Pillar of Yita

A beam of fire-hued light is rising from outside the window. The radiance flows through the window, washing over the coarse parchment, the red glow reflected in the pages upon rows of winding characters, those dark and profound words seem to belong to a language from the depths of the abyss.

Moments later, a rumble is heard from afar, shaking the adobe house tremblingly. Pepino wobbly rises from the chair, using his body to shield his manuscripts from falling dust and sand lest they seep into the book’s crevices.

He raises his head, the golden-red radiance reflected deep in his pupils, the scene as if an apocalypse is approaching.

Under the firelight, laborers in the excavation site outside are scattering in escape, but no one cares about them since the sky pirates are equally preoccupied.

Nor does anyone remember such an inconspicuous person as him.

The ground trembles for a good while before settling down, and only then does Pepino step back, carefully brushing off the sand from the book pages with his hand.

His movements are shaky yet meticulous, unaware of who has broken in or where they have reached.

Only these manuscripts, to him, are treasures.

Suddenly, there is a jingle of a light sound. It turns out he inadvertently brushed a ring off the desk, rolling onto the ground.

Luckily, it’s just a counterfeit. Pepino bends down to pick it up, but sees the ring rolling all the way forward and bumping against a boot before stopping.

Pepino pauses slightly, compelled to look up. His gaze follows the boot upward, leading to the hem of a robe—a gray and dusty robe worn by a wanderer draped in a long cloak.

Under the low-dropped hood, only a stubbly chin can be seen, lips pressed tightly, silent.

The wanderer holds a fainted young girl in his arm, and behind him follows a barefoot little girl staring intently at the floor. Seeing this scene, Pepino freezes, mouth agape.

Only then does the man slowly lift his head, golden pupils under the hood blinking faintly, like sand flowing away.

Pepino, as if struck by lightning, retreats sharply, overturning the chair behind him, the parchment scrolls on the desk tumbling to the floor.

”You...you you...”

The wanderer looks at him, replying lightly, ”It seems you remember our covenant.”

When he speaks, his voice is hoarse but carries a kind of unbelievable magic power, making listeners feel influenced involuntarily. Pepino instinctively steps forward but suddenly realizes and retreats, pressing against the desk, refusing to take another step forward.

Within moments, the young man’s forehead is dotted with fine beads of sweat.

The wanderer slowly speaks, ”Don’t forget, this is our deal.”

”And the agreed time has arrived.”

”No,” Pepino shakes his head repeatedly, exclaiming desperately, ”I, I’m not ready yet, and, and you haven’t fully fulfilled your promise...”

But the wanderer shakes his head, ”This is the contract, no one can defy it.”

At this moment, the golden light in his eyes fades like sand, simultaneously raising his hand slowly towards Pepino. The latter reveals an extremely panicked expression, unable to help but let out a scream.

Yet moments later, all sounds fall silent.

The wanderer merely casts a glance at the young scholar standing blankly before him.

His expression bears neither satisfaction nor dissatisfaction, merely turns indifferently and walks out. The little girl with bare feet looks up at him then lowers her head and follows.

Behind them, the scholar follows absent-mindedly, like a puppet.

But shortly after the three have left.

A group suddenly ’bangs’ open the wooden door. Blood Shark sky pirates swarm in, faced with the scattered manuscript scrolls, looking at each other.

”Where are the people!?”

A captured laborer hesitantly answers, ”Sir, I saw him leave with a stranger, I thought it was one of yours...”

The blood shark sky pirate angrily kicks him aside, ”Then why didn’t you stop them, you fool!?”

The laborer lets out a wail, trembling in the corner.

Seeing this, the sky pirates understand it’s useless, grabbing him off the ground, irritatedly asking, ”Then where did you see them go?”

”I, I know some...” The person replied breathlessly, voice nearly trembling: ”I, I saw them heading towards the direction of the City Hall.”

”Damn it!”

The sky pirate tosses him aside, hurriedly telling others, ”Notify the first mate quickly; we’re gathering towards the City Hall immediately!”

All the sky pirates nod uniformly.

...

Fang Hong struggled quite a bit to climb the cliff where the City Hall is located.

He tightens the cable squeakily, inching toward the suspended corridor above, the magic power winch emitting the sound of overbearing load, billowing with white smoke—while a few blood shark sky pirates are passing below, on the verge of discovering him, with little time left for him to pause and wait for the engine to cool.

He bites his teeth and pushes upwards forcefully, another hand grabbing the break. Then, with a pull-up, he climbs up from there.

Even though aided by the cable tightening, without being strengthened by the Dragon’s Heart, he certainly couldn’t have performed such a feat.