Tides: Years of Dawn

"I don't want to cause trouble. If it makes it difficult for you, I can practice on the beach in our backyard." Gao Wen said, in fact, he was particularly unwilling to trouble Leyle.

In the past few months, he has pulled Leiel in for everything, and Leiel is the most reliable and trustworthy existence he can think of.

But even so, Gao Wen gradually realized that they had graduated, and Rael was no longer his assistant to the vice chairman.Their lives will be separate and increasingly distinct.

It is reasonable not to help, but it is human nature to help.

But Rael didn't think so, he always regarded Gao Wen as his best friend.

The older you get, the more utilitarian your new acquaintances become.He and Gao Wen grew up together, and it might be difficult for another unrelated companion to establish such a deep friendship with him.

After Pei Di used a spell to sink them into the mud, Gawain and Rael were inside a huge spell ball.The magic ball landed slowly, and did not change direction until it hit the rocks, drifting toward deeper seas.

The seafolk can go to sea without the protection of the spell, but they will never be able to break into the territory of the turtle family.

The sea turtle family is in charge of a large underwater world. It can be said that the size of the cracked rock islands above is as wide as the sea turtle family on the bottom of the sea.

Their family does not occupy land on land, and their old house is not on the sea.Most of the Turtles were sent to Haicheng Island above the sea to study, and if they didn't work on the guard island after graduation, they would return to the bottom of the sea.

For most sea folk, a family as large as the Turtles, neither competing for lordship nor willing to surface, has always been a mystery as to what they are doing down there.

But for the head of the nine families - especially for the lord, this is not a secret.

This is a truth that only the senior leaders of the Split Rock Islands know, and it is also the reason why they always respect the Sea Turtle family.

The magic ball has been sinking into the deep sea.

At the beginning, they could still see huge marine life floating in front of their eyes, and the beautiful corals and living rocks also shone in the dim light, swaying slightly from side to side as the fish swam by.

But when the spell ball continued to sink, it didn't take long for the light to disappear.

The minerals in the sea cut off the light of the land, and the deep sea appears deep and dark.Gawain wanted to conjure an illuminated fire ball in his hand, but Rael stopped him.

"Don't disturb the fish here," Rael said, holding the flame in Gawain's hand and quickly snuffing it out, "They will attack the spell ball when they are frightened, and you don't want to be pushed around by a lot of sharks. "

Gawain also laughed.He lowered his hand, only to find that Rael hadn't let go of him.

The sphere is not big, two people stand in the center of the sphere, and their backs must be attached to the round surface.Darkness enveloped the two of them, and they couldn't see anything.Only occasionally, an inaudible light flashed not far away, proving that some fish swam past with the lamp on their foreheads lit.

Gao Wen's heartbeat accelerated a little, he didn't know if he should break away.

He and Leyle have hung shoulder to shoulder, and slept under the same blanket, but he has never held hands with each other. It feels...very strange.

So he moved his fingers and asked—"What's the matter?"

Rael didn't speak.

They continued to float in the bottom of the sea, their hands still did not let go.

Rael held Gawain in a relaxed manner, as if he had fallen asleep.After a long time, he let out a shallow sigh.

Gawain wanted to ask him what's the matter again, but Rael turned around and hugged Gawain in the next second.

That kiss was so sudden, decades later, Gao Wen still sighed infinitely when he recalled it.In the vast darkness, there is no sound, no light.Trapped in a tiny spell ball, all they can feel is each other's warmth.

Rael let go of his hand, but hugged Gawain's body again.The power is not heavy, but people don't know how to resist.His lips were as dry as the skin on his hands, yet soft and warm.With a little moisture, he pressed Gao Wen's mouth.

Gawain was completely stunned, his hands froze in the air, and after a while, he gently hugged Leier.

At that moment, there was nothing in Gawain's mind, no Crewe, no Pei Di, no Geraint, no Hua De and no Barrow.

Not even Rael.

His mind went blank.

The two of them were silently in the dark like this, it was more like a touch than a kiss.But there is no sticky grinding in this touch. Emotion//yu has already been produced, but no one knows how to continue to release it.

In other words, it cannot be released.

Darkness is dangerous because it makes it easy for people to see their own heart and soul.It forces people to take off their disguise and confront themselves in the most naked///luo way.

But darkness is safe, because it sets up a barrier for all unspeakable emotions.It devours everything, yet protects everything.If no one knows what's inside, it can be treated as if it doesn't exist.

I don't know how long this kiss lasted, but Leyle ended it first.He moved his head away a little, and whispered into Gao Wen's ear - "What a pity, what a pity..."

At that time, Gao Wen couldn't understand the meaning of Leier's words. It took him many years to understand that this was a decision to ignite a relationship in his heart cruelly, but then extinguished it with his own hands.

Rael is a good man, a loyal man, a man of flesh and blood, but unfortunately, he cannot live as himself.

Leil is more mature than Gao Wen, and this maturity is not only in age, but also in psychology.But that was inevitable, because Gawain hadn't seen the cruel side of the Cracked Rock Islands yet, and as a child of the garrison's family, Leyle was one step ahead of him, walking through the territory of the Sea Turtle's seabed.

Just a year ago, Leier was led by Pei Di and saw a restricted area known to the senior management of the Split Rock Islands.

This restricted area has given birth to the glory of the Sea Turtle family over the years, but it is also the sacrifice they have been making until today.

He saw countless stone statues.

Those stone statues looked like turtles who had transformed into shapes, and the three of them couldn't hug each other.The stone statue sank silently on the bottom of the sea, with an iron chain tied to the turtle shell on its back.

The iron chain goes straight up, and the top cannot be seen at a glance.As if a ship passed by, thousands of anchors in the shape of giant turtles were dropped.

Leier had seen these stone statues before, but this was the first time he had seen so many.

At that time, I thought it was just a stone pier made by myself, and I never delved into what they symbolized.And when Pei Di brought him to this vast wasteland, Pei Di told him—they are not stone statues, they are the members of our sea turtle family.

Each one has a beating heart, and each one has a living soul.

From the day they reached adulthood and were able to successfully grow into giants, they voluntarily petrified, with iron chains driven into their backs, and remained silent here until the end of their lifespan, decaying and shattering.

Leel was shocked. He had never heard this from the elders in his family, and he never knew that there were so many tribesmen by his side in the form of giant stone prototypes.

"Who is it... who is it, why am I not selected, why have I never heard of such a ceremony?" Rael asked.

Pei Di smiled, and asked back—"Then what do you think is the reason why every lord must marry a sea turtle heir?"

There is a relationship of marriage, but the spouse never comes to the surface.Having each other's flesh and blood, yet cared for by the lord's assistant.This is a couple in name only, but this relationship is a decision that has to be made in pursuit of fairness.

Because——"If it's not a sea beast///cross///pei, you must cast a spell on the pregnant body during the pregnancy, so that the child born can reflect the sea beast characteristics of one of the parents. And the sea turtle family ///pei The same is true for the lord, if you cast a spell during pregnancy, the heirs will be divided into two halves—the child with the characteristics of the lord's family will belong to the lord, while the other half will be left on the seabed with the bloodline of the lord's credit but with the characteristics of a sea turtle."

Regardless of whether the lord is male or female, they must contribute half of their children.

When the child is still a fertilized egg, there is no choice. Even if only one turtle egg is born, it must be taken away by the turtle family immediately.

"The children who grew up after taking them away became these stone piers." Pei Di said.

Rael was horrified.

He looked up the chain, but no matter how he looked, he couldn't find the other end of the chain.He wondered, "Why are they chained? Why can't they survive?"

"They live, but they live for the archipelago, not for themselves."

In the original battle, due to the excavation of the ancient stone slabs, the sea people fought with each other for the slabs.The big island, which was originally a whole, was torn apart, and the people of the sea were also hostile to each other, and had been plagued by wars for many years.

This kind of struggle did not end until the formation of the Nine Great Families, and at that time——

"The Cracked Rock Islands have a tendency to completely fester. It will be broken into countless islands, drifting farther and farther away with the movement of the waves, and becoming more and more scattered. As long as foreigners break in, the land wizards will soon be able to destroy all the islands. The small islands were defeated one by one and completely conquered."

Therefore, the Turtle family made an important decision—to use chains to drive into their own turtle shells, sink to the bottom of the sea, use their own bodies to forcibly gather the strength of the sea people, lock up several large islands, and Guarding the only pure land in the world that belongs entirely to the sea people.

Glory comes with sacrifice, the beast Leviathan once said to the ancestors of the turtles.

However, the history textbooks only said that the Cracked Rock Islands were broken due to the battle, but no one said how much sacrifice was made to put them together.It only said that greed will break people's hearts, but it didn't say how much blood and sweat it takes to squeeze the broken hearts into a ball.

It only said that the lord must marry the offspring of the sea turtle family, but did not mention the price after the marriage, and the willingness and gain in the price.

Is this an absolutely fair strategy?No, it's not.Whether it's the other eight families, or the sea turtle's own family.

So they chose to keep silent and keep silent.

Because the people will rise up because of the injustice, and rise up for the so-called injustice suffered by their families, but they can't find a way to "absolute fairness", and they can't find a better way to replace this mechanism .

What's more, there is no absolute fairness in the world.

No matter what angle Haimin stands on, it will never be possible to speak in unison.And the ruler will never be able to level a bowl of water, never be able to make everyone shut up, and everyone will be satisfied and convinced.

"You are also a product of injustice. In these countless stone piers, there are also petrified brothers or sisters who are half-brothers of your mother but you have never met." Pei Di said.

When you are enjoying chatting and laughing with your contemporaries, when you are walking through the crowd glamorously, when you are looking forward to the future with the person you like, when you are fantasizing that you will show your talents after graduation, when you are fighting for yourself When she weeps from the blows and injustices she received, and when someone comforts her softly, she regains her strength——

In these rare and ordinary times that have never been cherished by you, there are some people of the same age as you, the same blood, and the same fresh life, who are pressing their limbs into the bottom of the sea, carrying the turtle shell, and letting the petrification curse inch by inch Diffuse along the limbs.

Then, be silent forever.

"So you have to know that just because you can move freely now doesn't mean you can live for yourself."

No one can live only for themselves, and no one can fully and thoroughly live what they want.

And all of this, Gao Wen who was kissed by himself will take many years to understand.He would not understand until he ascended to the throne of the lord, until he was led down into the deep sea by the turtle clansmen, and he also witnessed all this with his own eyes, looking at the other half recorded in the roster and history book.

Rael let go of him and returned to their silent posture.

This time he didn't hold Gawain's hand, he didn't admit that he had held Gawain's hand before.

In the distance, there was a little bit of blue fire shining, and the old stone house slowly revealed its shape in the fire.

"Here we are," Rael said.

The moment the magic ball touched the ground of the old house, it shattered silently.

In front of them were two huge stone turtles, one on the left and one on the right next to the door of the magnificent turtle house.With chains on their backs, they look lifelike, as if there is life in their eyes.

"What is this chain tied to?" Gawain asked curiously.

Rael nodded to the guards on both sides, the door opened, and he beckoned for Gawain to follow.

"Tie the hope in our hearts," Rael smiled, and changed the subject—"Come on, I'll take you to the training ground."

TBC

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