章 42: Chapter 42: Before the Beginning Ancient Magic
The night in Narnia was filled with twinkling stars.
But in the western sky, many stars had dimmed, with only the largest star still shining brightly.
Stone Table Hill.
On the ancient stone table lay a golden figure, motionless, with two crying girls keeping vigil beside it.
…
"We have to untie the ropes; we can't leave Aslan lying here."
Young Lucy said, extending her small hands to try to tear at the ropes.
"They're too tight; we need tools."
As the older sister, Susan, though equally sad, remained rational.
She quickly saw that the sturdy ropes couldn't be untied with just their hands.
In the silent night, time passed minute by minute.
The temperature around them grew colder, and even Aslan, who had been slightly warm earlier, was now completely stiff.
"Lucy, we need to go back, or Peter and the others will worry." Susan was the first to break free from her grief.
"But…"
"No buts. We have to be back at camp before dawn." Susan pulled her younger sister to her feet.
The night was no longer so dark.
A hint of dawn appeared on the distant eastern horizon.
Just as Susan and Lucy were about to leave Stone Table Valley, a loud noise echoed behind them, like a giant breaking a huge plate.
They turned to look.
The stone table had cracked from end to end, and the noise came from it, but Aslan's body was gone.
"Oh no! This is terrible!" Lucy cried.
"Who did this? Is it more magic?" Susan angrily looked around.
"Yes!" A loud voice spoke behind them. "But this is deeper magic."
The sun rose, and in the morning light, Aslan's whole body glowed with golden radiance.
Moreover, his body was now larger, so when Susan, the elder sister, rushed to embrace him, she could only reach his soft mane.
"You're alive! Aslan." Lucy smiled with joy.
"Yes, dear one, I am alive." Aslan lowered his head and gently touched Lucy.
"But we saw you…" Susan was at a loss for words.
"Here is how it happened." Aslan lifted his head to look at Susan. "The White Witch knows ancient magic, but her knowledge only goes back to the beginning of time."
"But if she had looked further back, into the silence and darkness before the beginning, she would have found there is deeper magic still..."
Aslan explained his resurrection to them.
Compared to Susan's contemplative expression, the younger Lucy couldn't grasp these profound matters.
Taking advantage of a pause, she quickly asked, "So what now? What should we do?"
"Now?" Aslan shook his mane.
"Now we must help Peter and Edmund. We must fight for Narnia, but first, you two should cover your ears."
Though confused, Susan and Lucy complied.
"Roar~!"
Aslan opened his massive jaws and let out a deafening roar from the mountaintop, as if announcing his return.
…
It seemed that fate could not be changed; some things were destined.
Ino had been living alone in the valley for six days.
But starting from the third day, his remaining dry cheese and ham in his suitcase had been exhausted.
"Well! Besides the flying carpet and Animagus, I need to add a new plan: learning the Extension Charm, or this suitcase won't hold much. Right, little one?"
He finally had someone to call "little one" now.
In front of him was a wood nymph, or you could call it a wood elf.
Less than a foot tall, but with human-like limbs and features, its whole body glowed with a pale green light, somewhat resembling a Bowtruckle.
He encountered this creature while hunting in the forest. Unlike those wood elves who could understand human speech, this little one seemed dull and foolish, unable to speak or even think clearly.
Ino suspected that this wood nymph had been driven away by its kind and had followed him because no one else wanted to play with a fool.
But anyway, at least for these six days, he had someone to talk to, regardless of whether it understood.
Meanwhile.
After finishing his daily confessions, Ino turned his attention to the berries he had just gathered, resembling a mix of pomegranates and figs.
"Pulp separation!"
As he spoke, a magical glow hit the small pile of berries precisely.
Then they seemed to be manipulated by an invisible hand, shedding their bitter skins to reveal the fresh red pulp inside.
To be honest, these berries were sour and astringent, not particularly tasty, but they were his only source of food.
After hearing a rabbit plead for its life, he had turned vegetarian, at least for the past few days.
On the other side.
The wood nymph, who had been waiting eagerly, saw the food ready and waddled over, timidly picking up a berry as big as its head, not eating it immediately but sitting down and grinning with satisfaction.
Ino was used to this sight, it was just a berry after all.
He had speculated more than once that the little creature stuck around because of his generosity.
Feeding it a few times and being followed was normal.
…
After a satisfying meal, Ino lay on the valley's grass, staring at the sky.
It was one of his few forms of entertainment. Though the snow in Narnia had melted, making the valley full of life, it was still silent except for the calls of robins.
Maybe the dwarf was right, or maybe for another reason, but the valley's animals always kept their distance from him.
The rabbit was like that, and so were the wood elves.
Unable to figure it out, he stopped trying. He wouldn't stay here long anyway.
Perhaps it's human nature to never have a quiet mind.
As soon as one question was set aside, another immediately followed.
His thoughts wandered to the ice-covered castle, the White Witch in the garden, and even to the old dwarf Simon...
…
"Merry Christmas! Child!"
The sudden voice made Ino jump up.
In front of him was another reindeer sleigh.
But unlike the White Witch's sleigh, this one was larger, with six reindeer.
And each reindeer had a small red Santa hat tied to its antlers.
"Don't worry! I mean no harm." The speaker was a standard-looking Santa Claus.
It was because he matched the traditional image of Santa Claus in every way.
"I'm just an old man delivering Christmas gifts. Mr. Rabbit said someone here hadn't received theirs, which was my oversight."
"So, after getting home, I hurried back here overnight…"
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