soul stone

The abandoned cordon, the pungent smell of gunpowder, the blue sky with no birds in sight, the blood-soaked loess rising from the heels, the dead land full of corpses and weapon wreckage.

A little girl in a hooded cloak dragged a dirty rabbit puppet and walked barefoot among the corpses.Hungry and thirsty, she licked her chapped lips and looked up at the sky.The sun was as bright as a knife's edge, but it couldn't penetrate her dim eyes.

Everyone is dead, why... only me is still alive?

The sun hit the ground straight.Why do you want me to see so clearly?I don't want to watch!

The little girl lowered her head, put on the hood, and ran with her eyes closed, trying to escape this hell on earth quickly.Unexpectedly, he tripped over something and sucked a handful of dust into his mouth and nose.She lay on the ground for a while, her spine trembling with sobs, but no tears came down—without water, crying became a luxury.

"Come with me!" Someone stood in front of her, "There is water and bread."

water... bread...

She struggled to get up, and followed the man in soldier attire to a certain camp.The man took her into the tent and put her on a sleeping bag.The little girl let go of her hand, and the puppet fell to the ground and was stepped on by the man.

A ray of white light penetrated from the entrance of the tent, shining right on the doll's head.Dust swirls and dances in the beams.The huge shadow of the man crawled up the sleeping bag and up the wall.The little girl turned her head and looked at the doll that fell to the ground.The rabbit puppet stared into the girl's gray-blue eyes without making a sound.

If only I could not see it all - said the little girl.

It's fine if you don't see it - said the Muppet.

At this moment, a deep roar came, and the tent trembled.The man disappeared in a flash, and the little girl sat up, facing a lion's head.

lion?How could there be a lion here?

Sister Moelle woke up from her dream.It was dark all around.Still at night, she thought, what happened?

Another growl.Yes, it is indeed the roar of a lion.Immediately afterwards, there was a heart-piercing woman's scream, like when a piece of flesh and blood was cut alive, the painful sound that blurred the boundary between humans and beasts was creepy.

She jumped out of bed, took the candlestick on the coffee table, and rushed out the door.

——Sure enough.

Next door was the bedroom of the nuns. The door should have been closed, but now it was open.The flames of the candlesticks on the wall danced, and there was no one on the bed, and several nuns fell in the aisle between the beds, bloody and lifeless.The other nuns hid in corners, watching the center of the room.

In the center of the room, a nun is wrestling with a lion.The waist of the nun's black dress has been dyed dark red.There were many bullet holes on the lion's body, and blood was dripping from the mouth.A small black pistol lay on the floor, seemingly out of bullets.With a low growl, the wounded lion leaped into the air and rushed towards the nun who fell by the wall.The nun put her hands on the upper and lower jaws of the lion, struggling desperately.

"Sister Moelle!" The arrival of the dean made the eyes of the nuns brighten, as if a savior had arrived.Just as they were about to say a few more words, they felt a gust of wind, and Sister Moelle suddenly disappeared in front of their eyes.Looking closer, she was standing in the middle of the room.The lion opened its bloody mouth wide and remained motionless as if in a daze. It was dark all over.It's not the kind of dim indoor light, but complete darkness, like a black hole covered with a film.

The dean took out a pistol and pointed it at the back of the lion's head...

"Mother Teresa, you are wounded." Putting away her pistol, and walking around the lion's body, Moelle crouched down in front of Teresa, examining her injuries.

"I'm sorry, I didn't solve it in time, and I caused you trouble." Teresa gasped, hesitated for a while and said.

"Fortunately, no fatal injuries." Mo Aili exhaled lightly, and smiled as if relieved.In Teresa's view, that concerned smile was like an angel's blessing, and the pain in her whole body seemed to disappear. "Thank you, God, for sending me so close to the angels," she thought, gazing into her sapphire eyes.

Mo Aili leaned forward and stood up, told several nuns to take Teresa to the infirmary, and then asked around: "What's going on here?"

"The lion... came in suddenly..." a young nun said in shock.

The nuns began to chatter. "The one in the basement?" "It should be..." "The two children were thrown in yesterday, right?" "God, how did it escape?" "It's strange, the door must have been locked at night, I don't know. Why, when the lion came in, the door was open..."

"Those two children..." someone around said.

"Ok?"

"Those two...children who were with the lion last night, are they still alive?" the young nun looked at the dead lion and asked tremblingly.

Mo Aili narrowed her eyes and was about to ask something when she suddenly noticed someone at the door. It turned out to be Pamela who was in charge of the keys to the basement.

"Sister Mo... Sister Moelle," Pamela said out of breath, "both iron doors in the basement are open, and the lion cage is open, and there's no one in there except one... well, look Up there is the boy named Tucker... the little girl isn't in there..."

The dean looked around.Besides Teresa, four nuns were bitten by lions and all died.She took a deep breath, and the air was filled with a strong smell of blood.

"The child is probably with her brother. Bring her," Moelle ordered, in a voice as smooth and cold as a frozen lake. "And, go find Villar Lynch."

When the two children were found, Yagi Yukiya was taking care of his bedridden brother, while Villar Lynch was at the gate of the monastery, trying to pick the lock.

"You... want to leave here so much?" Mo Aili asked with a smile.

The boy didn't answer.The girl couldn't hold back her temper, and asked questions like a cannonball: "What did you do to my brother? Where are you taking us? Why is it so dark around here?"

"Please don't worry, your brother is resting in the room." Mo Aili deliberately ignored the latter two questions.where to takeTotal darkness?Before causing trouble, there should be awareness of accepting punishment.

The two children clasped their hands behind their backs, each held by a nun, and their whole bodies were shrouded in a film-like darkness.The dean was last.Step up the spiral staircase and stop in front of the iron door covered with red rust at the top.The two nuns stepped aside, and the dean stepped forward to unlock the iron lock with a key.Since the lower end of the iron door is close to the ground, when it is opened, the friction makes a noise like scratching a blackboard with claws.The howling cold wind suddenly rushed into the corridor, as if the cold teeth of countless vampires could penetrate people's thin armor, thirsting for the warm blood flowing under the skin.

The abbot nodded, and the two nuns pushed their captive out and quickly closed the iron gate.The lower end of the iron door scratched the floor, like a dragged cat scratching the blackboard reluctantly.Squeak-squeak-squeak-squeak-clang.The cat was dragged away from the blackboard, the iron door was closed, and the sound of re-locking came from behind the door.

"What's going on?" Xue Ye shouted loudly, "Where is this place? I can't see anything!"

"One day. Come back one day later. If you are still alive, it means that you have been forgiven by the Lord... In that case, welcome back, blessed children." The voice through the iron gate seemed to pass through some kind of different space, weak and distorted , as if coming from the end of a long corridor.Then there was the sound of footsteps gradually going away, no matter how Xue Ye yelled, it didn't stop.

When the sound behind the iron door disappeared, Xue Ye fell limply to the ground like a collapsed electric doll.Villar, who had been silent by his side, suddenly said, "It's locked inside, and it can't be opened from the outside."

"Hey?"

"I touched it with my hands just now. Assuming they have the ability... Forget it, let's just wait until tomorrow morning." Villar raised the corners of his mouth, but his whole body trembled involuntarily.He squatted down with his knees in his arms: "The spiral staircase that came up just now... This is probably the clock tower."

"Bell Tower?" Xue Ye said weakly, "I've never heard the bell."

"It's been a long time. Come and look for it."

"Looking for what?"

"Clock." Villar said, groping out with both hands on the ground, "Are you there?"

"Yes, yes." Xue Ye also reached out and groped, and quickly found Villar, somewhat recovering her strength.She looked around and asked, "This is outside...why is it so dark? Could it be... are we blind?"

"I don't know, and I can't see anything," Villar said. "The eyes are not hurt, and they are not blindfolded. Blind... probably not. Sister Moelle just said... a day later if we still If we are alive, we are welcome to go back. In that case, she will never blind us, because blind people have no value here, and there is no need to go back."

"In other words, the invisibility is only temporary?"

"Ah."

"I wish..."

Silence, half an hour of silence, only the sound of the wind passing overhead.The two held hands and sat side by side, shivering in the cold wind.

"Got to find something to do," Villar said. "It's too cold here."

"It's too cold." Xue Ye recalled the night before she came to the monastery. She thought she would find kind people along the road, but unexpectedly, both of them were frozen and fainted in the snow, and they were brought to this monastery by Sister Moelle—— The place where those people originally planned to send them.After a long circle, we still arrived at the same end point.

"Let's confirm where this is." The voice interrupted her thoughts, "Since you can't see it, hold my hand and don't let go no matter what. When we find the bell, let's ring it hard so that Those nuns know we're alive and well."

After Villar finished speaking, he felt the turbulence of the cold wind rushing against his ears, and the pain was unbearable.He covered his left ear with his other hand.Ten seconds later, a slight echo came from the right ear, like a kite being tossed about by the wind, but there was always a thin thread holding it so that it would not fly away.

"Okay." Xue Ye gently shook his hand, "Hold hands and don't let go, find the clock and ring it hard to prove that we are alive."

Sister Moelle sat by the window, picked up the saucer, and took a sip of the freshly brewed black tea.

Those two children may not survive today.

Regardless of the invisible fear, that layer of "black hole" will absorb all the light that hits them.Without light, the whole day would turn into night, freezing to the bone.No matter how talented they are, it is still difficult to resist the cold wind on the top floor.By tomorrow morning, they'd be two hard-bodied little people, as lifeless as stone sculptures.It's a pity.If they are really different, blessed by God...

thump-thump-

"This is……"

Moelle opened her beautiful blue eyes, put down her teacup, and looked up through the window.

thump-thump-

That's right, it's the bell.

Those two kids were... ringing the bell?