"You have a pen pal living in Styxia?" Stelle asked, a bit surprised, her gaze sweeping over the silent, empty streets around them. "I've heard Teacher Tribbie mention that while Styxia isn't haunted by spirits like the legends say, and few Black Tide creatures approach here, almost no one is willing to live here because of the lingering aura of the River of Souls."
"After all, with the sunny, vibrant Okhema to live in, who would choose to stay long in this cold and eerie Dragonbone City?"
"Yes..." Castorice repeated softly, her voice so light it might be carried away by the River of Souls' breeze. "What normal person... would live in Dragonbone City?" A trace of long-buried doubt laced her words.
She quickly composed herself, looking up at Stelle with a reassuring smile. "Lady Stelle, please keep close. Let's walk around Styxia first, to feel the aura of this city-state. Oh, but please don't get too close to me either, in case I accidentally affect you with the power of Death."
The two began strolling through the empty, ancient city.
Surprisingly, despite endless ages, Styxia's roads and buildings did not appear excessively dilapidated.
The flagstone streets, though damp, had few cracks, and not many houses had collapsed. It was as if invisible hands had been silently maintaining them, preserving this city-state's final semblance of dignity.
"It must have been incredibly prosperous once," Stelle murmured, looking at the shops, taverns, and residences lining the streets, their former appearances still vaguely discernible. Some shop signs, though faded, still hung in place, silently telling of the past.
"Yes," Castorice's voice held a touch of reminiscence. "According to the records, this ancient coastal city-state was once surrounded by magnificent rainbows and warm ocean currents in the distant Golden Age."
"The people here freely enjoyed seemingly endless honeyed wine, immersed day and night in revelry and sweet dreams, as if the world's pain and regrets would never descend upon this place."
Her tone gradually lowered, tinged with regret. "But… as the glorious Golden Age drew to a close, and as the three calamity-bringing Titans descended, the River of Souls, symbolizing end and rest, passed by and ultimately encircled this place."
"That is why this coastal city, intoxicated by 'drunkenness and dreams,' gradually lost its former bustle and vitality, eventually returning to the silence and scarce human presence we see now."
Just then, Stelle suddenly stopped. Her nose twitched slightly. Did she… smell the faint fragrance of flowers?
This was highly unusual! This was the central area of Styxia! The city's outskirts were filled with the unique aura brought by the River of Souls, yet in its very core, such a clear and vibrant floral scent drifted?
Stelle looked questioningly at Castorice, only to find her also stopped. Castorice nodded at Stelle. Those eyes, usually holding a gentle smile, now shimmered with a mix of excitement and trepidation.
"Lady Stelle," Castorice's voice trembled slightly. "Let's… continue forward. I think… I will see her very soon."
With growing curiosity and a hint of strange tension, the two passed the next desolate street corner.
Their field of view suddenly opened up! It was as if they had stepped into another world.
Stretched out before Castorice and Stelle was an unbelievably vast sea of violet-blue flowers!
This strange flower had petals of deep violet, their edges haloed with a pale blue fluorescence like moonlight.
They swayed gently in the breeze, emitting a serene and distant fragrance, forming a extreme contrast with the deathly stillness of the surrounding ancient city. The flower sea was so lush it almost concealed any possible ruins beneath.
And at the very center of this dazzling flower sea stood a towering tower. Its body was built from some kind of black stone, thrusting into the clouds, its height nearly touching the eternally hanging pale twin moons in the sky's canopy that symbolized the netherworld.
Castorice's gaze was instantly, firmly captured by a figure among the flowers, at the tower's base.
It was a figure in a light purple long dress. She sat in a wheelchair with her back to them, holding an ancient-looking watering can, carefully tending to the flowers at her feet.
Her movements were graceful and unhurried, as if she had become one with this flower sea.
As if hearing footsteps behind her, the purple figure gently set the watering can aside and turned around.
Time seemed to freeze in that moment.
The instant she clearly saw the other's face, Castorice's body jolted violently, as if struck by an invisible current!
That face… that face bore a seventy or eighty percent resemblance to her own!
Though she only had one eye, their shape and the gentle quality within were almost identical to hers!
Though her hair was a deeper purple than Castorice's, and her skin held a pallor from long being unseen by sunlight.
But this was her kin. Without a doubt.
She had family in this world?
"You've come." The purple figure spoke softly, her voice carrying a quiet and ethereal quality.
She watched as Castorice walked towards her as if sleepwalking, her own eyes filled with complex emotions—concern, guilt, joy, and deep attachment.
"I believe, upon seeing me, you've guessed the relationship between us…" She paused slightly. That address, seemingly brewed for countless days and nights upon her lips and teeth, was finally uttered now, gentle and precious:
"...Big Sister."
Castorice had drawn close, so near she could clearly see her own excited but also shock reflection in the other's eyes.
She reached out a trembling hand, wanting to touch that face so similar yet distinctly different from her own, wanting to confirm this wasn't a fragile dream.
Yet, the moment her fingertips were about to touch the other's cheek, she halted abruptly, snatching her hand back as if scalded.
She remembered her uncontrollable Death power, remembered the power that made the living uncomfortable, that withered plants.
She was afraid. Afraid this long-awaited touch would harm the person before her, who might be her only blood-related kin.
Polyxia saw all this hesitation and fear in her sister's eyes.
Without the slightest hesitation, she reach her hand out, grasp Castorice's wrist as it tried to retreat, then pressed her sister's cold palm against her own warm cheek.
"Big Sister," her voice held a heart-warming strength of warmth, her gaze utterly clear and firm. "Don't be afraid. Even Death itself… cannot stop us from embracing at this moment."