Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 187 Will you accompany me through loneliness?
Olvera trudged through a dark ocean, looking at the darkness deeper than the night. The bleak colors as thick as ink would overflow from the bottom of the endless abyss like real sea water, gradually submerging her ankles, calves and even knees, conveying waves of chills that corroded her bones.

When wading through the water, you can clearly feel the resistance of the waves; the lantern on your waist sways slightly, illuminating the spreading ripples. When you lower your head, you will feel that these cold sea waters actually lead directly to another world. The reflections cast in the water form countless strange and terrifying monsters, which are silently staring at the guests from another world through a hazy black mirror.

Walking in the bottomless abyss, the separation of the two worlds, can you see clearly how many monsters there are underwater? Thousands? Tens of thousands? Or are they everywhere? Such questions cannot be pondered deeply, because once you think about it, you will feel creepy, as if your spine is also pierced by those secret gazes.

For the princess who was plagued by the curse, this environment was even more dangerous and could be called a desperate situation. If it weren't for the bright area opened up by the lantern, she would not even want to step into this space.

Before entering the Ruler's Chamber, Olvera had specially used [Ashes of the Remnant Fire] to replenish the burning time of the lantern to the upper limit. Logically, it should be in a very vigorous state now. However, the candlelight in the cage was actually swaying, and it was uncertain. The boat of light was struggling to ferry through the dark abyss of the night, like a ray of residual light that squeezed through the cracks of chaos and could go out at any time.

The darkness here was completely different from the darkness in the corridor outside. In addition to its depth and despair, it also gave people a feeling that something was wrong, as if something important had been swallowed up by the evil beast lurking in the dark and erased from their memory.

What exactly... is going on?

Avella swallowed, barely suppressed the uneasiness in her heart, and continued to move forward.

I don’t know how long I have been trekking in this dark sea, but I can never see the end, let alone any figure other than myself. It seems that I was born lonely, wandering in the corner of the world, drifting aimlessly, and blending into the ink color deeper than the emptiness in my heart.

"..."

Olvera wanted to catch up and find the person singing, but the sound seemed to come from all directions, from any direction of the dark sea. When she faced forward, the ancient hoarse ballad would come from behind; when she looked up, the song of worry, fear and sorrow would surge out from the sea water under her feet... Where should she look to find the right direction?

"who!?"

And, I'm afraid there's more than one.

If you are abandoned, you will always be alone.

Sure enough, I forgot something important.

She was hesitating whether to move forward or backward, but suddenly she heard someone humming a ballad. The low voice drifted gently to her ears along with the water flow. The melody was mournful, long and sad, like the ocean calming down, and darkness drowning the starry sky in front of her eyes: "Eternal night dream abyss, trapped in thorns and sufferings..."

Ovella opened her mouth and wanted to say something, but after opening and closing her lips a few times, nothing came out, as if the words she wanted to say had been stolen away the moment they emerged.

"My body is like a reed, floating with the waves..." The voice was still singing, singing a familiar ballad. Ovilla felt inexplicably flustered and had a strong urge, as if she must find her before the other person finished singing the ballad, otherwise, she would soon disappear and go to a very far place that she would never be able to catch up with in her lifetime.

Faster, faster...

Wandering alone in the darkness, one will often lose his way.

Her feet were soaked in the cold sea water. Every time she took a step, she felt the water flow from both sides, gently licking the pale skin hidden under the water, leaving a trace like fog that could not be dissolved. The sound of the water echoed in the vastness, blending into those sad songs, floating like a dream.

Do you want to be alone, Olvera?

But the other party did not answer her, and continued to hum to himself, low and long, like a withered flower: "Endless darkness, surrounded by thorns..."

She raised the lantern in her hand, shaking out a few hazy halos of light and the nebulae that burned through her eyes, but she ignored them and let the dim firelight and the thick darkness fight against each other, and she chose a direction based on her intuition.

There was a voice in her heart that kept urging Ovella to speed up and not be left behind by the other person's singing.

Olvera blurted out, her surprised voice echoing in the void, stirring up circles of water waves, perhaps hiding some joy that she hadn't discovered. No matter who the other person is, in this dark world, as long as you can still hear other people's voices, you will feel very safe. This is the nature of intelligent life.

I do not want.

Olvera replied silently, trying even harder to catch up. She was born afraid of loneliness and longed for warmth, especially in such a bleak and miserable dream, so she hoped even more to have a companion to fight against the endless loneliness and misery in the dark night.

This process of moving forward is the process of pursuing what one wishes for. However, when the princess was busy moving forward, did she forget something important behind the rippling water? She should have remembered it, but when she opened her mouth to speak, she always forgot it, so that in the end she regarded it as an unreasonable premonition and suppressed it faintly. The song circling the deep sea stopped at an unknown time. The short break at this time may just be that the puppet who was singing the ballad felt tired and took a breath. The long flowing water formed a rippled mirror between the two worlds. The black transparent crystal reflected the princess's stubborn expression as she moved forward. In a trance, she finally spoke again and sang the last sentence that seemed familiar:
"Life is like a tiny flame, it is fleeting..."

Life is like a faint candle flame, it will disappear in the blink of an eye.

As the last note of the song fell lightly, the flame of the lantern in her hand suddenly shook, and the shadow danced, entangled like weeds and vines in the wind. The princess stepped on the water ripples, chasing the place where the song floated and fell, stretched out her hand to push aside the curtain of darkness, and finally saw the man in her dream.

A withered tree stood on the black water, a wooden boat floated under its thin branches, and a dreamy figure sat on the edge of the boat. She smiled at Ovilla, her smile full of love and confession.

The water flow pushed silently, and the boat swayed on the water, like the lantern in the princess's hand. So the person who had left marks in the princess's dreams countless times also swayed gently, and the dark black skirt was dotted with countless circles of ripples. She was real, or perhaps illusory, and she swayed with the boat's gentle swaying, sometimes clear, sometimes blurred, as if she was swapping back and forth between the cracks of two worlds.

Aoweila was stunned, but she didn't even know how she reacted. She murmured to call out the person's identity, calling out her meaning in her short life, which was extremely important, perhaps second only to her biological parents: "Teacher?"

The person on the boat smiled and said, "It's me, Your Highness the Princess."

This gentle tone made Avra ​​want to cry, but she held back. Perhaps it was because she was no longer the innocent little girl, or perhaps it was because the tears she had accumulated in the past had already dried up in her dreams... So, she didn't cry, but looked at her teacher in confusion: "Why are you here?"

"Isn't this answer very simple?" The teacher sat on a floating wooden boat, with withered and skinny branches above his head, branching out like countless pale claws: "I am here to accompany you, Your Highness."

"accompany me?"

"Yes, you have been kept alone in this cage for so long. It must be hard, right? But it doesn't matter. From today on, you will no longer feel lonely."

She held out her hand to Olivia. "Of course, a person will feel lonely when living alone. It is the most terrible thing in the world. So, I will stay here with you. Please allow me to bear the pain, fear, numbness, and hatred that have made you suffer. This is the agreement between us, and I have never thought of breaking my promise."

Olvera asked her, "Wouldn't it be lonely for two people?"

"That's natural, because loneliness is originally a concept of being alone." The teacher was still smiling: "So, Your Highness, come to my side. If you share the burden, you won't be lonely. Or do you want to be alone, drifting aimlessly in this dark ocean until your dreams are shattered?"

She looked at Olvera quietly, waiting for her answer.

The princess didn't want to be alone.

Therefore, there seems to be no reason to refuse.

Olvera took a step forward silently, and when her calves separated from the flowing water, there was an echo that came and went. The ripples that hit her knees were like the tides hitting the coast, cold and real.

The teacher was still sitting on the edge of the boat, her figure swaying with the water flow. She smiled as she watched the princess walk towards her step by step.

Human life is like an inconspicuous reed, always floating with the waves, swaying unsteadily. However, behind her is not a reed, but a standing dead tree. The sturdy trunk seems to indicate that it will never have such a fragile ending.

The eternal night, the abyss, the nightmare, the darkness...all will disappear under this tree; loneliness, displacement, sadness, exhaustion...all will dissipate beside her.

But the princess suddenly thought: Is the so-called world and loneliness just the difference between trees and reeds?
Olvera stopped walking, the water rippled and undulated beside her, and the monsters from another world began to whisper, asking her where her unreasonable premonition was going.

"What's wrong, Princess?"

The teacher smiled slightly, with tears glistening in his eyes.

"I don't know, teacher, but..." Her Highness the Princess murmured, her clear eyes filled with crystal tears without knowing when: "I seem to have forgotten something important."

And it is a very important thing.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)