As the moon radiated his light, Baldwin wondered what kind of world was this place. He lay on the grass in the woods, looking at the moon and the stars in the sky. He had never seen such a beautiful night sky in his life.
Reveling in the scenery above his head, he recalled all the things that happened on this day in his mind, and soon fell asleep in confusion. If this was a dream, he wanted to wake up soon. Shannon, where are you...?
It was early in the morning, the trees were wet, and a thin mist lingered in the woods, like a web of dreams. The leaves of the grass were still condensed with morning dewdrops, which were crystal clear under the morning light.
He opened his eyes slowly, and above his head, a dew-covered cobweb swayed gently in the morning breeze. He felt like something was pressing under his arm, so he grabbed it, and raised it up to check. It was one of those strange bows he brought back from the battlefield yesterday. This indicated that he had not woken up from his bad dream.
How did this happen? How did he come to such a strange world? Baldwin recalled what happened the previous day. After a long time, he slowly sat up, picked up the strange bow, and began to study it again.
What an amazing but dreadful weapon. He tried to dismantle all the places where the bow could be disassembled, and then put it back as it was.
Time moved fast, and morning quickly turned to noon. He felt his stomach growl. Yea, he was hungry. He hadn't eaten for more than a day now, so his stomach was protesting audibly. He had never felt so hungry since he became a true mage.
He stood up and started looking for something to eat around. In the distance, he heard the sound of running water. That must be a river! He rejoiced, and quickly looked for the source of the sound.
Not long after walking a few yards, he saw a wide river appearing before him. The river was fifty or sixty meters wide and was flowing fast, making a turbulent wooshing sound. The only part of the river that was relatively stable was the shallow area of the river bank.
Baldwin walked to the river, took a few sips of water, scooped up more water and washed his face. The cooling effect of the water was quite soothing, and he felt much more comfortable. He thought to himself, if there was water, there should be fish. First, he would catch some fish and feed them to his stomach.
"Hm?" But when he looked at the water, he saw an unfamiliar face through the reflection in the water. Was this him? He covered his face with his hands, and the reflection in the water did the same. He was shocked. What happened? How did his appearance changed?
Suddenly, he heard a loud banging sound, creating a huge splash on the water surface in front of him. Sitting down by the river in fright, he looked up, and saw several people wearing the same strange clothes rushing towards him with that magical bows in their hands. He tried to recite some magical spells, but to no avail. So, he took off running in the opposite direction.
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
While running, he realized he was saying things he didn't even understand, but he didn't dare to stop. He continued running down the river. There was a constant eruption from behind, and from time to time there was the twanging sound of arrows passing quickly in the air.
Just as he jumped onto a huge reef, two arrows hit him on his back at the same time, drilling through his body and out of his chest, leaving two bloody holes behind. He tried to cover and heal them but he couldn't stop the bleeding. In this place, he had no magical power. His body tilted, and plunged into the rapids below.
As he felt his body sinking into the river which seemed to be a bottomless abyss, he managed to look up. He watched the bright light above his head continuously shrink into a dim bar, gradually becoming smaller and smaller, and finally disappeared into a thin line. His surrounding became completely dark.
Was he dying? Baldwin thought of Shannon. They once swore that they would live and die together. If he died like this, what would she do? No, he couldn't die yet, he had to live for Shannon. He had to to figure out a way to get out of this darkness, and maybe come back to life.
Thinking of this, Baldwin began to move his hands and feet non-stop, trying to swim up to the surface. But it was still so dark that no light could be seen. He was anxious, so he paddled desperately as his heartbeat began to speed up.
But inside the water, Baldwin couldn't breathe, and after a desperate rush, he couldn't hold his breath anymore. He opened his mouth and sucked in air sharply. Thinking he was about to die, memories he shared with Shannon flooded his mind: Shannon, I'm sorry.
Air, why was he sucking in air instead of water? Baldwin opened his mouth and breathed greedily. There was air in this darkness of water? Overjoyed, he immediately opened his mouth and nose, and gasped for more breath. It was as if a man who was dying of thirst in the desert suddenly jumped into a lake.
Gradually, he took in enough air, and his breathing finally calmed down. Then he could hear a voice calling his mame. A voice which sounded so familiar, and missed. The voice of Shannon. Yes, it was Shannon calling him.
"Shannon! Shannon!" Baldwin suddenly opened his eyes, waking up from the darkness. His surroundings were still dark, but he could see everything clearly.
He was in a room dimly lit by a candle light. Looking at the furnishings of the room, he concluded it should be a lounge.
"Baldwin, you are awake!" Shannon threw herself into Baldwin's arms.
The dual mage felt Shannon's body heat and breathed in the fragrance of her hair, feeling a little confused for a while. Had he woken up from his dream or still dreaming? He hugged Shannon's body, and tears flowed down his cheeks. It was Shannon, really Shannon. If this was a dream, he begged the heavens not to let him wake up again.
He continued hugging Shannon affectionately, and no longer thought about anything. Maybe this moment could become eternity, then they would be happy for a lifetime. He patted her back lightly, and stroked her soft and beautiful hair. "I'm back, Shannon."
"Hmm." Shannon slowly uttered.
Then, Baldwin felt something was wrong with Shannon. Her hand, which had been holding him tightly, slowly dropped down, and her body was not moving. He carefully shook her body. "Shannon? Shannon?"
But Shannon did not respond.