Chapter 12 Dragon Crystal Cave This is Ashlyn Bailey's future...
"A staff?"
"I brought it."
"Dragon Tooth Tree Torch?"
"I brought it."
"water?"
"I brought it."
Dried apples? Bread slices?
“I brought it, I brought it all.” Ashlinn became impatient. “Alright, Lucas, can we go now? I’m pretty sure everything is ready; we didn’t have much stuff to begin with.”
“Wait a minute,” Charlotte suddenly appeared in the doorway, “before you leave, I want to give you something.”
They entered the hall, where an ivory-white longbow sat on a sandalwood table. The bow's back appeared to be a huge white bone, shaped like a crescent moon; the handle was made of black wood.
Lucy went up to look out out of curiosity, but Charlotte stopped her.
“This is…” Lucas took a deep breath in disbelief, “The Dragonbone Bow.”
"That's good. Do you know how to shoot arrows?"
“I will,” Lucas said, hesitatingly extending his hand. “May I…?”
Charlotte nodded.
Lucas gently gripped the dragon bone, nocked an arrow, and tentatively drew the bow.
“It’s like… magic,” he murmured dreamily, “as if my whole being became one with the bow and arrow.”
“This is my husband’s,” Charlotte said. “I thought you’d need it on the road.”
Lucas put it down in surprise.
"You are so kind, madam, I really don't know how to thank you. But I will soon turn back into a cat and may not be of any use."
“No, take it. My husband would also like someone to use it.” Charlotte patted Lucas on the shoulder, then took something else out from behind her back and handed it to Ashlin. “This is for you.”
An olive-green cloak.
However, it was not an ordinary cloak.
The moment Ashlin touched it, she felt an incredibly powerful magic, as if the cloak were woven from the forest itself. The scents of pine, lavender, and grass gently filled her nostrils, and she felt completely enveloped by her home.
The mouse was making quite a commotion in Ashlin's bag.
“It’s a size that’s more suitable for young people, so my husband has never worn it.”
“I…” Ashlin stammered, “Thank you, madam. Words cannot express my gratitude.”
"Well then, good luck." Charlotte didn't smile once until they said goodbye. "Be careful of those burnt crystals."
The sky was still early, yet it appeared gloomy, and the sunlight offered no warmth.
Dragon's Breath Mountain is barren, as bald as an old man's head. The wind rarely visits the mountain, but the air is always restless, as if something is slowly breathing.
There was a scorching smell emanating from between the rocks, as if a fire had occurred long ago but never truly ended.
Lucas had already turned into a cat, so the Dragonbone Bow had to be stored in Ashlin's spatial pocket.
Ashlyn, along with the cat and mouse, followed a winding path, passing many glittering caves along the way. Zack tried to go in several times, but Lucas brought him back.
“It looks safer to go inside,” Zach protested.
“Didn’t you hear what your mother said? There might be something in those caves that has been affected by the dragonfire,” Lucas said. “The dragonfire contains a terrible darkness that even ordinary people like us cannot withstand.”
As Ashlin walked, she wondered what the glowing things in the cave were. Even from a fleeting glance, she could sense their beauty.
Suddenly, her feet lost their footing.
"Ashline!"
Lost in her own world, she didn't notice the path had vanished. She screamed and slid down, gripping the rocks tightly and kicking wildly at the precipice.
Lucas tried desperately to help her, but he was a cat and couldn't do anything about it.
Ashlin felt her hands growing weaker and weaker. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a sheer drop below, and death was opening its arms to her.
"You're a witch, think of a spell!"
Ashlin's mind went blank. Forget spells, she'd even forgotten Common Tongue.
However, a touch of green caught her attention.
She felt, she thought. A connection was formed with that green plant.
The plant grew tremblingly under her fearful thoughts, becoming a vine that bent like a handle.
Ashlin climbed up, using all her strength, and crawled back up the stone steps, her heart nearly leaping out of her chest.
Lucas and Zach were practically going crazy.
Ashlin calmed her breathing: "Okay, there's no road ahead. What do we do now?"
Lucas reluctantly turned to look back at the cave.
They only had one option left.
In the shadows, it was as if countless eyes were hiding, silently watching her.
A strong, lingering smell of burning permeated the air.
“I want to know where those lights came from,” Lucas said. “It’s so dark here.”
His question was quickly answered.
Ten steps later, thousands of green crystals appeared one by one, glittering like stars in the night sky. A single crystal like this might be beautiful, but so many crystals appearing together in the cave resembled some kind of eerie monster.
“Don’t look at them,” Lucas whispered. “They’ve been burned by dragonfire and have dark magic.”
This was simply impossible, unless they walked with their eyes closed. Soon they couldn't tell where the path was anymore, and even the ground was covered with shiny green stones.
Ashlin stopped.
"Hey, where's Zack?"
“Idiot,” Lucas cursed.
The cave echoed with the words: "Idiot, idiot, idiot..."
They took a few steps back. The large gray rat was staring intently at a crystal on the ground, its eyes vacant and its body trembling.
Lucas used his mouth to pull it onto his back.
"I can't imagine that one day I would let a mouse ride me like a horse."
“Mom…no,” Zack said, trembling, “Lucy…you can’t do this to me!”
“What did you see?” Ashlyn asked, but Zach did not answer.
"No! No! No!" he cried out frantically, "I am a warrior, a knight, you cannot drive me away!"
It seems the crystal had some effect on him, making him believe that he had been driven away by his family.
“Calm down, Zack. You’re with us,” Lucas tried to reassure him.
Zach was still talking to himself.
They struggled forward, but "struggled forward" is not the right word, because everywhere looked exactly the same, like a galaxy that had died forever.
“Ashline…Ashline…”
"Who called me?"
It was those crystals that were calling her name.
Ashlin's hair stood on end, and she quickened her pace.
“Your future lies here, Ashlin,” the crystal whispered. “Don’t you want to see it?”
Lucas's voice rang out: "Are you crazy? Don't look at them, Ashlin!"
Ashlin covered her eyes, but a tremendous force pried her hands open. She was drawn inwardly toward the green stones.
The crystal, like the pages of a book, had been turned.
She was sucked in.
Suddenly, she was no longer in the cave, but sitting on a wooden chair, holding a wooden spoon and an earthenware bowl filled with chopped mugwort and white pepper.
Warm sunlight streamed onto the table, just like any ordinary afternoon. Outside the window lay the forest of Foxtail Bend.
She went home.
Is this some kind of temptation? Has an evil spell made her believe she's in paradise, trapping her here and wasting her time?
"A new herbal medicine order!" A raven flew over carrying a letter. "Business is booming, Miss Bailey."
"Thank you...?" Ashlin took the order, puzzled, and opened it.
Unexpectedly, the parchment was too long and fell all the way to the floor.
Orders for all kinds of herbs.
Endless work.
This doesn't look like heaven either.
She remembered Jing Shi's words: "Your future lies here."
This is...her future?
"Hurry up and get started, the guests are waiting," the raven urged.
In the blink of an eye, a string of "guests" appeared out of nowhere. Ashlin was startled, and the ceramic bowl fell to the ground.
All the "guests" wore identical blank masks, had no facial features, wore black robes, and held gold coins, like her servants.
“Herbal medicine,” they said in unison, “Miss Bailey.”
Ashlin was immediately horrified.
"This is an illusion," she told herself, "the dragon crystal is disrupting my mind." But how could she escape?
“Herbal medicine,” the guests repeated.
Ashlin took a few steps back and stepped onto the ceramic bowl.
She should make herbs.
She began making herbs.
She kept making herbs, exactly the same, exactly the same, with all the steps repeating endlessly, like a machine that never stops.
She was so tired, she longed to leave, but the guests kept queuing and never left.
"Ashlin." A familiar voice came from behind.
Should she make herbal remedies?
"Ashline!"
A burning pain shot through my arm.
A flash of green light, and she returned to the cave, where Lucas retracted his claws.
“I’m sorry I have to arrest you,” Lucas said. “You’ve completely lost your mind! The dragon crystals here will show us our deepest fears and stop us from moving forward. Let’s go.”
"Go..." Ashlin looked around in confusion, "Which way?"
Ashley thought that the usually rational Lucas would start analyzing countermeasures, but this time he didn't answer her.
For the long time that followed, they wandered aimlessly. Ashlinn began to doubt whether the journey had been meaningless from beginning to end, and whether life itself held any meaning.
The dragon crystal she had just encountered planted seeds of fear in her heart, and now they were beginning to take root and sprout, casting a shadow over her soul.
Her heart pounded wildly, and her legs grew weaker and weaker. All the dragon crystals burst into laughter, mocking her cowardice.
Each dragon crystal reflects the same scene: her, in a forest cabin by the river bend, making herbs day after day, year after year.
She couldn't look forward or backward; no matter how many times she blinked, this was the only sight she could see.
This is her life, and this is Ashlyn Bailey's future life.
Why are you so actively involved in this operation, Ashlin?
Is it simply because the prince's "curse" is your responsibility?
Dragon Crystal whispered to herself.
“Stay calm,” Lucas’s voice came again. “We cannot let fear blind us. We should… overcome our fear and look at things rationally. They are all illusions, black magic, nothing more.”
His voice was trembling.
What did you see?
Lucas did not answer.
“I am a dragon warrior… Mom…” Zack’s gaze remained unfocused.
"Sharing our fears might help us get out of this situation."
“I don’t think so,” Lucas said, his tone unusually harsh. “We can get out as long as we don’t feel fear.”
Feelings. This word made Ashlin stop abruptly.
Feel, don't think.
“Really?” Ashley asked. “Is it really possible for someone to ‘not feel fear’?”
“Warriors can,” Lucas said. “They overcome fear with courage and resolve it with their minds. Reason is the only thing that can help us defeat fear.”
“No,” Ashlin picked up a dragon crystal and tossed one to Lucas and one to Zach, “Warriors embrace fear.”
"Come with me."
As soon as she finished speaking, she mustered her courage and plunged headlong into the world of dragon crystal.
A note from the author:
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