Book 14: Chapter 44
I saw the prophet again in the lighthouse. I told him my whole story. There was a night each month where the moon was full. This full-moon night wasn’t my most painful one. To the contrary, not only did I not feel my mana receive a boost, I actually felt empty as well as a sharp pain. The pain wasn’t as a consequence of mana damaging my body but all of my organs crying for mana due to the lack thereof. However, I truly had no mana left.
I emptied out my mana stores as soon as I reached the border of the northwest. All I had left was that miniscule amount of blood from Ling Yue. I didn’t think I’d last more than two days. My time spent conscious continuously shortened, and I felt weaker and weaker. Other people went to the West to slay dragons, coming with their best equipment and strongest warriors. I, on the other hand, would better off be described as going there to seek death as opposed to life.
The prophet didn’t provide me with any information at the lighthouse. Instead, he learnt about me from my visit. He learnt about my story in the elven lands, the human lands, the desert and the North. When I was retelling my stories, I fell into deep thought. I felt a little lost. I questioned if the man in my story was really me. I wondered if I was the one who led the imperial guards and ran around in Hilles City? It hadn’t been long, but it still felt distant to me. Perhaps it was because too much happened and too long ago. I think those memories were so old that I felt lost, and they felt distant to me.
After reflecting on my memories, I was a great individual, in my opinion. At least, I went through a lot and resolved just as much. I might not have resolved everything perfectly, but I couldn’t return to the past to do it over again.
I think the prophet might’ve wanted to allow me to enter the desert without any qualms. After all, it was my story that belonged exclusively to me. If I died there, there’d be somebody to tell my story. I had to admit the prophet was interesting. He didn’t look into my future again; instead, he looked into my past. Of course, it might’ve been because he could no longer see into the future.
I had been to a desert before. I met Nara there; however, that desert wasn’t remotely frightening compared to this one. The desert there was just a little hot, but the blue sky and bright sun were still visible. The sand was on the ground, as well. At night, one could see the starry sky. To me, that felt as though it was my blissful honeymoon with Luna. In this desert, however, it was substantially more dangerous and frightening. You couldn’t see the sun. All that was in sight was sand dancing in the air as if there was a tornado rampaging in the centre of the desert.
The sand wildly attacked my face. Soon enough, it hurt comparably to being cut with knives. The sound of the whistling wind echoed in my ears. At other places, you would be able to see signs that a sandstorm was ending. Here, though, there was no such thing. The tornado here seemed as though it was going to rampage until the world ended. Actually, perhaps the world had ended for the desert already.
The White Deer King stopped. Worn out, I slowly sat up and looked around at the dim yellow world. I caressed the White Deer King’s neck. Bewildered, I weakly asked, “What’s wrong, White Deer King? Did something happen?”
The White Deer King shook her head. She was unwilling to continue forward. With a helpless smile, I asked, “What’s wrong? You scared? Can you sense the dragon?”