen around her.
She looked around and finally saw a huge circular square. The ground of the square was covered with fine sand grains that glittered under the sun. In the center of the square there was a stone platform towering high. On the stone platform stood an old man wearing a dark loose robe with a hood covering his gray hair.
He had three guards guarding him by his side. Their armor was worn out but they looked like they had never experienced any battle. The old man stood with his hands behind his back facing them and saying something.
Soon after that the soldiers also left. But Lito noticed that since she came here she seemed to have seen no other guards except these three.
Soon after that the soldiers also dispersed. Lito looked around and found that since she came here she had seen no other people except these three guards. She felt curious about this.
At this time the old man's eyes were attracted by a red figure. He turned his head and saw her. She was a petite young and cute girl wearing a bright red robe with white bandages wrapped around her body like a snake. Her golden medium-length hair fluttered in the wind giving off a mysterious smell. He saw her eyes which were like emeralds shining with crystal light. But in those beautiful eyes there was no emotion only a hollow dullness. He suddenly realized that she was not an ordinary girl she was a guest a guest who would be chased by people.
"Cough cough…" The sound echoed in the air and soon the old man walked slowly over. His figure looked lonely in the gray weather. There was a hint of awe and curiosity in his eyes. He asked: "Are you Lito…the girl of fire?" His voice was low and powerful. He brushed his hood down revealing his kind face. His face was full of wrinkles making him look very deep. Not only that there seemed to be several branch-like raised wounds spreading from his clothes to his neck.
Lito was curious and didn't understand why this white-haired old man would doubt her identity.
But Lito still nodded.
"It really is you!" The old man's eyes flashed with surprise and his face bloomed with a warm smile. He took out a hand from his wide sleeve and gently held Lito's right hand. "Please come with me my name is Ventus." Lito felt Ventus's hand full of calluses like witnesses of countless storms.
Ventus led Lito to the depths of the village.
"You are the third old god I have personally received." Ventus said as he walked.
Old god? This word echoed in Lito's ears like a sharp knife cutting through her heart. She couldn't believe that she had fallen to be an old god. How glorious how noble how revered she had been. Her name had been the prayer of countless followers of The High Fire the fear of countless ordinary people the enemy of countless forces. She had once thought of becoming the master of this world.
But when did she start to be forgotten? When did she start to be replaced?
Why? Why hadn't she disappeared? Why hadn't she died? For this rule that being forgotten would disappear for the god above the gods Lito still knew some. It was a cruel and fair rule a covenant that maintained the balance between gods and people. No one remembered you you had no value of existence. No one worshiped you you had no meaning of existence. No one needed you you had no reason to exist.
But Lito did not disappear. She didn't know if this was a blessing or a curse.
Ventus stopped and looked back. He saw Lito's face full of confusion and anger. Her eyebrows were tightly locked. He couldn't help but smile lightly and continued to speak. "Yes, that's right, old god."
"This is not meant to offend you, but to say that you have been replaced by a new faith." Ventus seemed to understand Lito's temper and knew when to calm her anger.
"It's just… I didn't expect you to appear at this awkward moment…" Ventus continued to walk towards his destination.
At this time, the sky seemed to be covered by a thick layer of clouds. The wind sounded like ghosts crying and gods howling, piercing and mournful. In the houses of the residents around, countless pairs of eyes stared at Lito, curiously looking at her every move, as if they were looking at a rare treasure.
Ventus coughed and broke the eerie atmosphere. The villagers who were watching also dispersed and went about their own business, no longer paying attention to Lito.
About ten minutes later, Ventus walked in front and Lito followed behind. They walked along a narrow path. The houses around them also became scarce and were replaced by a barren land. And a special two-story stone house was located at the end of the road.
When they got here, Lito carefully looked at the stone house. It was different from the other houses. Both floors were built with hard stones. The windows were wrapped with leather and only had some small holes for ventilation.
And Ventus's door was completely different from the others. It was made of wood. The wooden door was carved with some strange symbols and patterns, emitting a mysterious aura.
Ventus put his hands on the wooden door and then it opened quickly. Lito found that the wooden door had no lock or handle and seemed to be controlled by some kind of magic.
But strangely enough, Ventus looked older somehow. Lito didn't know if she was wrong. The deep wrinkles on Ventus's face looked more obvious at this time.
Ventus smiled and then retracted his hands into his sleeves. He gestured to Lito and asked her to follow him into the house.
As soon as Lito stepped into Ventus's house, she was hit by a pungent smell that made her frown. This smell seemed very strange. Lito felt like she had never smelled it before, but it still made her feel very uncomfortable.
She looked around the house and found that it was very simple and even shabby. In the spacious living room, there were only a few pieces of furniture made of sandstone, which looked empty. There was no light source in the house. Only the faint sunlight coming in from outside made the wooden doors in the living room appear and disappear in the shadows, blocking the way to other rooms.
Ventus let Lito sit on the sofa in the living room first and then went into one of the rooms. Lito was not polite and sat directly on the sandstone sofa, relaxing her body. She found that this sofa was not as hard as it looked. Besides being covered with several layers of leather electronics on the surface, the surface of the sofa seemed to have been modified somehow to adapt to the shape of the human body.
After everything quieted down, that pungent smell became more obvious. Lito smelled it and felt uneasy. She didn't know where it came from. She just felt that something was wrong and quietly raised her guard.
After a while, Ventus came out of the room with two books in his hands. He walked to Lito and put them on the sandstone coffee table in front of her.
Lito looked at the two books and showed confusion in her eyes. One of them looked very old and even had some burnt marks. When Ventus put the book on the coffee table, some ashes and debris fell on the table as well. The other book looked brand new, as if it had just been printed. But…
Lito leaned forward slightly and glanced at the cover of the burnt book with her eyes. It said "The Summoning Book of the Lady of Fire" and below this title there was a crest that Lito was very familiar with - a flame twisted into a vortex shape. This was her own crest, created by her followers.
But she had never seen this book before. Although she had little communication with her followers, they had to get her consent if they wanted to create magic items related to her. Otherwise she would punish the violators mercilessly and make them die miserably. This was the rule she set for her followers, because she didn't want to see the accidents caused by unknown magic items. But her sect The High Fire was a mess. No one had the right to control anyone except her. So it was very likely that some marginal followers made this magic item privately, which was also within her expectation.
And when Lito lost interest and looked at the other new book, she was stunned. Ventus seemed to be sure that Lito would be confused and then sat next to Lito on the sandstone chair.
"You can't read the words on it… right?" Ventus asked, and then Lito nodded.
Ventus seemed to finally let go of his guard and took out his hands from his sleeves. He carefully picked up the new book and stared at the words on it, then opened his mouth and said.
"This is the current writing, and also the current common language…" He paused, a complex emotion flashed in his eyes, and continued to say, "The language you master has become ancient now. There are also people who know ancient languages in this world, but very few, except for old gods like you…"
Ventus scratched his head, with a helpless tone, said, "As I said, the reason for all these changes is because the original world has been destroyed." Ventus said this and sighed. His voice echoed in the empty room, making it especially bleak.
Although he had never lived in that legendary past world, he had heard of its prosperity and unconsciously felt some envy… Then Ventus saw that Lito seemed to not understand very well, so he thought about it and still patiently told Lito that thousands of years ago, the world was as Lito knew it. But because of a great disaster, the sun disappeared and was replaced by the hollow in the sky today, the sun that emitted unbearable light.
It wasn't like this at first. At that time, before the disaster, the human leader led the humans to build and hide in underground cities. These underground cities were so large that they covered half of the world and were even more vast than the outside world today. Ventus drew a circle with his finger in the air to show the range of the underground cities.
And on the surface, after the arrival of the hollow sun, everything was destroyed and then followed by a severe high temperature for more than a thousand years. No one knew how many generations of humans lived in the underground cities. In BE300, after more than a thousand years, the human leader at that time led people back to the surface again. And the temperature on the surface was also high, but as time changed, in BE830, the temperature dropped sharply and became what it is today. The daily temperature is about 38 degrees Celsius and higher in the desert. Ventus pointed outside and let Lito see the dry and yellow scenery outside.
With the end of the underground city era, humans slowly forgot most of the history before that.
Ventus shook his head here.
Lito blinked and felt something was wrong. Not Ventus's story. But that strange smell… Could Ventus not smell it? Why didn't he react at all?
Ventus continued to say, "By the way… there's one more thing." He said as he pulled down his collar under his neck and exposed his mark hidden under his clothes. It looked like a tree branch bifurcation.
The mark seemed to twitch from time to time. Then Ventus put his hand on the new book and clenched it. When Ventus squeezed hard, his eyes closed involuntarily.
Lito could see that Ventus's body twitched a little and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
The new book began to change over time as he saw it. From a clean cover, it suddenly turned yellowish and finally started to burn.
The fire lit up the entire living room for a moment. When it reached its peak, it suddenly deflated like a puncture and everything returned to normal.
But it seemed that the book had been burned completely.
Ventus's gray-white hair became longer and his wrinkles on his face became deeper as well. Ventus squinted at Lito and smiled but Lito saw that some of his teeth seemed loose between his lips and teeth. Lito felt nauseous and that strange smell got heavier.
What is this? Lito was surprised.
Ventus coughed twice and said, "Hehe… I used too much force." Ventus changed to a comfortable position and sat back on the sandstone sofa.
"This is magic today…" He paused and continued to say, "Although I don't know what your magic was like back then, hehe, I'd like to see it if I have a chance."
Lito just saw Ventus age more in 1 minute while casting magic, which made Lito feel unbelievable.
Magic? Indeed…
Lito skillfully opened her palm and faced it upwards. She began to feel the magic network in her body. For Lito, casting magic was nothing more than a common thing, especially the next one…
Lito's fingers bent slightly, as if to grab something. In her palm, a faint mist rose quietly, like a ghostly phantom. She blew lightly and the mist instantly turned into a ball of blazing fire, emitting dazzling light and scorching breath. This fire was not bound by anything and moved with Lito's will. She lifted her palm up and the fire flew into the air. Lito's hand drew a beautiful arc in the air and the fire also bloomed with brilliant sparks, like a meteor breaking through the darkness.
Ah… the Lady of Fire. Ventus's eyes were dull and he muttered in admiration. He looked at the ball of fire in Lito's hand, as if he saw a living goddess, radiating unparalleled charm.
Just as Lito was about to take back the fire, a sharp pain came from her fingers and made her retract her hand. Suddenly, the fire seemed to lose control and began to run wild in the air.
At this time Ventus was sweating nervously. The fire flew irregularly and soon hit everywhere in the living room, like an out-of-control meteor.
Lito reacted and quickly wanted to control the fire again, but every time she reached out, the pain came like needles.
The leather products that were hit by the fire were burned to ashes in an instant. Ventus was scared pale and his body shrank subconsciously.
After bouncing for a while, the fire finally broke through one of the windows of the living room and flew out.
"Damn it!" Ventus exclaimed in horror.
A scream of horror came from Ventus's backyard. What is this? Lito was startled by this scream.
This was not a sound that humans could make… who was it?