Tides: Years of Dawn

Andre is a good boy. When Gao Wen told him to take good care of Crewe, he promised him without hesitation, and he really looked at Crewe steadily.

He didn't talk too much, looking at Gawain's expression, he probably knew that there were some things that it was not his turn to know.His sister often said to him like this—"You'd better not inquire about things that others don't take the initiative to tell you"—even though he was still young, he couldn't help being curious, but he still worked hard.

So during this period of time, he didn't even ask where Geraint went.Crewe sometimes did not attend classes with him in the same classroom, and he waited outside the classroom door after school, waiting to go to eat with Crewe, and then send Crewe back to the dormitory.

"You don't have to follow me all the time..." After a few days, Crewe was also a little embarrassed, "I... I just bumped into it myself."

Crewe thought that his bruised nose and swollen face made Andre uneasy, but Andre said—"The chairman told me to watch you, so I have to watch you. It's only a few days anyway, and the blood sacrifice is coming soon." Now, I have to go home, and then you will have to take care of yourself."

Andre smiled at Crewe.

But Crewe's heart sank, he followed a few steps, and asked, "The blood sacrifice you're talking about is... the one that paid tribute to Leviathan?"

"That's right," Andre said. "I have to go back to the lottery."

Andre said it lightly, but this is definitely not an easy topic.

The Blood Sacrifice is an annual sacrifice ceremony in the Cracked Rock Islands to the sea beast Leviathan, hosted by the jellyfish family.At that time, the heads of the nine major families must bring their own rough stones to the seaside of Cliff Island, activate the rough stones, and summon Leviathan to surface.

When Leviathan appears, the jellyfish family will present a boy in the family to be swallowed by Leviathan to express their gratitude to Leviathan and pray for its protection.

And this sacrifice is drawn by lot among all the males of the jellyfish family.

The jellyfish family is a matrilineal clan, and only///mates with people from other families, but never enters into a marriage contract.There is an agreement when intercourse///mating with them, that is, all the offspring produced after intercourse///mating belong to the jellyfish family, and the man does not enjoy any paternal rights in this regard.

If the offspring is female, they will be brought up like children in ordinary families.If it is a male, it is included in the sacrificial reserve, and no matter how old or young, one of them is drawn by lot every year and dedicated to Leviathan.

Therefore, among the nine major families, the beast Leviathan obeys the call of the jellyfish family the most, which is incomparable even to the sea monster family that is closely related to Leviathan.

Because of this, even though the jellyfish family has never participated in the competition for the position of lord, the status of its family is unshakable.

Crewe always felt that this ceremony was far away from him, because he didn't know the boy from the jellyfish family except Andre.Most male jellyfish are weak and not as tenacious as females. Even if they are not sacrificed, most of them will not live long. Therefore, not many can go to school, and most of them are kept at home.

And Crewe is not eligible to watch the blood sacrifice, that is the right only for the head and the deputy or assistant of the head.He has never even seen his own rough stone, let alone such a grand memorial ceremony.

But now Andre says that he wants to participate in the lottery, which means—"Are you...maybe, will..."

"Did you say you would be selected?" Andre continued to speak in a very relaxed tone. At this moment, he was sitting at the long dining table with Crewe, eating seaweed skillfully, and he didn't seem to feel the topic of discussion at all. "It's possible, everyone has an equal chance to win honor."

"Honor?" Crewe asked inexplicably.

"Of course, it is a great honor to be sacrificed to Leviathan. Just think about it, your sacrifice will become a cornerstone of the family's glory. Both my mother and my sister will be proud of me. I His name will also be engraved on the stone tablet in the hall, and he will be worshiped by blood relatives every year."

Crewe stared at the kelp and a small pile of salt on the plate, and suddenly lost his appetite.He didn't think it was an honor, he felt scared when he heard it.

He was afraid of death, and he was terribly afraid when he was thrown into the sea to survive when he was a child.He is afraid that sea crabs will come to catch him in groups, sea spiders will tear him to pieces, sharks' fangs will pierce him, and moray eels will tear off his tentacles one by one. The ink in the body is drained.

So in those years he has been hiding in an old earthen jar, the opening of the earthen jar faces a crack in the stone, and every day he only preys on the small shrimps and fishes swimming past the door to maintain his life.

But even so, he still couldn't eat or sleep well. Occasionally, when a big fish swam past and bumped into his crock, he had to risk running out again, holding the crock back in a panic, and hurriedly drilled in again.

"But...but then, then you are dead..." Crewe still felt uncomfortable, as if hearing the news meant that the other party was destined to draw lots.

"My body is dead, but my spirit is immortal. Leviathan will also carry me across the lake of fire, and let me rest in the palace of the devil king of hell." Andre continued.

There was brilliance in his eyes, as if what he saw was not bloody sacrifices and cruel sacrifices, but the supreme glory of being on the same rank as the heroic spirits.

But all these are just legends.Crewe had read many books in the library, and he knew that they were all legends of comforting sea people.The sea people are just using their own lives as a price to borrow mana from hell for their compatriots, to resist the attack of the outside world, and to protect the living clansmen.

But to be dead is to be dead, not a single spirit of a dead seaman walked through the palace of the demon king of hell and then surfaced, and returned to his fellow clansmen to tell them—really, that palace really exists, don’t be afraid .

Yes, this time, Crewe felt that this ceremony was very close to him.He wondered if he should regret that his family did not have the right to sacrifice, after all Andrei looked so excitedly looking forward to it, seeing this terrible ending as a happy ending.

"Why don't you eat it?" Andre saw that the kelp on Crewe's plate didn't move at all, so he tore a piece of it, dipped it in salt, rolled it into a small roll, and handed it to Crewe—"Eat it quickly, Only when you are full will you have the strength to take the exam."

Crewe took a bite of Andre's rolled kelp silently.

Crewe suddenly envied Andre very much. When the choice between life and death was approaching him, he could still roll the kelp contentedly, worrying about the exam.

Those few days were busy, and Crewe spent the few days before the exam with Andre's company.

There is still no news about Geraint, and Gawain is always on the loose.Fortunately, the sea crocodile brothers were doing a surprise review during these days, so they didn't focus on making fun of him.Unfortunately, Crewe ran into Rael several times, and each time Rael's gaze made Crewe unable to lift his head.

Crewe knew that Rael didn't like him, every time Gawain protected him, Rael seemed to complain about it.Crewe felt that he was too stupid, so he was not liked everywhere.And people like Andre who are willing to get close to him must be extremely kind, but it's a pity that kind people don't always get good results.

Andre left after taking the history exam. Due to different course schedules and schedules, his next exam was four days later, so he had plenty of time to go home.

Crewe had to take exams for four consecutive days, including history, magic circle, spells, and channeling. When Andre came back, he had already finished the exams.

Crewe blamed himself for being unable to distract and worry about Andre's safety in the past four days. He was tortured by the exam, and taking the exam every day also consumed a lot of mana and energy.Often when I returned to the dormitory, as soon as the door was locked, Crewe fell asleep on the bed, not even having time to take a comfortable sea salt bath.

So when he finished the last test and walked out of the examination room of the guidance test, he didn't even want to go back to the dormitory. up the sea.

He took a short nap in the shallow sea, and it was dusk when he woke up.He was washed up on the beach and transformed back into an octopus because he was too relaxed.

Every time he turns back to the octopus prototype, he will be bigger than the human form, so he is always careful to take off his clothes before turning back into a complete octopus.But this time, he was so tired that he didn't pay attention, and the robe was soaked and ripped.

He was thinking about going back to get a needle and thread to mend, but unexpectedly, another sound on the beach made him tremble, staggered, and he fell on the beach again.

"How many times have I told you that if you tear your robes again, you won't have to wear anything next term."

As soon as the words fell, a tentacle rolled up Crewe, dragging him completely ashore by his robe.

Crewe hurriedly straightened his robe, raised his head timidly and called out, "Brother...brother."

I saw Saru standing in front of him in a clean and beautiful sapphire blue robe, looking down at his useless, disgusting younger brother who wished him to die in the sea countless times.

Saru didn't respond to his younger brother's greetings, his nose twitched, and he asked coldly—"Finished the exam?"

Crewe patted his clothes and stood up, reaching for the package on the stone with his tentacles.The small package slid down the stones and landed lightly on the sand.

"Well... I finished the exam this afternoon..." Crewe patted his bag, and put it on his shoulder obediently.

Saru slowly moved in front of Crewe, and the light from Haicheng School came from behind, making it difficult for Crewe to see his brother's expression clearly.But my brother always had a mocking and contemptuous look towards him, so it didn't matter even if he couldn't see clearly.

"I... I feel that I did well in the exam—"

"I won't spoil my good mood tonight by asking you how you did in the exam," Saru interrupted his younger brother, with his hands behind his back all the time, as if he didn't want Crewe to touch him, "I'm here Let me inform you that you don't want to attend the graduation ceremony in a few days, and you go home early."

Crewe was a little taken aback.He looked at his brother's unclear face and blinked blankly.

After Saru finished the notification, he turned around and left without even half a word of extra words.Crewe's "I see" was still in his mouth, but he suddenly realized that he ran forward a few steps to catch up with his brother.

"But brother, Gao Wen is graduating this year, and Gao Wen said that I...I'm going to—"

Seeing that Saru didn't intend to stop, Crewe immediately stretched out his tentacles to wrap around his brother's wrist.

Saru twitched his arm violently, and withdrew his hand in disgust, "I told you not to touch me!"

Crewe was startled, and quickly retracted the tentacles.

Saru turned around, put his hands behind his back again, sneered, and said—"Oh, yes, I forgot, you are still the assistant of the kid from the sea monster family. But I said, you don't want to participate this year. "

"...for...why?" Crewe was aggrieved.Gawain had helped him so much, and despite Leier's cynicism, he insisted on letting Crewe be his assistant.But Crewe couldn't even attend the other party's graduation ceremony, which would definitely make Gawain very disappointed and sad.

But Saru did not answer this question, and instead said, "Neither you nor he have graduated, no matter whose assistant you are, you still have to obey the orders of my father and me. Now I officially order you-you will take the order in two days." Give me the report card and go home, do you understand?"

"Yes, but Gao Wen will be angry..."

"Don't let me ask my attendants to tie you back!" Saru coldly interrupted Crewe's defense for the second time.

Crewe shut up.He carefully looked back, held his satchel for a long time, and responded in a low voice—"I...I understand."

Saru didn't stay any longer, and left after getting Crew's affirmative reply.

Crewe, on the other hand, stared at the shallow prints left on the beach when his elder brother's robe dragged across the floor. It wasn't until a gust of sea breeze blew that the sand filled up the small potholes again. Then Crewe buried his head and silently walked in the direction of the dormitory.

TBC