Book 6 Chapter 39.6 - Silent
There weren’t many places left in the northern continent with life force. Dragon City was one place, Arthur Family’s territory another, apart from this, there was also a small inhabited land. This territory was flourishing with greater and greater vitality. However, the synthetic food factory that had just been built had already begun operations, even if they had another thousand people here, they could still continue existing. The people in the wilderness, as long as they could ensure a mouthful of food, then they would already be extremely satisfied, let alone a place like this where they could even eat their fill.
It was still the afternoon, but Sally suddenly screamed, sitting up from her bed, breathing in and out heavily, cold sweat already soaking through her thick nightgown. She had already pulled two all-nighters in a row, and now, after sleeping for less than an hour, she was roused awake by a nightmare. When she woke up, she already couldn’t remember the details of the dream, only vaguely feeling that an endless darkness was extending over from the horizon. She wanted to run, but was pulled towards that darkness by an irresistible force. She felt her heartbeat speed up, her chest feeling as if there was a giant rock weighing down on it, making it hard for her to breathe. She still felt fatigue, but after sleeping for less than an hour, she would wake up from the nightmares, which was why her head was in so much pain it felt like it was splitting, body so weak it was as if she didn’t have an ounce of strength, even raising her head to wipe her sweat extremely difficult.
Only after gasping for breath for quite some time did Sally feel a bit better. She looked at the time, and then still wanted to sleep a bit more, but no matter how she tried, she just couldn’t. That was why she figured she might as well put on her clothes and get off the bed, walking towards the priest’s residence.
The little church had already finished its construction, now even having some decorations. Meanwhile, on the plaza in front of the church, the seven apostles’ sculptures were already mostly done, the six apostles rather abstract, but just a single look would make one feel a powerful and imposing aura. Only the seventh apostle was still a piece of rock, even now not a single chisel carving made.
Whenever she walked past the seven apostles’ sculptures, Sally always couldn’t help but look at them. However, a chilly gust of wind swept over, the coldness almost seeping into her bone marrow, freezing her rigid. She immediately wrapped her clothes tightly around herself, her fingers that gripped her shawl already frozen to a pale white color. Sally sped up her footsteps, walking towards the back of the small church.
The priest built another small wooden shed behind the church as a dwelling place. As soon as Sally approached, barking sounds rang out from the shed, and then after the priest scolded the dog a bit, the barking noise quieted down.
Sally pushed open the door and went inside. The priest’s place wasn’t large, the furnishing also extremely simple, the corner of the room having a small dog tied up, its dark black eyes staring firmly at Sally, from time to time releasing a threatening growl. This dog’s size wasn’t great, its body covered in mottled colored fur, but it didn’t carry much mutation, nor did it have the viciousness of a mutated creature, truly unknown how it survived in the wilderness. A month ago, the priest brought it back from the wilderness, and then raised it in his home. Moreover, for some reason, this dog always bore a mysterious hostility against Sally, something she really couldn’t figure out.
The priest closed the Revelation in his hands, gave Sally a look, and then said with concern. “Your complexion is not good at all, were you not able to sleep well? Don’t tire yourself too much, the future is still long. You are the soul of this inhabited area, if you aren’t here anymore, then this place will soon become just like everywhere else.”
“But… carrying the expectations of more than a thousand people really is exhausting…” Sally sat down on the only couch, burying her head in her own body’s embrace.
The priest laughed, and then said, “You are human, not a machine, of course you’ll feel tired. However, if we want to achieve our dreams, then we have to persevere and pay the price, moreover what is paid might not necessarily match what is obtained in return. That is why those who are able to maintain their ideals to the end are few, those who can achieve their dreams also few.”
Sally lowered her head, saying quietly, “I really can’t go on anymore. Recently, I’ve always been thinking, after paying so much… including my body and dignity, was it really worth it? It is precisely for these people, these people who aren’t even that related to me? Father, when we die, is there really a heavenly country? Or some world that everyone can feel happiness in?”
“There isn’t.” The priest gave her an unexpected answer.
“Why?”
“Because everyone has desires, and desires have no end.” The priest replied. He caressed Revelation in his hands, and after thinking for a moment, continued, “In our world, reality always has that type of limitation on our desires, we also know that most desires are impossible to satisfy. However, if the day comes where one’s desires can be limitlessly realized, then at that time, heaven would also become hell.”
Sally nodded in half-understanding. These issues were all extremely abstract for her, and too complex. She was actually an extremely simple girl, the more complex her experiences, the more simple she wanted to become. Even though she established an entire system for ordinary people to live in the wilderness, she was still simple. Survival in the wilderness would always oppress one to the point where they couldn’t breathe, it wouldn’t allow one to go too complex.
Sally’s eyes suddenly swept to a leather suitcase at the corner of the room. This was a travel trunk that had experienced serious wear and tear, what the priest brought with him when he left Dragon City. The trunk was half-opened, inside were several books and a few sets of clean clothes. Sally’s mind suddenly tightened for some reason, asking with a trembling voice, “Father, are you going to leave this place?”
The priest nodded, saying with a smile, “The seventh apostle sculpture still hasn’t appeared, so I need to take a look outside, see if the omnipotent father will give me some inspiration.”
“Will you never come back?” Sally asked.
“Of course I will…” The priest stopped halfway through his sentence, and then shook his head while laughing, saying, “You are a good girl, I can’t fool you. I might look around the southern continent, the journey will be great, anything might happen. That is why it wouldn’t be too strange for me to not be able to come back.”
“Southern continent?” Sally suddenly stood up. She looked at the priest, wishing to stop him, but didn’t know what to say. She suddenly threw herself into the priest’s embrace, bursting into tears. She felt a powerful premonition that from today forth, she would never see the priest again.
The priest patted her back in a doting manner. When she cried enough, only then did he point towards his own chest and say, “Even though there is no heaven, we still have faith. The meaning of faith, is actually to serve as a lighthouse within ourselves, allowing us to move through the darkness, allowing us to not lose ourselves. That is why the omnipotent lord, is actually within our hearts. As long as you have the omnipotent lord in your heart, the world beneath your feet is heaven.”
Sally nodded in ignorance. She was too tired, after letting powerful emotions overcome her, an irresistible fatigue surged towards her head. She collapsed on the only couch in the room, falling into a deep sleep. After who knew how much time had passed, she suddenly felt a slight chill, gradually waking up. As soon as she woke up, she suddenly recalled something, loudly shouting, “Father!” And then she jumped up from the couch.
The room had already been pretty much cleaned up, the suitcase already no longer in its previous spot, little white also gone. The thick blanket on Sally’s body was what the priest used for himself, as well as the only thing he left behind. The priest’s luggage was always simple, a suitcase that still had more than enough room, with a small half of it filled with scriptures and religious texts.
The sky outside the window was already dark.
Sally rushed out from the small room, the cold wind that blasted her body almost freezing her rigid! She struggled to stand, wrapping her clothes tightly around herself, staring into the distance. In the deep darkness, she seemed to have seen a solitary figure, carrying an old suitcase, currently walking into the distance. Next to that figure, was a lively little dog. Suddenly, Sally had a type of feeling, as if that little dog was more blessed than herself.