Above The Sky

"Grass (a kind of plant)." The boy even moved his gaze to the top of the truck subconsciously. Fortunately, there was no turret there, otherwise he would really think it was a cattle-powered tank unique to Terra: "In order to adapt to the mountain jungle environment It's too outrageous, no wonder it needs a giant cow to pull it, what kind of camel beast can hold up!"

It's one thing to think it's outrageous, but looking at the surrounding people is not particularly surprised, Ian knows that all this may be quite common to the locals of Terra.

When the caravan arrived, the Viscount Mansion and a group of important people in the city walked out of the mansion.

Ian noticed that whether it was the Viscount or Elder Pude, everyone's expressions were quite solemn. Although the Viscount's expression was slightly relieved after seeing the caravan, he was still awe-inspiring overall.

With the bells of Huaiguang Church in the city center and the city guards running around to announce, the residents of Harrison Port who could basically come came to the central square.

Because of the battle with the crocodile dragon, the flat stone square in the center of the port has been destroyed. Now it is just a solid piece of land. Nearly a thousand people have gathered here, and more people are approaching from all directions.

Many people put down their jobs, because they know that it is definitely a matter of concern to all of them that they can make their lords take drinking, banquets, and enjoyment of beauty as their daily lords so serious. Loud voices echoed around the square.

Soon, as Viscount Grant spoke, everyone fell silent.

"Citizens of Port Harrison, we have repelled another large-scale invasion of the natives after a lapse of 20 years. I promised that when the support of the imperial capital arrives, I will reward all those who have made merit - I will not Breaking the promise, as you can see, the aid of the imperial capital has arrived, and we will have sufficient reconstruction materials, seeds that have been selected by the imperial capital, and twelve giant Bison bulls."

"One-third of them will be used to reward heroes, and the rest will be used to support the reconstruction of the port and the re-cultivation of farmland destroyed by the great storm."

The Viscount's voice was loud and clear, the moisture in the wind helped him vibrate the atmosphere, and the crowd did burst into cheers at his announcement of the good news, but the truly wise still frowned as they heard the uneasy turn.

"but."

Sure enough, the Viscount changed the conversation, he took a deep breath, and then said solemnly: "This is also the last batch of aid."

"From today, until the next five, ten, twenty years, there will be no assistance from the imperial capital."

The brown-haired and blue-eyed nobleman paused for a while, waiting for the suddenly quiet citizens to digest the news, and then slowly said: "You must also want to know why, and I will tell you the truth now."

"The kingdoms of flying flames opened up the mountain road at the junction of the Abbasalom Mountains and the Baisen Mountains, and connected with the Bernas Plain in the west. Since then, the construction knights of the flying flames can drive straight into the western hinterland of the empire."

"The war has not yet begun, but it is imminent."

Not everyone knows the names and geographic locations of those mountains, but no matter who they are, they know the meaning of the word.

war.

- The war is coming.

Unlike the local conflict between Port Harrison and the natives... The two behemoths of the Flying Flame Kingdoms and the Central Empire, facing each other across the Flying Flame Land desert, are now bordering in the true sense of the word!

"...that's really big news."

Ian, who was listening intently to the Viscount's speech in the square, suddenly heard a familiar voice, and he felt a large warm hand covering his head.

The boy turned his head, and Hilliard, disguised as Orsenna, had come behind him. The old knight looked solemnly at the center of the square, and he murmured in words that could only be heard by Ian: "They found the tame Abbasa. The method of the steel-winged dragon group in the Roma Mountains, or to destroy the lair of the group of dragon beasts at all costs?"

"In any case, the rear of the western front of the empire will now become the front line. Although there is no war yet, the pressure is even greater... After all these years of recuperation, is it so difficult to have a stable peace?"

"Even if you pay such a high price to get through the mountain road, do you still have to start a war?"

Ian heard deep, unspeakable sadness from his teacher's calm tone.

—Not for the Empire, but for those who will die.

the boy thought.

A wanted criminal of the empire would actually feel pity and anger for the deceased in the future. If it was someone else, he might not understand it, but if it was his own teacher, it would be normal.

Because Hilliard is just that kind of person...he is such a strong, gentle, powerful person who doesn't feel like he's on top.

Therefore, I will sincerely regard the other person as a teacher.

"War is bound to start."

Thinking like this, the young boy lowered his eyes and said lightly: "It's not for the war at all costs, but it has reached the point where it has to start a war, so he will do whatever it takes."

"Of course I know……"

The old knight whispered to himself, "How could I not know?"

Viscount Grant was still speaking on the stage in the center of the square. He had to rally the people, because the official roads in the southwest plain were no longer safe, whether it was a possible invasion of flying flames, or simply the empire itself felt unsafe and needed to change. Trade routes will have a huge impact on Port Harrison, the most fringe of the world.

But at this time, neither Ian nor Hilliard wanted to listen.

However, right now.

Suddenly, Ian felt a blur in front of his eyes.

- Vision? No, why is it so strong? !

I only had time to flash such a thought in my heart, and a strong sense of penetration appeared in my mind.

Suddenly strong light and interlaced light and shadow began to emerge in Ian's field of vision, and thousands of interlaced and fragmented fragments began to merge and reorganize.

Accompanied by a sudden, deep pain that seemed to burn his soul, Ian, who thought he was temporarily blind, saw a scene that seemed to originate from a very distant place.

"This is--"

The boy's eyes widened, his eyes shone with water-colored fog, but he did not look at the teacher who supported him in surprise. His eyes were extremely empty, as if his soul also spread to extremely distant places along those eyes, before and after the long time.

His brain seemed to be torn apart, but at this moment, the boy saw Feng Yan and the overturned city.

Ian saw that the house was ignited by the raging flames, the huge kingdom was torn apart in the desolate drum of war, the earth was suffering, and the hundreds of millions of souls struggled and roared between the heaven and the earth, but it was always difficult to get rid of the endless darkness. Sinking to the end of eternity, decaying into mud.

He saw, saw the vast plain stretched under his feet, and at the end of the field of vision, a line of black cavalry galloped on the decaying scorched earth, the huge armor released a beam of light that tore through the dark night, turning one city after another into a sea of ​​fire , and then extinguished again, like a dazzling torch in the night that quickly extinguishes.

Ian saw, he saw, at the end, the ruins of cities rose up enough to cover the earth, the sky, the planets and even the black smoke of the universe.

This blackness is death, it is ominous, and it is also an omen.

The black and red mist lingers on everything and all living beings in the world, no one can escape, no one can escape.

- The cowardly have nowhere to hide, only the brave can survive.

Everything dissipates.

"Ha ha……"

Breathing heavily, Ian seemed to wake up from a dream.

Gray, white, white, white, gold, purple, blue... Ordinary people, teachers, Viscount Grant, Elder Pude... Even the squares, streets, the whole of Port Harrison... all the fog is extremely normal.

"There is no black...but I see it, I see it...the whole world is filled with..."

The psychic energy was overloaded, and bright red blood overflowed from the nose and the corners of the eyes, but Ian didn't realize it. If Hilliard hadn't stopped drinking and injected a warm current of Origin into his body, I'm afraid he would continue to watch.

"What's wrong, Ian, your psionics are suddenly out of control, what's going on?!"

Before attracting the attention of the people around him, Hilliard realized that his disciple was wrong. He frowned, and a silver brilliance lit up in his eyes, sweeping across the boy's body.

Immediately afterwards, he made a decision to bring Ian home as quickly as possible, urging the essentia to guide him, but he couldn't make the other party return to normal.

"teacher……"

Ian, who was sober, blinked, raised his hand, and wiped away the blood spilling from the corners of his eyes and his mouth and nose.

He closed his eyes, closed his vision of vision, and then slowly said, "I just saw... I saw..."

Ian was silent for a long time, then raised his head and looked at the teacher with a complicated look.

The boy with white hair and blue eyes whispered, his voice was ethereal, as if he came from a very far and high place, like a prophet of prophecy: "I saw the world turned into ruins, a dark fog descended on the world, and huge destruction and disaster are about to happen."

"I see sentient beings fighting each other, destroying hope with fire and thunder, and the eternal catastrophe is overturning the sky."

Ian was silent for a while, and under Hilliard's equally silent gaze, he showed a painful and vulnerable expression for the first time since he came to this world and experienced several life-and-death crises: "Teacher... I see …”

"I saw, high in the sky, that all the stars were extinguished."

"There is only darkness...darkness like a cage...darkness like death..."

"...Don't worry, boy, there is no real prophecy in this world."

Kneeling down on one knee, the tall man stretched out his hand and embraced the overly mature child in front of him, showing himself the vulnerable child for the first time.

He sighed and said softly, "Believe me, there is no predetermined destiny in this world."

Hilliard comforted his students softly, and seemed to say to himself, "Ian, no matter what you see or foresee, don't believe it."

"As long as you can see it, change it... As long as you are willing, there must be a better future!"

In the year 766 of the Terra calendar, on October 9, the kingdoms of flying flames opened up the mountain road at the junction of the Abbasalom Mountains and the Baisen Mountains, connected with the Bernas Plain in the western part of the Central Empire, and built a checkpoint fortress on the other side of the mountain road. Build permanent fortresses.

The peace of the past disappeared on this day, and the strong neighbors who were originally isolated by the mountains and the desert were in sight.

The original villages and towns were razed, fortresses were erected, the old residents were relocated, and people who had lived on this land for hundreds of years were forced to leave their hometowns.

They looked back reluctantly, but they could only see that everything in their homeland had changed beyond recognition.

But this is only the first step.

In the rainforest in the south of Terra Continent, Canaan Moore announced a peace agreement with the King of Heaven, ending the nominally 135-year-old state of war between the two sides. It was immediately flooded with prosperous trade camps, and hundreds of pontoon bridges that would have been cut off at the first sign were built overnight.

At the same time, on the opposite side of the Gantrigum Labyrinth Fortress, the Khan's battle flag was erected on the Sunburning Plain, making the sun's brilliance even more dazzling. , the Five Mountains Committee urgently issued a war preparation order, and the 3,000 fully armed and heavily armored escorts stationed in the Heaven-seeking Domain stepped out of their holy land for the first time in two hundred years.

Huaiguang Sacred Mountain and the various religious groups jointly called on the major countries to remain calm, and released their observation report on the 'New World'. The voice of the largest group of independent sublimators in human history is usually enough to suppress the changes in various countries, but This time, no one cared about their prophecy about the 'natural disaster'.

History is moving forward.

The factory of Junlingbao is emitting hot black smoke, and brand-new armor and weapons are being produced continuously, and the price is the rocks dyed black by the smoke and the average life expectancy of workers under forty years old; All of them have developed a suspension engine that can last for three hours, which makes the sky that Cloud View City can explore a higher level. The ship is being perfected under the watchful eye of stargazers, whose purpose is unknown.

Everything has changed, and nothing has changed.

What has already happened, will happen again in the future. What has been done will be done again. Everything that has happened on this land in the past will happen again in the future.

Whether it is war, death, destruction; invention, creation, construction, or the struggle for power among human beings, whether it is noble or despicable, it is just boring and uninteresting repetitions - and now, human beings will start They fought each other again and again, and repeated themselves in this fateful cycle.

Only after that, high in the sky, another star that had been bright for billions of years flashed briefly and then went out.

Nobody cares.