【Good Leaf】Eclipse of the Crimson Moon

【Futaba】

The sky was unusually low, the daylight was obscured by thick stratus clouds, and the capital was shrouded in ominous darkness.The hustle and bustle of the day has been lost, people are running in panic, and the streets are in a mess.

Scolding, shouting, children's cries, running, chariots and horses, and the broken sound of utensils falling to the ground, all kinds of sounds are entangled together and condensed into an unorganized melody. The gray and black of fear and trembling, mixed with sporadic red in the middle.

The red color that danced like fire light emitted a scorching magma-like temperature, making it impossible for people to get close.Everything around gradually became blurred, melting together in this vision distorted by the high temperature.Swallowing the tangible existence, turning it into scorching white dust, continuously rising and flying in the dancing heat flow, turning into a rain of light that is more dazzling than stars and lighter than fine snow, falling in the endless void.

What kind of scene was that, I can't remember in detail, all the details disappeared with the darkness afterwards.But the feeling at that time seems to be branded in my heart, so I will never forget it.

Long before I knew how to express my emotions in words, I experienced darkness that many adults can't imagine.Fire, pain, mourning, death, corpses... But most of all is the endless sense of despair in people's hearts, which is conveyed to the depths of the soul through the unclear consciousness, although I didn't even know what "despair" was at the time up.

When did it start?

Those faded fragments keep coming and going in my mind... never stop.Probably, since the existence of "I", they were born together in the depths of my consciousness, maybe they were originally a part of "I".

I don't want to see them at all.Even if they don't know what "pain" is, human beings resist it instinctively.And now, although I can't describe the shape of "sadness", I can't deny its existence.

Those feelings made me unhappy, so I probably had a gloomy face since I was born. The innocence that children should have has been far away from me from the very beginning. This is guessed from the expressions of the adults around me. .

My mother didn't look at me with a strange expression like the others, but she sometimes showed a little worry, and most of the time, I still troubled her.

I rarely cry and it upsets them.After confirming that I had no physical problems, my mother was a little relieved.She ignored the discussions in the family and cared for me more carefully, but this did not make me feel better at all, because those inexplicable scenes were still churning in my mind, and even my sleeping dreams were overwhelmed by those horrible phantoms. Occupation, I can't stand it.

what exactly is it?

Why am I seeing these things?

Is it true that everyone is like this?

Looking around very depressed, the guy was sleeping peacefully next to him.The body is curled up into a ball, a happy smirk hangs all over his face, the pink mouth is slightly pouting, and occasionally murmurs vaguely.

No matter how you look at it, it is different from me!

He obviously slept soundly, didn't he?

Is it just me... only me who sees those nasty things?Why on earth!

This fellow, about my size, was not my companion at all.

After coming to this conclusion, I kicked him without thinking, just in time to kick him in the stomach.

I dare say my strength is quite strong, he rolled twice and stopped at the other end of the crib, after a few seconds, he finally let out a loud cry, and the mother and servants rushed over almost immediately after hearing the sound .The moment she picked up that guy, I quickly crawled over, one (||||) hand grabbed my mother's sleeve, and the other (||||) hand was on the crying guy. A slap in the face...

"Don't! Don't fight..." the mother screamed, "Hurry up and hug me away..."

What happened after that, I don't quite remember.In short, as long as you are upset, take it out on the person who has been by your side, and he is also a weirdo.After crying, I will still approach me after crying, with a stupid and innocent expression on my face, and I don't know how to learn my lesson.

This kind of dispute continued until I became sensible and stopped a little bit, and it was after that that I regarded that guy as a "brother" instead of an "enemy".

The unpleasant dreams which haunted me from birth gradually diminished as my mind matured.And I already know how to control my heart and no longer be trapped by unnecessary illusions, which is also one of the necessary practices to become a psyker.

★★★

My name is Asakura.

As the eldest son of the Asakura family, sooner or later, he will inherit everything from this long-established Shinto family, including glory, tradition, spirit, and sin.Of course, if anything happens to me, the inheritance will go to my twin brother Asakuraha.

In addition to this, we have to make another preparation, which is to be selected as the chief priest of the Siyue Festival and sacrifice ourselves to the gods.

Based on the above reasons, Ye and I started practicing as psykers when we were about four years old.

For me, that is not such a hard job, because it is simply an inborn ability as simple and natural as breathing.

Being able to see spirits from birth, mastering condensing spiritual power earlier than walking freely, and understanding the most basic "spirit speech" technique after being able to speak, all these have shocked the adults.You must know that for ordinary magicians, it takes more than ten years of practice and may not be able to reach the state, but for me, I only need a little guidance to grasp the key points. This must be the so-called "talent".

Having such an outstanding child made the elders happy, but as I grew older and showed more amazing abilities, they also gradually showed anxiety.

The main members of the family may be selected to become the "sons of God" in the "selection" ceremony. Although this kind of divination-like ceremony has no rules and rules at all, it has certain requirements for the ability of the selected person.Those who cannot meet the requirements cannot be the officiant. This is a rule that has been summed up for a long time.Therefore, the more outstanding a person is, the more likely he is to be selected.

As the current Patriarch, Grandpa Ma Cang Ye Ming should put the interests of the family and Yuejian first in everything.If a member of the family is elected, he will definitely regard it as a supreme honor and complete the mission with all his strength.But at the same time, the permanent separation from this family member was equally painful.

There is a spell called "Spirit Summoning" in Yin Yang Art, which can summon souls that wander in the world or have entered the eternal life but have not yet been reincarnated.For psykers, death is not the last, so they can face the end of life with joy.Because we understand where souls will go, we respect the dead without disturbing their slumber, as long as we know that their souls still exist somewhere in the world, even if they are far away.

But "sacrifice" is different.

The soul of the Son of God will go to the seal he guards, and he will never be able to return to the present world, nor can he enter reincarnation, and will be completely cut off from the present world. That is the real "farewell".The souls of the deceased who sacrificed everything to become "sons of gods" are lambs offered by the world to pray for the salvation of the gods. Are they imprisoned forever in the gap between the kingdom of the root and the world without liberation?Did they receive forgiveness from the gods, or eternal torture?Nobody knows.

The ignorance breeds panic.

Humans are afraid of the unknown, and so are the magicians.

The descendants of the Yuwu family have always lived in such a cycle full of entanglements and contradictions.When will it be my family's turn, when will I choose the closest relatives around me, and when will I leave this world... Thinking about all kinds of unanswered questions, I fall into an endless spiral.

Unlike me, who makes people feel mixed, Ye's growth can be said to be without any suspense.

It's not that my twin brother's ability is not outstanding. In fact, he also has considerable talent and was once placed on high expectations. It's just because of the halo of this genius brother who was born a few minutes earlier than him. Naturally, there were no more special features.

Another aspect is his lazy personality, which greatly disappointed the clansmen.

Ye Shengxing doesn't like to move very much. He is obviously at the age when he should be messing around, but he is lazily lying on his stomach all day long, his eyes are listless, and he doesn't have the vitality that a child should have at all.However, as one of the heirs of the Ma Cang family, there is no room for laziness. He has naturally received too much education from his grandfather and other elders.Sometimes I only take 10 minutes to complete the course, and he has to be fully adjusted (||||) for several hours before being released to rest.

There are no children of similar age around us to accept the practice of ability users, so no matter when, my partner is Ye alone.Over time, I developed a habit of waiting to be with him in everything.And it's the same today, because Ye was detained, so my dinner time was postponed.

By the time he came back from the practice field exhausted, it was already completely dark.Seeing me waiting with my hands on my chin, he showed a very sorry and embarrassed expression on his face.

"I'm sorry...it's so late again..." He put his hands together and raised his head, apologizing to me, "Brother, don't wait for me in the future, you can eat first..."

"Since you know it's late, try harder next time." I looked at him relaxedly, while motioning the servant to step back. "Or, do you want to watch me starve with you?"

"Eh? How could it be...but I..." Ye Xuanran's crying appearance is so cute that I often can't help but want to stimulate him.But I was the only one who enjoyed it. It's a pity that no one can share this joy. Moreover, he seemed to be really depressed and about to cry, and he was probably scolded by his grandpa again.

For the time being, I'd better...act like a brother and appease him.

"But you really can't summon it?" I continued his words.He nodded sadly and continued to eat in silence.

I have been able to easily manipulate low-level shikigami, but Ye still can't even summon the earth spirit.

There is a folk saying, which roughly says that "the average person has a little spiritual power, but that power is only more obvious in childhood, especially frail women, who are more likely to absorb spirit bodies. As you grow older, your own Qi And as the personality continues to improve, this ability will gradually disappear."

There is some truth to this point of view. The ability of psykers has also been revealed since childhood, but they must purify their body and mind through continuous practice and enhance their mana to maintain the ability to communicate with the residents of another world.

Ye's spiritual power was already stronger than many of the priests in Yu Wu's family, so it's no wonder that everyone also placed high hopes on him.But shortly after starting to practice, this expectation gradually became unrealistic, because Ye's learning speed was astonishingly slow.

Grandpa insisted that he was being lazy, so he was very strict with him. It may be his nervous expression that hurt him.Ye seems to be not quite used to this change, after all, when he was lying in bed like a baby, everyone would let him continue to sleep.But now, a child who is less than five years old is being overwhelmed by the densely packed practice courses, and his parents won't come to intercede for him, and his grandfather doesn't pamper him anymore. It made him both inexplicable and sad.

The more troubled you are by this emotion, the more unable to display your original strength.Things like spiritual power are illusory, completely different from mathematical calculations, as long as you master the principles and methods, you can draw conclusions.Beings that rely on consciousness and mental power to manipulate are largely determined by state of mind.It can be said that Ye has fallen into a state of vicious circle, and he almost didn't give up on himself.

In contrast, my side is surprisingly smooth.Although the content of the basic practice is the same, I finished it very quickly. Not only did I have a lot of time to rest, but I could even learn some things that were not planned according to my own preferences.Although Ye's progress was a bit slow, it was not to the point of hopelessness.Grandpa is so dissatisfied, is it partly because of me as a comparison?

Whenever I quickly end my practice and show the results in front of everyone, the adults will always be amazed, but that doesn't bring me much encouragement.

I couldn't help but want to sneer, laughing at the superficiality of the people in front of me.

Is this enough?

Is it okay to cheer just by doing this?

It's still far away... It's not good at all, to this level.

For some reason, there is always a voice in my heart telling me that.

The power I have is far from enough.I can't shake off the shadow in my heart, and I can't stop everything that is coming.

"everything?"

What that "everything" refers to, I don't know.But I just feel that the anxiety is spreading from the bottom of my heart. If there is no stronger force, my existence will be swallowed up by the expanding anxiety.

"Brother, you are really amazing!"

Ye Huan's cheerful voice came to my ears, bringing my consciousness out of the inexplicable chaos.He stood on the edge of the field and waved to me with a look of great reverence and excitement, and I subconsciously raised my arms at him in response.If someone else pointed out that "I look happy when Ye is around", I really didn't notice that I would smile so normally.Thinking of the experience of frightening the servant because of showing a creepy and weird smile, he suddenly sighed.

No matter how many people criticize or appreciate, I don't mind.But leaves are different.

His voice always brought me back to myself instantly as my thoughts drifted away into the suffocating darkness.His appreciation made my heart jump, and at the same time, I was sincerely grateful to Ye for accepting me so sincerely and without reservation.

He never resented being compared with me, nor did he fall into a gloomy mood and give up on himself.Even if the practice is not going well, Ye Ye is still working hard in his own way, although the results are not great.When I was uneasy, that gentle smile always dispelled my concerns.In the end, our positions often reversed.I was comforted by him instead of comforting him, but I do not reject this kind of communication, I even hope from the bottom of my heart that this kind of time will last forever.

Ye's eyes followed me, because I was his proud elder brother, better than anyone else, and was praised everywhere I went; I feel at ease, that simple innocence is the source of my motivation to maintain "ordinary".

In front of Ye, I was just his elder brother Ma Canghao.

If possible, I want to have this "ordinary" forever.There is a small corner where I can forget my nightmares, my mission, and all my unhappiness, and only enjoy that peaceful happiness.

However, Ye and I are always different existences.

No matter how similar we look, we still have different souls, and we will live different lives in the future.And the decisive difference between me and him may lie in that beginning.

The details of everything seen in the dark have long been blurred, but they have been imprinted in the depths of the soul and cannot be erased.As a "Ma Canghao", I was doomed to spend my life with inexplicable negative emotions. It is precisely because of this that I lost my innocence early and became indifferent and full of guard.

And Ye He didn't accept the baptism of those dreams.When I woke up in the middle of the night, he was sleeping peacefully next to me, with pure satisfaction on his face.

I have always wanted to tell people about the meaning of those nightmares, but after many years, it is still a stubborn disease in my heart.

Among the parents, I am closest to my mother.She is a gentle and considerate person, and she is also a priestess with considerable magic power. Before giving birth to us, she participated in almost all the big and small gods of Tsukimi.The first thing I thought of was to ask her, but unfortunately, the too abstract memory made it impossible for me to describe it, and the result was of course nothing.

I mentioned it in front of other elders later, but they all agreed that my inspiration was too strong and I felt that the nearby spiritual field caused the nightmare, so I don't need to mind it.Now that I've been told that, I can only stop there.

What about Ye?

Will he listen to me?Listen to me vent the resentment that has been stagnated in my heart for many years because of my nightmare?

I feel a little funny, and I can't find a better way to express it.Now that the number of nightmares has been greatly reduced, maybe it will gradually stop without paying attention to it?

With this thought, I buried those words in my heart until many years later.

"Ye, I think your problem lies in your mentality." I took a sip of tea and said this sentence unhurriedly.Sure enough, he stopped the chopsticks in his hand and stared blankly at me.

"To be honest, you don't want to practice at all."

With a clang, his chopsticks slipped out and fell on the dining table.

"I...I..." His lips trembled but he couldn't say a complete sentence, and his voice was a little choked up. Could it be that I'm going to make him cry again?

Although Ye has always been indifferent and peaceful, it doesn't mean that these things have never been cared about.He must have thought that I was also blaming him for not working hard enough, that's why he showed that expression...

"No, I'm not saying you haven't worked hard..." I hurriedly added, trying to find a more appropriate way to say it in my mind.

"Perhaps...I'm not suitable to be a psyker..." Ye lay down on the table with a sad face.

"Huh? If you say that, the spiritual power in your body will cry." I couldn't help laughing.Ye's power is not weak, it's just that he didn't use the right way to guide it out.Now he is like a large spiritual power battery that can't find a place to use it.

"You know, didn't grandpa often say: 'Cultivation requires considerable awareness, otherwise you can't make progress'. I think you just lack a 'reason'."

"reason?"

"It's not okay to practice passively according to other people's requirements, Ye, you don't have a 'reason' to practice in your heart, right?"

"The reason...is..."

He murmured in thought.

Yes, even if the body makes efforts, but the soul is not synchronized, it is impossible to achieve "enlightenment".

Ye likes relaxed and leisurely days, likes music, and also likes to be immersed in the green world of the back mountain.In this way, his heart is also a peaceful and peaceful lake.Why is it necessary to break up this mirror-like water surface and set off a huge wave that will never calm down?

This life continued until we were seven years old.

As a trainee priest, I participated in the dark festival held in the Tsukiyomi Shrine. That experience not only left a deep imprint on me, but also on Ye's heart. It completely made us understand what kind of mission we are shouldering. Understand what kind of place Yuejian is.

Covered by the light of Feiyue, the flying blood light is even more dazzling.

In Grandpa’s words, it’s not too early to observe this time, it’s the world we have to face sooner or later, it’s better to accept it earlier.It's just that I can feel that it's really too early for Ye.

No, I don't think any of this will ever be right for him.

He stood in the imperial garden after the ceremony for a long time, silently looking at the huge full moon in the sky, unable to speak a word.

Since then, Ye's cultivation progress has suddenly accelerated.Practicing day and night, desperately trying to make up for lost time, he seems to have forgotten his fatigue.The elders were amazed, because Ye's learning efficiency was as high as a different person. They felt that Ye was worthy of being a descendant of the Ma Cang family, and he was indeed talented, but in my opinion, all of this was expected middle.

Ye finally stood closer to me, and one day, we will be able to walk side by side.