The next day, the sunshine was bright, and fish-scale-like clouds hung motionless in the clear sky. A gentle breeze brushed through the forest and grassland. Several young people worked together to dig a five-step-long and two-step-wide patch of earth to bury Elder Babatos. Under the shade of trees outside the camp, the doctor bent down and walked out of the carriage, took off his top hat, and conveyed the condition of Old Froy to the woman waiting outside. She covered her face while he shook his head.
With the death of Babatos, they caught Capillata. Some villagers were angrily disappointed with the false Morning Star and blamed him, demanding his exile or even death. After Old Foy lost his mind, Quine, who became the leader of the stargazers, convinced everyone to temporarily keep him and ordered Vit’via to speed up her research.
For several weeks, Vit’via suffered from the villagers' scrutinizing glances and Quine's thorough questioning, making her look more haggard. She shouldered her basket early in the morning and set out to find herbs in the woods. She did not return until sunset with a full load of ore and animal carcasses. Quine demanded that she exhaust all formulas to concoct a potion that would release the seal without killing Capillata. Despite his complete ignorance in potion-making, he impatiently gave instructions - even though Vit'via knew full well the consequences of drinking a potion made according to his instructions.
Half asleep, she walked, more worried about what would happen to her lies after trying all the herbs in the forest than the heavy workload.
She returned to the brewing table at the camp and added alcohol to the big pot, sprinkled some chopped purple organs and white powder, and started to boil it by pulling the bellows. She listened to the idle talk of several villagers behind her and the constant protest inside her heart about the futility of this work, but suppressed all thoughts and kept herself busy.
In the rustling evening breeze, she scooped up the transparent solution emitting a pungent white smoke, holding a wooden bowl as she approached the carriage of Elder Babatos - of course, the carriage was being used for another purpose now.
The back door was locked not to prevent the prisoner inside from escaping, but to prevent anyone from entering and harming those inside. Vit’via opened the door with a key, and there on the straw-covered floor was Capillata, sitting on the ground with one ankle chained and hands bound behind his back.
His golden hair still shone, but his gray eyes were even dimmer. His cracked lips opened and closed, craving water from Vit’via's hands as if he were a fish out of water. Vit’via lowered her gaze, flicked aside the curtain, and poured the poison in the wooden bowl out the window facing the forest, then took out a water flask hidden under her black cloak and fed Capillata.
"They don't need to chain me up," the transparent liquid dripped fromthe boy's mouth, "I'm not going anywhere."
"Shut up and drink your potion," Vit’via intentionally raised her voice, pretending to be tough. This way, if Quine's henchmen were eavesdropping outside, they would believe the illusion created by her.
"What is this potion?" Capillata asked.
"Stalactite salt, gallbladder bile, and alum, which can release the seal of the divine fire," Vit’via continued to lie, but her gaze was guilty as she looked down.
"This is just clear river water," Capillata said.
Vit’via raised her index finger in front of her lips, gesturing for Capillata to lower his voice at least.
"Vit’via, I have a lot of time to think here," after being nourished with water, Capillata looked radiant like a new shoot. "I finally figured it out - you've known all along how to break the seal, haven't you?"
He calmly uttered words like a bolt from the blue, stiffening Vit’via's shoulders. After a brief moment of shock, she continued to tie up the water flask as if nothing had happened, gritting her teeth and responding to Capillata with a breathy voice, "As I said, I don't know anything."
"The way to break the seal involves some kind of sacrifice," but the boy continued to dispel the mist that concealed the forest of goats with a clear voice, "You pretend not to know, but you just don't want me to be harmed."
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Vit'via tucked the water flask under her cloak, and her gaze under heavy eyelids still did not look at the boy. "So what?" She sighed heavily as if there was a mule sitting on her chest, "It was also me who made you drink the love potion, so that you could sacrifice yourself for me...for the stargazers." She put her knees together and sat next to Capillata, burying her face in her fair hands, "I don't know which one is the real me."
Capillata wanted to reach out and embrace her slender shoulders, but as he moved forward, the sound of the iron chains binding his hands and feet tightened. Vit’via lifted her moist cheeks from his arms and looked at the lonely boy. With trembling fingertips, she took out the key to unlock him. And the sweet guilt her actions caused, the devilishly handsome golden-haired boy, as expected, gently enveloped the criminal girl from behind.
"Both are you." Capillata rubbed his cheek against her silky black hair, as supple as waterweed, "As a witch, you want to save your friends; as Vit’via, you don't want to hurt me." He gently held the girl's face, making her look into his gray eyes, "Vi, I left home to find my own destiny. Now, I have found my own destiny in your eyes." Capillata's words were filled with calm conviction, "You don't need to feel guilty, Vi. Sacrificing for you is my destiny."
Under Capillata's warm embrace, Vit’via felt like an ugly nightjar hiding under an eagle's wing. Although the eagle unconditionally loved the nightjar, the nightjar still felt lonely because it lacked the eagle's resolute gaze and radiant wings. It could never become the same as the eagle and soar with him.
Capillata felt a profound darkness forming in Vit’via's chest. The hot and humid darkness did not contain malice; it simply wanted to pull him into a vortex and merge with her. Before he could confirm the authenticity of his sensation, he was grabbed by a wet, sticky hand. Vit’via wrapped her fingers around Capillata's intertwined hands in front of her collarbone without a word.
"That cannot be your fate, Capillata," Vit’via quivered slightly, but he was unsure why. "Because you are not the legendary Morning Star."
The boy behind him fell silent due to his confusion and curiosity, and the witch continued to speak.
"In the legend, the Morning Star has snow-white skin, sun-like golden hair, and eyes as deep as a pool, but you... Your eyes are gray like a rodent. "Just as Quine had said before, but now it was said through Vit’via's mouth. Capillata felt something inside him break. He also knew why Vit’via was trembling - she was joyous because she had stained the light on the boy's body and dyed him the same darkness as herself.
Capillata wanted to cover his ears, but it was too late. His heart had already been deeply attracted to the secrets of darkness.
"Do you know about the virgins? They are practitioners from outside this hidden forest, strictly guard their purity and bloodline, and in the end, will undergo burning for a wish. Your mother must have been one of these virgins. However, half of you inherited her golden hair, while the other half of you is so embarrassing, like rudely sewing two different creatures together. "Vit’via turned around, blushing, and said to Capillata, who had loosened his hands," Imagine under what circumstances a child like you would be born. "
The light on Capillata's body dimmed, and he hugged his arms tightly. Instead, it was Vit’via who hugged Capillata, pressing his head against her violently heaving chest. The boy could hear her strong and powerful heartbeat. "Capillata, you have an unnatural origin. You are the son of a virgin, but not the kind intended in the legend." She pressed her cheek against his fragile, delicate golden hair. "I'm sorry, but you're not the Morning Star in the story."
Capillata remained silent for a long time, as thousands of thoughts rushed through his mind. In the end, the words that had first crossed his mind came out of his mouth:
"You knew all along, yet you still let me drink the love potion. You wanted to sacrifice me, but for what?"
"Please forgive me, Capillata," the young boy's voice was cold and distant, causing Vit’via to kneel before him in a humble manner, trembling as she sought forgiveness. "I'm a useless witch, who can only throw everything golden into flames out of fear." Despite her humble tone, her eyes were filled with twisted pleasure, for no matter how much the eagle's disdainful gaze looked down on her, he had already been defiled and had become a fellow of the nightjar. "But even in such despicable deeds, I failed miserably, because I fell in love with you."
Now everything was over. The witch, who was despised by the villagers, hugged the boy who had been abandoned by fate, placing her worthless head on Capillata's collarbone as if it were thrown away.
Capillata did not push her away, nor did he dodge. Deep in his heart, he knew that if he rejected Vit’via, he would be completely adrift in a absurd world. Everything spoke in secret languages, that made no sense to him. The stars outside the window were so far away from him, and even the forest, judging the two who had lost their fate, whispered and retreated.
In his mind, the flame in the gemstone gradually extinguished, and the crystal seals were shattered because they restrained nothing. Capillata suddenly felt lost, but the heavy weight and real warmth in his arms calmed his heartbeat. He lowered his gaze, taking in the sour-sweet scent of blackcurrant and silver grass, then slowly reached out to embrace Vit’via. Embracing his only fate left.