caged robin

"When I exchanged my soul for Okadon's, I was destined to stay in hell forever." Adrian said, closing the book in his hand and putting it back on the shelf.

After a while, hurried footsteps came, accompanied by excited shouts: "Adrien—"

Abner clearly saw the corner of Adrian's mouth twitch, but when he turned around, he returned to his indifferent look.

"Are you annoying!" Adrian frowned at the visitor.

Abner stared at the person in front of him, it turned out to be Duke Nero, but he suddenly realized that he was in hell, and seeing the Duke was not unusual.

At this moment, His Excellency the Duke was wearing a long black coat, his face was covered with a layer of dust, the back of his hand was black and stained with mud, but there was a small white flower in his finger.

"Look, a white flower!" The Duke smiled like a child, with Adrian's eyes in his eyes, and handed the little flower to him respectfully.

Adrian glanced dazedly, and simply replied: "Yes."

Then he turned around and continued tidying up the bookshelves.

The Duke didn't seem to care about Abner's existence at all, and went straight to catch up with Adrian.Seeing that Adrian couldn't reach the bookshelf above, he took his book and put it on the top.

"Give it to me! Your hands are so dirty!" Adrian snatched the book back, threw it on the table, and then grabbed the Duke's collar and pulled it aside.

The Duke was stunned. He raised his muddy hands and said softly, "I'm sorry, I was digging mud and suddenly saw this flower. I just wanted to show it to you quickly and forgot to wash my hands."

Adrian took his flowers silently, then took out a handkerchief, wiped the Duke's hands, and said, "When you arrive in the afterlife, you can see any flowers you want, what's so strange about that..."

"I'm not leaving." The Duke interrupted Adrian's words, his eyes were extremely serious, and he stared deeply at him.

Adrian was forced to turn his head away by the eager eyes, "Don't always joke like this, my soul is trapped here, but you are not, you can still return to the world."

"I will accompany you." The Duke said seriously.

Adrian took a deep breath, rolled up the Duke's sleeves silently, wiped off the dirt on his wrist, then handed him the little white flower, and said, "I don't like looking at flowers, you can go."

The little white flower lay quietly in the Duke's big rough hand. The Duke suddenly held it tightly, then hugged Adrian tightly, and kissed heavily.Adrian was stunned by the sudden kiss, his eyes widened, and he pushed the Duke's chest with both arms, but the Duke's strength was too great, and Adrian's lips, cheeks, nose, eyes... were all touched by the Duke one by one. kissing.

Abner, who was suddenly forced to watch the hot kiss, turned around slightly embarrassed, "..."

"You...you let go...let go...I..." Adrian mumbled as he struggled. He beat the Duke's chest with both hands, but was tightly clasped by his wrists again.

Just when Abner didn't know whether to leave or help Adrian leave the Duke, Mephisto's voice sounded from outside the door: "It's quite intimate——"

Adrian trembled, broke free from the Duke, wiped his red and swollen lips, straightened his clothes, and said coldly to Mephisto: "No, he was just on a whim."

"On a whim?" Mephisto picked up the white flower that fell on the ground, raised his eyebrows, and continued, "He has already dedicated his soul to me, for you."

Adrian's face turned pale, and he said loudly: "No! Impossible! He can't stay here forever! He..."

"Adrien..." The Duke hugged him and said softly, "I won't leave, I will stay here with you all the time..."

"No, no..." Adrian's body was wrapped by the Duke, weeping slightly, and beat the Duke's body weakly with his fist.

Seeing this scene, Mephisto shrugged and said, "Nero, I know you are happy now, but the digging outside is still waiting for you."

Abner: "..."

After hearing this, the Duke restrainedly kissed Adrian's forehead and said, "Wait for me to come back."

After speaking, the man who was a nobleman walked out with a muddy body.

Oreas had finished his work and was about to take Abner back. Mephisto sent the two of them to the city wall. The sound of wall repairs around him made Abner wonder if he was in hell.

"Wait a while to visit my place, it must be much better than now. In order to attract more souls, hell is also slowly improving," Mephisto laughed, "come here often."

Abner: "..."

He glared at Mephistopheles, "The devil is here!"

Mephisto shrugged, "Aren't you here too?"

Abner: "..."

"Hell works very hard to survive, okay? When I first came here, it was a wasteland full of evil spirits. Look," Mephistopheles seemed to have light in his eyes, "Isn't it very orderly now?"

Abner stared at Mephisto, who was intoxicated in the exterior scene of Hell City, and suddenly felt that this cunning snake was not so villainous

"Do you regret turning into a snake and going to God's garden to lure humans to eat the fruit?" Abner asked.

Mephisto shook his head, "I don't regret it, you have to know that the expansion of Hell City requires a lot of souls, otherwise the labor force is not enough."

"..."

"Actually, if I don't tempt, humans will eat it; if humans don't eat it, God will find a way to make humans eat it. Believe me, God is very boring." Mephisto looked up at the dark sky, as if looking up at Yuanzi of God continued, "Based on my years of experience as a devil, the heaven and the earth are the same."

Abner and Oreas left here, and the two walked across the dark water.

Abner turned around, looked at the Hell City that was fading away, and suddenly remembered that Adrian had said that his soul was dedicated to Mephisto, and he would be trapped here forever.A gust of inexplicable wind blew, making Abner tremble. He raised his head and asked Oreas, "How far is forever?"

Oreas stared at him, stroked his cheek, and didn't speak for a while.

Later, Abner and Aureas returned to Shikoku twice, once because Shaun became king and gave birth to a son with fair skin and green eyes, who was very beautiful.

Sean had become tall and burly, and when he handed the baby in Abner's arms, he realized that this childhood friend was still the same as before.

Abner pressed the baby's face with his fingertips, and said with a smile, "It's because your queen is beautiful that my son doesn't look like you."

Sean smiled and found that he could easily rub Abner's head, but he didn't. He patted Abner's shoulder like before, and said, "You are still the same as before."

Abner nodded, actually he didn't know whether Sean was referring to friendship or looks.

"Have you chosen a name?" Abner asked.

"Not yet, wait until you get it for him." Sean said.

Abner looked at the child's green eyes and golden hair, and said softly, "Let's call it Lance."

"Good name, but I've never heard the word?"

"Lance, it's the only meaning." Abner smiled.

Abner returned to Shikoku for the second time, and Sean was taking his last breath, his old face sinking into the velvet pillow, and there was a small sound in his throat.He held the dry skin and felt the rough lines, so that he could feel that a long time had really passed.

He put his ear close to Sean's mouth, and heard a soft voice, "Abner...you are here...I'm leaving..."

At that moment, tears came out of his eyes. His childhood friend died before he had seen him a few times. He didn't dare to blink again, for fear that the next time he opened his eyes, Sean would have turned into ashes.

After burying Sean, Abner never returned to Shikoku.From then on, he never mentioned eternity again, nor did he look too far away.

One day he helped a difficult-to-deliver sheep give birth to a lamb, one day he read books and goldfish for half a day, another day he discovered that adding some sage to white leaf dumplings could make the dumplings more fragrant and soft... One day, he took Aureas to watch the sunrise, and when the sun jumped out of the sea and filled his limbs with warmth, he hugged Aureas tightly and fell asleep.

Oreas hugged him, bowed his head and kissed his forehead.

For Oreas, Abner is the light that he stepped out of nothingness, and it is the beginning of all time and memory.

At this time, Abner, his lover, is nestling in his arms, loving nakedly, giving himself without any concealment.

This is forever, it is eternity.

Even though the mountains and rivers have changed dramatically, the sea has changed, or the cycle of life and death, life has gone round and round and returned to the original point, their life is like a pale moon and a warm sun, the moon sets and the sun rises, every day, every year.