crown of stars

"It's snowing. Messiah, clothes."

The half-elf stopped in the passage.Tiny ice particles are blown in by the north wind, and a smooth ice mirror is condensed on the gray-black rock wall.

"Are you sure you want to take the risk of trekking in the wind and snow?"

"At the end of this road, there is only this place. I don't want to go back underground again, not at all." Nigel lowered his head, and the horrible memories still echoed in his mind, "Crossing the snow field, we can reach this place."

Messiah's eyes fell on the map in the half-elf's hand.

"Winterhold? Let's go then."

The thick and soft fur was draped over Nigel's shoulders, and Messiah covered the half-elf's eyes and stepped into the wind and snow step by step.

It was night and clear, and the north wind was rare and gentle across the plain.The sky is as cold as a deep sapphire, and there is a faint glare on the endless snow field, and the cold and soft snowflakes fall on the shoulders.

Messiah raised his head in the snow.

Countless stars gathered together, flickering and extinguishing.The frivolous aurora swayed among the stars, and unimaginable colors blended together, changing shapes beautifully, and the extended halo stretched to the end of the sky and the earth.

The half-elf peeped out from between Messiah's fingers and couldn't help but be shocked.

The divine six wings spread out from behind, Messiah closed his eyes, the north wind combed his wings for a long time, and the free nature blossomed in his chest.When he spread his wings, the sky seemed clearer, and the shadows of the pine forest in the distance became clearly visible.

The Messiah rides up on the wind, and the wind and the cloud are his breath.The stars in the sky are flowing with magical iridescence, which seems to be within reach at this time.He emerged from the clouds, surpassed the wind and snow, and wandered under the stars.

The half-elf was hugged by Messiah around his waist and firmly fixed at his waist.Nigel had nowhere to put his hands and feet, and simply stared wide-eyed to appreciate the rare beauty.

The wind around him formed a tight circular barrier, isolating the severe cold at high altitude.Looking down from a high altitude, people and things on the ground can be seen at a glance. The dense forest is no more than half the size of the palm of your hand, and the criss-crossing river is not much different from the winding earthworms.

The aurora swayed towards them mischievously, and then disappeared when the half-elf stretched out his hand, and the remaining light stopped in the eyes in vain.Nigel focused on admiring the beautiful scenery, consciously or unconsciously ignoring the fact that his traveling companion had no living body temperature.

After the excitement in his veins subsided, Messiah lowered his altitude and landed on the soft snow, scraping the tops of the fir trees.

The snow was not very thick at this time, and Nigel stepped on it, barely burying half of his calf.But the unprepared half-elf still felt a biting chill rushing up from the soles of his feet. By the time the two walked along the ruts and walked to the nearest town, Nigel's face was already pale.

"Stop, who are you?" The guard standing in front of the wooden fence cheered up, the tip of his gun almost reaching the tip of his nose.

Nigel was wrapped in fur, his teeth were chattering, and he could barely squeeze out a few words from his throat.The guard's expression softened obviously, and then he threw out a bag of warm water:

"Another lost one, take a few sips, you look like you're about to freeze to death."

The half-elf took a few sips, and the strong wine dripped down his throat like a thread of fire, warming his cold stomach.

There was no one on the stone-paved road, a corner of the castle was dimly lit by fire, and suppressed cries echoed in the cold air.People in black mourning extinguished the fire, searched for the bones of their loved ones in the hot charcoal, put them into a stone mill, ground them into ashes, and sprinkled them in the flowing water passing through the city.

"Go in and walk fifty steps and turn left, go to Old Anna's shop to enjoy the fire and have something to eat." The voice of the kind-hearted guard's reminder is still floating in the air, and Messiah has strode into the shop with the half-elf in his arms. .

The slight heat immediately brought Nigel back to life, and while he was nibbling on the bread, he secretly regretted his previous mistakes.The gray-haired proprietress saw Messiah sitting there in thin clothes, and she added an extra plate of charred venison.

Messiah ate slowly, and under the fire, the hazy starlight shrank inward, making him look more like a mortal.

Nigel picked up the wooden cup, sipped and looked around.Everything in the hotel has a stale atmosphere, from the crooked proprietress to the shiny counter, and even the people who gather in twos and threes are mostly old, young, women and children.The tall beams look down on the guests coming and going, and the crackling fire makes it look deserted.

"Ms. Anna, excuse me, why is it so deserted here?"

"Why?" The proprietress raised her eyelids bluntly, and looked at Nigel with cloudy eyes for a while, "You mean men, don't you? There were a lot of people here 30 years ago. At that time, I just gave birth to my first baby." Four kids, one daughter. My husband and my sons are rich and content."

The old man pursed his lips, and the half-elf looked in her direction. A thin, black-haired maid was wiping the stains on another table.

"At that time, although it was cold here, spring flowers bloomed half of the year. I don't remember when it started. The well water in the castle suddenly became very sweet, and the sick people would be cured immediately after drinking it. The sky doesn't know what There was a layer of red fog, and the colors of the sun were different. There was less snow in the sky, flowers were growing everywhere, and the prey in the woods became bigger."

The Messiah and the half-elf put down their forks together and listened attentively.Several elderly women covered their faces and rushed out the door, leaving only a few dazed children around the old woman.

"That winter, a large group of horses and horses came to the castle. The swords and guns were shining, and the blue flag was embroidered with eight-pointed stars. Even the horses were more handsome than ours. The nobleman who led them was really handsome Beautiful, with long black hair, wearing a burqa that was as red as blood, and eyes as sharp as knives. The girls in the city rushed to wink at him when he rode by. Even the lord was right. He nodded and bowed his head, but he must have taken a fancy to the crown on that noble lord's head."

No one came in at that time, so Anna simply sat on the recliner by the fire, covering her knees with a thick blanket, "Our lord even greeted them personally!"

"I don't know what these big men said to the lord. They immediately sent people to block the wells in the city. We are still blocking the lord's door to make trouble. Not long after that, terrible things happened." The old man coughed a few times With a sound, her daughter rushed over immediately and poured the steaming herbs from the pot.

"Mom, please stop talking." The daughter begged.

"No, I must say it." Old Anna stubbornly put aside her daughter, "Those who drank well water changed overnight, talking nonsense, wandering the streets without sleep, like crazy , everyone was terrified. The big men sent guards and cut off their heads one by one in the street, but the headless corpses stood up, with pustules and tumors on their arms, and eyes under their feet. The tongue and teeth protruded from the neck. The red mist in the air covered the sky and turned into a woman's face. People would go crazy when they saw it. .Even the corpses in the cemetery are trembling uncomfortably, that's terrible!"

"Fortunately, those big men wiped them all out in time." The old man shrank his neck, feeling lingering in his heart, "That beautiful nobleman came to my store after that and bought my food! He wants us to be in the house Deep and long cellars were dug underneath, men followed him, women and children hid in. The mage in robes clicked on the wooden boards of the cellar one by one, let us all lock it tightly, no matter what we heard Don't open it at all."

"We were all hiding in the cellar, we couldn't see anything, the wind was blowing against the cellar door, the sound like thunder kept ringing, and the soil falling from the top of our heads almost buried us alive. When we climbed out , there is not a living person in the city, blood and pieces of flesh are all over the streets. My husband, my three sons are dead. Almost all the women have lost their husbands and sons, only we are still alive. We put the bodies They were buried one by one, but the body of the noble lord was not found."

"Some say he fled, and a month later the mage returned. He said the lord had won. He burned the monster to ashes, and rode away alone in the snow, and no one has heard of him since. "

"Later...then this place became like this. The wind and snow were heavier than before, and it was warm every few days of the year. All the men died, and we, orphans and widows, were left to live here... ..."

The half-elf clenched his heart tightly, his knuckles turned white, and a mournful expression appeared on his face unconsciously.

"Speaking of which, you look a bit like a nobleman." The old man opened his mouth, revealing a missing part of his front teeth, "A man like you is the most popular among women in the city. Take it easy at night, don't be fooled." Widows sucked dry."

"Cough." Nigel moved uncomfortably on the chair.

"Oh, I was too busy talking to you, but I didn't notice the person next to you. Hey, your friend is more beautiful than you. I must be old and dim, otherwise he would be the first thing I saw."

"Where is there a place to live?" Messiah pointed out the key point succinctly, and the half-elf popped out ten copper coins knowingly.The old man groped on the table for a while, finally found it all, and untied a bunch of brass keys covered with grease from his waist.

"It's the off-season now, and there are still many... many houses... Go up the stairs, the second and third floors, big and small...any one is fine."

Nigel ran up the stairs, Messiah was taken aback for a moment, and politely asked the old man for enough firewood for the night.When she turned to leave, the old woman was still chattering.

"If I was 40 years younger, no, I met you when I was 20, and I would definitely ask you to be my next husband..."

The author has something to say:

I've been so busy recently, I'm slow to update.

Guess who that noble lord is, there are hints in the previous article~

At this moment, Baboon, Finn Bear, Kasi, and Aignor are whizzing through my mind...