Embers of Embers

Chapter 358 Homeland
The hazy drizzle pours quietly, as if endlessly, hitting the moss-covered stone bricks, bringing a slight chill as the breeze passes by.
This is a beautiful coastal town, as if it has been forgotten by the whole world. The long glorious war and the steam engine that revolutionized the world have not been able to change this town. It still maintains the appearance of a hundred years ago, as if time has passed. It froze.
Sigg leaned on the steps beside the door, his eyes falling on the end of the bluestone steps.
As the drizzle falls, it seems that the entire town has fallen into a deep sleep. There are no people on the streets, all the doors are closed, and no lights are on.
The entire town was shrouded in silence, and except for the sound of falling raindrops, there was nothing left.
Xig would have felt an unspeakable sense of loneliness, but at the moment he didn't care about that. Although he was alone, he couldn't help but smile when he looked at this familiar town.
Ah...that small town hidden deep in his memory, this small town that he had completely forgotten.
Sigg never imagined that one day he would actually return to this homeland that he could no longer return to. It was like a beautiful dream that he didn't want to wake up from.
Looking up, the sky was gray, but compared to the apocalyptic rainy season in old Dunling, the rain here was much gentler, like a cold hand, caressing him softly.
He stood up slowly and looked towards the end of the world. The black sea was rolling and roaring. The strong wind set off waves several meters high, which crashed on the dark rocks and broke into thousands of foams.
Sigg continued to move forward listening to the sound of rain. Everything in the town was as he remembered, except that now their doors were closed and there was no light behind the windows.
It seemed that everyone was dead, or maybe they all fell into a coma, but Sigg couldn't think about that.
There were vague sounds in the wind and rain, including the roars of men, the wails of monsters, and sounds similar to explosions.
Sigg glanced back and forth, trying to find the source of the sound, but there was only the familiar town around him, but as he blinked, a figure suddenly appeared in the rain curtain in front of him.
"Ah... Joey!"
On the other side of the rain curtain, Sigg saw Joey standing quietly in the rain. After a brief moment of daze, he ran over excitedly.
This is really a happy day. Sigg has finally returned to his hometown after chasing him for so long. He wants to share this joy with Joey, but for a moment Sigg can’t see Joey’s face clearly. A gloomy and dark place with no light to illuminate it.
The water under his feet reflected a completely different scene. Joey swung his folding knife and killed one demon after another. However, in the midst of this violent fight, another demon approached him with staggering steps. .
"Joy?"
Sig continued to shout, but Joey didn't say anything. He just followed Sig and sat down on a bench nearby. The two of them sat in the pouring rain.
"I don't want to go back, Joey."
After a long silence, Sigg broke the calm. His expression was a little complicated, as if he didn't know how to say this.
"Don't want to... go back?"
Joey's voice was a little blurry, he tilted his head, his face was still dark.
"Yes, 121A Cork Street. Although I am a little reluctant to leave it, I am not ready to go back... After all, this is the place that belongs to me."
Sigg said, looking at the town sleeping under the rain, with a gentle smile on his face.
"Actually, when I left here, it was just because of a wild thought in my mind. I wanted to see the outside world and see what the world that only adults talk about is like.
Some people say that it is extremely beautiful, while others say that it is extremely dirty. They all have different opinions, but they have one thing in common: it is a place that must be visited, and that is where the world really looks like... I was really curious, until one day I I really left, I really arrived in Old Dunling. "
Shige sighed, his voice a little helpless.
"It was great at the beginning. I have never seen such tall buildings or such wide streets, let alone those airships flying in the sky and the iron snakes densely distributed throughout the city."
"But I don't fit in there, Joey, I don't fit in. I'm just a kid from a seaside town. Old Dunling is so big for me, so big that I can barely see what it looks like. , I just want to find a corner to hide."
Joey didn't speak, he just kept his head lowered, listening to Sigg's soliloquy.
"But...if I don't go back, will anyone feel sad for me?"
Higger asked, and then he thought for a moment, and the face of his roommate, Lorenzo Holmes, appeared in his mind.
"Will he grieve for me?"
Sigg immediately laughed, feeling incredible about his idea.
"How could it be? That guy won't be sad for me. Even if that guy is really sad, he won't show it. But...but what about Mrs. Vanlude? She is so old and she should need someone to take care of her. For the rest of her life, that guy Lorenzo is obviously unreliable...although I am neither."
"This kind of thing is really distressing, isn't it, Joey?" Higger asked.
Joey nodded and continued.
"Yes, there is a lot of helplessness in life, and there are many wrong paths. Once you make a mistake, you will continue to make mistakes."
"Like hallucinogens?"
Sigg patted Joey on the shoulder and continued.
"At the factory, some people said that this thing can make people see what they want to see. Some people used it to see their dead relatives, and some people used it to see the wealth in the mountains. It was under this temptation that I used it to see my hometown. , although it’s just an illusion, but it feels really good.”
"But I'm a little surprised, Joey, that a serious person like you can actually use hallucinogens."
"So what if I'm serious? I'm still a human being. As long as I'm still a human being, I will have human weaknesses and human bad qualities." Joey said.
"Then what do you want?"
Sig looked at Joey, and his dark face seemed a little clearer, and he could see a pair of confused eyes in the darkness.
"Nightmare, to escape a nightmare."
Joey said, as if he was explaining to Sigurd, and also seemed to be enlightening himself.
"I am a soldier, and soldiers must obey orders. Whether it is killing people or setting fires, we must always do it. After all, it is an order. Although it is not our fault if we are held accountable,... but after all, I killed them, After all, I witnessed the cruelty with my own eyes.
I always have nightmares, dreaming that the earth and the sky have disappeared, and there are only countless palms waving like seaweeds. They grabbed me and entwined tightly like vines, and finally I was completely torn. "
"Sounds like a really bad nightmare." Sig seemed to understand Joey, nodding as he spoke.
"So do you still use hallucinogens?" he asked again.
"No more." Joey replied.
"so good."
Then there was another long silence. The two of them sat quietly on the bench like sculptures, not moving even if the drizzle made them completely wet. This went on for a long time until Joey broke the calm again.
"It's time for me to go, Hig."
"Yes, you don't belong here. This is my hometown, not yours, and our missions are also different. There will always be a time when we are separated." Sigg said.
"But it's nice to see you like this, Joey."
"You too, Shego."
The two comforted each other, and then laughed loudly. Without warning, Higg punched Joey suddenly, and then ran like a child, towards the direction of the alley. Then he chased after him.
The two were running and playing like children.
This kind of behavior seemed so childish and ridiculous to them at the moment, but they didn't seem to feel it themselves, and they just ran like this on a road that seemed to have no end.
The water on the ground reflected their figures, but it was another world. The blazing white folding knife cut through the rain curtain, chasing the speeding monster.
The accumulated water forms a mirror that separates the two worlds.
For Sigg, this feeling is really good. I remember that a long time ago, he ran along the seaside with other children and rode the waves. Those memories have faded, but now they are becoming clearer in his mind. , he is retrieving his past bit by bit.
The wind and rain were forgotten by him until he felt a slight touch from behind, and then the hand firmly grabbed the hem of Sigg's clothes. Then Joey threw Sigg down, and the two of them rolled along the steps. He fell down and finally fell into the water.
Joey pressed on Sigurd and struggled to get up, but Sigurd did not move and just lay in the water, staring blankly at the sky.
"Is this a dream? Joey."
he asked.
"I am not sure."
Joey couldn't understand either.
"Actually, I think this is a dream, a beautiful and exquisite dream, a dream like a cage... In fact, I know very well that I can't go back. Sometimes I can't confirm whether that town really exists..."
"So what about these? You are really here now." Joey retorted, everything around him is so real, this is Sigg's hometown, his hometown.
"No, this was my dream, because that's all I remember."
Sigg turned his head and looked at the buildings nearby.
"I only remember their vague appearance, so they will not open the door, there will be no pedestrians, and this heavy rain will not end, because I have forgotten all of that."
"But actually these are not bad. People have to deceive themselves more or less to survive, right?"
Sig's eyes gradually became indifferent. He looked at Joey who was pressing on him again, and then said to him.
"...Actually, you don't exist either. You should be a figment of my imagination, right? But I can deceive myself into believing it, so it's not much different."
But at this time, Joey shook his head, looking sad.
"No…sorry, Shego."
The folding knife pierced the dream and the heavy rain.
Dreams and reality overlapped here, and the chaotic sounds became clear for a moment, and the burning fireworks engulfed the entire town.
The drizzle became violent.
Under another curtain of rain, Joey finally caught up with the demon and pinned it to the spot in front of him, while the broken corpses were piled around him.
Joey's face was ferocious, but his eyes were full of sadness. He looked at the demon under him, and that familiar face made him feel extremely angry.
"Joey..."
The demon made a vague sound, and its scarlet eyes gradually calmed down as the folding knife penetrated its heart. No one knew whether it woke up at this moment or fell into such a deep sleep.
Those words were like a child's babble, illogical and broken into fragments.
"I'm here, Sig, I'm so sorry."
Joey just looked at it sadly, the rain washing his cheeks.
"If... if there were no demons, if there were no demons... we might be good friends."
As he spoke, he twisted the folding knife vigorously, completely breaking the demon's heart. In the demon's field of vision, the silent town under the rain gradually solidified together, and the picture was forever frozen in its eyes. .
At the end of his life, Sigg finally returned to his unreachable homeland. Although it was illusory, it was his last comfort for himself.
As the demon's blood proliferated in his body, he could feel the increasingly hot power in his body, and he was clearly aware that his consciousness was sliding uncontrollably into the abyss.
Thinking about it carefully, this feeling is really bad, simply terrible. The demons that Joey killed were all patients of Black Mountain Hospital, and before becoming patients, most of them were Joey's colleagues. In order to fight against the demons, And dedicated his life.
Like some kind of curse, it afflicts the world.
"Nightmares are like heavy rain..."
Suddenly, a distorted sound sounded from under the folding knife.
"The rainy season will pass... Joey."
I don't know whether it was the broken will or the strange murmuring in sleep, but the trembling pupils solidified, like a cold glacier, but this solidity did not last long, and then it melted.
"Yes, farewell."
Joey whispered, and under his folding knife, the demon could no longer distinguish his words. As early as when Moriarty eroded him, Shige had already begun to alienate. As this battle broke out, He was completely eroded and alienated.
The folding knife was pulled out again to cut off the head. With the blood spraying, all the demons in the lift area were killed. The survivors were paralyzed in the corner, as if they couldn't believe that they could survive this catastrophe.
Joey's eyes glanced around, past the survivors and past the countless corpses.
If there were no demons, none of this would have happened today, so many people would not have died, and there would not have been so much sadness.
Nameless anger burned in Joey's heart, and for a moment he understood Lorenzo's rage, that uncontrollable rage.
But what followed was endless sadness. Joey looked down at the dark red water, which reflected his slightly ferocious face.
He tried to pull out the folding knife, but lost all his strength and could only kneel down weakly in the water, piled together with the corpses of the monsters.
(End of this chapter)