CHAPTER 385: NIGHT IN ELDORIA

The cold wind brushed against Silvanus’s face, snapping him back to clarity. At that moment Vivian suddenly leapt off him as if trying to catch one of the "butterflies."

Silvanus quickly spun around midair. He used magic to fly often enough that maneuvering in the sky wasn’t difficult for him.

But before he could grab Vivian, one tiny elf tapped the little fox on the tip of her nose. In the next instant, Vivian’s body also became weightless.

She seemed a bit unaccustomed to the sensation—her four legs flailing wildly in the air. The elves exchanged looks, covering their mouths as they giggled.

Vivian immediately hissed loudly, "I’ll eat all of you!"

With that, she began paddling her limbs like a dog swimming, hurling herself toward the elves. The elves seemed delighted to tease her, fluttering around the small fox but never allowing the adorable creature to actually catch them.

Silvanus couldn’t help laughing. He pulled Vivian back to his side.

Vivian looked at him and instantly sniffled in complaint: "Silvanus, those flies are bullying me!"

Silvanus chuckled, patting her head. "Just now you called them butterflies, and now they’re flies..."

Vivian huffed coldly and nuzzled against Silvanus’s neck, deciding she didn’t care about the buzzing swarm anymore.

The tiny elves led Silvanus through the air, past the structures, and eventually straight behind the World Tree.

As if he had already sensed it, Silvanus glanced ahead—and indeed saw a familiar figure.

Dorian was sitting on a bare branch. The huge trunk twisted upward, its branches extending outward without a single leaf or flower, like a tree long dead in the heart of winter.

Dorian sat there, his robe draping down, his hair swaying gently in the night breeze.

The moon above shone brightly. Silvanus narrowed his eyes slightly and called softly, "Dorian."

Dorian turned to look at him.

He smiled—the same smile Silvanus had seen before, not the desolate expression from earlier that night.

Dorian’s wings lifted, and he slowly flew toward Silvanus. The tiny elves instantly clustered around him, rubbing against his palms, their reluctance and affection visible to the naked eye.

Dorian gently tapped their heads, speaking softly: "Thank you."

Immediately, the tiny elves turned into light and vanished without a trace.

Silvanus watched this scene and couldn’t help asking, "Where did they go?"

Dorian looked at Silvanus for a moment and replied softly, "They are the moonlight, they are the wind—sometimes the earth, sometimes the trees. They exist within this world and will answer whenever I call."

Silvanus couldn’t help widening his eyes. "That’s seriously amazing."

After a pause, he added, "So they followed your orders and called me here? Dorian, did you want to see me?"

Seeing Silvanus looking so happy, Dorian instinctively stepped back a little. He nodded, about to say something—but Silvanus had already laughed joyfully and lunged forward to hug him. "Great! I wanted to see you too!"

Dorian froze as Silvanus hugged him tightly and even patted him twice on the back. His whole body stiffened.

Before he could return the hug, Silvanus had already pulled away.

Dorian couldn’t help asking, "Are people outside always like that?"

Silvanus took the question seriously. After thinking, he shook his head. "No. Only close friends hug each other. Like when they haven’t met in a long time, they hug. If something touching happens, they hug. In some places, hugging is a polite greeting."

Then he looked at Dorian and smiled. "But I hugged you simply because I was happy."

Dorian looked at him for a moment, then finally lowered his eyes with a hint of awkwardness. Softly, he asked, "Silvanus, don’t you have anything you want to ask me?"

"Ask what? Ask why you’re the prince of the Elves? Or something else?"

Dorian paused upon hearing that. Looking at Silvanus’s smile-filled face, he couldn’t help pushing him lightly before flying ahead. His wings left beautiful trails of dust in the air.

Silvanus found it funny. He scooped up Vivian and chased after Dorian. "What’s wrong? Did I say something I shouldn’t?"

Dorian pressed his lips together and shook his head, eyes lowered.

Suddenly his back was lightly tapped. Dorian turned to see Silvanus looking at him, speaking earnestly: "Don’t be sad anymore. I’ll keep you company tonight, alright?"

Instinctively, Dorian touched his own face, then murmured softly, "I’m not sad..."

Silvanus waved it off without a care. "From the moment I saw you tonight, you’ve looked sad nonstop."

He smiled. "So I just want you to be happy."

Dorian parted his lips, finally speaking softly: "Let me take you to see Eldoria."

Silvanus nodded. "I’m really curious what this place actually looks like."

And Dorian truly did lead Silvanus on a tour of Eldoria.

They passed the Life Stream that flowed through the land, surrounded by lush vegetation. Ordinary plants that would be tiny outside were over a meter tall here, forming natural canopies.

They then passed through the Moon Forest. There, endless fields of flowers spread as far as the eye could see. The trees were not tall; instead, low silver-blue blossoms bloomed densely across the ground, swaying under the moonlight, with fireflies dancing everywhere.

Next, they entered the Winter Forest, where the weather was eternally cold. Snow and ice covered everything. The trees were bare and gnarled, standing starkly against the snowstorm, and on the ground grew a type of pale yellow flower.

Silvanus commented, "I think I’ve seen that flower before. It’s a rare ingredient..." One that only grew in the Winter Forest of the Elves.

Before he could finish the sentence, Dorian had already dragged him down, insisting on picking the flowers.

Silvanus watched his storage space nearly overflowing while Dorian kept gathering more. Vivian, beside them, used her front paws to claw through the thick snow, then chomped flowers in her mouth. Snow covered her so completely she looked ready to blend into the landscape.

"That’s enough! Seriously, enough! I don’t even know how to make medicine!" Silvanus quickly called out.

Vivian blinked her big eyes up at him, while Dorian was practically sitting on the snowy ground, saying, "Then you can sell them. These will trade for a lot."

If the entire Elf race knew their precious prince was picking flowers for him, Silvanus was certain he would be torn limb from limb—or directly become the catalyst that ended the centuries-old alliance between Elves and Humans.

Dorian continued picking flowers, his fingertips reddening from the cold.

At that moment, something suddenly sliced through the air.

"Puff!"

Dorian felt a burst of icy cold hit the back of his head.

Instinctively, he turned around—just in time for Silvanus to finish forming a second snowball and throw it straight at Dorian’s face.

Dorian squeezed his eyes shut as he fell back onto the snow, staring blankly at Silvanus.

Silvanus grinned, tossing a snowball lightly in his hand, smirking at Dorian: "I’ll give you ten seconds to run."

Dorian opened his mouth—Silvanus almost thought he’d scared him.

But right then, Dorian suddenly flung his arm, sending a handful of snow he’d scooped up flying toward Silvanus.

Silvanus instinctively turned his head aside. Dorian immediately scrambled to his feet and began forming snowballs, counterattacking with startling ferocity.

Vivian watched the two of them hurling snow at each other and burst into loud laughter, bouncing excitedly beside Silvanus.

"Silvanus! Get him! Get him! I want to throw some too!"