soul stone

thump-thump-

thump -- thump -- thump --

The dull sound of the bell seemed to carry ancient dust, falling on the two of them.Xue Ye stood behind Villar, hugging the long log that was ringing the bell, and suddenly covered her face and sneezed.

"Hey, Villars, are you cold?"

Noticing that the people behind let go, the little boy also stopped and said, "Fortunately...it's not that cold when you move."

"But... my legs are so cold..."

"Then run, run around the clock." Villar suggested, "There are fences around the clock tower, run slowly, and you won't fall."

The little girl turned her head to look in the direction of the fence, and then realized that she couldn't see, so she put down the long log and groped to the border of the clock tower.The height of the fence was just up to her waist. "It won't fall," she confirmed. "Go for a run, Villar."

The little boy nodded, and slowly walked down from the clock.The girl waiting there kept reaching out to him, and he caught a grab.

"It should be noon, right? Why don't I feel warm at all?" Xue Ye asked.

"It's cloudy today," Villar said. "Run."

The two children began to trot.In the first few laps, they hit the fence without exception. Although the speed was not fast, the momentum of the people behind hitting the people in front still made them almost fall.

"It's so dangerous, I almost fell." Xue Ye said.

Villar leaned against the railing, lowered his head to the ground, and the sound of the wind whistled past his ears. "This place is high enough, if you fall, you will definitely die."

Xue Ye pulled his hand. "Are you still running?"

"Of course," Villar said.

The two raised their legs again and trotted around the narrow bell tower.The sun gradually climbed up to the top of the clock tower, and the warm sunlight shone on the two of them, but was swallowed by the black hole-like film covering the whole body.

The little girl stopped slowly. "I'm hungry," she said, "it seems like I haven't eaten for a long time."

The little boy in front also stopped.

"Counting from the day in the basement, today is the second day..." Xue Ye touched the wall and sat down with her arms around her knees, "Hungry and cold."

"It will be colder if you sit still." After speaking, the little boy started running again.

Xue Ye brushed her wind-blown hair behind her ears, stroked the amethyst earring under her left ear, thoughtfully. Ten minutes later, she shivered and stood up again.

"You are right," Xue Ye said and joined the running ranks.

As the sun passed the highest point of the monastery and circled behind the gray walls, Villars finally stopped, panting.Xue Ye, who was following behind, bumped into his back with a plop.

"Stop running?" she asked while running.

The little boy didn't answer, just slid and sat down against the wall.Xue Ye's footsteps sounded from near to far, and from far to near, like the rhythm of a pendulum. "I didn't expect you to be able to run."

"I've been running every day since I can remember. My father told me to run, and taught me how to kill people. He told me to protect my mother and younger brother." The sentence did not stop because of running, and the whole sentence was completed smoothly and flatly, as if Proving the truth of the long run.

Villar asked suspiciously: "Killing technology? Let you protect?"

"Well. Dad is a killer. He helps the organization and is often away from home. For safety, the whole family lives in a remote place. When Xia Tian was born, Dad was not there, and it was too late to call a doctor... so I had to drag him. Two feet, drag him out of mother's body." After speaking, Xue Ye stopped facing the wall and groped to sit beside Villar.

"Very hungry..." She rubbed her stomach, "Still very thirsty."

Villar pointed to the sky: "There is snow on the roof."

"Snow can't be eaten..."

"Are you an idiot? Turn it into water and drink it."

"It's too cold, I can't bear it." The girl shook her head, "It's okay, when I was in the basement, I drank some water prepared for the lions."

The little boy suddenly thought of something: "A moment of silence for our lion friends."

The little girl clasped her hands together in front of her chest: "A moment of silence for our lion friend." After a full three minutes passed, she said, "Hey, will we never see again?"

"No." Villar said firmly.

"why?"

"Sister Moelle loves kids with potential."

"But...why did she freeze us to death here?"

"It's just a test, I think. And... Sister Moelle won't lie." Villar said slowly, "She said she would come to pick us up tomorrow morning, so she will definitely come, there will be no mistakes. "

"Great..." Xue Ye exhaled, "Tomorrow morning we will be able to see Xia Tian."

The girl's voice as soft as cotton wool is hidden in the last ray of sunset, and the silence descends like a dark blue night over the small bell tower.

As if wanting to break the cold silence, Villar asked, "That earring...why is it stuffed in your brother's hand?"

The girl didn't answer.

"At that time, you said, return your things to you. Since it is yours, why should you give it to him?" Villar chased after him.

Still no reply.

Villar leaned against the wall, stretched out his arms, touched the girl's curled back, and grabbed her shoulder-length hair, and finally heard the long-lost voice:

"Ah! What are you doing, it hurts!"

"Isn't this still alive..." The little boy let go of his hand, and raised the corners of his mouth as if he had succeeded in a scheme, "Did you hear the question just now?"

"Of course I heard it." Xue Ye used her fingers to comb through her scratched hair.

"Then why?"

"Because he could die at any moment."

"what?"

"That's why."

Villar began to think about the connection between "he may die at any time" and "because" for 30 seconds, but nothing came out.Just when he was about to ask, the girl seemed to guess what he was thinking, and said faintly: "Do you believe... that there is a soul in this world?"

"It's written in religion." But he didn't really believe it.

"Indeed there are." Xue Ye nodded as if she was affirming herself, pinched the widest part of the amethyst earrings with her left thumb and index finger, and twirled them back and forth, "This pair of earrings is the stone that stores the soul."

The little boy couldn't help but widen his eyes: "Soul...stone?"

"Yes. It was originally my mother's soul stone. If my mother didn't leave them to me that night, what is stored here is my mother's soul." She said, holding the amethyst tightly, like a child tightly Holding mother's hand, "If... when Xia Tian dies, hold that amethyst, his soul can be stored in the crystal. Even if a person dies, the soul will remain in this world forever."

"That crystal, is it so special?"

"No...the crystal itself is nothing special. I heard from my mother that only people in our family are like this. The soul can stay in the stone. Others can't."

Silence spread like a gradually deepening chill between the two children. The natural condescending attitude of "others can't" made Villar somewhat displeased.

"Speaking of...your brother's illness, there is medicine in the monastery to cure it."

"……Ok, I know."

"Oh?"

"Sister Moelle was lying when she said there was nothing they could do. I knew she was lying."

"……how do you know?"

"It's a secret, you can't tell it."

Villar snorted and leaned closer to Xue Ye's ear: "Wait until tomorrow morning, after we go back..."

"Ok?"

"I'll get you the medicine that can save your brother."

"Huh? Really?"

"In exchange for your secret. How?"

The girl froze for a moment, then smiled brightly: "...Okay."

"Don't freeze to death before then."

"It's the same for you... When Xia Tian gets better, you will become good friends, for sure."

"I don't need that kind of dragging thing."

"What... You must have never been an older brother, have you?"

"..."

"No siblings?"

"You can say yes," the little boy paused, "or you can say no."

"Weird!" Xue Ye squinted her eyes and laughed, "Either you have it or you don't, how can you have it or not?"

"Tell me about Xia Tian," Villar changed the subject, "Is he a good brother?"

Xue Ye tilted her head, thought for a while, and said, "Not at all. He is stupid, ridiculous and ignorant."

Villar became interested, but didn't say much, just oh, and waited for the girl to continue.

"Outside my house, there is a road with street lights on both sides. One night, my mother took me for a walk with him, and he pointed to the two rows of street lights and called them 'stars'."

The audience chuckled twice.

"One day, he and I were alone at home, playing a game of using small stones as food. We spread the tablecloth on the carpet, and arranged various stones picked up from the yard into different shapes, including milk, bread, steak... … Xia Tian thought they were really edible, so he grabbed them and put them in his mouth … Fortunately, I acted fast, otherwise I would definitely be scolded to death by my mother.”

"Hahaha."

"When Xia Tian was three years old, my mother started to teach him to read. I saw my mother taught him to read, and I wanted to try it too, so I opened a book and asked him to read the pinyin on it. Unexpectedly...he suddenly grasped He jumped up while writing the book, tore the pages with his hands, and yelled happily... At that time, I was very angry and kept shaking my head, calling him naughty, but he laughed out loud, thinking it was very funny.”

"It's a headache just listening to it," Villars commented.

"What's more... When Dad is not at home, if I suddenly call 'Daddy', Xia Tian will happily look around, thinking that Dad is really by my side..." The voice of the memories faded and slowly turned into a low voice Weeping loudly.

"Since he is not a good brother, why do you still protect him so much?"

"There is no reason, I have always protected him, and it has been like this since birth." The little girl slowly wiped away her tears with her sleeve, and her tone returned to calm, "When Xia Tian was born, my father was not there, and it was too late to call the doctor... I had to I dragged his two feet and dragged him out of his mother. I was only two years old at the time and couldn’t remember anything. My mother told me about this later. Probably because I watched him be born, so Although he is a silly and ignorant younger brother, I still think he is cute."

"……tomorrow."

"Ok?"

"Wait until tomorrow morning," Villar said, "I'll get you the medicine that can save Xia Tian."

"Thank you," Xue Ye squeezed his hand, "Thank you, Villar."

...The next morning, Xia Tian died.