【Western Fantasy】City of Light

There is a saying in Xivan Continent: "Ampton is the city where Aurora, the goddess of light, lives."

This is true, Hampton is the richest city in the human kingdom.This beautiful city is located in the middle of a peaceful plain, with abundant water sources and abundant products, and a group of happy citizens live there.

Every day, countless business travelers come to this city of light, and the hotels in the city often receive elves, dwarves and other races favored by the goddess of light.

The climate here is pleasant and the scenery is picturesque. The buildings in the city are all carved with white marble, and outside the city is a refreshing green grassland with gurgling clear streams all over the grassland.

Although Ampton is nearly half a month's carriage ride away from the king, the royal family still spent a lot of money to build a summer palace outside the city.

Summer Palace is a gorgeous palace that can be described by human language.The bricks and tiles of the palace are poured with gold and silver, each floor is covered with thick woolen carpets, and the palace lanterns are inlaid with bright sapphire pearls.On this continent, I am afraid that only the Divine Domain of the Goddess of Light can rival it.

However, after the summer palace was completed, the queen of Shengming had some worries.She worried that the heirs of the royal family would be so obsessed with the summer palace that they would wear down their will, so she quickly ordered the abolition of the summer palace.

Of course, there are also rumors that this is due to the extravagance of the royal family, which has caused countless nobles in the capital to follow suit.After the completion of the summer palace, dances were held every night, and the nobles were drunk all day long.The extravagance prevailed in the royal capital, and even alarmed the Church of the Goddess of Light, which was low-key and friendly.

It is said that it was Bishop Tiana who personally entered the palace and sternly warned the dignitaries that the queen was so determined to close her beloved summer palace.The royal carriage has not come to Hampton since then.

Because Aurora, the Goddess of Light, is the embodiment of absolute authority in Xiwan Continent, and Tiana is the most talented bishop in the past.She was the daughter of the noble Lord Sadner, and she became a bishop at a young age.Her twin brother Ansel served as a priest in Ampton, and the siblings with supernatural powers served the goddess of light together.

It is said that the mighty Tiana is the reincarnation of the Goddess of Light.In fact, after Xivan Continent has enjoyed a millennium of peace, all signs indicate that the dark forces will revive.More than one priest has observed that dark forces are growing in the west, and Aurora's oracle has come to the hearts of the most devout believers—the goddess of the night, Cynthia, is about to wake up.

However, neither the royal family nor the common people took it seriously. Cynthia had been sleeping for thousands of years, and her dirty name only appeared in the mainland history books.Her descendants lost the blessing of divine power, and could only hide in the darkness to survive.

Aurora is the sole master of this continent, and humans and other races are bestowed by Aurora, and they will burn incense, pray and sing praises for her forever.

Yes, Cynthia will rot in the old coffin, the night can never eat away the light.Even if Cynthia dared to return to Xiwan, Aurora would definitely raise her sword again for the people of light. Bishop Tiana, who is full of divine power, is the best proof of the goddess' reincarnation.

People have always thought so,

Until a group of uninvited guests occupied the abandoned summer palace outside the city of Hampton.

It was the hunters of Umpton who first noticed the clues of the dark forces.

It was a gloomy afternoon, and several young hunters were chasing gray rabbits in the grassland.The cunning rabbit ran desperately, and the hunters who refused to give up chased them all the way to the back garden of the abandoned summer palace.

The gardens were overgrown, the fountains were dry, and the marble statues were jumbled here and there.As the hunters stepped deeper, the originally silent palace actually heard the sound of piano music and sharp laughter from time to time.

Without the protection of the priests, the hunters dare not approach the dark palace.They exited the back garden quietly, then ran away in a panic with all their strength, and brought the strange news back to the city.

Priest Ansel personally held an exorcism ceremony for the hunters, and the frightened young people recovered from the terrifying dark power.Afterwards, the hunters never dared to approach the Summer Palace any more.

However, the situation got worse and worse, and the dark creatures began to tentatively approach the city.Hunters can even spot ominous creatures in broad daylight during cloudy, overcast weather.

These creatures roam the wild in groups of twos and threes. They have the appearance of humans, but their skin is paler, and their pupils are terrifying blood red.They showed ferocious smiles to the panicked hunters, their white and sharp fangs were more terrifying than the vicious wolves.

The hunters protected themselves with bows and arrows, and fled back to the city in panic again.They didn't know what kind of creatures these things were, but the historians in the city guessed the truth from the descriptions.

They say these creatures are called vampires and feed on blood.Vampires don't age, only sunlight can burn them.The vampire family wanders in the night for eternity, loyally following their queen—Cynthia, the goddess of the night who has been sleeping for thousands of years and is defeated by the goddess of light Aurora.

When the old men spoke of vampires, terror was written in those cloudy eyes, and every pale beard trembled, but the young hunters had nothing to fear.

They know the enemy's weaknesses, and they know how to deal with them.

Since then, whenever the weather is bad, hunters will gather in teams to hunt together.They carry heavy bows and sharp knives, and instead of turning and running if a vampire gets in their way, they are trained to fight back.

Sometimes cunning vampires use dark magic to escape; other times hunters work together to fight off the dark forces and even capture an enemy or two alive.They would wrap the captured vampires in black cloth and bring them back to the city on horseback.

Then, they will contact the mayor, Mr. Barnett, and pick a sunny day to bring the vampires to the square in the center of Hampton for execution in the sun.

Public executions were initially intended only to deter other vampires, especially evil lunatics trying to infiltrate Hampton.However, as the skilled hunters brought back more and more vampires, the execution gradually became a regular group activity in the city.

Citizens like to watch the process of vampires disappearing in the sun, and some parents will bring their children to watch, hoping to exercise their courage.

When the Midsummer Eve celebration came this year, Mayor Barnett also specially asked the hunters to go out of the city to arrest a vampire and bring him to the celebration to be executed. He would present a gift to the goddess with an evil creature to kick off the grand celebration.

The citizens were very satisfied with this arrangement. When the Midsummer Festival came, almost everyone in the city put down their work and came to the square to watch.

This is a beautiful summer morning, colorful ribbons and fresh flowers embellish the white stone city of light like an oil painting.Bards and dancing girls are singing and dancing in the streets early in the morning, and everyone is celebrating the arrival of the festival.

The first program of the celebration was the public execution of Cynthia's vampire lackeys.

The vampire to be put to death today was a teenager who had recently wrung the necks of some hens in a farmer's henhouse.The farmer and his brother caught the vampire red-handed as he sucked blood.

The angry people beat him up, and they tied up the scarred vampire and sent him directly to the special prison under the city of Hampton.

His name was Paian, but no one cared about his name.The only reason he can survive until today is that the citizens want him to die at a suitable time, at a suitable place, and in a suitable way.

Pei'an stayed in the underground prison for more than half a month, and when the Midsummer Festival came, he was already exhausted from hunger with scars all over his body.His bloodline comes from a lowly vampire, and the power of darkness is extremely weak, not even as good as a bat.

At this moment, Pei'an was so weak that it was extremely difficult for him to even breathe, let alone use dark magic to escape.

Footsteps announcing death came from the stairs, and several guards came to the dungeon holding torches.Someone opened the iron lock with a key, and Pei An exhausted all his strength and wanted to rush out of the prison.

None of the guards caught up, but watched Pei'an escape indifferently.

When Pei'an stumbled to the front of the stairs, a priest in a white robe was standing at the top of the stairs and waiting quietly.

This priest has short light blonde hair like sunshine, and he combs his hair back meticulously. His smooth forehead and high nose bridge make him look like a perfect marble statue.He has a pair of beautiful green eyes, as clear as emeralds.

Because of his pale eyes, the cold-tempered priest didn't seem to have a trace of human emotion.

Pai'an, covered in blood, felt ashamed in front of the white-robed priest. He noticed that only the priest was guarding the gate, so he climbed up the steps with both hands and feet.

The priest stood there expressionless, when Pei An was about to rush in front of him, he raised his hand slightly, and Pei An saw small light spots flashing across the slender white fingertips.

At that second, Pai An lost all his strength.The vampire felt the dazzling white light burning his eyeballs, and he could only struggle and fell to the ground.

The soldiers laughed at him loudly, laughing at him for daring to run away from Priest Ansel.

Payan is not a country boy who knows nothing. In fact, everyone who comes to Ampton knows that Bishop Tiana's twin brother, Ansel, is the priest in the city. However, he did not expect that Ansel would personally supervise the vampires. Sentenced.

All attempts to escape vanished, and Paian was left with nothing but pain and despair.

Someone covered the unlucky Pean with a black cloth, and the wide black cloth covered the vampire's whole body, as if he was some kind of giant garbage.

Through the tattered hole in the black cloth, Pei'an saw that he was being led out of the underground prison.

Several soldiers dragged him to the central square, where all vampires were executed.

Priest Ansel followed closely at the end of the team to prevent the vampire from escaping again.

In fact, that moment just now was the last desperate struggle, Pei An had long since lost the strength to escape, and the vampire, who had no power to fight back, came to the center of the square in full view.

The bright sunlight pierced through the holes in the black cloth, burning Pai An's pale skin every stitch.What made him even more painful was the eyes of the onlookers.

They looked at him with condescending contempt, as if they were some kind of creature superior to him, the total master of his life.

This black cloth has covered up many vampires, and Pei An smelled a strong smell from the same kind, which was the smell of death.

A soldier asked loudly when the execution would start, but the person in charge was too busy with the celebrations to respond in time.

Pay'an was pinned to the ground, and he began to cry in despair.

He cried so sadly that he almost died.

He cried out what happened to him in an attempt to impress the onlookers.It turned out that he was also a human being. On a stormy night, a pale-skinned person came to his house in the dark.The man killed Pai An's parents like an animal, but only Pai An's life was left—in another way.

Paian said his father was an honest farmer; he said he missed his mother's cheese morsels; he said he shivered when it rained; He didn't hurt anyone before or after becoming a vampire.

He said he didn't hurt anyone and he deserved death.

Those closest to the execution ground have heard stories of vampires, but no one cares.They came here early in the morning to wait to see the execution, and they were already impatient by this time.

The citizens started booing and urging, some took the lead, and everyone started shouting together: "Burn the vampire" and "Burn Cynthia's lackeys"!

Shouts resounded through the wide open square, and the soldiers lost their patience. The captain simply trotted to the person in charge and asked the execution time again.

Pei'an wept heartbroken, he fell to the ground weakly, his wrist was about to break due to being strangled by the rope.He tried his best to twist his body to struggle, but at this moment, he found the priest standing not far away, watching him quietly with those clear green eyes.

Under the bright summer sun, Ansel could clearly see the details of the priest's clothes.The robe was spotless and white, and the flat cuffs were embroidered with golden patterns. The color of pure gold was as holy as his beautiful golden hair.

What surprised Pei An even more was that the pair of green eyes seemed to have feelings.

The priest's emerald-like eyes were full of water, like the statue of the goddess of light, and his perfect face showed infinite compassion.

Ansel was moved by Pei'an's miserable life experience.

How ironic that Aurora's priests should sympathize with Cynthia's lackeys.

Pei'an, who was about to die, could not care about this fantastic scene. He clung to the life-saving straw and summoned all his strength to cry out for help.

The young boy's voice was hopeless and hoarse. He said, blond priest, I am willing to be your slave, and I am willing to serve you forever.My lord, please help me, I have not hurt anyone.

There was a burst of laughter from the crowd, this vampire was desperate and started begging the priest for salvation, how stupid and despicable.

Amidst the mocking sound, Ansel was as indifferent as a cold god.He lowered his head slightly, covering his wet eyes, while avoiding Pei'an's miserable begging.

The execution time was finally determined, and the soldiers dragged Paian to the torture device. A heavy iron chain locked the boy's slender ankle, and the end was connected to the gap between the hard white marble floor tiles.

Pay'an felt the heart that was no longer beating in his chest was crying.

Everyone in the city hated him, loathed him, even though he didn't hurt anyone.

The only person who sympathized with him was a priest. How could a priest save the fallen vampire in public?

He won't, that's a public blasphemy against the goddess of light.

After making sure that the iron chain would not be broken, the soldier lifted the black cloth from Pei'an's body.

The crowd made a huge noise, including praises to the goddess of light and curses to the goddess of the night.

Amid the cheers and curses, Ansel remained silent.When Pae-an is exposed to the sun, he can't seem to take it anymore.

The priest pushed aside the excited crowd and left without looking back.

The sun mercilessly burned the vampire's decayed body and soul, and Pai An felt that every pore in his body was exhaling scorching breath.The blood-red pupils gushed out red liquid, and the sinful body quickly shrank and deformed, turning into ashes bit by bit.

The citizens watched the execution with great interest, but today the vampire was too thin, and he was reduced to ashes too quickly before the people had their best time.

The pile of ashes on the ground no longer had the ability to scream or beg for mercy, and the citizens quickly lost interest in watching.

The crowd gradually dispersed, and the vendors who played by ear quickly moved out. They set up various snack and wine stalls on the spot to attract customers.For a time, the central square changed from a brutal execution ground to a joyful celebration scene.

People are celebrating the magnificent and romantic Midsummer's Day, and they are also celebrating the glory of being human.

Today, we are still standing at the top of the Xivan continent, and the benevolent Aurora will always protect our city.

Ours, City of Light.

The author has something to say: Pei'an is a cannon fodder,

three seconds of silence

The little wolf dog will appear in the next chapter