Dark clouds pressed the sky and torrential rain poured down.
To the north and south, on a mountain ridge, a broad campsite propped up by a large hut was brightly lit.
Eleazar frowned slightly, following the doll's directions to the refugee camp.
Why do these people come to a place like this if they don't want to take refuge in the city, where they sleep and eat?
The ground was filled with dark-faced villagers, as if they were all residents who had gathered from various villages outside the city.
Glancing around the stake-supported shed, Eleazar soon realizes the activity going on here.
They were actually worshipping an unknown deity.
A statue of a woman with ears of wheat on her head, signifying abundance, is surrounded at her feet by all kinds of fruits, gold and silver, meat and animals, and candles.
Are they crazy?
How dare these people perform rituals under the very nose of the Church?
Eleazar's expression was a little incredulous.
"Do you think we're all crazy?"
A young man crouching on the ground to protect the candle from the wind looked up.
Eleazar looked around and didn't reply.
Of course he wouldn't be stupid enough to commit public anger in front of so many people.
Crouching next to the youth, Eleazar stared into the candlelight and asked:
"Do you believe in this stuff too?"
"Well, old people are superstitious."
"Outsiders, you're welcome if you're here to get out of the rain, but if you keep meddling in our business, you'll be thrown out!"
A middle-aged man next to him sent an icy warning.
Eleazar narrowed his eyes and asked calmly in return, "Is your goddess of abundance not welcome to be known by outsiders?"
The middle-aged man flinched for a moment, seemingly eager to retort out loud, but it seemed as if he was on the verge of something, so his expression quickly turned to anger.
Standing up, he seemed genuinely ready to make a move.
At that moment, an old man next to him stopped him.
The old man looked Eleazar in the eye and said, "I just want to make sure it's understood that we're not performing some evil ritual, we're just honoring the memory of someone who passed away."
Eleazar shrugged, "Then the lady is truly a beloved person."
The old man didn't care about the mockery in his words, and continued to say flatly, "You haven't experienced the hardships we had at that time, you wouldn't understand what a miracle it was to have a bumper harvest in successive years at that time, she was the hope of all of us at that time."
The meaning of the old man's words was clear enough, the woman had miracle powers and was very high in everyone's mind, if he dared to insult again, he would suffer the consequences.
Eleazar didn't really want to hear about the witch's exploits of pretending to be a god.
He asked again, "Do you know this Evelea person?"
"The name..."
The old man frowned in thought for a long time.
"Ah, I remember, that's Ya."
As Eleazar waited patiently, the old man tapped his thigh.
"She was originally an orphan in our village."
"Originally?"
Eleazar repeated the word.
"Well, she just learned to walk, her mother abandoned her and disappeared, we looked at the poor, so we raised together for a bit, every day let her go to different people's homes to eat, she is also very good behavior and understanding, know will help people do some chores, so so slowly raised her, this kind of day until Xiaoya 10 years old that year, his father suddenly came back alone. "
"We didn't care much about it at first, after all, people are the blood relatives, so we handed Xiaoya back to him."
"Within a few days, Ya was taken by his father to work in the mines."
"The people in the village were quite vocal, after all, it was such a small child, but Xiaoya was still so understanding and strong, smiling and telling us it was okay."
"But it wasn't long before something happened to Ya in the mines..."
"When we went to visit, Ya was still strong enough to smile and tell us it was okay."
"From that time on, that man never worked again, but still had inexplicable money to drink and play cards every day, and later we realized that that brute turned out to have bought a high-cost accident insurance policy for Xiaoya, and in order to cheat the insurance money, he even encouraged his own daughter to put her arm into the stone crusher!"
Thinking about this matter, the old man was so angry on the spot that he gritted his teeth, followed by a series of coughing fits.
"So ya last?"
"She was sold by that man..."
Eleazar was thoughtful, "And after two years back there, the woman who brought the bounty came?"
"Yes."
Becoming a witch at the age of 12 is pretty impressive.
"Thanks." Having gotten the news he wanted to know, Eleazar got up.
Pulling on his raincoat, he stepped out of the shed.
This is obviously not where Evelea's real body is, it's just that the power of the converging faiths is so strong that it fools even the stand-in dolls.
So where the hell could she be?
Eleazar rubs his brow in thought for a moment, then suddenly clenches his fists and high-fives in realization.
Mines!
The place that had changed the course of her destiny for her was simply the perfect place for the ceremony.
...
A mudslide-tossed mountain with a half-flooded cave underneath.
Looking at the entrance, which was not covered by any spells, Eleazar murmured, "It's a wonder you can hide in a place like this."
Treading water, he burrowed into the abandoned mine.
Inside, it was dark, damp, and the roads were intricate, like a labyrinth.
It didn't take much effort to find his way around either, and when he came here, the stand-in mannequin suddenly worked again, and he found the right path with ease.
The terrain slowly spreads upwards as you go deeper.
There was no more standing water underfoot, the dirt was wet and soft, and small flowers of various colors bloomed on both sides of the road, clearly not magic plants, but hazy with a layer of shimmering light.
Eleazar narrows his eyes slightly.
He had indeed come to the right place. Then, stepping out of the hazy, glowing tunnel, the grounds opened up before him, a sea of flowers blooming brightly in an expansive cavern full of excavation marks, and Evelea lying quietly on a stone slab.
An evening gown like a nightingale, a stunning face, and a hazy shimmering light emanating from her body.
But at the moment she was as quiet as a sleeping angel.
"What's this about?"
Eleazar looks at his unsuspecting opponent with some consternation.
Anticipating all the gestures of the other side, but not expecting this.
Defenseless against the outside world, like a fish on a chopping board, at the mercy of others.
This situation looks... It's like you've just taken a magic potion!
That's when Eleazar noticed the murals on the cave walls.
That painting tells the story of an unbelievably ridiculous magic potion ritual...
He was never going to make that attempt anyway.
With the deepest love, descending on a disaster that affects millions of people, and finally waiting quietly for redemption as the sky weeps.
What a paradoxical emotion it is, to love deeply, while at the same time wanting to victimize, and finally claiming redemption.
Standing in a sea of flowers, Eleazar lowered his gaze and looked faintly at the sleeping witch.
"How do you know that it must have been me who came here first?"
"And how dare you be sure that I won't kill you?"
He was now incredibly sure that as long as he made a move, the other party would never be able to swindle again.
At that thought, he reached out his hands and cupped the other man's head.
After a moment of silence, Eleazar leaned down and touched his lips lightly to the witch's forehead.
"Don't bother me again."
Then, he left the place where the light flourished without looking back.
Walking out of the abandoned mine, Eleazar looked up at the sky that had stopped crying.
The heavy clouds, pierced by the golden evening sun, revealed a faintly bright dawn.
"The rain has finally stopped."