Chapter 68 Chapter 67

Step by step we approached the ruins of those stone walls.From a distance, it looks like an irregular stone circle, just like the prehistoric Stonehenge you see in Salisbury in the south of England or in the northern Lake District.But when we got closer, we found that this place turned out to be a city made of stone. At least it used to be.Because everything is destroyed now, the tall city walls collapsed, weathered, and deformed, and the broken stone bricks slowly accumulated. It looked like a stone mound deliberately piled up by giants, and unknown people were buried inside. secret.It is like the pyramids in Egypt, or Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Inca Empire. No one knows what happened here. The majesty of these stone walls even makes people doubt the authenticity of their existence.

"Are the fire elves really here?" I couldn't help asking D as I stood under the huge city gate. D shrugged and said nothing.I knew he was suspicious too. "What is this?" Emily wiped away her tears, and suddenly pointed to the pattern on the gate. These two stone gates towered above the sky, standing among the ruins of the city.The half-weathered pattern on the door can vaguely make people imagine the glorious scene here, but now everything is over.Its legend exists only in memory, while everything else has long since disappeared in the passage of time. "It's not a pattern." D leaned forward and carefully outlined the incomplete bumps on the door with his fingers, "It's a kind of pictograph."

"What are you writing?" I waited expectantly. "They're too old for me to decipher." D gave me a negative answer.I am so disappointed. "But at least we came to the right place." D pointed to a small triangle on the door and said to me, "This character appears here many times. I believe it stands for 'fire'." I leaned over to look, but I didn't see the picture of flames as I imagined. There was only a small regular triangle next to D's finger, which was simple and to the point.I frowned. "This is an ancient alchemical symbol." D explained to me, "The regular triangle represents upward energy, love and hatred, passion, anger, and spiritual power close to the gods, and these are the essence of the fire element. "

I don't understand.I saw that the stone wall in front of me was weathered and peeled off, revealing a golden-red color, reflecting a shimmer of the same color in the city, just like the golden-red color of the sun rising or about to set.The air was dry and hot, in stark contrast to the warm and humid Evergreen Country we had just left.I believe D is correct.Even without that ever-repeating symbol on the gate, the surroundings are hinting at the presence of the last element missing from our journey, "fire". "So, what we need to look for is a four-legged lizard?" I thought of the ballad of the head, and the story of Little S.That was our last night in Venice.

Now that we've finally come to the realm of the Fire Elemental, but the Storyteller is gone - exactly the same situation we faced when we set foot on those three continents - is it really a hapless coincidence? Thinking of Little S made me sore, I swallowed hard, and asked Emily as if nothing had happened: "How much do you know about the legend of the Feathered Serpent God?" Emily shook her head, "I didn't know he would tell such a story." She sniffled and said, "He usually reads a lot of books and knows a lot of things." I nodded, knowing she was telling the truth.Of course I know my ex-boyfriend who I recently broke up with.

"Then Heath didn't arrange those stories?" I asked D looking up. "There are many legends about these elves," D replied. "I think he just put together a few people who know part of the story." The clue was broken again, and I saw Emily pursed her mouth, as if she was about to cry again.I quickly took a step forward and grabbed her hand. "At least we know the Fire Spirit is a lizard." I shrugged, trying to look positive.I need her to believe in me.Believe me, I can take her to see Xiao S soon.Trust me I can bring hope to her, or both of them. I seriously consider myself responsible for her.

I led her around the two gates and over the crumbling stone wall into the city. D followed us closely. The city is full of ruins and ruins, and the winding and weathered stone walls are endless.There aren't any obvious markers here.After a while, I could no longer see the two tall city gates.I turned around, and there was no difference in the three forked roads behind me, broken stone walls and collapsed buildings everywhere.I'm not at all sure which path I just took. And in front of you is another fork in the road.All stone walls look exactly the same.My heart is cold, and the optimism I pretended before can no longer comfort me.I knew I was too happy.Also careless.

There is no one here, no horrible soldiers and bloody killings.But that doesn't mean there's no danger here. Because this is not a city.This is a labyrinth built of huge stone barriers. If I didn't have Emily and D by my side, I think I'd instantly go nuts.Because I, like most ordinary girls, have no sense of direction by nature.I can't even get out of those tree-wall mazes for children in the British Royal Gardens, let alone here! It was as if there was a real, and maybe there would be, a terrible minotaur, and I had neither Theseus' sword nor Ariadne's ball of thread.

"Are we... lost?" Emily looked at me blankly, even she could see my panic at the moment. I clenched my fists tightly, regretting my recklessness.I am so useless. "Either we try walking along the side of the wall?" D suggested in a timely manner, but his voice was also uncertain. We did.But the result is not much better than what I just had.Perhaps his methods apply to mazes in general (and I doubt it), but this is a world of magic and fairies after all. I don't know how long we walked.The light here is still golden-red, just like the rest of the world, unchanged with time.It has no rising and setting sun, no climate and no tides.Everything around is intact.We've been gone for so long, but these mottled stone walls still stand there, as if they were automatically replicated, all the same stone bricks.And they were so high that I looked up more than once, but I couldn't see the top of the stone wall at all.

Then I heard a voice.I was taken aback.But when I turned around, Emily and D were looking at me in surprise. "Is someone calling me?" I couldn't help asking. I looked at my companions, expecting one of them to admit it.Because the voice just now sounded too abrupt in the dead silence of the maze, like a weird echo.I hope that's just my illusion. I looked at them, but both shook their heads at the same time. I turn around.But within a few steps, I heard that voice again.Someone is calling my name. Audrey.

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