WRITING 1
The traveler wandered into the wasteland. He was neither thirsty nor hungry but naked and penniless, with a bony falcon equally hungry as he did.
Falcon is unlike a vulture; they won’t greedily stay beside the dying flesh, waiting to tear the freshest corpse. But for some reason, this falcon followed all the time. It even seemed to know the traveler’s direction, flying a distance in advance and landing on a boulder or a bush until the traveler followed its step.
Every ten thousand steps, the traveler must stop to rest for a while. He looked into the distance and saw endless wilderness stretching forward, melting into the distant black river flowing with silver light.
“Polaris!” He shouted hoarsely and saw the falcon flap its wings and twist back, “I have walked forty-eight thousand steps, but still the sun has not risen.”
“The darkness of the wilderness never ends.” Polaris flew forward.
When the traveler stopped again, the shimmering light of the silver star traced a pale gray line in the grass. The traveler walked up to.
A broken wheel.
“Only one wheel won’t help me walk easier.”
Once again, the traveler stopped. He leaned against a tree. On the other side of the trunk, a broken wagon toppled over in the dappled shadows of the trees.
“Its beam is broken. Even if I ride on it, it will not help.”
Another ten thousand steps later, the traveler saw a creature similar in appearance to him whose face had been gnawed by wild dogs but still was sleeping heavily. The traveler contemplated momentarily and took off that fellow creature’s black clothes.
“Now, even I blend into the night.”
The sky dimmed, and even the moon disappeared among the clouds without a trace. Polaris, this time fell high enough to be at the eye with the traveler’s eyes.
“A sword.” The traveler waved his hand, urging the gray falcon to stay elsewhere. He reached down and gripped the sword’s hilt, pulling it hard through a crevice in the stone.
“Oh, I see.” He looked back.
Those things followed him, ghostly from the very beginning.
“Go back, you guys.” He shouted at them, “I’m gonna sleep! When I wake up, my golden mount will return to me from the east and evaporate this endless sea. I will fly out of the wilderness on its back while you all fade away like dewdrops together with the black.”
Saying this, the knight embraced his sword like a baby hugging mother’s arms, lay bent over the damp grass, and fell asleep.
The ghosts came in front.
“Go get the dog.”
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