Time flowed like a river, years passed like water, and it was unknown how many years had gone by…
In the East of the human world, in a certain place in the Reister Kingdom, known as the realm of jungles and marshes.
On a beach under the gloomy sky, a group of men and women garbed in black surrounded a small boat. The people's faces were mostly somber and mournful, the entire crowd shrouded in a thick atmosphere of grief. Among them, a young woman clad in an exquisite silk dress was still weeping and shedding tears, her wailing cries heart-wrenching.
"Enough, cease your crying. Sobbing and weeping, what manner of behavior is this?"
As if vexed by the woman's crying beside him, a tall, middle-aged man rebuked her.
The two thick eyebrows on his forehead were like two large machetes, his bearing exuding authority without displaying anger. The aura around him was extremely formidable, clearly not an ordinary person.
"But… our daughter was still so young when she passed away. How can I bear it?"
The young woman raised her head, gazing at the small boat before her, adorned with oil lamps.
On the small boat with dozens of oil lamps, under the illumination of the flickering lamplight, a tender young girl who appeared no more than eleven or twelve years old, attired in intricate and magnificent clothing, was lying serenely on the vessel.
Her complexion was incredibly pale, her hands and feet as delicate as a doll's. One could envision that when she was alive, she must have been an adorable child with a pure smile, and when she blossomed into adulthood, she would have been incomparably beautiful.
But this child, as beautiful and pure as a flower, had also withered before she could bloom, gone too soon, before her time…
Beholding her, the sorrow on the young woman's face deepened.
Hearing this, the man furrowed his brow, about to say something, but the scolding words he had contemplated remained lodged in his throat for a long while, never escaping. In the end, he could only sigh helplessly and sank into bitter silence.
No matter how much power and influence he wielded, in the face of this sudden death, he was ultimately powerless, only able to kneel before the inevitable, as insignificant as an ant…
Sunset, the seaside, a crowd dressed in black, a small boat enshrouded in faint lamplight - everything emanated a deeply sorrowful atmosphere of death.
At this moment, a female priestess with her face veiled and her body draped in a black robe emerged from the crowd and calmly said to the middle-aged man,
"It's about time. Let us commence."
Her features were not very discernible, only vaguely revealing her beautiful countenance, and on the veil, only those vertical serpentine pupils appeared particularly striking. On her figure, she was enveloped in a pure black high priestess robe, symbolizing her role as a priestess of death who guides the path for the deceased.
The man nodded, and the woman beside him, although her face was filled with reluctance, obediently stepped aside.
Led by this female high priestess, several young priestesses slowly followed behind, clutching snake statues in their hands, their heads bowed, constantly murmuring prayers.
The leading female high priestess stood before the small boat, gazing at the tender girl lying in the vessel before her. Her face, accustomed to death, was extremely tranquil, only murmuring.
"May the piper octopus guide your way…"
In the ancient legends of the Serpent Folk dwelling in the Eastern Marshes, the octopus was the messenger of Jormungandr, the Father of Serpents. It would play the pipe for the departed, guiding the deceased to the realm of serpents to have an audience with the great Father of Serpents, the World-Encircling Serpent - Jormungandr.
Afterwards, the people untied the rope binding the small boat, letting this vessel filled with lamplight drift with the ebbing tide and wind, slowly sailing towards the deepest part of the sea. There, the slumbering Great Serpent would welcome her into the City of Serpents - Nanor.
And at the same time, the priestesses slowly sang that ancient ballad…
The dirge for the departed.
"KAGIROHIHA,YOMINIMATAMUTO (Dawn, waiting in the underworld!)"
"SAKUHANAHAKAMINIKOHINOMU (The blooming flower is a prayer to the gods.)"
"IKERUYONI,AGAMIKANASHIMO (In this life, no matter how sorrowful the body.)"
"IMEHAKENU (The dream has vanished)"
"URAMITECHIRU (Dying with regret)"
"URAMITECHIRU (Dying with regret)"
"MOMOYOKANASHIKI,TOKOYAMINI (Countless nights of sorrow, hidden in eternal darkness.)"
"KAHIKONOKOMUYOWO,SUMEKAMININOMU (To the revered god, praying for rebirth from the egg.)"
The mournful singing voice consoled the departed and also comforted the living.
"Splish splash…"
The seawater occasionally lapped against the shore, and the young woman on the beach kept weeping. Finally, choking with sobs, she collapsed to her knees on the seaside, wailing towards that gradually receding small boat…
…
On the tranquil sea, an ownerless small boat drifted aimlessly, propelled by the wind.
The moonlight was like water, silently spilling onto the small boat with flickering lights.
Under the illumination of the moonlight, the girl attired in magnificent robes lay peacefully on the small boat filled with various precious small gifts and mementos. There was an indescribable beauty on her pale, bloodless face, as if she had merely fallen into a deep slumber.
The seawater was as still as a lake's surface, placid and unruffled, with only faint eerie sounds coming from the distance.
The small boat, fully laden with lamps, simply drifted quietly like this.
How long did it drift? None could say…
On the boat, the flickering lamps gradually began to dim. One by one, the lamps extinguished as they exhausted their oil. And when the last oil lamp struggled for a long while and finally succumbed helplessly as well.
With the extinguishing of that final lamp, the entire small boat sank into a deathly darkness.
The last thing tethering it to the human world had finally been severed.
Without any warning, the small boat slid into the sea just like this, peacefully…
"Glug…"
It didn't make much noise. Everything was so quiet, only leaving a small bubble in its original place.
In the seawater, the girl with her eyes tightly shut, that delicate figure sank weakly towards the deeper part of the sea. Those treasures and gifts laden with people's memories and sorrows also scattered one by one in the deep and dark vast ocean.
The body was sinking.
Like death, never to return.
Unknowingly, the girl kept sinking towards the deeper part of the sea.
In the darkness, countless malevolent eyes were watching her, but the owners of those eyes dared not act rashly.
The carefully tied long hair naturally loosened, the magnificent long robe soaked on her body scattered in disarray, inadvertently revealing a small patch of serpentine scales on her shoulder.
Who knows how long later, she, who had already fallen into eternal slumber, seemed to hear a low, mournful melody.
"FOR_ALL_THE_NIGHTS_AND_DAYS,THE_BLUEGREEN_MOON_IS_HIDDEN_AWAY."
A sorrowful and pleasant female voice echoed from the deepest part of the seabed.
The long eyelashes trembled slightly, and the originally tightly shut eyes slowly opened, revealing a pair of serpentine pupils as beautiful as amber.
In the clear and pure pupils, there was still a hint of confusion and disorientation upon awakening.
Stiffly moving her hands and feet, feeling the lifeless body that no longer needed to breathe, the girl opened her mouth but couldn't produce a sound.
And at this moment…
"Ooh ooh…"
Suddenly, from beside the girl, came a whimpering, low moan.
The girl couldn't help but glance in the direction of the sound, only to see a massive octopus covered in tentacles wandering beside her at some unknown time.
This enormous and tranquil octopus had two long tentacles that were very human-like, like human fingers, resting on a long pipe in an extremely humanized manner. As if accompanying that sorrowful singing, it was quietly playing, producing a melodious sound.
Its tentacles roamed freely in the sea, unconsciously circling and wandering around the girl, as if immersed in this enchanting elegy.
And as if sensing the girl's gaze, the enormous octopus slowly opened its eyes…
A pair of cold and apathetic pupils.
Gazing at her.
Then, these eyes closed again. Without paying any more heed to the girl before it, the octopus serenely swam towards the deeper part of the sea.
For some inexplicable reason, an impulse surged in the girl's heart. She spread her arms, paddling the surrounding seawater, pursuing the octopus.