Chapter 7 Chapter 7: The Other Side of the Door

As if welcoming him, the light in the center of the door obviously became thicker and stronger.door- (to be opened) As if from the other end, from the other end of the bright world, to push away to my side.Seeing it, seeing it-- (opened!) Under the strong light rushing like a huge wave, Gen couldn't help covering his brows with his hands.The blinding light made it impossible to even look up.Gen's whole body was bathed in warm light, bowed his waist as if he was in a torrent, and stood carefully. In the light, someone approached straight.It was a small figure that was dazzlingly white in the white light.He ran, ran, ran toward the open door...

He jumped out of the white light and suddenly landed in front of him, turning into a young boy."Why are you in a place like this?" he cried. Ashikawa Mizuru stood there, so close that she almost smelled each other.His eyes were wide open, he stood with his legs crossed, and pointed at Heng reproachfully. "What are you doing here?" He shouted reproachfully, but before Gen could speak, Lu Chuan suddenly turned around, and rushed to the door again, inside the silver light.Lu Chuan's figure was engulfed by light and disappeared in the blink of an eye. Gen has no room for overthinking, no time for hesitation or fear.As soon as he woke up, he ran towards the door, thinking about the light, and ran after Lu Chuan.

When crossing the goal line, Wataru unconsciously jumped—— So, he jumped into the white void. Ocean of light.warm air. is the sky. The sea of ​​clouds seen from the porthole of an airplane.The image seen is expanding.Swimming in the clouds.Down, down, down.fall down.The wind whistled in my ears.Falling in the air.But so leisurely, like an old turtle swimming in the South China Sea.Stretch out your hands and feet, your fingers and toes are surrounded by a radiant halo.As long as you change your posture, the halo will follow.It appears to be tiny particles of light dancing—Wa stretches out, smiles, swirls and tumbles.Face up, bright sky.Looking down, the bright sea of ​​clouds.

The cloud breaks suddenly, revealing a blue sky and an endless cyan plain below. "Wow!" With the shout, Wataru fell down. (fall down!) Boom!Land on your back. There was complete silence in my mind.The back is on the ground, and the feet are facing the sky.It looks so ugly.It's embarrassing. However, being able to think that way means that he is still alive. Overhead is an unfathomable blue sky.I have never seen such a beautiful blue sky in my life-only the pictures on the brochures on the counter of the travel agency for trips to Hawaii or Guam. Dad said that the photos in those brochures were processed by computer technology, so that The colors are gorgeous and unreliable.In fact, whether in Hawaii, Guam, or Saipan, there is no blue sky like that.

But here it is.Really clear blue sky. where is this place? Gen propped up his upper body with his hands.Although his mind was a little confused, he didn't seem to be injured.No bleeding, hands and feet can move.It fell from such a height. It is an endless desert. The sand particles under the buttocks are thick and dry, so I picked them up with my hands and watched them fall through the gap between my fingers.Is this a cushion made of sand to keep yourself from getting hurt? The sun was shining almost directly overhead.The sun shone hot on the neck and face.What I saw when I fell from the sky just now was the plain.But here is the desert.What's going on?Carried away by the air current?

All in all a desert.But what is this place? All I know is that it is inside that door. Where is Ashikawa?Is that kid wandering in this desert?If you go out of here and find a better place to stay, where should you go?Where is that plain? Gen stood up unsteadily, the desert wind surrounded him, blowing a small sandstorm.He scratched his face, wiping away the sand.Want to cough. At this time, a small funnel-shaped pit appeared on the sand behind Gen, similar to the traps made by ant lions to prey on ants. It was silent, but quickly grew larger. Just as he was patting the sand sticking to his shirt and pants.The funnel-shaped pit has rapidly expanded, and the bottom of the pit is getting deeper and deeper, and soon began to make whizzing sounds.

Gen turned his head because of the voice.Then quickly get out of the way.The edge of the pit on the sandy ground was about to extend to Gen's feet. If he didn't notice it, he might fall into the bottom of the pit upside down. "Here, what's the matter?" Just when Gen couldn't help shouting, a dark animal-like thing pushed the sand away from the depths of the pit and jumped out.Just as it leaped into the air, Wataru saw four animals with long tails and thought it was a dog. It flew over Gent's head lightly and landed on the other side of him.The dust rose, and the dog-like animal roared.Wataru dodged the oncoming sand grains, almost paralyzed with fright when he watched it.

This animal has a body like a dog.But only the head is not a dog.It's the body of a doberman, like a docile black dog, but the head is joined in a weird way—how should I put it?It's what Mom uses when she occasionally uncorks wine in the kitchen— Yes, a bottle opener!A tool for pulling corks in the shape of a screw.That's what the animal's head looks like! The monster roared again, and turned the screw head towards Gen.Squeak squeak squeak!Amidst the ear-piercing roar, the whole screwhead monster resonated. How did this weird thing not even have a throat or a mouth? "Ouch," Gen said with a smile on the monster's face, "I can see that you want to eat me, but how do you eat me? You don't have a mouth."

As if answering Wat's question, the screwhead monster opened its mouth—in fact, it swelled up the entire screwhead, pointing the top of its head toward Dou.Now, you can see the inside of the screw.The disgustingly sticky, slippery mucous membranes swirled and surrounded by teeth. With a cry of "Wow", he ran away.Running to the right, he found a new pothole was forming three steps ago.Run to the left, a new screw head escaped from the original pothole. The screw-headed monster in front roared again, and it jumped forward to force Gen.God, God, how good it is, surrounded by screwhead monsters——

When Gen covered his face with his hands, he felt something bite his neck.The body floats up. When Gen came to his senses, he was flying again. It doesn't go up too high, it's like riding a lift at a ski resort.The only difference from the cable car is that Wat's hands and feet have nothing to rely on, dancing wildly in the air. Screwhead monsters are now increased to five.Barking and jumping up, it was about to bite Gen's feet.During this period, potholes continued to appear in the desert.The screwhead monster lives just under the sand, and when prey passes over it, it creates an antlion pit like that, drags the prey down, or pounces on the prey.

"You are so stupid, how can you fall among the screwhead wolves!" A high-pitched voice sounded above Heng's head. "If I hadn't rushed over, you would have become the belly of the screw-headed wolf by now, turning into a ball of gravy like paste." It seems that the high-spirited people are dragging along the flight at the moment.In other words, he is a lifesaver. "thank you very much." Let's just say, because he was grabbed by the back collar, he couldn't look up.Although the desert wind poured into his mouth as soon as he opened his mouth, he still thanked him as loudly as possible. "Thank you for saving me!" "That's right, that's right," the high-pitched voice became louder, and it seemed that he was in good spirits, "I ran into it at a critical moment." He was suspended by a winged unknown thing and flew across the desert, his inherited seriousness still dominates his mind at the moment, he asked: "Hey, just now you said 'bumped over', did that mean 'passing by'? ?” The winged animal above the head snorted. "Impossible! I don't crawl around on the dirty ground! I'm flying! So, I won't imitate the nasty act of 'passing by' anywhere! It must be 'bumping', understand huh, little furry boy!" Gen hurriedly said "Understood", because he was afraid that he would abandon him if he got angry. Gen was dragged and flew leisurely, the height from the ground was as high as the roof of a two-story building, and the speed was like riding a bicycle.Although the surrounding area is still desert, there are slightly protruding rocks in the front left. "Little hairy boy, where did you come from?" asked the high-pitched voice above his head, "You can't be a fugitive?" The question itself was not easy to answer, and the addition of such a powerful word as "a fugitive" made it even more difficult for Gen to answer. "You are too heavy!" Indeed, the sound of "Lao Tzu" flapping his wings was a bit messy.Probably not a particularly large bird. "Come down at the rocky field over there." "Lao Tzu" then flew to the rock field on the left.When approaching the rock field, the flight altitude dropped sharply, and the ground throwing "huh" began to let go. "Wow, it's so dangerous!" Wat, who was put down, rolled to the edge of the rocky field with inertia and almost fell.He was grabbed by the collar in time again. "Little hairy boy, you are so slow." He fell to the ground, and a big red bird flapped its wings and landed in front of him.It's the kind of red that's dyed with dye but doesn't have a registered hue.The wingspan is about one meter.Although it has a slender body, its three claws are strong and sharp. It seems that it is easy for it to lift such a thing.Gen's heart trembled when he thought of the claws grabbing his collar just now. The red bird folded its wings, tilted its head slightly and looked down at Gen.It has a vulture-like face, but there are many small golden feathers on the top of its head, just like the feather decoration of a samba dancer.The small feathers undulate gracefully in the desert wind. "No, thank you very much." Gen's throat was suddenly parched, and he could barely make a sound.Because he was facing - a bird.No matter how you look at it, it is also a bird.But it can speak. "You don't need to say thank you. But you have to answer the question. This area is the territory of the Karura tribe, and other races are not welcome to set foot." After the red bird finished speaking in one breath, it made a sound of "hehe", as if suddenly realizing it at the moment. "Hey, aren't you a human child!" "No, that's right, I'm a child." "Why are human children here? What are you doing here? How did you come here?" It kept asking questions while flapping its wings, making it hard to keep its eyes open. "Wait, wait. I'll explain. Please don't flap your wings." The red bird said "Ho" and folded its wings.He took a deep breath, trying to calm down.His heart was beating wildly in his chest. "I, I walked through a door that was above a cloud somewhere, and I fell." Gen explained what happened to him, and the red bird's big eyes looked up at the blue sky. "So that's how it is...well, the imperial door is about to be opened." "Want to guard the door?" "That's right. The gate that divides this place and the other side. If you look up from the bottom, you can't see its top. Because it is hidden in the clouds. No one among Lao Tzu's companions can see it until now. Because I want Karu There is no one here or there that has strong wings like that of the Ra, so that, in short, no race has hitherto seen the top of it." After speaking in one breath, the red bird straightened its chest, its long feathers fluttering in the wind. "Based on the time of the other place, the imperial door is opened once every ten years, and it is only opened for ninety days. I am afraid it is the right time. I have forgotten." "Ah……" "Then, you accidentally passed through the imperial gate and broke into this place from somewhere, so you ended up in the desert of screw-headed wolves. Not bad, not bad." The so-called "here" is the present place.The so-called "here" is the real world where people live their daily lives.However, the door that Wataru passed through, although it was a very impressive double-sided door, that is, a door of very ordinary size, was not that huge.As soon as Gen said it, the red bird played awe-inspiring again. "Of course. If you don't look at it from this side, you won't know how tall and wide the gate is." "yes……" Gen finally stopped the throbbing of his heart, he sat down on the rocky ground, and looked around.360-degree view.However, there are deserts everywhere.The sharp lines protruding everywhere are the same rocky ground as under his buttocks.The horizon was rising with pale yellow heat, which was hard to see clearly.Are those desert storms? "You look surprised." The red bird said, shaking its wings.It seems to be laughing. "Well, it's no wonder. Because you don't know anything. This is the first time I found a lost child. However, I have heard that so far, during the period when the imperial door was about to be opened, a human child fell in by mistake. In other words, you are not the only one who made this mistake. You may be a little dumb, but you are not particularly stupid." It's comforting.Fortunately, it saved my life just now, and it seems that it is still a very considerate person-no, the bird. "Then, um... what kind of place is this place?" Although it's now, Wataru asked, "Is there a name for this place? What kind of world is it called?" The red bird immediately replied: "Illusion." "Fantasy world..." I remember that there will be a magic called "Victory in the Fantasy World" in "Saga 3".It is a stunt that only the top magisters can use: the magister pushes the phantom made with magic to the enemy, confuses the enemy, and makes the enemy kill each other. Fantasy world.That is phantom. "So, is this the Magic Kingdom?" "For a human child like you, yes." "Am I in an illusion at this moment?" Gen spread his hands and looked carefully.The dusty wind blows in the face, and the eyes are stinging. "The wind that feels like this, the sun scorching your neck, and the dust filling your mouth, are they all hallucinations?" "For you, yes. You are a human child. A lost child." Gen tried to stand up on the rocky field, but he stumbled everywhere and his feet were unstable. "Such an endless desert, without exception, is all an illusion? Isn't it reality?" "I've never been to a place called 'reality', so I don't quite understand..." The red bird turned its neck vigorously. "Illusion and reality, are they opposite things?" "Yes, that's right." "Then, if this place is an illusion, the other place opposite to this place should be reality. Then, this place is not reality. But, child of human beings, you have to go back to that place immediately. So, don't worry about it. here." "I want to go back?" "You can't keep lost children, this is the rule." "But I came after my friends. I can't go back alone." "From what you said, your friend is different from you. He is not a lost child. He can come and go freely, and he is a 'passenger' recognized by the gatekeeper. So, you don't have to worry." "But!" The red bird spread its wings and took off, and came to pick up Gen's collar again. "Wait a minute! I don't want to go back yet!" Gen shrinks his neck, runs away.He escaped the capture of sharp claws falling from the sky, and hurriedly retreated to the edge of the rock field.At this moment, he didn't step on the protruding rock firmly with his right foot, and there was a sharp pain in his ankle, and then he yelled "Wow", lost his balance, and fell sideways to the edge of the rock field. In an instant, the edge of the blue sky passed by the corner of his eyes, and in the next instant, he landed on another rocky field on his back.It seemed that there was a slightly protruding thing under the peak of the rock field where I was just now, and because it fell on it, it didn't fall straight to the bottom. saved!Climbing up the edge of the protrusion with his hands, a black shadow passed over his head.The red bird was circling.If you move slowly, you have to be caught by it again. What to do, in short, it’s impossible not to get closer to the protrusion—— Wataru groped back with his hands while staring nervously at the top of his head.This is, his right fingertips touched something, and the touch was different from rocks.He glanced inadvertently as he stepped back: the screwhead wolf leaped into view. Gen screamed and almost rushed out from the edge of the protrusion.The black shadow of the red bird also lost no time to appear above.The so-called "rejecting tigers at the front door and entering wolves at the back door" refers to this kind of situation. However, the screwhead wolf was just lying there, no matter how loud it screamed or kicked it away, it didn't move at all.Upon closer inspection, the screw head in front of it is just its ugly head, without any body parts. —it died? Take a closer look—yes, there is only the head.And it seemed that there was more than one head—parts and parts fell into the crevices of the rock, here and there.Not only that!When he noticed, his shirt and trousers were covered with things like bone chips and minced meat. "Oh, what's going on!" Gen hurriedly patted up and down, trying to brush off the scum on his body.Of course, he relaxed his vigilance towards the sky, and was suddenly caught by the red bird's sharp claws, and his feet left the ground again. "Hey, you have to go home." Red Bird's serious tone was like a teacher's, "You've also heard that you should follow the rules, right?" So far it has been futile to resist.In fact, Gen's thoughts were all on how to get rid of the wreckage of the screwhead wolf stuck to his body. "This, this, what is this?" A reply came from above: "Scum of a screw-headed wolf." "Why are there so many of these things piled up in that place?" "The meat of screw-headed wolves is delicious, but their heads are not edible. And they are quite fierce. When I caught screw-headed wolves, they smashed their heads on the rocks to kill them. This way of killing is easy and convenient. Getting rid of the unpalatable head is really killing two birds with one stone." "You eat screwhead wolves for a living?" "That's right. This desert is my territory." Red Bird said, the so-called territory means that the old people have decided to eat it.It flapped its wings leisurely and flew higher and higher.Genxiang suddenly lost his strength, unable to struggle anymore, and let the red bird take him away. After flying for a while, they broke into thick clouds.Gen's face was caressed by soft clouds one after another, and it smelled like mint.Clouds have a scent—is it true in the real world too?Or, is it just because it is a fantasy world? "Okay, here we are." As the red bird said, it flapped its wings fiercely.Gen passed through the clouds at high speed, was thrown out with a "huh", and landed on the top of the clouds. In front of him stands a huge, brilliant silver wall.If I hadn't heard what I just said, I wouldn't have immediately understood that this was the door.Big, really big.Gen seems to have turned into a little ant, looking up at the gate of the hotel. "This is the door to be protected." The red bird lightly landed next to the door, "You see a bright white light in the middle of the door that is open on both sides, right? That is the sign that the door is to be opened. When it is closed, the light Totally invisible." The shape of the door looks very similar to the door that opened to both sides through which it came.No doorknobs or grabs in sight. "When you approach it, the imperial door will open naturally." Gen hesitated, looking up at the red bird.The big pupils of the big bird reflected the dazzling light of the imperial door, shining brightly. "Why do you have to go back?" "I have to go back." "Then, can I come again? I want to come back." "You can't come back." The red bird simply replied to Gen's question. "Travelers who don't need Yufei's approval can't come here again. Because you are a child of that place, a child of human beings." "So, what do you need to do to be recognized as a passenger?" "I don't know that." "Who would know? As I said just now, you want the gatekeeper of the imperial gate?" The red bird spread its wings and swayed: "Do you really want to be thrown around by me?" Gen was so disappointed that he wanted to cry.Although Red Bird's eyes were still piercing, she might have felt a little more sympathy for Gen, so she softened her voice slightly and said: "Don't be sad. When you go back to that place and watch the sunrise and sunset, you will forget about this place. Because you can't take anything with you from here to there, not even memories and memories." With his head drooping, he walked slowly towards Yao Yufei dejectedly.Just as Red Bird said, asking for the imperial door is like opening the way for the gate, it opens quietly.The door itself was like a light source, so dazzling that Gen couldn't look up.Even so, Wataru walked through the gap between the two doors as if being sucked. "Children of humanity, be a sensible person." The voice of the red bird can be heard faintly behind him. "My name is Kiya of the Karura tribe. In the night there, I may meet you in my dream again." Gen opened his eyes, but saw nothing.Or saw the light?The light itself, the radiance itself.Are you walking or are you stopping?Is it moving forward or backward?Even these are not clear, lightly, like drifting with the waves. At this moment, Gen lost consciousness, as if swallowed by the dazzling light. Fantasy world—— To Yufei. What are you doing here? why are you here The hot winds of the desert and the red feathers of Kea. The blue sky and green grassland. Who is calling me?Go, go—— Someone slaps me in the face. When he opened his eyes, he saw Uncle "Lu"'s face.