Chapter 1: The Blazing Prophecy
“Maintain your fear – by Gilberto Gilbenion”
Jonah, an Astrologer’s Apprentice, saw the bright motto which was carved on the door of the Astrology Tower. Then he held his dirty deerskin handbag and sat down on the cold ground, crying very loudly.
Before the fall of the Red Castle, Jonah walked three hours from the Astrology Tower in the wild to the Royal Library in the Red Castle to read the books of Astrology every day.
He wore a dark blue coat – this showed that he was an Astrologer’s Apprentice; he wore an emblem of Level 1 Apprentice – which has four blue stars on it. Once his essay was published on the Yearbook of Astrology, he would be able to add another star on his emblem, and has the right to write his name as ‘Dr .Jonah Jr. Astrologer’s Apprentice’. It would be a great honor for him.
According to the rules of the ‘Amnesty Law’ – which was signed a hundred years ago. All the countries on the continent – including empires, church states, republics and tribes – at all times – no matter what happened – no one would have the rights to judge the people including Priests, Mages, Steam Puppeteers, Astrologers and Mathematicians, which also meant that the power of a state couldn’t hurt anyone of them. Only the corresponding a.s.sociations have the rights to management, a.s.sessment, migration and judgement of these people.
The coat Jonah wore was his pa.s.sport – no people can hurt him – even in a war. A war is more like a stage play for him. In fact, since he pa.s.sed through his alchemy exam twelve years ago, the world had become a stage play; it made him feel a bit void and irritable whenever he walked out the Astrology Tower.
Day in and night out, Jonah walked through the arid road of the Red Plain, and saw many people walking on the road, exhausted, as though they were some zombies. Some people were fleeing from the battlefield; some people were returning to their homeland; some people were joining the farmers’ self-defence troop; some people wanted to make a pile by running a business; some people had lost their hope for survival; some people were even grasping their knives.
Jonah often saw some of them fall on the road soon after. They placed their backs on the walls, held their packages and knives, watched the sky, and then died. The plague, the lances of the invaders, or the teeth of some hungry people.., No one knew the cause of their deaths. When Jonah pa.s.sed through next day, they had already been eaten by several wolves.
Jonah saw a mother crying while holding her child; he saw an old man crying behind a pan – he was cooking some unknown meat; he saw a wailing woman – a man was riding on her naked body – and the man wore a beautiful knight armor on the upper part of the body. So many tears in every people’s eyes, and this gave him a headache. When people looked at him – his coat – the fear in the eyes of the mother, the old man, the woman and the knight also made him uncomfortable.
At the last time that Jonah walked on the road towards the Royal Library, he saw the cloud-kissing Red Castle was smoking from far away. The light pointed its shadow towards the Red Castle. He walked torpidly.
During the past two months, Jonah walked into the city from a small door which was controlled by the members of a.s.sociations. He saw the rolling stones fall like it was raining cats and dogs, and he heard the sound of boiling oil poured on humans; the steps of earth-dragons shook the ground; an arrow cut through a soldier’s neck. Finally, the day the city falls had come. Jonah felt it coming all day, but when he looked at the flaming Red Castle, he still felt his heart trembling.
He went into the city from the main gate. The city door has been broken and had fallen to the ground, but the foot of enemies still tread on it. The corpses were stacked on the side of the road. A messenger rode on an earth-dragon and waved his bloodstained flag. Half of the buildings were burning. An officer of the invaders waved his whip and forced the residents of the Red Castle to lift up the corpses and threw them into the burning buildings. Most of the survivors were common people; n.o.bles and businessmen had already been killed.
Jonah had a strange feeling. It seemed everything that was happening was just an image in a crystal ball; blood and fire have blocked the images in the crystal ball. He looked at the Red Castle feeling numb. He even nodded back when the invaders bowed to him. He also didn’t forget to turn on his belt – in fact, it was a Star Circle – which can control the climate.
Jonah pa.s.sed through the palace and then walked towards the Royal Library. He saw about three hundreds captive soldiers kneeling on the square, and an equal number of executioners stood behind them. An officer waved his saber and shouted. Thousands of citizens drived to this place and circled around them. The officer lifted his saber, then the executioners began to move. These soldiers’ blood filled up their boots. The citizens cried; the invaders laughed; they were too far, so Jonah couldn’t hear anything.
Walking around the corner, Jonah suddenly remembered something. He stopped and tried to find it out. A line of characters appeared in his memory: “October tenth, a sword cut through the sky. They gathered together and couldn’t see each other – there were only the sky and the heels.”
Jonah was shocked. The crystal ball was broken, and everything turned into reality. He was shocked so much that he almost fell on the ground.
He moved his stiff neck and looked at the sky. It was 4:00 p.m. The sun was still hanging on the sky. The tallest tower – the Queen’s Bedchamber – looked like a sword, and it cut through the sun.
He turned to see the square – there were two hundred headless corpses. Some heads looked at the sky; some heads looked at the boots of the executioners.
“The book!” Jonah let out a solid breath slowly and murmured. The next turn, he ran about wildly to move through the corpses. His blue coat was fleeting under the smell of blood in the air.
He was already late. The Royal Library was already burning. Several soldiers went out the door and lifted up several open boxes, and there were the silver vases and candle holders of the library in the boxes. He looked at the flame. Due to his Star Circle, he knew the flame was hot, but he didn’t sweat at all.
There was a black book on the west corner of the church in the library, and he must get it! However, the library was already burning. He walked round and round anxiously, then he decided to ignore the exclamation of the soldiers. He just put on the hood of his coat and then ran into the library.
A lot of flames poured down from the roof. The beautiful murals were twisted and peeled. The bra.s.s of the G.o.d of Text and Painting, Shira, melted. A burning column collapsed in front of the door of the church, and the scrolls was turning into some bright torches.
Jonah tried to approach the burning column. However, he just took one step, then the copper liquid of the melted bra.s.s flowed over. He moved quickly into the church. Fortunately, the fire wasn’t strong here.
“Hurry, hurry, hurry,” he murmured, closed his eyes and counted.
Another column collapsed down. It fell on the ground and made a lot of sparks.
Jonah drew out a celest.i.te from his deerskin handbag and grasped it in his hand – there was a Star Circle engraved on it, and he carried it with himself from the first day he became an Astrologer’s Apprentice. The sophisticated star circle rounded. He didn’t even link with the star power in it, but all of a sudden, a bright beam went out from the center of the celest.i.te, silently broke the wall as it pierced the sky. The star circle exploded in his hand. He couldn’t see and hear anything. He put out his hands… and felt his fingers were shaking.