"Huh?"
March 7th was stunned for a moment, then unwillingly pressed on, "Then... then do you know what our parents do? What kind of people are they?"
This was the most instinctive imagination of 'home'.
Long Night Moon shook her head again, her movements elegant but with a disappointing certainty: "I don't know either."
"Ah—!"
March 7th couldn't help but let out a small, frustrated whine, feeling the clue she had just grasped slip away again.
She looked at Long Night Moon, a little pouting, with a mix of grievance and confusion, "Then what do you know?"
Surely she didn't just know a name and the identity of'sister'?
Long Night Moon watched March 7th, eager for knowledge yet with nowhere to direct her energy, and the mysterious smile on her lips deepened slightly.
She extended her index finger and gently placed it on March 7th's lips, making a'shush' gesture.
"Don't be so impatient, my dear sister~"
Her voice was languid and had a strange calming power, as if she were about to tell a long bedtime story, "Listen to me... slowly."
She adjusted her posture, her crimson eyes gazing at the endless starry sky outside the carriage. Her gaze seemed to drift to a distant place, and her tone gradually took on the solemnity and ethereal quality of an epic narration:
"First, our homeland... is a place called Amphoreus. It was an... ancient and fertile land where we were born, grew up, and spent years that may not have been long, but were deeply rooted in our souls."
Her description was vague, yet it provided March 7th with immense room for imagination.
(Amphoreus... it sounds like a very powerful and beautiful place!)
However, Long Night Moon's voice immediately deepened, as if shrouded in shadow: "But peace is not eternal. Amphoreus... was enveloped in the shadow of the black tide. It is a cyclical disaster that brings destruction and death. It is like an endless winter; each sweep means the decline of civilization and the loss of countless lives..."
Her tone carried a genuine heaviness, making March 7th's heart clench. She couldn't help but hold her breath, her blue eyes filled with worry for the fate of her homeland and compatriots.
Long Night Moon did not describe the horror of the black tide in detail. She changed the subject, her tone taking on a meaning that, though weathered by time, remained resolute:
"...However, in the face of such despair, our ancestors and compatriots never gave up. Generation after generation pressed forward, some building high walls, some seeking wisdom, some burning themselves, just to light a faint glimmer in the darkness, to buy a moment of respite for future generations... It was a long, tragic, yet shining battle for survival, filled with an unyielding will."
Her narration painted vague yet stirring pictures, as if one could see countless figures struggling, resisting, and sacrificing in the disaster.
Finally, Long Night Moon's voice returned to a calm tone, even carrying a tranquility born of weathered experience. She slowly spoke the words that seemed to be etched deep in the collective Remembrance of her people:
"I remember... in a certain darkest hour, there was a Flame-Chasers leader named Kevin. He shouted that ultimate vow towards the raging black tide, towards all those who held both hope and despair—"
'Humanity will surely triumph over the black tide!'
Although the tone of this sentence was calm, the resolute will it contained, forged through countless disasters and sacrifices, struck March's heart like a heavy hammer.
"Wuwu..."
Upon hearing this, March 7th's blue eyes instantly welled up with tears, falling like broken pearls, gushing down.
Although the story was merely fragments, it painted a tragic yet hopeful epic of heroes in her heart!
The beauty of her homeland, the terror of the black tide, the heroes' vows... all of it stirred her emotions and moved her deeply.
(Although... I don't know why, but that last vow, 'Humanity will surely triumph over the black tide,' sounds a bit familiar, as if I've heard similar shouts somewhere... Is it just my imagination?)
"So... our old home was like that?" March 7th asked with a crying voice, both moved and curious.
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