soul stone

The darkness faded.

The little girl opened her eyes suddenly and turned her head to look.A cool white light came in from the entrance of the snow house.She almost sat up, grabbed the fur coat, stepped into the boots two or three times, and crawled out.

On the southern sea level, a circle of bright colors rose up like a smudge, spreading outward from one point.Xue Ye raised her arms to block the direct light, narrowed her eyes, and trembled her lips slightly.

"sun……"

As if remembering it suddenly, the little girl turned around and went into the room, and picked up the golden retriever who was still sleeping.

【Mazars, the sun is coming out!Thought the sun would never come out! 】

Mazer didn't respond, as if she was still immersed in a deep and long sleep like the polar night.

[Hey, Mazars, wake up, spring is here. 】

Xue Ye put his hand on its back and shook it twice.The golden retriever is indifferent.

"What's wrong?" Ye Mosa, who was sleeping in the innermost corner, rolled over and sat up, rubbing her eyes, and was startled when she saw Xue Ye holding the golden retriever in both hands.

"Why does it look like it's dead..." He passed his sleeping mother and reached out to touch its head.Feels like frozen stone.The little boy gasped.

"It's dead." Yemoza wiped his nose with the back of his hand, "The old guy can't survive the winter."

Xue Ye raised her face.Seeing the tears on her face, the little boy panicked: "Hey, don't cry, my mother will think I'm bullying you when you cry..." He grabbed the quilt to wipe her tears.Xue Ye took a step back and turned to face the outside of the house.

"Winter is over. It's just bad luck..."

"Ah, the sun is out." Ye Mosa noticed the sunlight pouring into the house, and asked again, "Where are you going?"

"Dig it's grave."

"The grave? What is it?"

Xue Ye glanced at him, hugged Maze and got out of the house without saying a word.While yelling to her to wait, the little boy put on his clothes indiscriminately and hurriedly chased her out.

Waking up from the three-month darkness, Frozen Island revealed its true appearance of winter in the sunlight for the first time.As if folded out of cardboard, there is not a single crack on the island.Xue Ye stopped in the middle of a smooth and empty flat land and looked around.

"Huh...huh...you're walking so fast." Yemosha caught up with great difficulty, bent down and panted for a while, looked up and saw Xue Ye squatting down, holding the dead golden retriever in her left hand, and stroking it inch by inch with her right hand Bing Mian asked doubtfully, "What are you doing?"

"Here, used to be the sea, right?" She frowned, "Or did I remember wrong?"

The little boy straightened up, turned around in a circle, and nodded after confirming the surrounding scenery.

"That's right, it's the sea." He shook his shoulders and grinned, "The sea is frozen!"

"So..." Xue Ye stood up and looked at the coastline, "The sea is frozen and the island has grown bigger. With such thick ice, it is not easy to dig a grave..."

"Hey, what the hell is a tomb?"

At this time, the little girl suddenly turned her face to the side, stared straight at Yemoza, and then walked towards him quickly.

"Look, what are you doing looking at me?" The little boy was taken aback and backed away again and again, but Xue Ye grabbed his wrist.

"Now, Yemoza. What happens when a Catrian dies?"

Due to the special geographical environment and isolation from the outside world, the Catrians on Frozen Island have retained their unique customs.When a person dies, he is neither buried in the ground nor cremated to ashes.They dug an ice boat for the dead, put the body in it, and used the buoyancy of the ice to send it to the sea for the lava whale to eat.They believe it was the lava whales that kept the frozen islands warm enough to keep them from being completely frozen over.Under such harsh natural conditions, no food can be wasted, and dead people are no exception.When I was young, I used to hunt lava whales as a medal of bravery. After death, I used them as food for lava whales and turned them into a part of their bodies. In turn, I was a real Catrian to protect this island, my family and my fellow countrymen. .

The chisels clicked and clicked on the ice, and the shards of ice splattered and sparkled in the early spring sun.The physical labor made the little boy's cheeks flush.He raised his neck and let out a big breath of white air, and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his glove.

The little girl standing beside squatted down holding the cold body of the golden retriever dog, and carefully looked at the freshly baked ice boat.The size is just right.

"It's amazing, it's amazing, Yemosa!" Her eyes flashed with excitement and surprise, "It only took three days, it's really amazing!"

Yemosa threw the chisel aside and shook his arm.Sore shoulders.Although he was exhausted to death, when he saw Xue Ye's happy smile, he felt happier than anything else.As for why, even if he just turned ten years old, he couldn't figure it out.What's more, he had never thought about such a complicated matter.At this moment, he just turned his arms around and smirked at Xue Ye twice.

After resting for 5 minutes, he pushed the ice boat towards the sea.Xue Ye followed behind.Coming to an inwardly sunken coastline, the little boy sniffled, straightened up and said, "That's it."

"Is this... where the lava whales are active?"

"In spring, when they come back from where they spent the winter, they always pass by here, my mother told me so."

Xue Ye smiled slightly, and put Maze's body into the boat.Golden Retrievers are as thin as a skeleton covered in fur.A month ago, it had almost stopped eating, relying on the energy stored in its body to continue its life.The two pushed the ice boat into the water together.The biting sea was so cold that Yemoza wanted to scream loudly, but seeing Xue Ye's calm face, he had no choice but to hold back his silence, cursing himself inwardly as useless.

"Take it hard, push it into the water!" He shouted at Xue Ye.

"Ah."

"one two Three--"

Due to the reaction force, the little boy slumped in the sea.The sea water splashed into his eyes, causing Xue Ye to blink hard twice.When I looked closely again, the ice boat had crossed several waves and was drifting away.

【Goodbye Mazer, goodbye. ] Knowing that the other party could not hear, she still said silently in her heart.

After all, Yemosha got up from the water, and the feeling of being soaked was too uncomfortable.

"Hey, let's go!" He shouted while twisting the hem of his clothes vigorously, "The clothes are all wet!"

Xue Ye stood indifferently, like an ice sculpture.

"Why are you in a daze? If you continue like this, you will freeze to death!" The little boy swam through the water to pull her arm, but he couldn't pull it.He was about to lose his temper, but when he raised his head, he gulped and was so frightened by Xue Ye's expression that he couldn't speak.

The little girl stared into the distance with a rather serious expression, her black crystal eyes showed a trace of panic, as if she saw something that didn't exist.He had never seen her look like this before.

"What, what's wrong?"

"...that," she raised her head and pointed to the direction where the ice boat was heading away, "the boat seems to be getting smaller?"

"What?" Yemoza muttered, "It looks small when it's far away. I know that too, my mother told me."

Xue Ye shook her head: "Look carefully, it's really getting smaller!"

Yemosa turned her head and saw the small boat as big as a conch on the sea, sinking and floating with the waves.The body of the golden retriever curled up in it seemed to be a little bigger than before.He rubbed his eyes to make sure he was right.

"The ice boat... has become smaller?"

"The ice has melted..." Xue Ye murmured.

In the blink of an eye, the little girl had already run over.With her face up, she firmly grasped the edge of the ice boat with both hands.The water was neck deep.

The little boy slapped his thigh, didn't even have time to swear, and rushed to Xue Ye's side, only to find that the ship's side had completely melted, leaving only the bottom of the ship that hadn't been completely eaten away.

"Hey, why is it so warm?" Ye Mosa dipped his whole face into the sea.The temperature is about the same as water that has been boiled and cooled for half an hour.

When the bottom of the boat finally disappeared, Xue Ye stretched out her arms under the water, caught Maze in her arms, raised her right foot and stomped it twice.Perhaps due to the resistance of the water, the place where it stands is soft and has no sense of reality.

"When you came here just now, did you feel that the soles of your feet have become higher?"

"Huh? Well..." Ye Mosa also stomped her feet, and looked back at the shore, "It's a bit, it seems. It feels like it's falling first and then rising..."

Just when they were puzzled, there was a sudden vibration under their feet, like an earthquake.Yemosha lost his footing and fell into the water.

Before losing her balance, Xue Ye took a big breath and dived into the sea.Although the sea water made her eyes hurt, she still insisted on opening her eyes, holding the golden retriever in one hand, and swam to Yemoza with the other.Something dark and huge was approaching him.

When grabbing Ye Mosa's arm, the shadow was less than ten meters away from them.Xue Ye flicked her arm and threw Maze to the shadow.At this moment, an irresistible thrust surged from bottom to top, throwing them out of the sea.For a moment in the air, both of them clearly saw the source of the thrust - a bloody mouth.The giant bared its white fangs and swallowed the golden retriever's body together with the sea water.

"Lava...rock whale..." Yemosa sat not far from the shore, pointing tremblingly at the churning sea tens of meters away, her face pale.

"This is……"

She finally understood that the melting of the ice and the warming of the sea water all came from the high temperature of the lava whale.In Catrian legend, it is the only creature that can survive in the lava of the volcano in the center of the frozen island.

Xue Ye, who was immersed in contemplation, looked up again, and her bloody mouth broke through the sea five meters away.She squinted.On the tip of its teeth, Mazars's...

"Danger!" The little boy jumped up, grabbed Xue Ye's arm, hid her behind him, opened his arms, his face dripping with cold sweat.

During the infinite time divided by consciousness, Xue Ye suddenly felt a gust of cold wind blowing by.A black shadow flew out from the side, sandwiched between the two of them and the whale.She shivered.What an astonishing murderous aura!

"Stand back!" the man shouted.

"Stop!" Xue Ye rushed out.